Following the success of issues 1 and 2 of ISA’s journal International Marxism, issue 3 is here! This issue is titled “Which Way Forward for the Left?” and grapples with the lessons of left formations globally and the way forward. Read the editorial below and subscribe here today: internationalsocialist.net/publications/

ARTICLES INCLUDE:

• The Tragedy of “Your Party” and Lessons for Socialists
• PSOL in Brazil—More than Two Decades Rich in Lessons for the International Left
• Zohran Mamdani and the Lessons of the Left in the Democratic Party
• Debates in Die Linke—The Centrality of War and Imperialism for the Left Today
• France: LFI, The New Popular Front, and the Fight Against the Far Right
• The Ultimate Test—War, Imperialism, and the Left Today
• Sweden: Revolutionary Socialists and the Fight for Reforms
• Can Canada’s NDP Be Revived Under New “Socialist” Leadership?
• The Rise and Fall of Latin America’s Pink Tides
• How Militant Intervened in Britain’s Labour Party
• Book Review: “We’re Coming for You & Your Rotten System: How Socialists Beat Amazon and Upended Big-City Politics” by Jonathan Rosenblum

Editorial: The Search For A Viable Left Alternative To Decaying Capitalism

War, a skyrocketing cost of living, climate catastrophe—for the majority of the world’s population today the future feels bleak. Around the world, ruling classes have turned to a more openly reactionary form of rule. Every day the dark shadow of war extends over more and more of the world as the imperialist scramble for power and profit becomes more blatant and unashamed. Governments around the world beat the drums of war, writing blank checks to war profiteers at the expense of the basic needs of the working class and poor. Economic crisis hangs overhead as the energy shock radiates from Trump’s destructive and disastrous war on Iran. Scapegoating of immigrants, trans people, women, and ethnic and racial minorities is used to turn the blame away from the billionaires, who are driving humanity and the environment further toward the edge of a cliff. 

Across the world, the far right has been strengthened and the so-called center has turned right. Right-wing figures and parties have provided answers—albeit toxic and misleading ones—to problems in the world today. The far right now holds or shares power in several key countries, including the United States, and in others it benefits from posturing as an opposition to the floundering establishment capitalist parties in the government. 

The far right’s ascendance has begun to (at least temporarily) ebb some cases, shown most notably in the defeat of authoritarian Orbán in Hungary and the mounting challenges facing the Trump regime. Orbán’s defeat represented a deep-seated desire to kick out an extreme-right strongman. But the Magyar government that replaced him will not defend the interests of workers and oppressed people, and neither will the thoroughly corporate Democratic Party in the US. The far right can face setbacks, but the threat they pose will still be potent if they are replaced with establishment parties. 

And overall they still have momentum. The extreme-right AfD is topping the polls in Germany; Modi’s BJP made major gains in recent state elections, consolidating its grip nationally; and Reform UK is now the biggest party in Britain in the wake of a complete collapse for Starmer’s Labour Party. 

In this context, the objective need for independent working-class politics has never been greater. The world situation is desperately calling out for genuine left-wing parties rooted in the working class and based on struggle, which can challenge the drive towards war and fight against all imperialism and oppression, austerity budgets, and attacks on our lives and livelihoods. The fundamental issue today is not that left-wing policies are unpopular, but rather the weakness of the existing left and working-class organizations—especially their leaderships.

Combative Left Needed To Fight The Right

Since 2019, mass revolts internationally—including the Estallido Social in Chile, Black Lives Matter in the US, the largest general strike in the history of the world in India, the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran, the mass struggle against pension reform in France, the “Gen Z” protests in Asia and beyond against inequality and corruption, and more—have shaken the system and even taken down governments. However, the weakness of the organizations of the working class and the left has meant that these heroic struggles have failed to decisively challenge the power of the ruling class and the capitalist system that is at the root of the disaster facing working people.

New waves of protest from Ireland to the Philippines to Kenya, driven by the economic crisis caused by the war in the Middle East, show there is no shortage of flammable material in the world situation.

In country after country, where a genuine left-wing alternative is available, it has been met with enthusiasm by important sections of the population, even if lacking deep roots in the working class. The massive groundswell after the initial launch of Your Party in Britain, the breath of new and youthful energy into Die Linke after a period of intense stagnation, and the celebrity-like popularity of Zohran Mamdani are all a testament to the potential that exists for left-wing policies today. However, the past decades are littered with examples of betrayals and defeats for left formations, and the left that exists today has been unable in most cases to overcome its deep political weaknesses inherited from the past period. 

This issue of International Marxism examines the lessons from past left formations and their defeats, the development of the new wave of left formations globally, and the way forward. International Socialist Alternative is not a passive bystander commenting on this process from afar. As Marxists have done in the past, we have been part of the process, actively fighting for revolutionary politics within these left formations or alongside them in the movement. This means breaking with an approach of trying to water down working-class aims to fit within the existing capitalist order. The coming upheavals have the potential to shake this system to its core, the key question is whether the left and the labor movement will be prepared to seize the openings.

Reformism & Its Limitations

The relative weakness of left-wing politics today must be understood in its historical context. The articles in this issue frequently refer to “reformism” and its limitations.

