As an answer to both of you,
@ninjabot @kkck , I can outline what I think is working over here and what I think would also work in the US.
The Left Party (actual name) in Germany used to be completely dead. They had 3% in the polls, they came from an eleciton in which they almost flew out of parliament and several popular figures left them in an ugly slugfest and built their own party, successfully taking up some of the voteshare. It was pretty much over, the only thing that party was known for was infighting.
Then there came a new leadership that (obviously not alone) was able to turn that ship around in the timeframe of a few months, shortly before an unforseen election (because government collapsed). They were able to go from 3% to 7% in the polls (which doesnt sound much, but it is pretty amazing when you are so dead that you do not even count as an actual faction in parliament), they were able go from 50k to 80k members after decades of decline and they were able to become the most successful party on social media. More importantly, suddenly their leftwing viewpoints and talkingpoints (rent, pay, peace) get channeled into the mainstream in an election that was predominantly about migration.
Even tho their electoral power is close to zero (and there is basically no chance they will end up in any government), that already exerts some power, because they invited in podcasts, talkshows and so on for their talking points, which, in turn, means other parties also have to answer to these talking points. And while all other parties drifted rightwing (even the liberal parties), the Left Party grew WHILE saying no to deportations for criminals, there should be higher welfare and push for a 4 day workweek.
So how did they do it without any power, little reach and little funds? Simply put: by hard honest work to gain the trust of their voters.
- They put people from NGO and activist groups into their leadership positions, but cared that they come from the middle. So their 3 leadership figures are a welfare workers, a bioweapon controller who worked for greenpeace and a union secretary. That already creates goodwill and reach.
- They cut the pay for their leadership positions. In Germany, a member of parliament usually gets 10k a month, they cut it to 2500 Euro (average german pay) and donate the rest. The party also does not accept any donations from companies. Can you imagine all democrat leaders deciding to cut their pay, reject big donations andloudly demand a stop to insider trading and lobbyism? I wish I could.
- Before they started their campaign, they already started a huge doordashing operation which was not predominantly targeted to sway voters (it was way ahead of the election), but to talk to actual people to understand what problems they have. They used this to build their campaign around the problems that people told them (which was rent predominantly, not migration). Of course, having so much contact to people helps to gain trust.
- They built up "The Left Party helps", which means you can go to the places where they have their party offices if you have some problem with the state (for example because your welfare was cut) and they will aid you or refer you to a better place. Most prominently, the Left Party offers everyone to send in their heating invoice if they feel like it seems too high. The Party will then check it for you and if your landlord/provider did a mistake (which happens quite often), they will do the work so you receive your money back.
There were more parts to their success, but I think this very slow, honest work to regain trust and build up the party is the key. America (and Germany too) sees a lot of campaigns or candidates rise and fall in the timefram of months, so going from zero to 50% goodwill and then evaporating. But if a party actually maintains outlets for you as a citizen to receive help and listens to you about your problems on even ground without trying to instantly get to their talking points, that stays. And that is even able to cut through the algorithm that tries to poison your mind (genuine connection overrides even conspiracy theories in many cases). From the experience of party members, I do know that even someone who might be racist or antiwoke has problems with rent and is open to vote for someone who believably wants to tackle that issue.
To me, that is what I support here and what I see is working here. And it is what I think democrats and other groups should be doing right now ("other groups" because the left Party could never have done it without being interwoven with unions, NGO and activists. These groups need to be part of the party, even if they might not be actually in it).
So what AOC did with giving aid against ICE is exactly the right idea. But it cannot stay being just a thing she does. Aid and getting trust of the public has to be a concerted efforts that democrats pursue from now on and for that, they hardest thing they will need to learn is listen. But everyone who is not part of the democratic party can help to create such an interwoven united front by joining a different group that fights for the right thing.
