Wilde is in the general tradition of William Morris (NEWS FROM NOWHERE, etc.)
Jim
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From: Michael Hoover [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sun 7/13/2003 6:27 AM
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Subject: [PEN-L] John Nichols on James Weinstein on Oscar Wilde and the Left
Published on Tuesday, July 8, 2003 by the Madison (WI) Capital Times
Left Should Take a Page From Wilde
by John Nichols
Toward the close of his extraordinary new book, "The Long Detour: The
History and Future of the American Left" (Westview), James Weinstein
ruminates on an all-but-forgotten tract by Oscar Wilde.
Weinstein, the eyes-wide-open historian and journalist who has been
close to the core of American left-wing politics for the better part
of 50 years, might not appear on the surface to be a Wilde man. But in
the Anglo-Irish dramatist and dandy's classic 1893 essay, "The Soul of
Man Under Socialism," Weinstein finds signposts that could point
toward a brighter future for the American left.
In year three of what Jefferson might refer to as a "reign of
witches," when American freedoms are under constant attack, when
foreign entanglements threaten to drag the country deeper into the
imperialist thicket, and when the loyal opposition to George W. Bush
is so loyal that there is all too little organized opposition, few
would dispute Weinstein's assertion that the American left is too
frequently "directionless and leaderless."
Weinstein speaks with the authority of one who has, at many turns,
offered both direction and leadership to the postwar left. The author
of "The Decline of Socialism in America" and "The Corporate Ideal in
the Liberal State," Weinstein was the founder of the influential
journal Socialist Review and the founding editor and publisher of the
Chicago-based democratic socialist magazine In These Times.
An old leftist, a new leftist, a radical and a pragmatist, Weinstein
has held the banner of progressive politics aloft through so many
struggles that he has passed from being a historian to being part of
history. And, ever the optimist, he has not given up on the prospect
that the next great chapter in the history of the American left may be
no more distant than the next turned page.
And Weinstein, wise as ever, has turned a page or so of Wilde in
search of inspiration for framing the next left. Wilde's concern of
more than a century ago, Weinstein observes, "was with the great
majority of working people whose creativity, 'latent and potential in
mankind generally,' was stifled by capitalism. By making financial
gain rather than personal growth its aim, he wrote, capitalism had
'crushed true individualism.' It debarred those in one part of the
community from realizing their individuality by starving them; and it
confused the other part by measuring them in terms of what they
possessed. Capitalism left people to think 'that the important thing
(was) to have,' rather than 'to be.' "
When he wrote "The Soul of Man Under Socialism," Wilde's argument for
the abolition of capitalism in order to free people "to be" was
dismissed as unrealistic.
"Few socialists shared Wilde's take on socialism in 1900 because it
was difficult to see a future where such a system would be possible,"
explains Weinstein. "But here we are, a hundred and fifty years after
Marx wrote the Manifesto and a hundred years after Wilde wrote 'The
Soul of Man Under Socialism.'
And while even now few envision such a future, the most advanced
capitalist nations have nonetheless created the productive capacity
for a society such as Marx and Wilde had in mind. The technology and
productive capacity exist, but the vision is missing. The problem,
then, is how to create a political movement with the will and the
ability to realize that vision."
In "The Long Detour," Weinstein argues that the time has come for the
left to renew a few of its utopian affiliations. Weinstein is no
dreamer - he expects the building of a left that can compete in the
marketplace of ideas and at the ballot box in 21st century America
"will be a long arduous task, and there will be many false starts."
But, he suggests, the renewal will be rooted in an understanding that
the left must articulate an agenda that speaks to the highest hopes
and promises reforms. And those reforms need to be not merely radical
but rejuvenating for the souls of Americans, who are increasingly
battered by a consumer culture so omnipresent that it leaves little
room for personal growth or societal progress.
