If October 20th TUC(trades Union Congress)demonstration is about"A Future That Works"then it must also be about"A Future Worth Fighting For",in which we,working people ought not to be just fighting to maintain what is,but also for services,conditions and indeed lives that are"Worth Fighting For",so that society reflects OUR needs,as fully as possible.The demonstration needs to be immense,and to burst any numerical and political limits.It cannot be constrained or restrained.We cannot allow the"usual suspects"to place limits on us and our"movement"
Such a society we seek to build might not be perfect,but it can be better than this one.Whilst i recognise that the struggle to defend what we have and what is might be diffcult enough,when and how else will we get an opportunity to explore an to demand how we would like it to be?If not now,then when?
I do not doubt the Labour Party will make its usual reformist noises,that"we"can't rock the boat,demand too much,...whatever.There will be others who say"wait until after....the election....the revolution"but the reformist road has,i believe come to an end.There will be too many who act like it is possible but i belive that there is no reformist road left-although i do not deny there is always an issue about how our achievements might well fall inevitably short of our ideasl-that need not be quite the same thing.Transition or transitinal might be better words-although i must amdit that ersoanlly,i don't feel that comfortable with those words either(though i'm not rejecting the content).But don't let anyone ever say that i agree to accepting less when there is better to be had.......( i grew to political adulthood in the 60s,when "we wanted it ALL,NOW")
Yes,there is another related issue,that i dont think socilalists have focussed on enough in the past.And that is that in the here and now,in the very acts of campaigning and struggle,we can begin to identify an insight,a window,a living experience of how things might be.And for me at the core of that is the relationships we make with each other.
We may not all like each other,all the time but we can seek to respect and value each other as comrades,as brothers and sisters in at least our class and perhaps,i would hope the vast mass of humanity.This for me is not just an abstraction.
Some time ago,i saw a video on the internet,where a socialist who had been a member of one of the left groups in the 19760-70s(and probably still is active,though in a different organisation)spoke about the luxury of left sectarianism in those times,and its part as a hidden aspect of Stalinism.That thought has stuck with me ever since.If the period of say 1968-1975 was"the fire last time",then perhaps 2010-soonish might be"the fire this time".I'd like to hope and more importantly work so that this time that fire blazes,and leads to genuine,radical social change of the kind i'd like to see-socialism or perhaps to pput it another way a"genuine commonwealth for all to share".
To mix metaphors,the tide appears to be rising.Everything in society now seems to be contested.That leads me to argue the importance of linking every struggle up,and making the connections(i do not ofcourse include fascist and other reactionary struggles,except to turn them in positive/progressive directions).But this is not the 1960s-70s.Then economies,cultures,societies were booming-and workers,particularly the young and students-made demands based on those raised expectations and when tired of boring,dull,grey,repressive societies.Now is very different-in crisis,whne faced with ideaologically motivated attacks based on austerity and where fundamental questions are being asked again,and demands for better made on te back of a threadbare,decadent capitalism.Social and political conditions are different.Sectarianism is it seems to me a dangerous luxury we cannot afford.These really are times in which if we do not"stand together or then we will fall apart!".There is i believe a lot larger space in which to have (principled)disagreements without turning on each other.There is a lot more that ought to hold us together than needs to break us apart,at least,i hope for now and a long time(relative to the wider development of the struggle).If we do not already instinctively know comradeship and solidarity then we need to learn it.In some respects it is difficult to leave old habits behind-so we will also need to be a little thick skinned,and a lot more tolerant.,and to be careful and precise and principled where we see class enemies.
Last but not least,i believe based on my own experience that actually there is a lot of love and friendship and comradeship to be found amongst the people we meet and campaign and struggle with.That actually has been my experience throughout my life,but i have been reminded of it and the lesson has been reinforced for me over the last several years.Unlike our class enemies who seem to have to operate essentially in competition with each other,and to thrive only as businesspeople,stars and celebrities of various kinds,OUR very strength does lie in that we can and do at our best work and live and struggle TOGETHER,and that in order to get the best picture of the world-the one that we want aswell as what we are fighting-we shoudl and do share our knowledge and experience and skills and talent.It really does demonstrate that humankind is(are?)a social being-and that we are best in movement and in finding and making meaning in each other.
IF we can be friends we should be.If we an be comrades we MUST.
Always a"heretic",someone who never quite fits,i admit i have a spiritual life to.two sayings from the tradition i try to follow comes to mind:
One is that"a society that does not have love,has law"and the second and greater one is"never do alone,what you can do with another".
I like to think that this reflects Antonio Gramsci's notion of"good sense"
Lotta continua!
No comments:
Post a Comment