Dennis Raymond's opened this thread on 8/12/04. Subsequently, a related thread called "Productivity" was opened. While I was contemplating the question What IS the left?, a friend of the Marxist-Leninist persuasion phoned and I asked how he would define the 'left.' He said something like, "Well, there's the baby-killing, war-criminal right and then there's the 'left' which has more empathy for the material needs of their fellow citizens." I asked, "Is the 'left' imperialist?" He responded yes. I asked, "Is Michael Moore 'left' and is he imperialist?" With that, my friend decided he needed to think more about the question. Two recent Detroit-area events were arranged by activists whose hard-left credentials go way back. First, hundreds of flyers were distributed to patrons of "The Corporation" at two local cinemas, to promote a public discussion at a local church. Three off-the-street people attended. Second, 100 invitations to a rare general membership meeting of a local political-labor body were sent via U.S. mail. Exclusive of the organizers, five members attended (average age = about 60). The good news: these meetings were held. The bad news: attendance was lousy.
Other meetings in the Detroit area were being held at the same time. I'm aware of the details of some, but most receive little attention. While harder-left groups hold regular study groups and strategy-seeking sessions, the vast majority of gatherings could be called quasi-left or 'progressive' or 'liberal.' Depending on the class and race base, these meetings involve the somewhat separate issues of brute survival, some form of civil/human rights, some form of charity, the environment, and some aspect of foreign policy. Some call these efforts single issue subtexts of a broader peace and justice movement. Most deal with reform, not revolution, though success in any individual issue (e.g. total peace, living wage jobs for all, removal of racism) would require revolutionary change in political economy. Many experienced, aging lefties are helping lead these community activist efforts, but they've laundered their left language and perhaps some of their left ideology as an adjustment to current 'sensibilities' and state monitoring. Most leadership comes from local citizens with local interests; some from those with broader horizons.
Are these really 'left' activities? Depends on the criteria used to define the left and where it falls on a left-right political continuum. I believe its CNN's "Crossfire" that pits 'left' against 'right' spokespersons, where the continuum's mid point is as close to the right pole as could be imagined. This distortion, also practiced by upwardly mobile academics and other opinion molders, effectively wipes out the structural-material base of analysis. This leaves vague cultural or identity factors for everyone to argue about, with no serious attention to economic ownership and control. In my earlier days teaching political or economic sociology, the left pole of my continuum represented 'pure' socialism with the right pole being 'pure' capitalism. Somewhat to the left of the mid point I placed New Deal, social democratic models. How times have temporarily changed! (to be continued)
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