Slaves to the Left

The absence of a viable socialist movement today is an indisputable and depressing fact. This is hardly a profound observation. It has been noted by many others. Those who do acknowledge the problem have offered differing explanations. Some blame sectarianism. Dozens of other explanations abound. Obviously, history has not unfolded as Marx envisioned. The absence of a strong socialist political party has driven some on the Left to delude themselves into pursuing a strategy that envisages capturing the Labour Party and transforming it. Suffice it to say, those who advocate such a strategy are hard-pressed to provide one shred of evidence of the Labour Party’s receptivity to a socialist agenda. Such a strategy is an exercise in futility. The bulk of the Labour Party MPs do not even seem willing to defend what’s left of the welfare state. The trade union movement affiliated to the Labour Party is also an embarrassment. The TUC slavishly accept the capitalist labour laws that severely constrain and restrict overall union activity. They have essentially capitulated and proved themselves to be incapable of defending the interests of working people. To say this is not to argue that all work within the unions should be abandoned, that need is undeniable.

Nationalistic jingoism, xenophobia, racism, and sexism are well entrenched and permeates all facets of daily life. Appealing for human decency and compassion has clearly been inadequate. People who feel increasingly alienated and disempowered go on the defensive and often into denial. Socialists face a most difficult situation for the problems are many and the solutions so far unknown. Unable to chart a path out of isolation, socialists expend much of their time and energy in tried and trusted activities. Unfortunately, this is further evidence of their impotent state rather than its vitality. Each year activists stage “mass” demonstrations and rallies. While they have some worth, they usually attract only the faithful and have become little more than media events. Moreover, such protests are now incorporated into the legal bureaucracy with the use of police permits and the like and has become almost institutionalised. The lack of unity for the socialist goal has prompted the establishment of numerous organisations of varying forms – loose federations, flexible networks, etc.– without any clear solution to the problem. Socialist unity remains elusive. There are no ready-made answers to the complex questions facing socialists today. At the same time, the lack of such answers is no excuse to throw in the towel. Regardless of the weaknesses, the day-to-day struggle continues, whether it be in the trade unions, civil rights, environmental campaigning or what have you. Socialists must look beyond the immediate situation and be willing to outline a vision of a future society. The issues must be about how goods are produce and distributed, who owns the means of production and how work is organised and administered. Socialists must question the very way we spend our lives in a never ending and environmentally destructive process of expanding production and consumption. Overcoming scarcity, i.e., meeting people’s elementary material needs for food, clothing, shelter, etc., is obviously necessary. A more insidious problem, however, is the mindless consumerism and the ever-expanding creation of “needs”. The fact is that the planet cannot possibly sustain this toxic wasteful lifestyle on a global scale. Besides being ecologically unfeasible, the unrelenting drive for increased growth and production is threatening to permanently subvert the struggle for human liberation itself. A technological faith in expanding production has become synonymous with “progress” and “freedom” is equated with the right to consume. All this turns people themselves even more into commodities, reduced even more into yet another expendable raw material.

Our socialism should be not only democratic, non-exploitative, egalitarian, and internationalist but one that thoroughly replaces the limitless growth model of capitalism. We must keep the ideal alive and struggle to make it a reality to triumph over the present-day insanity and avoid the path of barbarism or collective self-annihilation.