Groups involved in 'movement politics', be they third world solidarity, peace, women's, animal rights, environmental - tend to have a number of characteristics in common. Firstly, links between them are rare, small scale or incidental. This reduces possibilities for development of co-ordinated responses to the state and capitalism. The focus of single issue or area of concern reduces the possibility of developing a coherent analysis of the causes of these social, political and environmental problems. The anti-conscription campaigns during the Vietnam war, for example, presented opportunities for consciousness raising about "the system", but most of these analyses were imported to the movement from Marxist-Leninist, Maoist or libertarian politics. When conscription, then later the war itself, ceased so did most of the activity of the movement. In Australia this also coincided with the first Labor Party government in 23 years - which brings us the the next point.
The politics of movement groups are usually reformist. Movement politics attempts to attract everyone possible around the "lowest common denominator" of the single issue. In the process the critique and the action tend to become watered down. The orientation is toward changing the policies of the allegedly reformist political parties, such as the Australian Labor Party, the Australian Democrats and the Greens. When facing the realities of being "in office" the politicians water down the policies even further or wash their hands of them altogether. This is simply because the real power resides in the corporations, bureaucracies, legal system and the media. Reforms gone the movement is back to square one! In addition, the internal processes of movement politics groups are often at best "woolly" - covering up implicit hierarchies, cliques and personality politics and at worst explicitly dictatorial - Greenpeace for example. Lacking any real critique of process members become involved in a mish-mash of leaders and spokespeople, bureaucrats, political party hacks controlling information, making policy pronouncements, setting agendas and caucusing like mad! The rank-and-file activists are left out of any real decision making while the shit-work in the office and the streets and being used as demo fodder. If government funding is involved, power and information tends to shift to the paid workers - often leading to crisis or collapse in groups when the finding is cut as the volunteers are long gone. Many politicians, their advisers, welfare and union bureaucrats began their careers in movement politics. Meanwhile funding "guidelines" and "policies" continually restrict and direct the movement group until it becomes a de facto agency of the state.
Some movement politics groups, especially in the women's' and recently the environment movement, have tried to develop more genuinely collective processes. Some have succeeded. Many have failed - victims of a lack of analysis of the "tyranny of structurelessness" which allows hidden agendas, dominant personalities and informal cliques to form. There are lots of people we have found who will tell us they, "tried collectives and they just don't work". Movement politics are probably responsible for the disillusionment of tens of thousands of genuine, concerned rank and file activists.
Finally, because of the reformist, one-in-all-in characteristics of movement politics much of their action is directed toward symbolic actions. The march to parliament house, the sit down for 20 minutes at the gate to the military base are the type of tactics that are common. The aim is to make a symbolic point through the spectacle-hungry media in an attempt to influence public opinion and through it the politicians. As such they are reformist actions and often unproductive at all as they do not challenge the real interests of the capitalists, the military or the state. These types of actions are very different to real direct action - the sit-in strike that stops scabs being used, the mass-picket or blockade where there is a commitment to stay put regardless. Of course there are a handful of movement politics groups that do have a broader analysis, that aren't compromised by government funding, that are genuinely democratic and that take empowering direct action, but these are not characteristic of movement politics groups in general.