Being Left Wing in the 21st Century.

Hi All

In the UK the left is something of a fringe subject, barely existing as anything meaningful to the average person (my East London perspective).

Should the position turn around what do you think the left should be aiming at. Top of my list is multinationals, both from the traditional perspectives and an environmental one.

The US is in pretty much the same position as the UK, then. The left is ineffective here, and there is not much of it. Of course, the less there gets to be of a real left, the more wood-headed idiots complain about it dominating everything. LOL!

I think a top priority should be unionization of the work force. So much seems to hinge on organizing labor.

The left, as always, should be aiming at curbing the natural tendency of the aristocratic classes to profligately arrogate power and wealth and to exploit the vulnerable masses.

Sunstone said:

The US is in pretty much the same position as the UK, then. The left is ineffective here, and there is not much of it. Of course, the less there gets to be of a real left, the more wood-headed idiots complain about it dominating everything. LOL!

I think a top priority should be unionization of the work force. So much seems to hinge on organizing labor.

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Hello Sunstone

I do agree about unionization but it is incredibly more complex and challenging than it used to be. The main culprit is that huge numbers of workers are employed by contractors as opposed to their actual workplace.

Secondly the race card has worked quite nicely for the ruling class. An example; I have often struck up good friendships with cleaners in places that I have worked. In one place the West African cleaners assumed that they were doing work that the "English" were not prepared to do. They were shocked to hear that my mother and grandmother were both former cleaners. Both were bullied out of there very humble jobs - my mother because she could not speak two languages (to clean toilets????) and my grandmother by taxation laws on pensioners.

There is a tough battle ahead.

Seyorni said:

The left, as always, should be aiming at curbing the natural tendency of the aristocratic classes to profligately arrogate power and wealth and to exploit the vulnerable masses.

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Hi Seyorni

I agree with the spirit of your message but I think we should be careful with terminology. I can only speak for the UK but aristocratic classes are not always the ruling classes. Some aristocrats are very poor.

However the ruling classes may come from any background (social mobility, pretty much the definition of social class) but are always the enemy of the working people.

Personally, I think climate change is my top priority as that will ultimately decide whether capitalism can be reformed or not. We cannot have an economic system which actively works to break down the ecological systems which we rely on for agriculture, fisheries, fresh water etc in the long run. I'm not sure how things will pan out as capitalism is potentially capable of reforming itself, but it really hinges on whether it is in the interests of the ruling class to do so and put those reforms into practice. It won't simply decide the socialism-capitalism debate in one country but the world over. Pretty much all other issues will end up being decided by how they fit into this bigger picture.

In the short-run I don't know as the left is in retreat on every front and has been for a number of decades. In the UK, I'm hoping the Greens will do well in the election this year, but they're still 'progressive' rather than openly socialist even if they have a socialist wing. I am extremely encouraged by the sudden growth in their membership, in-spite of the fact the media really isn't talking about them.
The Far left is an absolute mess- Wikipedia illustrates the problem that there are about 30 'far left' parties. The far left hasn't got more than 1% of the vote, even when the Communist Party of Great Britain has 2 MP's back in the 50s. In 2010, UKIP and the BNP got 5% of the vote between them, so even if there was a single party, it's not promising.
There are some signs of growth, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is going to put up 100 candidates in the elections this year, so there is an electoral presence, so the 'idea' of socialism may reach more people. [Edit: a major partner in the TUSC is the Socialist Party of England and Wales which traces back to militant tendency]. I doubt they will get an MP, but there is a sitting RESPECT MP (George Galloway for Bradford West by-election in 2012) and I'm happy to see the Greens got an MP last time round too (Caroline Lucas for Brighton Pavilion). This election could be full of surprises as no-one knows where it's going. but overall, it's quite a mess and only a much larger process (probably growing income inequality and awareness of it's corrosive effects) may foster the kind of conditions where people start to realize something is wrong.

In spite of that, if not because of it, it remains important to get involved in whatever way you can. anything is better than apathy at the moment. I joined the Communist Party of Britain, mainly because their programme is well thought out, a long-interest in the history and the theory and name recognition (saying "I'm a commie" is bound to get a response ). Talking about socialism of any kind openly helps as hearing a reasonable dissenting voice can make people re-think their ideas and question whether the neo-liberal consensus really stacks up. So I'm optimistic that left-wing issues will go up the agenda, but I'm unsure where that will leave us because of how resistant the system now is to change and how much political uncertainty will factor into people's calculations; we are a much more pessimistic generation compared with our counter-parts 100 or even 50 years ago. The inertia is going to take time to wear off.

