Monthly Review responds to Perry Anderson

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Socialism: A Time to Retreat?

by The Editors

Some wags claim that it is the conservatives who fear socialism, while the
radicals believe that capitalism will last forever. Conservatives, they
say, fear widespread popular discontent, while radicals abandon hope of a
revolutionary overthrow of capitalism. An exaggeration? Of course. Even so,
this witticism is not inappropriate. Many on the left have indeed retreated
from class and a vision of a democratic, egalitarian socialism. The
important social issues of our day--race, gender, and the environment--more
often than not are divorced from the role of class structure. The rule of
the capitalist class and the class struggle are shoved to the back burner.
Whether consciously or not, the implicit assumption underlying the retreat
from class is that capitalism will somehow or other go on and on as it
creates miraculous new technology. Best then to stick to making those
adjustments in social conditions that the system will presumably allow.

This retreat from class is often reinforced by the categorical dismissal of
the possibility of socialism. The evidence for this comes from a
superficial and ahistorical examination of the kind of socialism that
emerged in the Soviet bloc. Thus, the contradictions of "socialism from
above" and the emergence of privileged sectors of society disappear from
view. Ignored are the wide differences among the people, between elite and
masses, between town and country, and between less developed and advantaged
regions. Also not taken into account is the interest of the ruling elite in
new property relations as a way of ensuring their and their children's
privileged positions. Instead of observing the tensions arising from
conflicting interests, a leading tendency among radicals is to zero in on
the presumably inevitable failure of central planning as the essential
cause of the collapse.

There is, of course, no uniformity in this widespread retreat from a focus
on class struggle. We do not wish to tar all of those who are a part of
this retreat with the same brush. In fact, it is not our intention to tar
any leftwingers at all. Furthermore, we reject the practice of questioning
the motives of those we may disagree with. Nevertheless, the widening gap
on the left needs to be confronted. On that score, two recent publications
offer useful insight into the disparity between those who blow the trumpet
of retreat and those who dig in their heels and call for unending struggle
to overcome the misery and insecurity of billions of people on this planet.
On one hand is the editorial by Perry Anderson in the January-February 2000
issue of New Left Review, which announces a new stance for the journal. On
the other hand, a totally contrary analysis and message permeates Daniel
Singer's latest book, Whose Millennium? Theirs or Ours? (New York: Monthly
Review Press, 1999).

(full article at: http://www.monthlyreview.org/900editr.htm)


Louis Proyect
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