For

I had a short conversation with a Belgo-Albanian friend the other day. She’s a fan of Raoul Hedebouw, a deputy in the Belgian parliament for their official communist party, The Workers’ Party of Belgium. He’s a good orator and she respects him for that, spot on with hypocrisy and a complete command of French and Dutch that makes him the perfect leader of the party’s four (!, Belgian socialism is at the doorsteps comrades) deputies. My Belgo-Albanian told me about a time in her life when she would listen to his speeches regularly, and agree with him completely, but she’s since backed away from him. When she explained why I was shocked at how simple and pointed her explanation was; “He’s always against everything, always against.” This is the state of the socialist project.

My Belgo-Albanian is the type of person who the socialist movement needs to win to the cause if we are ever to be successful. An immigrant from Kosovo, she lives next to “the most dangerous street in Belgium.” I’ve been to her town, it is certainly poor, but it has the same charm as south side Chicago or my old home in Blue Island, Illinois. It is where the workers are, the poor workers who live in this Belgian town are immigrants who came for jobs. These are the people that are being crushed by neoliberal capitalism. In Blue Island it’s Mexicans, here it’s Yugoslavs. This is where the socialist movement can put down roots, if only it were for something!

We, as a movement, are for a lot of things. We are for international communism, we are for the liberation of the working class, but are more often protective of what is left of previous victories, fighting increasingly hollow rearguard actions against the ceaseless march of neoliberal capital. What are we against, capitalism, NATO, privatization, war (well, some of us), homelessness, and poverty. The list is much easier to articulate than what we are for.  The “end of history” and the accompanying destruction of the Keynesian welfare state have put the left, as a movement, on the defensive, that is why we are always against something. We think of the victories of previous generations as the jumping-off points, and we, therefore, protect them with all our resources. That is not the case. The success of the Amazon Labor Union in Staten Island has shown us that, to be successful, we have to go on the offensive.

There is a line from Bukharin (or was it Lenin?) that argues that it could be okay if the revolution is defeated in Russia, so long as it lives somewhere else. A battle cannot only be progress, a general has to decide which territory is worth holding and which can be surrendered to the enemy to fight another day. We have decided to cling, for dear life, to every inch of mud we have, regardless of the costs. Even if the costs are our ability to continue fighting.

What I am saying is that we have to be for something. We are for many things, Medicare4All, College4All, Unions, fair retirement at an early age, long weekends, and longer vacations. But what does that translate to in our messaging? I’m sure our comrades in the Workers’ Party of Belgium are for many things, why can’t my Belgo-Albanian hear any of it? We have spent the past years in a state of dread and negativity. We’ve guarded the socialist flame for the next generation. That is not how we get militants, that is how we get monks. We have to go on the offensive, fight our battles, and, most importantly, begin to be for positivity, hope, and a better world.

Signed,

Andrew (Pfannkuche)