Contemporary “Western Leftism” is an insidious ideology that, whether ultra-left or reformist in form, only acts in support of monopoly capitalism. The Western left and especially the US left have rejected socialism (which they call “Stalinism”) in favor of bourgeois liberal culture war. A closer look at their extreme socially liberal views and utopian rejection of real world socialism reveals them to be a dangerous enemy of the Western proletariat. Marxist-Leninists must struggle against all manifestations of “Western Leftism.”
The Contemporary Western Left’s “New Left” Origins
During the tumultuous 1960s, a new ideological strain appeared on the US left-wing political scene. The New Left ideologists, as they would come to be known, placed the struggle for bourgeois democratic rights over the class struggle for workers’ rights. At its core, New Leftism rejected Marxism-Leninism in favor of bourgeois liberal ideology. And thus began an endless series of “rights movements”: rights for homosexuals, animals, the environment, transsexuals, etc. “Rights struggles” for everyone except, of course, for workers’ rights.
The New Leftists also harbored an intense hatred for the world’s community of socialist countries, especially the Soviet Union. Their hazy, drug-clouded minds could see no difference between the world’s first workers’ states and predatory US imperialism. They claimed to be for a “third way”, against Washington and Moscow, but their anti-Sovietism only sent them running into Uncle Sam’s open arms.
With bourgeois support, the New Left grew until its basic ideas (i.e. liberal identity politics) now hold a monopoly upon the West’s left. However, as New Left ideas became dominant, the left itself became politically irrelevant. Due to their rejection of working class organizing, many workers became ambivalent toward left-wing politics. Meanwhile, many more became openly hostile toward the neo-left’s fringe views on culture.
Oppose “Kulturkampf”
The Western left’s extreme social-liberalism alienates most of the proletariat. Such errors occur on two key culture war “issues” fought over during the bourgeois election season: the family and religion. The bourgeoisie effectively use these “wedge issues” to divide and rule our class.
The bourgeoisie try every way to weaken and undermine working class families, because they provide an economic support mechanism to workers. Consequently, capitalist Hollywood creates movies that encourage infidelity and divorce, while bourgeois liberal intellectuals slander heterosexual marriage as being “oppressive.” Radical-feminists turn male and female workers against each other by trying to replace proletarian class struggle with bourgeois “gender struggle.” Profit hungry exploiters want increasingly vulnerable (and therefore, extra-exploitable) workers, like single parents. Therefore, the bourgeoisie’s propagandists attack workers’ families just like they attack labor unions, progressive legislation, or anything else that benefits our class.
Rallying to the defense of workers’ families should be an obvious necessity. Yet the Western left has taken the exact opposite approach by promoting “alternative families” (i.e. advocating single parenthood or gay marriage as an ideal) over “traditional families” (i.e. a husband, wife, and children). Supporting such “family diversity” essentially means cheerleading for capitalism’s atomization of society, for the ruthless breakdown of what binds humanity together.
One might be wondering about how this relates to Engels’ 1884 work, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. Engels said that we would not know how workers’ future romantic relationships would be like until a new generation had grown up in socialism. However, that question was long ago answered in the world’s first socialist societies in the 20th century. Soviet families were overwhelmingly heterosexual and monogamous. Ultra-leftists that slander workers’ nuclear families are rejecting the experience of real world socialism. Marxist-Leninists in the West could learn a lot from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which holds a strong pro-family position.
Interrelated to defending proletarian families is the issue of religion. Both are easy questions to make ultra-left errors on. Lenin said that communists must recruit religious workers into the party. While we oppose religious proselytizing amongst our ranks, we also must equally condemn hostility toward religious workers. Religious sectarianism is an easy way to turn friends into enemies. A clever tactician is not so foolish as to make such an error.
Thanks to misguided culture warring, the US left has isolated itself away in liberal enclaves in the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, and the West Coast. Almost no presence exists in the Deep South, Appalachia, the Great Plains, and the Mountain West regions. US leftists typically sneer at these latter parts of the country, which alienates most workers living there. It’s time to toss off those hemp sandals and start a nationwide struggle for socialism.
For Socialism, Against Imperialism
Western leftists’ opposition to existing socialist societies leads to support for capitalism. Once an ultra-leftist has realized that an anarchist/idealist utopia can never come true, they take a predictable ‘leap to the right,’ ultimately settling with support for Keynesian or laissez-faire capitalism, their choice. For the reformist left-liberals, Keynesian capitalism combined with a bourgeois “welfare state” is as far as they’ll ever go.
Only two real political positions exist: 1, support for socialist revolution and a socialist state; or 2, support for counter-revolution and a capitalist state. No “third course” is possible. The “alternative path” leads right back to capitalism, if it ever left in the first place. Support for socialist revolution to end US imperialism should be the basis for reconstructing “the left.”
As we warned in 2009, “humanitarian” imperialist propaganda would become an increasing danger. Imperialist wars and coups against small countries based upon lies about “national defense” could only be peddled for so long with a straight face. The reversion to “the white man’s burden to spread civilization” was inevitable. Now the imperialist think tanks and talking heads endlessly prattle on about “democracy” and “human rights” as they try selling Obama’s next Libya-style massacre, which easily fools Western leftists. Meanwhile, Western intelligence agencies fund, arm, and organize dangerous al-Queda terrorists against Syria’s secular government. In addition, the US State Department acts as a “second Pentagon” by funding pseudo-popular “protest movements” in countries independent from the US.
Opposition to US imperialism means more than just opposing US wars and coups, but also rejecting US monopoly capitalism as a system. In response to the bourgeois sneer, “There is no alternative,” we must reply, “Socialism is the alternative!” Real world socialism involves nationalization of the means of production and distribution, central planning, and a workers’ party holding political power in an individual country. Meanwhile, workers’ homes, cars, and other items remain their own personal possessions. Only those upholding these basic principles belong in a communist party, the development of which is our key task.
Instead of party building, the US left is obsessed with “organizing” disorganized protests that inevitably fizzle out, leaving no lasting presence, such as Occupy Wall Street. While the movement contains many well-meaning people, it has been severely weakened by two groups: Democratic Party operatives and anarchists. The Democrats want to dupe you into supporting the corrupt Democratic Party machine, while the anarchists try tricking you into “boycotting elections” altogether. Both ultimately serve the same purpose: preventing the development of a genuine opposition party that will lead us against Wall Street’s two-party dictatorship.
Workers’ Rights, Not Culture War
The US left should be fighting for the legal protection of key workers’ rights. US workers still lack the right to paid vacations, holidays, sick leave, and maternity/paternity leave. Workers in all other developed capitalist countries and in many developing countries already have these rights. In addition, US medical care is not universal, Social Security is under attack, and increasing numbers of workers are not paid a livable wage. Unfortunately, US leftists have tried placing proletarian class struggle for these rights on hold until all workers are socially liberal rather than socially conservative.
Marxist-Leninists must oppose radicals on both sides of the “culture war,” taking special aim on the socially liberal varieties that currently afflict the left. The extremists only aid the capitalist class in dividing the proletariat against itself (e.g. “hippies” vs. “rednecks”). Marxist-Leninists must work to unite both socially liberal and socially conservative workers against our real enemy: the bourgeoisie. Only a steeled, Marxist-Leninist party that does not make “Western Leftist” style errors can lead our class to victory. “Western Leftism” only results in political irrelevancy and defeat.
