Capitalism’s Residue
I’m uneasy.
For all the literature on capitalism’s effect upon society, the left seems to lack an understanding of how it affects our psyche. We can rant and rave about capitalist alienation, community destruction, socio-economic stratification all day long but these understandings are useless without a basic understanding of how the very way we think and act are molded by growing up in a capitalist society. I’m speaking mainly of the habits of the vast majority of activists.
A failure for the left in the United States to truly organize, I believe, stems from the fact that we are organizing through a capitalist lens. I will break down the effects of this lens into three parts: time, quantity and specialization. These part are not mutually exclusive but, rather, are nestled within one another like Russian dolls.
Time is the largest doll- encompassing and affecting quantity and specialization. We can say that time is the root of the problem from which all the other problems stem. What do I mean by time? I’m referring to the way in which people within a capitalist system view and value it. Time is only valuable when you can accomplish the most things in the least amount of it. Value is transferred from the accomplishment itself to the time it takes and, so, naturally- the “cheapest” product sells.
Capitalist time doesn’t only value the accomplishments that take the least amount of time but also the accomplishments that can happen sooner rather than later. Consider the difference between short-term, risky investment with high yields and the safer, long-term investments made.
How do activists demonstrate this mentality? There is a penchant among activists throughout history to want the revolution now. They do not acknowledge the necessity of a long-term social and sexual revolution which will then bring about the political ends we would like to accomplish. Many envision themselves (though perhaps without outwardly acknowledging it) as being a part of the “winning team” in their lifetime or even becoming the next idolized revolutionary. We can draw these fantasies back to capitalist individualism as well as time. This impatient desire to bring about revolutionary change now leads to a largely ignorant and quixotic denial of the reality of the situation which is enormously detrimental to efforts at organizing a real foundation for revolution. Unfortunately, those caught up in capitalist impatience are often those with a penchant for leadership. This is left-leadership wasted.
We must accept the reality that to oppress will always be easier and swifter than to liberate. We must accept that our function is to do as much as we can realistically do while ever-focusing on the long-term goal even if the horizon lies beyond our lifetime. Only with a combination of patience, critical self-reflection and dedication will we see the entire picture and act upon it accordingly.
Next comes quantity. By quantity I obviously mean quantity over quality. Tying into the idea of getting as much as you can done in the least amount of time, activists are always trying to rally as many troops to a single event without real consideration regarding political formation and class consciousness. No wonder these movements fall flat. The impatience begs for an enormous eruption of dissent now and calls for the disregard of the development of leadership and autonomy amongst the masses.
Finally comes specialization. It’s certainly much easier to organize a rally around a single issue. Much easier to craft a slogan and a logo around a single oppression. Definitely easier to inform numerous people about one simple problem. The problem, however, is not simple. It is tethered to every other form of oppression and if you think the problem is complex, you don’t want to see the solution. If success means educating numerous people, vaguely, about a single issue and getting them to make signs and show up at a rally, well, then we’ve been quite successful. If success means establishing a revolutionary foundation, well-versed in the intricacies of oppression and autonomous in its ability to act without being dictated to, then we’ve got a long way to go.
Many left-activists have rejected capitalism. Most, though, have not shaken its residue from their bodies.
As an anarchist I can certainly appreciate your analysis Too many radicals feel frustration with the state of affairs; feeling that we cannot prevail or that we must prevail immediately “or else”, we withdraw into fantasy-land and ignore or even reject the long-term work that needs to be done.
That said, voting and many types of political action can also lend themselves to short-term win-or-loss thinking as well, just look at how the left sold itself to Kerry in 2004 and now regrets it (or watch as the Tea Party movement sells itself to the Republicans and gets screwed this election year).
Oh, I’m actually a non-voter! Though, I don’t disparage those who use traditional channels of activism. I feel like our “democracy” is too far gone for such channels to be truly effective. My goal wasn’t to encourage bullshit reformism. I should look this over and edit it, though, if that’s the impression one takes from it. I do believe that an uncompromising, revolutionary mindset is necessary. My point, mostly, was to frown upon NGO methods and other “mass” campaigns which look for fast and cheap revolution while failing to realize that they cannot lead pawns into a movement and expect much to come from it. What we need is real social connections, real community and real political and class consciousness. These take a lot longer to develop, require a lot more effort and a lot more resources. They’re not fast and cheap, but they’re effective! Thanks for reading/commenting!