Beautifully said, ‘left unity’ in the USA is a euphemism for getting along with liberals and reformist. Marxist are seen as ‘extreme’ and ‘dogmatic’ because we see through the methods of social democrats and we see through the liberal bourgeois establishment. Like you stated, it should be always ‘unity for whom?’ based on what? Who are we unifying with and why are we unifying with them? Beyond that the left in the west (particularly the United States) is adverse to theory and history so we keep making nearly the same mistakes Lenin wrote about over 100 years ago. Why would we as Marxist ‘unify’ with reformist when reformist have historically sold us out and paved the way for fascist.
100%! One of issues with DSA “leftists” is that they falsely make this argument (false in the sense they think people aren’t coalescing behind their odd not really socialist politics) but as a way of dismissing black radical organizations and as a way of critiquing the history of the black freedom movement because they do not actually understand imperialism. They just think Medicare for All and Bernie is the only left the US has had in past century, which simply is untrue and is reformist. I’ve heard multiple DSA members critique the Black Panther Party as “identity politics” “not working class”, and I think this has to do with them not reading Marx or understanding the limits of Marx outside of Europe, and the ways in which Marxism has shifted and adapted in “third world” movements (Lumumba, BPP, Che’s analysis, etc).
This has been my (to be fair, pretty limited) experience with DSA members as well. They tend to have this odd reverence for the history of the American union movement that surrounded the American Socialist Party, and to a lesser degree, later the CPUSA, while completely ignoring (or just not being aware) that the practical result of that was a largely segregationist union movement trying to get slightly higher wages for white workers. And then they point to the exceptions to the rule, as if that represented the norm.
It's very frustrating, exactly because organisations like the BPP or the BLA actually existed, which were a hundred times more politically developed than this chauvinistic reformism. And then they wonder why their organisations become a feeding ground for petit-bourgeois careerists. I'm sure there a decent people in the DSA, but I think the organisation itself is a death trap for Marxists.
Great article. I've been saying for a long time now that there is a huge misunderstanding, particularly with conservatives, as to what is left-wing. What people seem to consider left-wing is basic Liberalism.
Good article Luke 👍. I don't adhere to any bullshit political labels . I believe in equal rights for all , since equal rights should cover all races and sexes without the need to create more laws that continue to create divisions in our society. If we are a wealthy country, there is no need for the sickness that plagues our society. My enemies are actually the politicians and corporate leaders fucking everything up to create a fake enemy, to take our attention off of them. No left, No center , and No right , just basic human decency and common sense
I gather you left die linke. Good riddance. Are you considering joining any other party/political organisation? You seem well affiliated with the German political field. What's your take on Wagenecht? (I might have misspelled her name but you get who I'm referring to)
Yep, I dropped my membership in early 2023. Since then, I've also moved to Vienna, so joining another party/organisation in Germany wasn't really an option.
In Munich, the most prevalent communist organisation was the DKP (German Communist Party, the informal successor of the KPD after the ban in 1956), but they have for some time now adopted a rather terrible opportunist line on the nature of the German state, and instead of a clear revolutionary position they talk about the necessity of construction a quote 'anti-monopolist democracy'. This isn't just a tactical approach to legality either, they take it very seriously.
In my view, the most theoretically developed communist organisation in Germany is the "Kommunistische Partei - Communist Party" (KP), formerly the "Kommunistische Organisation" (KO). They aren't actually a formal party organisation yet, since they are currently in a transition process that they understand as 'developing the tasks of the communist mass party in Germany' but what makes me pretty hopeful (aside from anecdotal conversations I had with members) is that they have a theoretically rigorous program instead of an amalgum of vague positions. Last year, they released a 250-page critique of Maoism in Germany, just as an example. This kind of engagement with the concrete history of communism in Germany, especially recent history, is almost unheard of in other organisations here. If I were still in Germany, I would join them without a doubt. Here's the short version of their initial 2018 program in English, if you are curious:
Here in Vienna I've mainly been attending meetings / organising with the "Partei der Arbeit - Party of Labor" (PdA), which is a 2013 Marxist-Leninist split from the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) after their full-on reformist turn. I would join them as member, but they are a committed cadre party (which, for the record, is a good thing), and I don't really have the time to commit the necessary time at the moment.
