How Progressive Civil Society Became Professional NGO Culture https://jacobin.com/2024/12/civil-society-working-class-democrats
Right now, progressive civil society is poorly equipped for this task. Broadly defined to include left-leaning advocacy groups, NGOs, think tanks, and public forums — such as publications, podcasts, social media networks, and community spaces — progressive civil society has come too close to abandoning mass politics to build working-class alliances and support for left visions.
The road to building much stronger ties between progressive politics and working-class communities will surely be arduous. Leftists will need to try a multitude of approaches and take risks. Advocacy organizations, think tanks, writers, and activists of all sorts need to engage more deeply with working-class communities and forge ties that go beyond the traditional progressive base.
This must include not just speaking to working-class people and communities but creating spaces for their direct contributions to a democratic left, ensuring participation in decision-making and shaping agendas. It could also mean contributing to an emerging left media sphere that speaks to working-class tastes, centers working-class voices and experiences, and invites many more people to see themselves as respected members of the democratic left. This would involve working with unions and other existing left-leaning groups that already have meaningful community ties, such as the Working Families Party, Common Defense, and the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. Leftists might also forge new relations with nonpartisan groups in working-class communities open to partnering on specific causes...