2016 Postmortem

Sanders may have burst into the country's consciousness over the last year as the unlikely socialist presidential candidate, but some on the far left still find he has too much in common with Clinton, the establishment favorite. Yet even the absolutists like Soltysik, who envisions a collectivist state in which there is no private ownership, no military and no centralized police force, are scurrying to seize the momentum Sanders has built around the idea of a political revolution before he closes ranks with Democrats.

“This is such a critical moment for the U.S. left,” Soltysik said as he leaned forward in a threadbare, leopard-print chair that sat in the middle of an apartment cluttered with alt-rock memorabilia and cat toys. “I don't mean the Democratic Party left. I mean the left. He has opened the door for the country to hear from radical-slash-revolutionary perspectives.”

Sanders finds himself in an awkward place as such activists seek to lure the political neophytes he mobilized their way. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein implored Sanders in a letter last month to ditch the Democrats and “explore an historic collaboration to keep building the revolution beyond the reach of corporate party clutches.” She said in an interview that Sanders never responded.

Asked before he took the stage at a Santa Monica rally Monday whether he was considering the offer, Sanders' reply was curt with a hint of grumpiness: “No.”...