A tale of an Armchair Revolution

Brexit and Trump's presidency were such shocking events that I gradually moved from a centre right political perspective to a hard, far left one. This was a slow process but the August 2024 Farage Riots acted as a second catalyst in my process of conversion towards the far left. It was then when I discovered that the hard left still had a political presence in the United kingdom: the Socialist workers Party and the Socialist Party of England and Wales being the most important ones ( there is also a British Communist Party still active!). I read Marx's Das Kapital. I realised that capitalism, in its current format where tax payers have to rescue banks after the system has failed was no longer a viable capitalism. A capitalism where the 1% grows immensely rich while the rest of the population grows poorer. This is also a disaster capitalism, let's not forget it, which is directly linked to climate change and global warming. Capitalism is really just a tool. But it finds itself at the disposal of neo liberal politics and corporations as well as billionaires, whose power trascends states, governments and laws and whose decisions affect us all, whether we like it or not.

But more worryingly, I have also observed - as everyone else who has access to the news and social media will undoubtedly have also noticed-  the rise of the far right and of fascism. And fascism must be obliterated wherever it is encountered. History has taught us it is like a tumour that only increases in size given time. The fact that many voters believe that the main priority is to eliminate immigration is a classical fascist manoeuvre. The problem stems from billionaires, tax evaders and mega rich lobbyists influencing governments and legislation to serve their own interests. The problem isn't migration, which is sorely needed in the UK and the West given the huge challenge posed by population decline. The problem isn't the small boats filled with desperate people, many escaping from countries which the West has helped render unsafe and failed states. 

The new darlings of social media, the so called influencers are now racists, bigots and pimps (literally). With the exception of very few, most of these far right influencers are also anti intellectual. In their broadcasts, the poor and vulnerable are demonised. Muslims are all described as terrorists or pedophiles and only white, nationalism is defended as being worthy. The white, heterosexual, Christian man and woman are under attack according to these toxic influencers. But despite their millions of followers, these influencers inhabit the virtual world. The real problem are people like Nigel Farage who now has a seat in Parliament because this validates the far right narrative by virtue of it being part of the establishment. 

Karl Marx  described and predicted  many of the problems that capitalism has created today and engineered the only philosophical proposal that critiques capitalism that has stood the test of time as such ( even in the face of the failure of the USSR and other socialist projects ). But Marx's determinism and class reductionism are hard to swallow as an alternative to the current state of play. 

The far right which is currently rearing its ugly head in the UK and the West has merely replaced Marx's idea of the class war with a race war.

Revolutions are surgical operations that are best avoided unless strictly necessary and history has taught us that there are times when revolutionary action is unavoidable. But history has also taught us the consequences of said revolutionary interventions. Socialism must be implemented in a different way. I still believe that the Fabians have found the best way to do this, gradually and democratically but relentlessly. The truth is that I am not on the hard left. I am a social democrat and for the hard left, social democrats are just workers in the service of capitalism. 

From my new found, tentative hard left polítical position I had to  take a couple of steps back, for I simply couldn't jump into this rabbit hole.

 I will never return to the centre right either, although many on the hard left would say that I already have by virtue of defending social democracy.

I am socially progressive and I also believe in a big state where the needs of the many and not the few are catered for. I believe in state education, the NHS and in the nationalisation of basic goods and services like our water, our health service and our railways. Above all, I am convinced that capitalism will be trascended like feudalism was before it. But I don't know how a socialist revolution will achieve this. And I don't know what the next paradigm will look like. It seems that  billionaires hoping to conquer space and those parts of the oceans that don't belong to any nation in order to avoid paying taxes might end up being the faces of a new order. Let's hope not. And in the interim let's continue to distinguish what is right from wrong and dream of a return to a world where international cooperation is valued and desirable. We must look forward. The halcyon days of yesterday are nothing but a mirage. Progress is attained through compromise and above all through education and its offspring: tolerance and a spirit of cooperation and respect. 

They shall not pass!