As for Wagenknecht: Her party gathered people dissatisfied with Die Linke for several reasons, some of those reasons related to their half-capitulation to German imperialism (unilateral condemnation of Russia, etc.), but for the most part, opportunists who thought a more racist line (really, just the line of every other party other than Die Linke) on migration could win back the 'working class' from the AfD. In practice, once they actually formalised their program in 2024, it turned into a rightist split that gives lip service to pacifist (never anti-imperialist) language, because the state pacifism of the German Democratic Republic is still popular among older people in the East. I suspect they will largely be irrelevant within a few years, since the racism and false pacifism of the AfD is far more internally coherent.
Absolute banger seriously, you always seem to find a way to put to words what I’m trying to fully conceive of myself super appreciative of you and the work you are doing
I think this issue is tied into how people see the function of Marxist theory or more generally political theory itself. in respect to dialectical theory, most "leftists" fundamentally misunderstand the issue, in my opinion. they see theory as some sort of a scenario or a plan, with clear steps, methods and goals to reach one after the other. but dialectical materialism, different from all other political theory, is a "living" theory, it is neither a scenario or a model. every historical moment is different from each other and past methods cannot be applied to current problems, they can only be learned from because history is made only by the living. this is a terrifying reality but it is also a plain and clear fact. so a proposal of unity based on theory is in fact without substance because what matters is practice. there is no disembodied theory like a theology for dialectical materialism. theory is there to clear away the fog and let you see where you stand on. it doesn't matter what your ideal society looks like but terms like "leftism" are built upon such ideals in the shape of shared values. those really don't matter politically because you are not living them and what is more, we actually don't have a good idea of what they'd really look like. we don't really know what "equality" or "freedom" really is, these are just symbols and feelings for us, not concrete realities. you can't build a political movement out of a shared value of "human dignity". what does that even mean? but you can build an efficient movement to stop the zionist occupation and aggression.
Ha I mean reading this as a Englishman right now rings especially true given our more-than-a-century of the Labour Party (lol) weaponising its ostensible 'broad tent' ideal to neuter every attempt by anyone to the left of Keynes to organise an /actual/ leftist challenge to the status quo.. taken to new, genocidal extremes as we speak by Sir Keir Starmer, of course, who has spent far more time and effort over the past year and a half rooting out even mild-mannered socialists from the Party, filming the deportations of 'illegal immigrants' and orchestrating the arrests of anti-genocide protesters than he has defending the 'human rights' on which he made his previous career as a lawyer... BUT I guess that does bring me on to the essential problem here - which is that 'left unity' is often promoted not so much as an abstract ideal as a prerequisite for making a convincing play for power. Now, I agree that gaining said power does little for the real left - communists like yourself, anarchists like myself - if we've been forced to give up our ideals and assimilate ourselves and our movements into a bourgeoise liberal party. But struggle alone won't win us power if we continue to be as numerically weak as we are at the moment... and ultimately we need power in order to try and make this world of ours a less miserable place for its benighted masses... so, to quote an old favourite... what is to be done? How might we, on the *actual* left, go about winning *actual* power? Is there ever a world in which we force the liberals to defer to *us* in the name of 'unity'? Can we take over *their* organisations, their parties, their political machines? How else can we gain the kind of mass support needed to take hold of the levers of power within our lifetimes? Do we have to wait for climate change, mass forced migrations and economic collapse to force an opening in the capitalist reality in which we're all currently so stuck? Or is there another way? And if so... what?
This eases some of the blinding frustration with silence from "the left" before the election, and even active silencing of, or attempts to silence, voices on Gaza that turned around to blame this singular election for the fascism that's been bubbling up for all of our eugenics obsessed phrenology laden lobotomy wins the Nobel prize existence as Western Example for Freedom *explosion behind screaming eagle*
Thank you for soothing the tension in my chronic migraine with some semantic discourse and intelligent analysis, an unfortunately overlooked vital characteristic nowadays. I think this might be a shifting attitude though so heres to hoping that momentum builds.
Lukas, I read this piece with deep attention—and even deeper concern. Your clarity of vision, your moral intensity, and your willingness to examine your past complicity are evident. But I want to gently ask: what happens when struggle becomes the only virtue, and mercy is no longer part of the political imagination?
From a Concordian Catholic perspective, justice without grace becomes a new law. A harder law. And sometimes the revolutionary line you defend so fiercely can become an echo chamber—one that silences not just opponents, but the soul’s own need for mercy, forgiveness, and even doubt.
