Is the Left dead for good?

[Antiochus]

Disclaimer ahead, my post is super depressing and more of a way to vent out with my pessimism.

Over the past few weeks I've come to the conclusion that progressive politics are just dead. What I mean by that is that they just aren't even "relevant" into the discussion anymore. Today even the most ridiculously classical liberal ideas are blasted as "insane" and "illogical" by conservative (and liberal) scum. The sheer stupidity out there is absolutely depressing. I was on twitter today and someone retweeted this:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNro_JwUYAAJZ71.jpg

Keep in mind I live in California, not some rural area of Mississippi or whatever. These are stupid fucking white kids with an IQ of 40 actually posting this crap; never mind the hysterical ignorance and mental gymnastics that it would take to both be a "Patriot dat supports de troops" and also support the United State's only separatist revolt that ultimately killed some 300,000+ U.S soldiers.

I don't think there is even the possibility in the short run for leftist momentum. And the saddest part is, even the movements were there are some strains of "hope" ("Occupy", "BLM") are instantly rejected by the majority of people. Historically I don't think this has ever happened. I mean, the left has always been marginalized, persecuted by the state and so forth, but the SPD in Germany was the biggest party there even when it was outlawed; the labour movement in England was strong enough to prevent imperialist wars and there was a genuine fear from the ruling class towards workers. Today its nothing but derision (and rightfully so btw) because of the sheer weakness of the movement.

The problem is I don't see any way forward. Accelerationism has failed. Neo-liberalism was just that, and it has only caused further and further shifts to the right (everywhere). I think for the first time in American politics, neo-nazi/white-power movements actually outnumber, in sheer volume, the total number of communists and anarchists in the country. The one method of organization that the left typically fell back to, Unions, is absolutely dead and dying faster than ever.

It doesn't help the fact that every time I see someone post something like the picture above I get a genuine urge to kill them.

[Puzzled Left]

I think for the first time in American politics, neo-nazi/white-power movements actually outnumber, in sheer volume, the total number of communists and anarchists in the country. The one method of organization that the left typically fell back to, Unions, is absolutely dead and dying faster than ever.

It doesn't help the fact that every time I see someone post something like the picture above I get a genuine urge to kill them.

Sure, the state of the Left in the US is abysmal for the past few decades, but I am not sure that if it is the first time that Nazis exceeded the radicals in number. In the twenties, there were at least 4 million official members of the KKK, which was far more vile and aggressive than they are today. Of course, the fascists may very likely to continue to gain strength today, but the state for the Left is far from hopeless.

As for the degeneration of unions, I think this phenomenon is partially due to the changes of the American economic structure. The traditional industrial proletariat is no where near as large it was in the past, so traditional workplace struggle naturally declines.

I, however, still believe in positive development for the American Left in the future. The younger generation is becoming more political while the political sphere is becoming more partisan. One must not underestimate Sanders' momentum; the "Bernie or Bust" mentality means that this burgeoning militancy will not be suffocated by establishment politics.

One recent example that I like is the Chicago Teachers' Union strike. I have never seen a strike by an American union with such a strong political tone while gaining the support of diverse sections of the working-class.

[Prof. Oblivion]

Employee productivity is up, which means smaller workplaces. Smaller workplaces means less employee collective consciousness. Improvements in living standards and flatter corporate structures, coupled with the ability for anyone to participate in the capitalist process, has blurred class lines. The left as a result is going to be weaker.

It doesn't help that the left is mostly a cesspool full of students and others who want to play revolutionary and talk about stuff that has absolutely zero relevance to people today. The left is a cultural gathering moreso than based on economic or class lines.

[KaneLives]

No, it’s not. I can understand your frustrations though. After reading/hearing reactionary rubbish and seeing what is seemingly so many people just blindly following it sometimes I just want to lie on my bed andforget everything. But then I look around at our ever-growing unequal capitalist world dominated by poverty, injustice, etc, and I see just how relevant our views actually are. There's no doubt that these reactionary views are heavily influenced by the media, and people just buy into it and spread nonsense and effectively help to maintain the status quo. Yes we live in a world which is full of inequalities and people with ignorant views, but I feel that it is important to challenge reactionary nonsense with our views the best we can. Remember this, so long as this present inequal system exists, then the thought of socialism and communism will be there in the hearts and thoughts of the people.There is hope in all of the darkness, at least in my view. There has to be, otherwise what's the point?

[RedSonRising]

At a historical low point, but progressive politics are catching on very quickly with the youth of this generation. Occupy, Black Lives Matter, the Fight for 15, the popularity of Bernie Sanders & Jeremy Corbyn, the visibility of groups like Anonymous, polls showing increasingly favorable opinions of socialism, it all points to a rise in class consciousness. It's still a very low point, but that's the natural result of de-industrialization and neo-liberal capitalism. The reactions to it are giving rise to more advances in left politics than in previous decades.

[Alan OldStudent]

All I can say is that over the 50-plus years I've been politically active, people have been saying that the left is dead.

