[lbo-talk] the European Left, they dead

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Wed Sep 30 10:29:45 PDT 2009


Wojtek writes

'The Euro left has been long dead - as political identity that is. Most of what used to be the Left's agenda has long been accepted by mainstream and right leaning parties (or I should say pro-business parties, as the Left-Right distinction has lost most of its meaning.)'

Which is definitely the case. I remember a good, if cynical article (Martin Seymour Lipset?) about the disappearing problem of 'American Exceptionalism'. Responding to political scientists who asked the question why there was no socialism in the US, considered the exceptional condition, the author looked at the evidence of the decline of the left, and argued that it was not that America was exceptional, with the implication that sometime, the US would catch up with the rest, but that it was ahead of the trend. Like I say, a miserable conclusion, but an accurate account of the now (if not the to come).

Still, Andy Williams tells me that the US is under Marxist-inspired leadership, so there's hope yet.



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