Die Neue Zeit
19th May 2013, 08:23
Left Unity supporter Mark Perryman argues the need for a new political culture (http://leftunity.org/the-cult-of-activism/)
What is dominant in a particular version of Left politics is the cult of the activist. That if we all just did more, and there were more of us doing it then capitalism would come crashing down and the new Jerusalem built. Of course I’m not against campaigning, without that our new party won’t amount to very much. But the question that should always be asked is, is our activism the most effective action we could be taking? Thanks to the cult of activism a space for this kind of questioning is rarely provided. Instead a dull routine is stuck with because that’s what has always been done before, so why change? The lack of positive outcomes barely addressed before we’re on to the next issue to campaign about.
So the beginnings are different, and so far, so good. The most effective action now is to find the ways that the 8000 plus signatories can turn signing up into becoming the party we want. Of course many won’t join in this process, the initial sign-up as much as they end up committing to. That’s part and parcel of the era of clicktivism which just like activism has its flaws too. But anything much less than a quarter joining in that process has to be judged a failure and recognised as such. This is our first test of our break with the way others have organised in the past. This means placing the members, our needs, hopes, expectations, emotions absolutely at the core of the organisation. This isn’t about being inward-looking. But it does mean recognising that without a qualitative leap in numbers and means of participation compared to all the previous, and failed, efforts Ken’s appeal and those of us who signed up, will have amounted to not very much. It means not a detailed set of policies at the outset, it means a values-led organisation, values rooted in how we do our politics as much as what our politics are. Paul Mason recently quoted in an article in Soundings the German Social-Democrat Eduard Bernstein ‘the way is everything, the goal nothing’. We might not want to go quite so far down that road but for a renegade Eduard had a point! Being part of Left Unity I hope will mean being in meetings which are a journey of discovery for all of us. Where we don’t know the answers before proceedings have even begun. A meeting that has failed if at some stage not everybody has taken part. A night out which if it hasn’t involved at last one burst of involuntary laughter wasn’t much of a success. Without pleasure why would anybody but the most committed keep coming back for more. We should be a party for the uncommitted every bit as much as for the committed. We know where the latter are coming from, yet we’ll learn far more from the experiences and contributions of the former.
The possibilities of each local group to develop a twitter feed, facebook page, a website, a youtube channel are clear and present. The role of the party to facilitate, not control, providing the training so that Left Unity at the base becomes characterised by citizen journalism, photography and film-making, able to make instant use of social media as eruptions of protest occur, developing a media presence rooted in localities.
As a party we need to find ways to develop a common-sense understanding of the alternative, in words and images. Not the jargon of leftism that outside the orbit few can make sense of. Nor a politics of shouty slogans either, ‘Fight/Smash/Stop’. OK for life on planet placard but as a language of hope for the everyday, worse than useless.
Thirdly as Jim Jepps has pointed out in a most interesting recent blogpost (http://www.jimjepps.net/?p=423) despite the resources at its disposal, which including the trade unions are considerable, the Left in this country lack in large measure any kind of physical or cultural infrastructure. Where are the social and resource centres, the meeting halls, the pubs, cafes and restaurants, even the summer festivals we can call our own? Few and far between, and those that do exist are mostly trapped by the history from where they came, incapable of adapting to the new social and cultural terrain. The newish, and small, Left Wing group Counterfire must have surprised many when as one of their first major interventions they set up a cafe, Firebox. It may or may not succeed, for sheer boldness and imagination it certainly deserves to. Not only to survive but to flourish too. By this one act a small group put much larger organisations to shame which haven’t come close to anything of this sort. A chain of Left Unity sandwich bars? Not perhaps what most of us signed up to. But in each locality a serious audit of what opportunities might exist to initiate a meeting point, a social and cultural space, temporary, mobile or pop-up yet sustainable too. Perhaps a mobile coffee stand, fairtrade, with tables and chairs when the weather’s good. Or a big red bus touring the country with the facility to put on a stage, show a film, space on board for a mobile bookshop and cafe, the Left Unity roadshow. Yes it sounds different, even a little crazy. Nothing like we’re used to taken as our starting point because almost everything we’re used to has failed.
