To fully understand why reformism and Democratic Party co-optation have become so prevalent within the left, we must examine the psychology that’s gripped America since World War II. This is a mindset where somebody’s individual whims are seen as the most important factor, which translates to the expectation that wishing for something will make it come true. This is why individualism gets its foundations from idealism: to view the self as being separate from the collective, you need to divorce yourself from the reality that we function as a collective, regardless of how anybody views their individual role.
Idealist expectations due to temporary prosperity
The boomer superstructure is one where the individuals are conditioned to see themselves as rejecting the supposed tyranny of collectivism, when collectivism is something that human beings will always be defined by. And one outcome of this cultural illusion has been for people to believe that voting will get them real change, simply because they personally desire change so much.
It was from this belief system that came the New Left, the idealistic variation on the old workers movement that took dialectics out of the picture. This trend came into being through a combination of suppression against the authentic left-wing forces, and psyops that nurtured the idealist tendencies which were already heavily present within the culture of the boomers. These operations couldn’t have been nearly as successful if they weren’t directed at an imperial core population that only knew unparalleled economic success, and therefore was susceptible to thinking which ignores the material dynamics of history.
In order to smash idealism, and thereby thwart the tactics of the reformists, we must bring our social movements towards the correct view on how contradictions work. Within the socialist movement itself, there is a current which believes the only parts of the struggle that matter are the ones that directly relate to the productive forces themselves; i.e. economism, where somebody exclusively focuses on a narrow range of workplace struggles. This is the mechanistic view on class struggle that’s put forth by Greece’s KKE, which (for one example) places so much exclusivistic importance on the employer vs. employee contradiction that it views the Israeli workers as victims.
The problems with that view are obvious to anybody who truly grasps the settler-colonial contradiction within Palestine; but another thing that this crude economism ignores is the task of struggling against the ruling-class superstructure. Of combating the idealism that’s defined most of the boomer generation, and that’s continued to greatly influence the following generations.
Mao clarified why the struggle against the old superstructure matters; especially during moments when the ruling system is in crisis, and the masses are forced to question the values they were raised with:
At certain times in the revolutionary struggle, the difficulties outweigh the favourable conditions and so constitute the principal aspect of the contradiction and the favourable conditions constitute the secondary aspect. But through their efforts the revolutionaries can overcome the difficulties step by step and open up a favourable new situation; thus a difficult situation yields place to a favourable one…Some people think that this is not true of certain contradictions. For instance, in the contradiction between the productive forces and the relations of production, the productive forces are the principal aspect; in the contradiction between theory and practice, practice is the principal aspect; in the contradiction between the economic base and the superstructure, the economic base is the principal aspect; and there is no change in their respective positions. This is the mechanical materialist conception, not the dialectical materialist conception. True, the productive forces, practice and the economic base generally play the principal and decisive role; whoever denies this is not a materialist. But it must also be admitted that in certain conditions, such aspects as the relations of production, theory and the superstructure in turn manifest themselves in the principal and decisive role.
Now is such a special time, and the Palestinian struggle in particular has had a massive role in bringing about such an opening for the revolutionary forces. Gaza has created a reckoning for the idealists who uncritically accept liberalism as the most just system. It’s also activated Gen Z, the generation that didn’t get to grow up when the system was still strong.
Carrying boomer idealism into an era of instability
That the generation which came of age during Covid has had this experience certainly brings it away from the boomer superstructure; but an underlying idealism is still there, if in a different form. To defeat this idealism, we must recognize its character, which is one of expecting for the most “radical” actions to in themselves bring revolutionary change.
This problem comes from how even though Gen Z have been left behind by capital, capital has atomized the society in which they live to an unprecedented extent, creating a deficiency in their experience with collective organizations. When social traditions have been destroyed, and replaced by technology, those who’ve been raised in this system are going to hold on to a hubris about how change can happen. And this problem of residual boomerism exists on both the left and the right within Gen Z politics.
There is an increasingly prominent current of ultra-leftist adventurism, as well as a far-right youth movement that puts forth the “Jewish question” as the idea that can break our ruling institutions. These are the most relevant and damaging counterrevolutionary trends within Gen Z right now, and like the New Left, their rise has been enabled by the preexisting culture. By how the targets of these psyops had already been separated from a materialist perspective, and had been encouraged to think in metaphysical terms.
How do we defeat these psyops, and lead Gen Z to adopt dialectics? The first step is to make sure that we ourselves have truly come to practice dialectics, rather than saying we practice dialectics while rejecting it (like the KKE does). To actually be dialectical, one must be in a constant state of investigation, updating their practice every time we see a change in the conditions. This is a mission that one must perpetually live out in order to fulfill, and all of today’s relevant contradictions can’t be covered here; but regarding the task of bringing Gen Z into the class struggle, I can summarize the biggest contradiction we must account for. This is the contradiction between the stagnant, arrested development which Gen Z have found themselves in, and Gen Z’s desire to live out a fulfilling, dynamic existence.
This tragedy that tens of millions have found themselves trapped in reflects a certain aspect of dialectics: the aspect in which something is at rest. Dialectics shows that this sedentary state of motion inevitably turns into a visible state of motion, because the object was never truly still to begin with. As Mao explains, it was always in motion, even when it appeared to not be moving:
There are two states of motion in all things, that of relative rest and that of conspicuous change. Both are caused by the struggle between the two contradictory elements contained in a thing. When the thing is in the first state of motion, it is undergoing only quantitative and not qualitative change and consequently presents the outward appearance of being at rest. When the thing is in the second state of motion, the quantitative change of the first state has already reached a culminating point and gives rise to the dissolution of the thing as an entity and thereupon a qualitative change ensues, hence the appearance of a conspicuous change. Such unity, solidarity, combination, harmony, balance, stalemate, deadlock, rest, constancy, equilibrium, solidity, attraction, etc., as we see in daily life, are all the appearances of things in the state of quantitative change.
On the other hand, the dissolution of unity, that is, the destruction of this solidarity, combination, harmony, balance, stalemate, deadlock, rest, constancy, equilibrium, solidity and attraction, and the change of each into its opposite are all the appearances of things in the state of qualitative change, the transformation of one process into another. Things are constantly transforming themselves from the first into the second state of motion; the struggle of opposites goes on in both states but the contradiction is resolved through the second state. That is why we say that the unity of opposites is conditional, temporary and relative, while the struggle of mutually exclusive opposites is absolute.
One of the biggest problems with Gen Z in relation to politics has been the widespread apathy that’s emerged among its members. In comparison to the people who showed up for the Iraq War protests, or for Occupy, much of the younger people in the 2020s have resigned themselves to being shut-ins, or at least being atomized to a greater degree than their past counterparts were. But the Gaza student encampments represent a sign that Gen Z can escape this state; that those who’ve come to be at rest will enter into conspicuous changes.
Whether these developments bring about a greater revolutionary transition depends on whether we can expand the pro-Palestine movement beyond the campuses, and into the workers movement. Because when a struggle stays confined to the student element, and stays centered around protests, it loses the chance to gain a sustainable presence. This is a practical mission to which we can apply our dialectical training: the mission of building a real organizational force. Of building institutions in our communities which give Gen Z a reason to reject apathy, and political experience that lets somebody unlearn idealism.
————————————————————————
If you appreciate my work, I hope you become a one-time or regular donor to my Patreon account. Like most of us, I’m feeling the economic pressures amid late-stage capitalism, and I need money to keep fighting for a new system that works for all of us. Go to my Patreon here.
To keep this platform effective amid the censorship against dissenting voices, join my Telegram channel.
No comments:
Post a Comment