The Left Is At In Inroads When It Comes to Coalition-Building.

 When it comes to making substantial political change, you need numbers. Anyone who is frustrated with the status quo and wishes to change it should understand this, and many do.

The question is: "How to get those numbers?" What is the best way to get enough people to rally against the system?

At one point, it seemed that most of the American Left was divided into two factions: Reformists and (more radical) Revolutionaries. The former basically believes in working with and/or in the system in order to change it, where the latter prefers a more outsider, non-electoral politics approach. Of course, there's room for hybrids (i.e., ignore national politics and focus on the local). Currently, the best way to discern between the two is by what you see on cable news or in the halls of government: if they are on TV or radio denouncing the status quo, odds are they are reformists; anyone going the extra step of including the current two major parties in their critique are rarely heard in these spaces (if ever).

But recently, there is a third faction (more or a split in the revolutionaries, to be honest) that is being more vocal, and at first it's tricky to sort them out.  Let's call them the Refined Revolutionary Left. Here's the distinction:

1. Reformists are willing to work with people who aren't 100% ideologically aligned as long as they are on the same "team" (AOC and Hakeem Jeffries working together as Democrats) and in some cases, issue (Democrats and Republicans on a tax cut bill).
2. Revolutionaries work from a class mindset, so everyone who is poor or working class are potential allies; where they differ can be worked out after they accomplish their common goal (i.e., avoid nuclear war).
3. The Refined consider collaboration with anyone who is not anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist to be a non-starter. Such an alliance runs the risk of (at least) having your own message diluted or (at worst) being betrayed by those you chose to ally with. 

To the Refined, the Reformist is a weak-willed doormat and Revolutionary is a unfocused rebel whose ends justify the means. To the Revolutionary, the Reformist is a sellout and the Refined is an unserious day-dreamer. To the Reformist, the Revolutionary is an unsatisfied contrarian and the Refined are purists.

The "Rage Against the War Machine" proved this more than anything. The Reformists (Secular Talk, Breaking Points) pretty much ignored it, the Revolutionaries (which more often than not include Jimmy Dore, The Grayzone, RBN) supported it and the Refined -as seen in this WSWS article- denounced it. 

Groups like RBN do a good job criticizing the Kyle Kulinskis of the world when they (inconsistently) reject anything suggesting a left-right alliance, but what happens when the rejection comes from the Trotskyists? (FYI: as the article and the comments reveal, both Dore and Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone threw some shade WSWS' way) 

Not putting up any solutions to this at the moment, just noticing the rift. I spoke my piece on the rally earlier, and I was positive that WSWS was going to give it less-than stellar reviews because of the first point I made there: the Left isn't unified on enough issues to team up with anyone not on the Left.