I’m not here to dilute your principles. But I am here to ask: who carries the burdens when purity becomes the test of solidarity? What happens to the imperfect, the confused, the ones still becoming?
I would welcome a dialogue—not a debate, but a real exchange. Because I believe that struggle is not the final word. Communion is. And I think you have something to say to the Church. But I also believe the Church has something to say to you.
Excellent. How easy you find it to draw these lines for things other than genocide? The other reason why you didn’t take a strong a stance in 2021 is simply that it objectively wasn’t as bad.
There is little that Western liberalism is spouting complete nonsense these days, basically indicting itself without us needing to do any heavy critical work anymore. That wasn’t the case 4years ago.
These lines seem obvious today because the material conditions have changed. Would you object to this take?
Regarding the “Unity” placebo put forth by the center right parties (Democrats, Labour, etc.)
I can find “Unity” easily with actual laborers. No problem there.
I can find no common cause with the neoliberal “market-based” crowd which make up the vast majority of participants identifying as “liberal”.
As considered by other commenters, why not simply join and overwhelm by numbers existing parties? Why limit this action to simply the moderate parties? This is how the Right slides into power with minimal actual public support.
Why not go all “One Party Rule” and sign up as Republican or Tory, etc. though again, with a sufficient flood of participation as to overwhelm the mechanisms of party control.
Organized Labor is the only way to achieve anything in terms of any form of Left/Progressive goals. With Labor buy-in and public support, all things are possible (climate action, wealth inequality, healthcare,etc.). Without it, and the public understanding of how public needs commingle with Labor’s…
We end up with our current shitshow in which the Right divides and conquers by uniting a 10% “true believer” fascist base with another 25% of idiots who don’t understand how market manipulation and inflation work.
Beautifully said, ‘left unity’ in the USA is a euphemism for getting along with liberals and reformist. Marxist are seen as ‘extreme’ and ‘dogmatic’ because we see through the methods of social democrats and we see through the liberal bourgeois establishment. Like you stated, it should be always ‘unity for whom?’ based on what? Who are we unifying with and why are we unifying with them? Beyond that the left in the west (particularly the United States) is adverse to theory and history so we keep making nearly the same mistakes Lenin wrote about over 100 years ago. Why would we as Marxist ‘unify’ with reformist when reformist have historically sold us out and paved the way for fascist.
Great article! The call for left unity ultimately undermines the Marxist movement and means a compromise with reactionary forces… Funnily enough, Max Parry and I just had a podcast about the traitorous nature of social democrats: https://open.substack.com/pub/shaenahbatterson/p/suck-dems?r=2r6o04&utm_medium=ios
100%! One of issues with DSA “leftists” is that they falsely make this argument (false in the sense they think people aren’t coalescing behind their odd not really socialist politics) but as a way of dismissing black radical organizations and as a way of critiquing the history of the black freedom movement because they do not actually understand imperialism. They just think Medicare for All and Bernie is the only left the US has had in past century, which simply is untrue and is reformist. I’ve heard multiple DSA members critique the Black Panther Party as “identity politics” “not working class”, and I think this has to do with them not reading Marx or understanding the limits of Marx outside of Europe, and the ways in which Marxism has shifted and adapted in “third world” movements (Lumumba, BPP, Che’s analysis, etc).
This has been my (to be fair, pretty limited) experience with DSA members as well. They tend to have this odd reverence for the history of the American union movement that surrounded the American Socialist Party, and to a lesser degree, later the CPUSA, while completely ignoring (or just not being aware) that the practical result of that was a largely segregationist union movement trying to get slightly higher wages for white workers. And then they point to the exceptions to the rule, as if that represented the norm.
It's very frustrating, exactly because organisations like the BPP or the BLA actually existed, which were a hundred times more politically developed than this chauvinistic reformism. And then they wonder why their organisations become a feeding ground for petit-bourgeois careerists. I'm sure there a decent people in the DSA, but I think the organisation itself is a death trap for Marxists.
Yes!!!! Hahah what is with DSA and the New Deal?! You can read about the 1920s/1930s but skip Du Bois and Claude McKay…cool
Great article. I've been saying for a long time now that there is a huge misunderstanding, particularly with conservatives, as to what is left-wing. What people seem to consider left-wing is basic Liberalism.