Nice post Red Economist, thank you. I too see the Greens as of importance. Environmental issues may be the make or break for near future class issues.

I see that much of the left's long term failure and short term strengths is their tendency to act more like a pressure group than a political party. When I first became active in 1972 there was a strong industrial emphasis. Understandably this became less relevant to London. I was a founder member of the swp but left when they started putting up "Muggers Have Rights" stickers. Some years later during a period of re-interest I was dismayed at what seemed to be a fetish for "kissing the Islamic ***". I pointed out after one peace demo, that none of the muslims that I spoke to, who wanted allied pilots dead were even aware that a short time previously those same aircrew had been bombing serbia on their behalf (no peace demo's then).

Just as our workplaces have changed so too have have our residential areas (I resent using the misplaced term "community"). The best unionism and class struggles were community based, e.g. miners, dockers etc.

Some interesting times are coming.

rocala said:

Nice post Red Economist, thank you. I too see the Greens as of importance. Environmental issues may be the make or break for near future class issues.

I see that much of the left's long term failure and short term strengths is their tendency to act more like a pressure group than a political party. When I first became active in 1972 their was a strong industrial emphasis. Understandably this became less relevant to London. I was a founder member of the swp but left when they started putting up "Muggers Have Rights" stickers. Some years later during a period of re-interest I was dismayed at what seemed to be a fetish for "kissing the Islamic ***". I pointed out after one peace demo, that none of the muslims that I spoke to, who wanted allied pilots dead were even aware that a short time previously those same aircrew had been bombing serbia on their behalf (no peace demo's then).

Just as our workplaces have changed so too have have our residential areas (I resent using the misplaced term "community"). The best unionism and class struggles were community based, e.g. miners, dockers etc.

Some interesting times are coming.

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Thanks. Congrats on being a founder of the SWP btw, although I had no idea they got it that wrong. "muggers have rights?" opps. (edit: what was the rationale behind that? I'm kind of lost on that.)

I'm still new to the Far Left but it does appear that your right to say its more like a pressure group. There is a lot of spontaneous hostility but the left hasn't really "lead" very much and with the collapse of communism and retreat of social democracy to more centre-ground politics, we don't have anywhere to lead people too as these have just been shut off or ruled out. There is no 'vision' of what the world could look like and this society is really lethal to utopian aspirations. it is really hard to know what's going to happen next as there is no destination for people to work towards other than "something else".

I have yet to go to a demo, but even without that based on what I've seen on the internet I get the sense that beyond a very shallow use of leftist vocabulary, there is not a lot of substance of what is going on, nor are people really informed. So I know what you mean when you said about people wanting allied pilots dead without really thinking it through, although its not an issue I've looked into very deeply.

Red Economist said:

Thanks. Congrats on being a founder of the SWP btw, although I had no idea they got it that wrong. "muggers have rights?" opps. (edit: what was the rationale behind that? I'm kind of lost on that.)

I'm still new to the Far Left but it does appear that your right to say its more like a pressure group. There is a lot of spontaneous hostility but the left hasn't really "lead" very much and with the collapse of communism and retreat of social democracy to more centre-ground politics, we don't have anywhere to lead people too as these have just been shut off or ruled out. There is no 'vision' of what the world could look like and this society is really lethal to utopian aspirations. it is really hard to know what's going to happen next as there is no destination for people to work towards other than "something else".

I have yet to go to a demo, but even without that based on what I've seen on the internet I get the sense that beyond a very shallow use of leftist vocabulary, there is not a lot of substance of what is going on, nor are people really informed. So I know what you mean when you said about people wanting allied pilots dead without really thinking it through, although its not an issue I've looked into very deeply.

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Hello again

As far as I can recall the 'mugger stickers' were an an act of racism just as guilty of the "all muggers are black" generalistion as that of the extreme right. The only difference being that the swp wanted them cuddled and it therefore equals anti racism????????????

Red Economist - you mention not having been on a demo, don't worry, anything worth being on can be quite periodic. I missed one in the early 70's. I think it was against Heath's Industrial Relations Act. A friend was there, he talked of tens of thousands taking part. He saw buses pull over and the drivers getting out to join the demo.

My grandfather, a dear, kind and gentle man, talked of being forced by troops with bayonets to leave railway property during the General Strike 1926.

Agreed. Same here in the US. Personally, I think should be focusing on especially worker and labor issues. It's something we all can relate to right now. Even as Bernie Sanders has pointed out if you don't work on the socio-economic issues we can't really fix anything else. Everything goes back to socio-economics.