Pessimist communism denounces state socialism (socialism in one country), social democracy (modest progressive reforms), and autonomous socialism (localism, anarchism, councilism, syndicalism etc.). Internationalism is vital. USSR and China restored capitalism because of a lack of internationalist approach. Essentially, they could not compete with the more well established capitalist/imperialist powers (USA, England) When the conspiracy/libertarian crowd decry "globalism" the pessimist communist says global capital? No! global neoliberalism? Hell No! Global proletarian revolution? Hell yes! Global dictatorship of the proletariat? Yes! Yes!
Here Zizek provides us with two choices for the future: 1) Communism or 2) Fascist socialism. Clearly, laissez faire capitalism cannot go unchecked for very long if humans are to continue to live on the planet. Some kind of economic planning will be needed to avoid the very corporeal, coming, climate catastrophe and the more abstract, looming debt crisis fabricated by the casino charlatans on Wall Street etc.
In the USA (the proverbial, Marxian "belly of the beast"), the ruling class has two faces, both of which will eventually devolve into fascism. 1) Compassionate capitalism (green capitalism, black capitalism, pink capitalism, ethical capitalism, modest welfare state, limited Keynesianism etc.) coupled with excessive imperialism masked as "humanitarian intervention" (recall LBJ on Vietnam and Obama's wars in Libya, Pakistan, Afghanistan and currently Iraq). These are what we call liberals, liberal-progressive, Democrats etc. 2) Cynical market fundamentalism (reckless capitalism, egoism, rugged individualism). The second category includes libertarians, the ultra-rich (1%), Republicans and conservatives. The second category, can of course, trace its roots to individualist anarchism. From there, eugenics. From there, fascism. Pretty simple trajectory and pretty clearly marked by history. However, the second category relies upon the first category. The ultra-reactionary party must have a "bleeding heart" to denounce.
These cynical market fundamentalists love to hate FDR. Of course, any good leftist worth her/his salt knows that he "saved capitalism from itself." Conservative Democrat Seymour Martin Lipset (the original neocon) and multilevel-governance theorist Gary Marks concluded for the Hoover Institution:
The economic crisis of the 1930s was more severe in the United States than in any other large society except Germany. It presented American radicals with their greatest opportunity to build a third party since World War I, but the constitutional system and the brilliant way in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt co-opted the left prevented this [underline mine]. The Socialist and Communist Parties saw their support drop precipitously in the 1940 elections. America emerged from the Great Depression as the most antistatist country in the world.
Let us not forget, however, that FDR did not establish the American welfare state out of his compassion for the working class. He did it because there was an actual proletarian revolution years before in the Soviet Union and because there was working class unrest in his own country. The Communist Party USA, the Socialist Party of America and the Farmer-Labor Party were gaining headway as counter-hegemonic alternatives from the left. This the ruling class could not afford to ignore. The myth of the compassionate liberal was thus created to co-opt the leftist tendencies amongst the working class.
Essentially, the "left-of-center" capitalist parties (Democrats USA, New Labour UK etc.) lend legitimacy to the capitalist system as a whole by creating a false alternative to cynical market fundamentalism. They also function as a scapegoat for the failures of the market (recall how Obama was called a socialist when he gave golden parachutes to the banks and speculators on Wall Street) and a strawman to prop up ultra-reactionary parties (via backlash).
The working class throughout the world must not fall prey to these sado-masochistic mindfucks. When I hear working class individuals criticize fast food workers for building a movement to raise the minimum wage to a meager $15 an hour (other countries offer much higher minimums - see charts below) and call them lazy I am disappointed at the lack of solidarity and the blind swallowing of the ultra-right discourse.
$15 minimum wage would be an improvement, but it's a modest demand. Wealth redistribution is worth demanding, and hopefully we'll get there eventually, but a guarnteed minimum income would be good a start.
I will close this entry with something from Malcolm X that I think sums up the situation:
Here Zizek provides us with two choices for the future: 1) Communism or 2) Fascist socialism. Clearly, laissez faire capitalism cannot go unchecked for very long if humans are to continue to live on the planet. Some kind of economic planning will be needed to avoid the very corporeal, coming, climate catastrophe and the more abstract, looming debt crisis fabricated by the casino charlatans on Wall Street etc.
In the USA (the proverbial, Marxian "belly of the beast"), the ruling class has two faces, both of which will eventually devolve into fascism. 1) Compassionate capitalism (green capitalism, black capitalism, pink capitalism, ethical capitalism, modest welfare state, limited Keynesianism etc.) coupled with excessive imperialism masked as "humanitarian intervention" (recall LBJ on Vietnam and Obama's wars in Libya, Pakistan, Afghanistan and currently Iraq). These are what we call liberals, liberal-progressive, Democrats etc. 2) Cynical market fundamentalism (reckless capitalism, egoism, rugged individualism). The second category includes libertarians, the ultra-rich (1%), Republicans and conservatives. The second category, can of course, trace its roots to individualist anarchism. From there, eugenics. From there, fascism. Pretty simple trajectory and pretty clearly marked by history. However, the second category relies upon the first category. The ultra-reactionary party must have a "bleeding heart" to denounce.
These cynical market fundamentalists love to hate FDR. Of course, any good leftist worth her/his salt knows that he "saved capitalism from itself." Conservative Democrat Seymour Martin Lipset (the original neocon) and multilevel-governance theorist Gary Marks concluded for the Hoover Institution:
The economic crisis of the 1930s was more severe in the United States than in any other large society except Germany. It presented American radicals with their greatest opportunity to build a third party since World War I, but the constitutional system and the brilliant way in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt co-opted the left prevented this [underline mine]. The Socialist and Communist Parties saw their support drop precipitously in the 1940 elections. America emerged from the Great Depression as the most antistatist country in the world.
Let us not forget, however, that FDR did not establish the American welfare state out of his compassion for the working class. He did it because there was an actual proletarian revolution years before in the Soviet Union and because there was working class unrest in his own country. The Communist Party USA, the Socialist Party of America and the Farmer-Labor Party were gaining headway as counter-hegemonic alternatives from the left. This the ruling class could not afford to ignore. The myth of the compassionate liberal was thus created to co-opt the leftist tendencies amongst the working class.
Essentially, the "left-of-center" capitalist parties (Democrats USA, New Labour UK etc.) lend legitimacy to the capitalist system as a whole by creating a false alternative to cynical market fundamentalism. They also function as a scapegoat for the failures of the market (recall how Obama was called a socialist when he gave golden parachutes to the banks and speculators on Wall Street) and a strawman to prop up ultra-reactionary parties (via backlash).
The working class throughout the world must not fall prey to these sado-masochistic mindfucks. When I hear working class individuals criticize fast food workers for building a movement to raise the minimum wage to a meager $15 an hour (other countries offer much higher minimums - see charts below) and call them lazy I am disappointed at the lack of solidarity and the blind swallowing of the ultra-right discourse.
$15 minimum wage would be an improvement, but it's a modest demand. Wealth redistribution is worth demanding, and hopefully we'll get there eventually, but a guarnteed minimum income would be good a start.
I will close this entry with something from Malcolm X that I think sums up the situation: