[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

The biggest problem the Left has faced since the fall of the Wall is in deciding where to focus its efforts. Unfortunately too many have chosen to concentrate on identifying the cracks within capitalism (cracks which anyone, let alone a Marxist, could easily identify, simply by living under it). Worse still, many of those within the Left have all but completely abandoned any idea of class in order to focus on issues of race or gender or sexuality and as such have manouvered themselves into a kind of ideological cul-de-sac, unconsciously paving the way for a kind of liberalism which can only articulate itself by trying to make capitalism a bit 'nicer'.

YES. it always cracks me up how american leftists cry for the rights of everyone except for those of the poor. feminist heiresses, trust-fund ecowarriors, suburban vegans, etc. there is no discussion of class. just look at this board as a microcosm.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Marxism in the Soviet era failed for a number of reasons, many of which were internal to its own mechanisms.

inherent to its premises i would say. you really can't breed revolutionary saints.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

And yet I sincerely believe that as a concept it is superior to capitalism.

capitalism as an economic system is much more efficient, capitalism as a belief and ideology is a mental turd.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

As such I think the job of the Left now isn't to focus on the inadequacies of its nemesis so much as to withdraw and take a long look at why it failed and try and address those reasons so that in the future, when capitalism proves itself to be wholely inadequate to deal with emerging social developments, it can emerge renewed.

capitalism will run into trouble once it covers the globe, as marx predicted. so i do not see globalization as an evil force-- it's simply another step in the economic evolution of humanity.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Even the staunchest of capitalism's advocates, such as Francis Fukuyama, is now forced to revise his triumphalism at what he once saw as its emphatic victory of communism. He too now sees that capitalism is unravelling.

he's still an insufferable twat-- maybe not so much as when he proclaimed the end of history, but still.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

It's the job of the left not to help it unravel (after all, it hasn't needed the Left's help in that department so far) but to ensure that a viable alternative is ready when it does.

so you're not a maoist, trying to exacerbate the contradictions of the system? good.

yes, we need a viable alternative. again, this may sound pedestrian and not glorious enough, but something like the german model sounds very appealing to me. after all, it was there and not in the soviet union where the worker's paradise was established-- factory workers with great jobs, houses, vacation time, cars, social security, medical care, control over their working conditions, etc. sure, things have gotten a bit rusty lately, but not enough to say you don't get the best of both worlds-- the coexistence of economic freedom and social security.

yes, i know, doesn't sound like some glorious motherfucking science-fiction future, but sounds good enough for me and a lot of 3rd world people who are tired of the false promises of bullshit revolutions.