Good article Luke 👍. I don't adhere to any bullshit political labels . I believe in equal rights for all , since equal rights should cover all races and sexes without the need to create more laws that continue to create divisions in our society. If we are a wealthy country, there is no need for the sickness that plagues our society. My enemies are actually the politicians and corporate leaders fucking everything up to create a fake enemy, to take our attention off of them. No left, No center , and No right , just basic human decency and common sense
I gather you left die linke. Good riddance. Are you considering joining any other party/political organisation? You seem well affiliated with the German political field. What's your take on Wagenecht? (I might have misspelled her name but you get who I'm referring to)
Yep, I dropped my membership in early 2023. Since then, I've also moved to Vienna, so joining another party/organisation in Germany wasn't really an option.
In Munich, the most prevalent communist organisation was the DKP (German Communist Party, the informal successor of the KPD after the ban in 1956), but they have for some time now adopted a rather terrible opportunist line on the nature of the German state, and instead of a clear revolutionary position they talk about the necessity of construction a quote 'anti-monopolist democracy'. This isn't just a tactical approach to legality either, they take it very seriously.
In my view, the most theoretically developed communist organisation in Germany is the "Kommunistische Partei - Communist Party" (KP), formerly the "Kommunistische Organisation" (KO). They aren't actually a formal party organisation yet, since they are currently in a transition process that they understand as 'developing the tasks of the communist mass party in Germany' but what makes me pretty hopeful (aside from anecdotal conversations I had with members) is that they have a theoretically rigorous program instead of an amalgum of vague positions. Last year, they released a 250-page critique of Maoism in Germany, just as an example. This kind of engagement with the concrete history of communism in Germany, especially recent history, is almost unheard of in other organisations here. If I were still in Germany, I would join them without a doubt. Here's the short version of their initial 2018 program in English, if you are curious:
https://kommunistischepartei.de/programmatische-thesen/programmatic-theses-in-english-programmatische-thesen-auf-englisch/
Here in Vienna I've mainly been attending meetings / organising with the "Partei der Arbeit - Party of Labor" (PdA), which is a 2013 Marxist-Leninist split from the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) after their full-on reformist turn. I would join them as member, but they are a committed cadre party (which, for the record, is a good thing), and I don't really have the time to commit the necessary time at the moment.
As for Wagenknecht: Her party gathered people dissatisfied with Die Linke for several reasons, some of those reasons related to their half-capitulation to German imperialism (unilateral condemnation of Russia, etc.), but for the most part, opportunists who thought a more racist line (really, just the line of every other party other than Die Linke) on migration could win back the 'working class' from the AfD. In practice, once they actually formalised their program in 2024, it turned into a rightist split that gives lip service to pacifist (never anti-imperialist) language, because the state pacifism of the German Democratic Republic is still popular among older people in the East. I suspect they will largely be irrelevant within a few years, since the racism and false pacifism of the AfD is far more internally coherent.
Absolute banger seriously, you always seem to find a way to put to words what I’m trying to fully conceive of myself super appreciative of you and the work you are doing
Really appreciate the kind words! Helping people to arrange their own thoughts is really all I can hope for :)
I think this issue is tied into how people see the function of Marxist theory or more generally political theory itself. in respect to dialectical theory, most "leftists" fundamentally misunderstand the issue, in my opinion. they see theory as some sort of a scenario or a plan, with clear steps, methods and goals to reach one after the other. but dialectical materialism, different from all other political theory, is a "living" theory, it is neither a scenario or a model. every historical moment is different from each other and past methods cannot be applied to current problems, they can only be learned from because history is made only by the living. this is a terrifying reality but it is also a plain and clear fact. so a proposal of unity based on theory is in fact without substance because what matters is practice. there is no disembodied theory like a theology for dialectical materialism. theory is there to clear away the fog and let you see where you stand on. it doesn't matter what your ideal society looks like but terms like "leftism" are built upon such ideals in the shape of shared values. those really don't matter politically because you are not living them and what is more, we actually don't have a good idea of what they'd really look like. we don't really know what "equality" or "freedom" really is, these are just symbols and feelings for us, not concrete realities. you can't build a political movement out of a shared value of "human dignity". what does that even mean? but you can build an efficient movement to stop the zionist occupation and aggression.
