Great piece by the recently deceased #NoelIgnatiev, (thanks to #DavidRoediger):

"I find Douglass’s electoral efforts uninteresting, just as I find uninteresting today’s debates over whether socialists should take part in elections... He was flailing, and knew it.

"But a strong case can be made for Douglass when we shift our ground from his electoral to his non-electoral activities: what did he do when not electioneering?"

https://brooklynrail.org/2019/12/field-notes/Frederick-Douglass-John-Brown-and-the-Virtues-of-Impracticality?fbclid=IwAR1a3xZXsl46j_k1AT-X8LPZ2USjDGKTTwiaP5YPlV0vxdWuMTys1pG7QiQ