[lbo-talk] Fake left (was More on the global capitalist crisis)

Tahir Wood twood at uwc.ac.za
Mon Dec 15 02:12:30 PST 2003


Joseph Wanzala quoted Loren Goldner:
>fake left
When I see this phrase I usually conclude the author has only a tangential relationship with reality. What is this left currency that's valuable enough to be worth counterfeiting? Who's being tricked or co-opted? And where is the authentic revolutionary alternative? Doug

Personally I can't remember ever having seen this exact phrase before, but knowing Loren Goldner and his (to me) very impressive body of work, I can more or less imagine what he meant by this expression. It could mean any form of capitalist ideology that portrays itself as anti-capitalism. This could include: Marxist-Leninist statism or state capitalism; pragmatism in marxist clothing, which regards any attempt to eschew bourgeous politics as infantile or 'unrealistic'; social democracy and other forms of welfare capitalism; third worldism and the subsitution of third world nationalist movements for anti-capitalism; etc.

"Who's being tricked or co-opted?" Well I once was - I spent a few years in my somewhat younger days as a member of the African National Congress. Today this African nationalist movement is an enthusiastic promoter of neo-liberal solutions to problems of 'third world development'.

"Where is the authentic revolutionary alternative?" Well this is obviously a a rhetorical question, which is intended to suggest that there can be no such thing. Is that your position? If you regard as equal everything that has ever portrayed itself as being of the left, then say so. Personally I don't regard Stalin, Pol Pot, Tony Blair, Jess Jackson or Thabo Mbeki as being various parts of a revolutionary alternative. Maybe you do? And that brings you into a more intimate relationship with reality itself?

Tahir



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