[Verneinung]

Is the Left dead for good?

Probably.

I can't say absolutely, yes or no, because one never knows what surprises the future will bring; but, right now, in terms of organization, structure, leadership, ideas, strategy, motivation, resources, exposure, etc., especially weighed against the power of the capitalist state apparatus, there is very little hope.

Really what I would say we might be looking at, is a situation where things are really going to have to start collapsing. I doubt we will see the left directly become relevant and start forcing the situation. We will likely have to see some sort of major devastation from an economic/financial/currency/debt collapse, world war, ecological disasters, etc., and people generally, without leadership at this point, will revolt (or restructure), and we will get whatever the result is.

[RedSonRising]

Probably.

I can't say absolutely, yes or no, because one never knows what surprises the future will bring; but, right now, in terms of organization, structure, leadership, ideas, strategy, motivation, resources, exposure, etc., especially weighed against the power of the capitalist state apparatus, there is very little hope.

Really what I would say we might be looking at, is a situation where things are really going to have to start collapsing. I doubt we will see the left directly become relevant and start forcing the situation. We will likely have to see some sort of major devastation from an economic/financial/currency/debt collapse, world war, ecological disasters, etc., and people generally, without leadership at this point, will revolt (or restructure), and we will get whatever the result is.

Here's the problem, collapse and devastation doesn't automatically give way to leftist politics. It gives just as much opportunity for right-wing reactionaries to feed off of xenophobia, hatred of the poor, racism, nationalism, militarism, etc. Education and organization have to be in place to politicize those who open their ears to political currents when looking for answers during such societal ruptures.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I think there's a real problem wherein "the left" (ie, the left which identifies itself as such) tends to either, on one hand, fail to identify and unite with workers' struggles, or, on the other hand, mistake certain spectacular moments of revolt for the struggle.
In anglo-Canada, for example, there was a certain tendency to glorify the 2012 student strikes without understanding the different class character of Quebec students (the cegep and Universitie Quebec systems mean that Quebec students are much more working class than in the rest of Canada), the forms of organization (particularly vis-a-vis the principles of "autogestion" and "sydicalisme de combat") that informed the strike, etc. This happened both in the glorification of "militancy" and street tactics (from anarchists) and also the shallow declarations of "historic victory" from the opportunistic CFS their ilk. Point being, in either case, the point is being missed.
In periodic declarations of the left's "death" or its sudden rebirth (Occupy, Kobane, BLM, whatever) what's missed is the underlying activity which exists and continues irregardless of self-proclaimed leftists' involvement or enthusiasm.

[Verneinung]

Here's the problem, collapse and devastation doesn't automatically give way to leftist politics. It gives just as much opportunity for right-wing reactionaries to feed off of xenophobia, hatred of the poor, racism, nationalism, militarism, etc. Education and organization have to be in place to politicize those who open their ears to political currents when looking for answers during such societal ruptures.

Yes. It might even be more reasonable to assume reactionaries and/or demagoguery. The same lack of organization and strategy that applies to lack of action now would hold as a good reason to assume that, at the point of a collapse, the left would not be able to insert themselves.

[Shinyos]

The left has never in any point in time remained consistent with it's desirable outcomes, liberal or radical. Besides the tired, simplistic and painfully overused clichés of a better world, there's no real strategy as to what can be done to combat the existing scheme of politics, and more importantly, how possible it would be to convey large numbers of the average working class person with revolutionary struggles. As of now, the right wing continues to grow stronger and larger with every passing second and the left's answer to this is almost non-existent to any of this. While I believe that education may very well play a role as to which side people will side to, countries that have the highest level of education, say South Korea and Japan, still nevertheless have a huge problem with racism, sexism, etc. Which leads me to believe that there needs to be something more than education for an actual revolutionary struggle to flourish.

[GLF]

Why are you comparing the left with social democrats and progressives? I hope the centre-left continues their downward spiral. In America, there never has been a left. Ever. And in Europe, the left has been drastically weakened over the last few decades. Wanna know why? It's not because people are enamored with the right wing. It's not because Nazis or Fascists are necessarily gaining ground (indeed, even at the height of popularity, Hitler only had about 1/3 of Germany behind him). It's because of pseudo-leftists AKA the centre-left.

Now in America, this is a little bit disheartening because the centre-left is preferable to the Fascists. And I am ashamed to admit that a few weeks ago I had a moment of weakness and considered the idea of voting for a centre-left candidate. But in the grand scheme of things I'm smart enough to realize that the social democrats are a thousand times more harmful to the emancipation of the working class then the right wing (except for the fash of course).

[Shinyos]

Why are you comparing the left with social democrats and progressives?

I wasn't.

I don't really know the state of leftist politics outside of the U.S., but I don't really think the blame of weakened state of egalitarian politic should be shifted towards 'pseudo-leftists'. Why is it that every time the radical left encounters a problem, the liberals are always to blame? It is not as through as the mainstream left talks for nor precipitate in revolutionary struggles.