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Americans–infatuated with the next new thing, and proud to believe they are outside the constraints and burdens of history–love neophytes, gifted amateurs. We\u2019re action-oriented and suspicious of elitist expertise, and we thrill to the idea that anybody with moxie can jump in and deliver a baby or land a 737. Right now, it appears that anti-hierarchical, relatively inexperienced people are \u201crunning\u201d the Wall Street protest. And they are doing big demonstrations really well. So far, so good. Anger can beget action. And action itself can be a battering ram that knocks down the doors of history.<\/p>\n
But anger alone can\u2019t sustain action. And action alone can\u2019t sustain political militancy. Much like today\u2019s Wall Street movement, the French students who struck their universities during the Events of May 1968 had a charming way with utopian sloganeering: \u201cBe Realistic, Demand the Impossible!\u201d as they said back then. But the students couldn\u2019t work out a sustained alliance with their working-class allies or move to making structural demands for change that their militancy could leverage. They were not, in fact, realistic. In the end, a massive Gaullist backlash cleaned their clocks.<\/p>\n
Movement building is exhausting, highly skilled work. What appears to be \u201cspontaneous\u201d is the result of painstaking organizing and–just like Oscar Wilde never said–constant meetings.<\/p>\n