Reuben
10th August 2008, 00:35
What is the way forward in Britain. What exactly should Marxists be doing?
I think this is a good time to open such a discussion because IMO the answers to these questions are far from self evident. Nor can they be discerned simply from Marxist theory.
In spite of the current crisis of capitalism things are looking mixed at best on the political front. Although there is something of a reawakening of trade union activism going on, its concentrated largely in the public sector - while in the private sector trade union membership has dwindled miserably.
We are staring a tory government in the face. The labour party - for better or worse - is obvious reasons seeing any solid base it still has in the working class diminishing. Various attempts have been made to form a mass left of labour party but over the past 10 years have not amounted to a great deal.
On the other hand environmentalism - which in the past I have greatly enjoyed dismissing - is providing at least a space for people like ourselves to make substantial criticisms of the existing system and to be heard. Meanwhile the existing system appears - at least in the economic sense - to be facing a crisis.
So what should marxists be doing? how and where should we be working? How should we be engaging with that mass of people who do not have time for socialism but hould given current conditions, be receptive to it?
Many of us wil be in local branches of socialist organisations. Many of us will be the kind of people who should be taking a bit of initiative. So IMO this is a discussion worth having.
I think this is a good time to open such a discussion because IMO the answers to these questions are far from self evident. Nor can they be discerned simply from Marxist theory.
In spite of the current crisis of capitalism things are looking mixed at best on the political front. Although there is something of a reawakening of trade union activism going on, its concentrated largely in the public sector - while in the private sector trade union membership has dwindled miserably.
We are staring a tory government in the face. The labour party - for better or worse - is obvious reasons seeing any solid base it still has in the working class diminishing. Various attempts have been made to form a mass left of labour party but over the past 10 years have not amounted to a great deal.
On the other hand environmentalism - which in the past I have greatly enjoyed dismissing - is providing at least a space for people like ourselves to make substantial criticisms of the existing system and to be heard. Meanwhile the existing system appears - at least in the economic sense - to be facing a crisis.
So what should marxists be doing? how and where should we be working? How should we be engaging with that mass of people who do not have time for socialism but hould given current conditions, be receptive to it?
Many of us wil be in local branches of socialist organisations. Many of us will be the kind of people who should be taking a bit of initiative. So IMO this is a discussion worth having.