A critique of the Left, from a Leftist perspective

I come here not to bury Leftism, but to critique it. You may not like what you are about to read, but you need to understand what you are doing wrong so you can do it right. So here's my critique of Leftism, from a Leftist or at least Left-sympathetic point of view... it's UK-centric I'm afraid, so note that, for instance, our SWP is not necessarily the same as your SWP.

I may update it as others critique my critique, in order to make it better. This isn't "changing history" so I can "win", I don't want to "win", this isn't about me personally - I want to help improve leftist discourse because I want the Left to win. Sincerely!  So, let's get into it...

Considering the opportunities they've had of late, I find it bizarre how much the Left keeps getting it wrong.

Oh come on, Ron. You knew this was coming.

 In street demonstrations for example, they either go for organized violence to such an insane degree that they lose public sympathy, as in the Black Bloc, or they just sit there and let the cops beat the shit out of them. Or march from A-B in a despondent, miserable fashion while Black Bloc'ers smash up a few shops so the media can have their daily dose of riot porn, changing nothing.

As I've said before, this isn't a good look.

In the past the understanding was that demonstrations were to be peaceful but if the authorities started something, people have a right to defend themselves, but now there's no sense of proportion or reality, it's all pure ideology - you're either out to riot or you're out to get beaten up / wander around miserably. But whichever it is, the choice is always completely self-defeating. Or like the Corbyn campaign last year... it's as if the Left are afraid of winning.

No! Really? Say it isn't so!

Consider the case of renewable energy. For decades, Left wingers have been enthusiastic boosters of renewables, yet today they have begun to talk down success stories and wallow in defeatism. What's with that?

Wikipedia describes self-defeating personality disorder as "a proposed personality disorder... never formally admitted into the (DSM-III-R) manual."

Here's a pretty good Knowing Better video on the subject:

(Why yes, I do recognize myself in this description!)

A diagnosis would have needed at least five traits... here are six traits which Leftists and the Left exhibit time and time again, with examples:

1. chooses people and situations that lead to disappointment, failure, or mistreatment even when better options are clearly available (EG: Specifically allying with Muslim religious fanatics and terrorists in the 00s, this went far beyond sticking up for religious minorities and well into the territory of collaborating with extreme reactionaries. This isn't just a Western thing either - they did it in Iran in the late 70s with predictable results)
2. incites angry or rejecting responses from others and then feels hurt, defeated, or humiliated (EG: Consistently making fun of working class people, despite same being their traditional constituency and indeed the whole point of Marxism)
3. rejects opportunities for pleasure, or is reluctant to acknowledge enjoying themselves (EG: Corbyn's aseticism, the misery and anhedonia which comprise the majority of SWP demonstrations)
4. fails to accomplish tasks crucial to their personal objectives despite having demonstrated ability to do so (EG: The way Corbyn and Sanders both failed at the last hurdles, and how Corbyn's chosen successor, Rebecca Long-Bailey, also failed miserably - precisely because Left-wing Labour members refused to vote for her!)
5. is uninterested in or rejects people who consistently treat them well (Example:  the constant abuse and harassment of left wing activists by left-wing activists, a problem brilliantly dissected at length by the YouTuber Contrapoints discussing her own "cancellation" in this video).
6. engages in excessive self-sacrifice that is unsolicited by the intended recipients of the sacrifice (A classic example of this is the Lefts' consistent rallying around Palestinian nationalists, despite same being utterly uninterested in Socialism and Socialism being an overtly internationalist, working class ideology. Another is their die-hard support of the BBC, a rightwing State broadcaster dominated by political conservatives.)

I say again, I come here not to bury Leftism, but to critique it - society needs the Left's ideas, their commitment to fairness and decency, their optimism about the human future... but we don't need their self-defeat, their misery, their palling up with utter bastards. We don't need Tankies and Trots, TERFs and SWERFs - we need something that has not been seen before, at least not recently... and I think we're going to get it.

I do think the Left will get better. Many of my earlier comments already feel dated to me (mainly cos I gave up on demos a couple of years ago and don't know what's happening now), and there is a new generation of people who grew up in the 21st century, a hardscrabble, tough time, totally unlike the self-indulgence of the late 20th, particularly the 1960s. They're willing to ask tough questions, including of themselves - OK, the endless agonizing can get a bit much sometimes, but they're good kids and they are facing far worse conditions than we (GenX) did.

There are new leaders as well - in particular I see a lot of potential in young women like Rebecca Long-Bailey and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represent that new generation. This ain't over... but it does take time to fix something that's broken, and I'd say to a lot of people in the old guard, myself included, sometimes you have to know when you're part of the problem and butt out. 

Which I have done by and large, apart from whining screeds like this one :-D