Anti-Climacus

WHY BE 'OF THE LEFT' WHEN YOU'RE PRETTY MUCH THE ONLY ONE OUT THERE? Socialism in an Age of Waiting has some thoughts on this topic:

"Second, he has a long studenty sneer at the expense of “pro-war” leftists who, according to the voices in his head, claim to represent the majority of the left, when in fact (it says here) “most of the world left” opposed the liberation of Iraq. From someone who claims to have read and understood the writings of Victor Serge this is extraordinarily poor stuff. Like Serge, some of us happen to be a lot more interested in the majority of human beings, and what they want, need, believe, etc., than in the cognitive dissonance of the majority/plurality of the left, which in the 1930s favoured, or failed to oppose, Stalinism, and has variously romanticised and misrepresented Third World dictators, First World terrorists and all kinds of other anti-democratic groups ever since, just so long as they’re careful to spout the kind of rhetoric that easily impresses postgraduate students and the more desperately trendy bandwaggon-jumpers among their supervisors. Whether our view, at any given time or on any given issue, coincides with that of a majority of self-styled leftists, who in any case are all too often tellingly isolated and marginalised from the majority of human beings, seems deeply uninteresting compared to the bigger question of why so many leftists have so often forsaken basic commitments to democracy and human rights in order to align themselves with -" (bolding mine)

Which puts me in mind of a quotation of that great Marxist Lenin (cue your mental Robert Conquest poem now, let's begin, "There once was a great Marxist Lenin..."), from "Left Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder":

"If you want to help the 'masses' and win the sympathy and support of the 'masses,' you should not fear the difficulties, or pinpricks, chicanery, insults and persecution from the 'leaders'..., but must absolutely work wherever the masses are to be found. You must be capable of any sacrifice, of overcoming the greatest obstacles, in order to carry on agitation and propaganda systematically, perserveringly, persistently and paiently in those institutions, societies and associations--even the most reactionary--in which proletarian or semi-proletarian masses are to be found."

Which is to say, given that I think I'm right about politics (and I do), and given that there's at least some left tradition for me to draw on which supports those convictions (and there is), and given that I think it's important that everyone else think about politics in the right way (and I do), then it looks like it behooves me to take the fight wherever it needs to be taken.