What is dominant in a particular version of Left politics is the cult of the activist. That if we all just did more, and there were more of us doing it then capitalism would come crashing down and the new Jerusalem built. Of course I’m not against campaigning, without that our new party won’t amount to very much. But the question that should always be asked is, is our activism the most effective action we could be taking? Thanks to the cult of activism a space for this kind of questioning is rarely provided. Instead a dull routine is stuck with because that’s what has always been done before, so why change? The lack of positive outcomes barely addressed before we’re on to the next issue to campaign about.
So the beginnings are different, and so far, so good. The most effective action now is to find the ways that the 8000 plus signatories can turn signing up into becoming the party we want. Of course many won’t join in this process, the initial sign-up as much as they end up committing to. That’s part and parcel of the era of clicktivism which just like activism has its flaws too. But anything much less than a quarter joining in that process has to be judged a failure and recognised as such. This is our first test of our break with the way others have organised in the past. This means placing the members, our needs, hopes, expectations, emotions absolutely at the core of the organisation. This isn’t about being inward-looking. But it does mean recognising that without a qualitative leap in numbers and means of participation compared to all the previous, and failed, efforts Ken’s appeal and those of us who signed up, will have amounted to not very much. It means not a detailed set of policies at the outset, it means a values-led organisation, values rooted in how we do our politics as much as what our politics are. Paul Mason recently quoted in an article in Soundings the German Social-Democrat Eduard Bernstein ‘the way is everything, the goal nothing’. We might not want to go quite so far down that road but for a renegade Eduard had a point! Being part of Left Unity I hope will mean being in meetings which are a journey of discovery for all of us. Where we don’t know the answers before proceedings have even begun. A meeting that has failed if at some stage not everybody has taken part. A night out which if it hasn’t involved at last one burst of involuntary laughter wasn’t much of a success. Without pleasure why would anybody but the most committed keep coming back for more. We should be a party for the uncommitted every bit as much as for the committed. We know where the latter are coming from, yet we’ll learn far more from the experiences and contributions of the former.
The possibilities of each local group to develop a twitter feed, facebook page, a website, a youtube channel are clear and present. The role of the party to facilitate, not control, providing the training so that Left Unity at the base becomes characterised by citizen journalism, photography and film-making, able to make instant use of social media as eruptions of protest occur, developing a media presence rooted in localities.
As a party we need to find ways to develop a common-sense understanding of the alternative, in words and images. Not the jargon of leftism that outside the orbit few can make sense of. Nor a politics of shouty slogans either, ‘Fight/Smash/Stop’. OK for life on planet placard but as a language of hope for the everyday, worse than useless.
Thirdly as Jim Jepps has pointed out in a most interesting recent blogpost (http://www.jimjepps.net/?p=423) despite the resources at its disposal, which including the trade unions are considerable, the Left in this country lack in large measure any kind of physical or cultural infrastructure. Where are the social and resource centres, the meeting halls, the pubs, cafes and restaurants, even the summer festivals we can call our own? Few and far between, and those that do exist are mostly trapped by the history from where they came, incapable of adapting to the new social and cultural terrain. The newish, and small, Left Wing group Counterfire must have surprised many when as one of their first major interventions they set up a cafe, Firebox. It may or may not succeed, for sheer boldness and imagination it certainly deserves to. Not only to survive but to flourish too. By this one act a small group put much larger organisations to shame which haven’t come close to anything of this sort. A chain of Left Unity sandwich bars? Not perhaps what most of us signed up to. But in each locality a serious audit of what opportunities might exist to initiate a meeting point, a social and cultural space, temporary, mobile or pop-up yet sustainable too. Perhaps a mobile coffee stand, fairtrade, with tables and chairs when the weather’s good. Or a big red bus touring the country with the facility to put on a stage, show a film, space on board for a mobile bookshop and cafe, the Left Unity roadshow. Yes it sounds different, even a little crazy. Nothing like we’re used to taken as our starting point because almost everything we’re used to has failed.