The left needs to open an explicit revolutionary challenge to the current reign of braindead politicians.
Socialism is too political, and ecology is too limited or still subject to (environmental) elites: we have suggested an ecological socialism as ‘democratic market neo-communism’: the two together can provide a line of attack. The latter is ready to ship, today, even if it needs expansion: it can bypass the prejudice against bolshevik style nightmares, and state capitalist bureaucratic black hole economics. We point to revolutionary options, but have always nonetheless offered a version of this to the evolutionary groups, beside the revolutionary suggestion. In fact, the electoral groups can also simply make a revolutionary demands on reformist turf with something like the nationalization of capital interests at a moment of crisis. Nationalization has problems and we prefer what we call a Commons but it has happened thus before, and there is no reason we can’t at least speculate about electoral revolutions, even as we proceed with the more realistic revolutionary refoundationalism. Thus the evolutionary and revolutionary could merge, or operate in parallel, or in tandem or in succession.
But we are out of time for compromises: the range of capital interests are too far gone for reform or coexistence with a hand wringing ‘very concerned’ sentimental left.
The lives of billions are at stake, and that makes the question of a kind of warfare come to the fore. Those who wish to pursue a non-violent path can operate in parallel and in any case the options of revolutionary action are still too marginal to realize against the militarized colossus we face. But that is going to change. A non-violent faction can pull ahead in the nonce. But we cannot leave the fate of billions to gandhians if another way emerges as possible.
The expropriation of capital should be obvious at this point: look at Exxon: this kind of capitalist org is prima facie the result of ‘primitive accumulation’ with respect to the fossil fuel resource which should have been part of a Commons from the start. Now this malevolent corporation based on the theft from a Commons and whose own research saw the danger in the 1980’s is conspiring to preempt action on climate change, capitalist genocide. We can only assume a form of insanity has overtaken the political and capitalist leadership. Intervention is required.
Revolution an impossibility? the issue will surprise us, not doubt at all…Peaceful demonstrations are and always were proto-revolutionary…
1848+: The End(s) of History 