Inspirational and the thought that neo-liberalism needs the liberal left is new. It shouldn't be but it is to me. Of course! Thanks
Ha I mean reading this as a Englishman right now rings especially true given our more-than-a-century of the Labour Party (lol) weaponising its ostensible 'broad tent' ideal to neuter every attempt by anyone to the left of Keynes to organise an /actual/ leftist challenge to the status quo.. taken to new, genocidal extremes as we speak by Sir Keir Starmer, of course, who has spent far more time and effort over the past year and a half rooting out even mild-mannered socialists from the Party, filming the deportations of 'illegal immigrants' and orchestrating the arrests of anti-genocide protesters than he has defending the 'human rights' on which he made his previous career as a lawyer... BUT I guess that does bring me on to the essential problem here - which is that 'left unity' is often promoted not so much as an abstract ideal as a prerequisite for making a convincing play for power. Now, I agree that gaining said power does little for the real left - communists like yourself, anarchists like myself - if we've been forced to give up our ideals and assimilate ourselves and our movements into a bourgeoise liberal party. But struggle alone won't win us power if we continue to be as numerically weak as we are at the moment... and ultimately we need power in order to try and make this world of ours a less miserable place for its benighted masses... so, to quote an old favourite... what is to be done? How might we, on the *actual* left, go about winning *actual* power? Is there ever a world in which we force the liberals to defer to *us* in the name of 'unity'? Can we take over *their* organisations, their parties, their political machines? How else can we gain the kind of mass support needed to take hold of the levers of power within our lifetimes? Do we have to wait for climate change, mass forced migrations and economic collapse to force an opening in the capitalist reality in which we're all currently so stuck? Or is there another way? And if so... what?
This eases some of the blinding frustration with silence from "the left" before the election, and even active silencing of, or attempts to silence, voices on Gaza that turned around to blame this singular election for the fascism that's been bubbling up for all of our eugenics obsessed phrenology laden lobotomy wins the Nobel prize existence as Western Example for Freedom *explosion behind screaming eagle*
Thank you for soothing the tension in my chronic migraine with some semantic discourse and intelligent analysis, an unfortunately overlooked vital characteristic nowadays. I think this might be a shifting attitude though so heres to hoping that momentum builds.
Lukas, I read this piece with deep attention—and even deeper concern. Your clarity of vision, your moral intensity, and your willingness to examine your past complicity are evident. But I want to gently ask: what happens when struggle becomes the only virtue, and mercy is no longer part of the political imagination?
From a Concordian Catholic perspective, justice without grace becomes a new law. A harder law. And sometimes the revolutionary line you defend so fiercely can become an echo chamber—one that silences not just opponents, but the soul’s own need for mercy, forgiveness, and even doubt.
I’m not here to dilute your principles. But I am here to ask: who carries the burdens when purity becomes the test of solidarity? What happens to the imperfect, the confused, the ones still becoming?
I would welcome a dialogue—not a debate, but a real exchange. Because I believe that struggle is not the final word. Communion is. And I think you have something to say to the Church. But I also believe the Church has something to say to you.
Excellent. How easy you find it to draw these lines for things other than genocide? The other reason why you didn’t take a strong a stance in 2021 is simply that it objectively wasn’t as bad.
There is little that Western liberalism is spouting complete nonsense these days, basically indicting itself without us needing to do any heavy critical work anymore. That wasn’t the case 4years ago.
These lines seem obvious today because the material conditions have changed. Would you object to this take?
Well done.
Yankee writing here
Regarding the “Unity” placebo put forth by the center right parties (Democrats, Labour, etc.)
I can find “Unity” easily with actual laborers. No problem there.
I can find no common cause with the neoliberal “market-based” crowd which make up the vast majority of participants identifying as “liberal”.
As considered by other commenters, why not simply join and overwhelm by numbers existing parties? Why limit this action to simply the moderate parties? This is how the Right slides into power with minimal actual public support.
Why not go all “One Party Rule” and sign up as Republican or Tory, etc. though again, with a sufficient flood of participation as to overwhelm the mechanisms of party control.
Organized Labor is the only way to achieve anything in terms of any form of Left/Progressive goals. With Labor buy-in and public support, all things are possible (climate action, wealth inequality, healthcare,etc.). Without it, and the public understanding of how public needs commingle with Labor’s…
We end up with our current shitshow in which the Right divides and conquers by uniting a 10% “true believer” fascist base with another 25% of idiots who don’t understand how market manipulation and inflation work.
I’ve said too much 😑
Thanks for your efforts.
Weedy, but very well written.
All the best.