In essence, reformism represents the adaptation of working-class struggle to the limits of the capitalist system. Historically, it often referred to those in the socialist movement who, in words at least, believed that a socialist world could be achieved through gradual change and would not require a revolutionary transformation of society. Today however, reformism almost always refers to a part of the left which believes in the gradual improvement of capitalist society but does not really believe that a classless society based on collective ownership of society’s wealth is possible or desirable.

Revolutionaries, on the other hand, are not opposed to reforms. Though some may try to portray us as idealists who refuse to compromise, in reality revolutionaries have been the best, most consistent fighters for genuine reform. But we insist that the capitalist class will not give up their power without a struggle, even if the vast majority of society opposes them. This means that there has to be a decisive break with capitalism led by the working class, the only force with the common interests and social power to accomplish this.

Working people moving into struggle have, in general, turned to reformist solutions first because they appear to be more achievable. In practice, though, reformism has meant, at best, accommodating to the capitalist system and achieving less than what is possible and, at worst, outright betrayal.

Today, reformism, even the more militant or left-wing variety, is not even able to deliver the type of gains that were won in the past. After World War II, powerful unions and workers’ parties in the core imperialist countries were able to win a higher standard of living for working people and gains like universal health care. These gains were won in the context of a prolonged economic boom for capitalism during which the bosses made huge profits but workers also received a larger overall share of the wealth created than today. 

But the truth is that the key gains were not won because of a reformist strategy, but because the working class threatened revolutionary change in a series of countries after the war. In Western Europe, the capitalists, deeply discredited under fascist rule, also feared the growing power of the Soviet Union after the war, despite the anti-revolutionary role of the Stalinist bureaucracy. 

The labor movement and the left are much weaker today in most countries because of a series of defeats since the start of the era of neoliberal globalization in the 1970s and 80s, some of which are referred to in this issue. On top of this, we are a long way from the economic boom that followed World War II, despite the fond desire of many reformists to return to that time. A stronger movement could win bigger gains, but the capitalist economy is stagnant and crisis prone, and therefore gains are harder to make and more immediately threatened. 

The neoliberal offensive of the 80s and 90s led to the decimation of historic labor and left-wing parties or their transformation into out-and-out defenders of the capitalist order. The period that followed was one of neoliberal triumphalism, as the bosses and their political servants danced on the graves of the remaining gains of the Russian Revolution and once formidable workers’ organizations. The traditional left parties like the Labour Party in Britain or the Socialist Party in France were transformed into out and out pro-capitalist parties and are completely discredited as vehicles for socialist change.

New Left Formations

Attempts to shove austerity down the throats of the working class were met with waves of resistance and often took on a powerful political expression. Left governments came to power in the “pink tide” in Latin America in the 2000s, and substantial new left formations developed in a series of other countries as well.

The 2008 global economic crisis, and the bosses’ effort to make the workers pay for it, was a turning point. A series of parties grew or developed in the 2010s: Syriza in Greece, Podemos in the Spanish state, Québec Solidaire, Die Linke in Germany, La France Insoumise, the Jeremy Corbyn phenomenon in Britain, as well as the Bernie Sanders campaigns and the growth of Democratic Socialists of America in the United States.

However, the new left formations that have sought to fill the vacuum on the left have been highly unstable, and the reformist trends at their helm have been put to the test again and again and found wanting. These new left formations ran into their limits in a number of cases, and in some descended into acute crisis. The most striking example perhaps being Syriza’s capitulation to the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank in 2015 in the face of the debt crisis and mass revolt in Greece.

In other cases new waves or “second winds” for existing left formations have emerged. The most electric example was the launch of Your Party in Britain following a series of purges and exodus from the Labour Party which has thoroughly abandoned any final vestiges of its working-class roots. Socialist Alternative (ISA in England, Wales and Scotland) enthusiastically pushed this process forward. However, sabotage at the top of the party has led to its virtual implosion and tragically missed opportunities. 

As the articles in this issue illustrate, this hunger for left politics is not an isolated phenomenon. La France Insoumise has stood out as a combative left alternative over the past period, and will continue to face important opportunities, as well as pressures as a result of the tumultuous political situation. Important new developments have included the leadership elections in Canada’s New Democratic Party which resulted in the victory of self-proclaimed socialist Avi Lewis, the election of Zohran Mamdani as the mayor of New York City, and the rapid growth of Die Linke in Germany are further examples of this trend. This new era dominated by inter-imperialist conflict and rising militarism will put these figures and formations to the test immediately, shown for example by the debates in Die Linke in Germany over the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran.

Reform Or Revolution?

Walking alongside our class in the struggle to build and re-build working-class organizations that are fit for the task of defending our interests has been central to the Marxist movement since its inception. From the time of the Paris Commune, to the building of the working-class movement under the repressive conditions of tsarist Russia, to the Militant Tendency within the British Labour Party, revolutionaries have looked for whatever path was available to engage with workers looking to fight back, build campaigns and movements, and raise proposals for the way forward.

As in the past, socialists must fight tooth and nail for reforms, but we must have no illusion that we can gradually turn this rotting system into something fit for working people to live in. As revolutionary socialists, ISA works to build new mass working-class parties of struggle, linked to a fighting labor movement. To be truly useful for working people and our movements, these parties must be democratic and allow for a real debate between different trends in the labor movement, including different shades of reformist and revolutionary politics. Unlike some “ultraleft” organizations, we do not believe in standing to one side and simply denouncing reformism in the hopes that it will disappear. We seek to engage in debate and common action, confident that Marxist ideas will prove their usefulness.