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I always have the feeling that first we must define “unity” and most people are doing it wrong. I have no problem with cooperating with any left against common enemy, but how i can even think of unity, term implying very close aligment with people who having contradicting political stances?
Beat me to it :)
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I don’t mind feeding homeless people/ cleaning up communities with an anarchist/ trots/ anprims/ whatever tf, but as far as organizational building, no.
That’s not to say that “left unity” shouldn’t be strategically utilized. I must stress that theoretical differences are not on the table for debate.
There can be no unity, federal or other, with liberal-labour politicians, with disruptors of the working-class movement, with those who defy the will of the majority. There can and must be unity among all consistent Marxists, among all those who stand for the entire Marxist body and for the uncurtailed slogans, independently of the liquidators and apart from them.
Unity is a great thing and a great slogan. But what the workers’ cause needs is the unity of Marxists, not unity between Marxists, and opponents and distorters of Marxism.
And we must ask everyone who talks about unity: unity with whom? With the liquidators? If so, we have nothing to do with each other.
But if it is a question of genuine Marxist unity, we shall say: Ever since the Pravdist newspapers appeared we hive been calling for the unity of all the forces of Marxism, for unity from below, for unity in practical activities.
No flirting with the liquidators, no diplomatic negotiations with groups of wreckers of the corporate body; concentrate all efforts on rallying the Marxist workers around the Marxist slogans, around the entire Marxist body. The class-conscious workers will regard as a crime any attempt to impose upon them the will of the liquidators; they will also regard as a crime the fragmentation of the forces of the genuine Marxists.
For the basis of unity is class discipline, recognition of the will of the majority, and concerted activities in the ranks of, and in step with, that majority. We shall never tire of calling all the workers towards this unity, this discipline, and these concerted activities.
Thank you!
Even if I believed in “left unity”(which I don’t; I consider it little more than a neoliberal lockpick custom-tooled to COINTELPRO), I follow the Carmichael framework. I don’t have a problem with you if you’re out doing the physical work; but you will never see me linking up with an explicitly non-ML organization, and the odds are good you will see me among an organization that at the very least looks like me, and holds the same history of oppression.
Before becoming an ML I was a huge cheerleader for left unity. I’d spam it all the time amid sectarian shitflinging. I identified as a “non denominational leftist” and saw Pan-Leftism as the best way to go.
Nowadays 90% of everything that isn’t ML or one of its many offshoots gives me debilitating cringe but I still stand by the idea, even if as just a mechanism to try and appeal to the amicable types who are attracted to the ideas of everyone getting along during this “anti tankie” hysteria era in hopes that they, like me, will expose themselves to a little bit of everything and might have the observation and analysis to arrive at the conclusion that MLism is the obviously better choice.
Beyond that, I go back and forth. I think that we should generally be better at appreciating every stage of the radicalization pipeline. Like an anti-Stalin communist is better than an anti-communist leftist/rad lib which is better than a liberal and so on (although everybody has different paths and don’t all necessarily move incrementally left steadily). I think there are valuable ideas and individuals and efforts in other sectors (my go-to example is the value of some decentralized anarchist methods). I definitely would like to think that everybody teaming up against, for example fascism, is valuable.
But at the same time, I do wonder. I’m of the opinion at this point that everything that isn’t communism tends to lend itself in the end either to capitalism of fascism in a lot of ways. But idk pragmatically it might be valuable to at least outwardly position ourselves regardless as pro left unity.
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My intolerance isn’t of other “leftists” as a monolith(though I do have a huge issue with the preponderance for liberals to hide under “leftism” as an umbrella without ever putting forward even an inspiration for their own takes), my intolerance is for those who would tell me to my face that I need to put aside my ethics, morals, or philosophy for a cause that will not materially benefit me or my people.
The fuck do I care if we replace the white fascists that currently exist in our government with white “leftists” who still feel comfortable in setting the timetable for the freedom of subjects of empire(you’ve seen 'em before, the ones who claim that we can solve America’s race issue by ignoring race as an issue and centralizing class only)? That’s just trading the old boss for a new model in the same line to me. My intolerance is reserved for those intolerant of Black Power, and those alone.
I think one of the many signs that I read that finally convinced me “okay, this is the place to be” regarding MLism was the sheer diversity in both race, nationality, walks of life and perspectives in these spaces and the mutual respect between comrades. Like all my time I spent in other leftist spaces (on and offline) was painfully homogenous one way or another, diversity felt less like a natural occurrence and a necessity to function and do justice for everyone or more like a magic clout token to chase after to look cool and woke for social media and it shows, hard.
Yeah, I appreciate MLs who can occupy pan-leftist spaces and gently play the long game radicalizing people. I do the same sometimes but damn this anti-tankie shit makes me pull out my hair. Like I’ll deadass be as kind, polite, respectful, eye-to-eye, and generously charitable in my interpretations of others, but increasingly over the last year or so the response I get is akin to how one would talk to a piece of dogshit stuck on your shoe. I would still say it’s worth it to play nice sometimes but damn do these bratty fuckers make it needlessly exhausting.
Where is the leftist unity bot when you need him…
On one hand, we need left unity to support and strengthen socialism. On the other hand, fuck everyone who disagrees with me /j
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