I'm interested to get your opinions as to whether it is possible to win over the sort of "Trump/Brexit" supporters to socialism and communism.
The thing is that both Trumps election victory and the success of the leave campign in the UK's EU referendum were victories for the ruling class of financiers based on the willingness to win working class support. They skillfully manipulated people's fears on immigration, islam and globalisation as cultural threats as a way to channel support into causes that advance their interests but will probably leave their supporters worse off. Ultimately, these supporters are going to get screwed over but chose to support these groups as there wasn't a radical far left position available. Its fascism in all but name and maybe with a thin libertarian disguise.
Much of the rhetoric about "liberal elites", "distortion of news by media conglomerates" and the state as a entity which "steals" from ordinary people by taxation betrays some level of class consciousness- only that its mis-directed towards a section of the ruling class and not the entirity of it. It involves criticisms of economic liberalism, capitalism and globalisation- which are traditionally our issues- but its simply presented in terms of non-class narratives. (E.g. Islam as a "religious" problem, immigration as a "racial" problem, globalisation as a "cultural/national" problem when they could all be described just as easily in class terms).
I'm not saying this would be easy, but we have to find ways to address the underlying socio-economic issues behind concerns about immigration and globalisation, etc. We have to find a common language to work with those sections of the working class that are being manipulated into betraying their own interests based on narratives of race, religion and nationalism that conceal class antagonisms. The feriocity and ferver of the far right is coming from socially deprived and marginalised groups that traditionally were bastions of support of far left causes. Even out of a purely cynical and manipulative calculation this level of discontent is our oppurtunity. Maybe it would be better to go on the offensive and win them over by pusshing class narratives to the other non-class ones?
The thing is that both Trumps election victory and the success of the leave campign in the UK's EU referendum were victories for the ruling class of financiers based on the willingness to win working class support. They skillfully manipulated people's fears on immigration, islam and globalisation as cultural threats as a way to channel support into causes that advance their interests but will probably leave their supporters worse off. Ultimately, these supporters are going to get screwed over but chose to support these groups as there wasn't a radical far left position available. Its fascism in all but name and maybe with a thin libertarian disguise.
Much of the rhetoric about "liberal elites", "distortion of news by media conglomerates" and the state as a entity which "steals" from ordinary people by taxation betrays some level of class consciousness- only that its mis-directed towards a section of the ruling class and not the entirity of it. It involves criticisms of economic liberalism, capitalism and globalisation- which are traditionally our issues- but its simply presented in terms of non-class narratives. (E.g. Islam as a "religious" problem, immigration as a "racial" problem, globalisation as a "cultural/national" problem when they could all be described just as easily in class terms).
I'm not saying this would be easy, but we have to find ways to address the underlying socio-economic issues behind concerns about immigration and globalisation, etc. We have to find a common language to work with those sections of the working class that are being manipulated into betraying their own interests based on narratives of race, religion and nationalism that conceal class antagonisms. The feriocity and ferver of the far right is coming from socially deprived and marginalised groups that traditionally were bastions of support of far left causes. Even out of a purely cynical and manipulative calculation this level of discontent is our oppurtunity. Maybe it would be better to go on the offensive and win them over by pusshing class narratives to the other non-class ones?