“The most profound defeat of the past three decades has been the retreat of the socialist left and the consequent lowering of both social and political expectations — both in what we hope for and what we believe we can collectively achieve. The idea of socialism has been sidelined as pie-in-the-sky. But what is really utopian is the promise that a better life within capitalism is around the corner. The radical must increasingly declare itself the practical.” (Sam Gindin)
“That’s how the enemy wants us. He wants us small, speaking a language no one understands, in a minority, hiding behind our traditional symbols. He is delighted with that, because he knows that as long as we are like that, we are not dangerous.” (Pablo Iglesias) The revolutionary socialist left faces a crisis of imagination. Most of us cannot really imagine an organized mass alternative within present-day capitalism (let alone a full-fledged post-capitalist polity). This is not meant as an insult. This difficulty is not borne of individual or political failure. It is a product of large social forces beyond any single socialist, tendency or organization. We organize protests and issue analyses. We unpack the ABCs of Marxism (as we see it) in study groups with talented millennial workers and students. We occupy town squares and block highways. Some of us have gone on strike or helped run independent political campaigns. Comrades (from Socialist Alternative, Solidarity, Kasama, Jacobin, International Socialist Organization, Workers International League, Socialist Party, Red Party, Philly Socialists, Socialist Action, among many others) do impressive (as well as the necessary if mundane) things that keep the socialist tradition alive. On a (usually) local level socialists (can) leaven the rise of struggle. full: http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=12353 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
