I never knew the Soviet Union. I never knew Yugoslavia. I never knew a Maoist China or goulash communism. In 1991 something tragic happened. Not only was the greatest experiment in human dignity ended but history ended, or it feels like it did. I never saw any of it. Those few bastions of human dignity – Cuba first among them – have been forced on to the defensive, and even forced to liberalize their economies. The country that claims to represent me targets anyone who attempts to build another world. Mark Fisher said that we live in a world of capitalist realism, there is no alternative, he is probably right (is that why he killed himself?) but there is hope in repression, they have something to fear.
I have finally been able to have political discussions in the tax haven. Young Germans (most Luxembourgers included) are, overwhelmingly, conservative. In the recent German election, the majority of young people voted for just two parties: the FDP and the Greens. The FDP is libertarian in orientation, small government with a social consciousness, so long as the government does not do anything about it. Their party leader, Linder, is a monster, gunning for the finance ministry he hopes to the destroy the southern European economies to finance his dreams of also destroying what remains of the German welfare state. A classic German imperialist. The Greens are not much better. While environmentalist in outlook they are essentially a greener version of the CDU, the environment must be protected so that Germans can enjoy it. The Nazis painted gas stations like traditional German huts, I wonder if these Germans would appreciate the effort.
Here in the tax haven the dynamic is similar, whatever socialist opposition exists is confined to retirement homes or a DSA-type party known as Dei Lènk, and it receives about as many votes as its German neighbor, Die Linke. I met a lovely Portuguese woman, a comrade with good politics. Luxembourgers have become accustomed to the benefits they receive from being a tax haven, they do not share these benefits with the Portuguese (or they try their hardest to prevent it). The Portuguese fill the same roll as Latinos in the US, they work the shit jobs and are harassed of speaking Portuguese with each other in school. The tax haven and university pride themselves on their multilingualism, with this glaring exception.
I am in a class about Luxembourg’s financial history, I am thinking about writing my final paper about what there once was. Did the KPL (Luxembourg’s communist party) ever oppose the tax haven’s status? Do they work with the Portuguese? It does not seem that either of the ‘significant’ anticapitalist parties have Portuguese outreach, I hope that I can impress them with the success the Bernie campaign had championing the causes of the Hispanic minority. The Bernie campaign was the only one with a Spanish-language arm. Joe Biden’s general election campaign spent their entire Spanish section targeting gusanos with little success.
The KPL is a ghost of a brighter future. Even this small tax haven had a worker’s movement. Mark Fisher brought hauntology into our modern vocabulary, the ghosts of a future that never was. How painful was it to have that future ripped away from you? Many of my friends and comrades are quick to attack Andrew (Weeks)’ generation for their willingness to accept the Democratic Party, are they willing to compromise because the Berlin Wall fell? The future was once so bright and meaningful. Now we defend what few gains we were lucky enough to win. There is a theory that says that social democracy was, essentially, an anticommunist ploy, providing the workers with better living conditions to prevent the worldwide revolution. If that is the case, I would like to thank the Soviet Union for every piece of welfare I have ever received. They made the world a better place, I can see the future they built for me, for everyone. I can only hope that we can protect the gains that they won for us.
“The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.”
Signed,
Andrew (Pfannkuche)
Normal Thoughts 