- 12 Nov 2015 19:42
#14618547
This is from SOCIAL DEMOCRACY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: A POST KEYNESIAN PERSPECTIVE, so their liberal perspective must be kept in mind. Nevertheless, they are making some cogent reform proposals (if you are at all interested in an operationally effective left in the West).
I strongly disagree with the first point in this list, for two reasons: 1) a Marxist analysis of history needs to be separated from its prescriptive conclusions, and 2) most leftists (even of the radical variety) do not consider the Soviet Union as a viable template.
However, the rest of the article is spot on. The bolded portions above are what I consider the necessary reforms that must be undertaken if the left is to have any relevance in the 21st century.
Especially point 9. "Totally unrestricted, open-borders mass immigration has traditionally been an anarcho-capitalist libertarian position. That is, a position held by the crazies who want to totally, or almost totally, abolish governments." This attitude of the left is basically irrational. Capitalism is the only internationalist force in existence, and only a refocused emphasis on national governments has any hope of fighting this force. Simply repeating the old saw that "capitalism is international, and thus the revolution must be international" is logically incoherent. There is no international institution or entity the left can leverage in furthering its cause.
Reification of the international refugee is part of the same constellation of irrationality identified in 3) and 4), and demonstrates a shockingly pound-salt contempt for the working class within national borders.
(1) end the absurd attachment that many people on the extreme left still have to Marxism and Communism. These were, and are, totalitarian ideologies, and any attachment to them is just a disgrace and embarrassment.
(2)the mainstream left needs to abandon neoliberalism. Return to strong Keynesian and social democratic economic policies. Post Keynesian economics is the foundation of left-wing economic thought – not Marxism, not neoliberalism, and not watered-down neoclassical Keynesianism.
(3) the academic left needs to abandon Poststructuralism and Postmodernism, and all the ridiculous related ideas such as truth relativism, moral relativism and even cultural relativism.
(4) end the climate of political correctness and even hostility to free speech that some left-wing people have. Free speech is sacred in a free society, and you will achieve nothing by demanding that governments silence people whose opinions you don’t like – except to dismantle more of our freedoms and set yourself up for having your own free speech taken away, especially if right-wing governments start imposing their own restrictions on free speech. Hate speech laws, while they are well intentioned, simply go down a dangerous route. There is a real part of the left that is better called the regressive left. It is often intolerant of free speech, is strongly connected with Postmodernism, and obsesses over divisive identity politics.
(5) following on from (4), end the obsessing over extreme identity politics, as it tends to divide people and draw attention from the far more serious issues of economic management and economic justice.
(6) the mainstream left needs to radically rethink foreign policy and even bring Western war criminals to justice. We have just been through the most bizarre periods where even some mainstream left-wing parties (e.g., Britain’s New Labour) have supported the most outrageously immoral and disastrous wars. Even more disgusting, they never been held to account for it. Just look recently at Tony Blair’s “apology” for the Iraq war. Apology, my eye. Any decent mainstream left in Britain would be demanding that Blair – and his New Labour charlatans who planned the war – face charges for war criminality.
(7) the left should strongly defend modern science and secularism, and end the truly bizarre hostility to rationality and science that has emerged from Postmodernism. Related to this, the left should seriously rethink the role of religion in society. Secularism does not necessarily mean hostility to religion, but removing the harmful role of religion from politics, law and society. E.g., there should only be one system of law in a Western secular society, not parallel legal systems for different communities.
(8) the mainstream European left needs to vigorously oppose the Eurozone and European Union, and stand up for national democracy and economic sovereignty. The EU is one of the most outrageously regressive forces in the world today, and it probably should be dismantled.
(9) finally, the most painful and controversial issue for most left-wing people: the left needs to rethink whether mass immigration is a good thing, especially in Europe, on economic and social grounds. The public hostility to mass immigration in Europe is rising. If it really gets to the point where a solid majority wants an end to mass immigration and open-doors borders throughout the EU in each nation, shouldn’t a democratically-elected government – even a left-wing one – respect what most people want?
I strongly disagree with the first point in this list, for two reasons: 1) a Marxist analysis of history needs to be separated from its prescriptive conclusions, and 2) most leftists (even of the radical variety) do not consider the Soviet Union as a viable template.
However, the rest of the article is spot on. The bolded portions above are what I consider the necessary reforms that must be undertaken if the left is to have any relevance in the 21st century.
Especially point 9. "Totally unrestricted, open-borders mass immigration has traditionally been an anarcho-capitalist libertarian position. That is, a position held by the crazies who want to totally, or almost totally, abolish governments." This attitude of the left is basically irrational. Capitalism is the only internationalist force in existence, and only a refocused emphasis on national governments has any hope of fighting this force. Simply repeating the old saw that "capitalism is international, and thus the revolution must be international" is logically incoherent. There is no international institution or entity the left can leverage in furthering its cause.
Reification of the international refugee is part of the same constellation of irrationality identified in 3) and 4), and demonstrates a shockingly pound-salt contempt for the working class within national borders.
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters. -Antonio Gramsci