Hi RP – I didn’t mean to imply that people of a Leninist / Trotskyist persuasion are not very active in a number of important campaigns, and I’m happy to work with them in that context.
What concerns me is more the position that an ‘amelioration of capitalism’ is counter-productive in the long term.
Now l used to believe this, but perhaps increasing age and experience of defeated campaigns and dashed hopes makes me suspect that those who enter campaigns on that basis, or as a recruiting platform, often undermine the campaigns themselves.
My current working hypothesis is that we need a comprehensive, radical ‘reformist’ position, which, if carried through would embolden people to demand more.
Take, for instance, the Social Democratic advances in Britain after the end of WWII. Not only did they improve the economic, educational and social conditions of the working class, but they shredded it’s remaining deference towards the upper and middle classes. I don’t think the movements of the 60s, 70s and 80s in Britain (which were admittedly largely defeated, suborned or turned into marketing slogans) without these developments.
We’ll probably have to agree to disagree on this one, and the great likelihood is that history will prove us both wrong.
