Why Electoral Politics fails for the left

Im not even politically active nor am i very left wing but as a young immigrant living in Europe one of the points that stuck out to me was the posturing of many specifically marxist Leninist groups who, from my experience, are simply very (not necessarily rich but) well off students or younger people who, for the lack of a better word, LARP as if they’re sectaries and local governors in some 20th century ML recently revolutionised Nation .

It’s why many people dont vote, for example, for the Socialist candidates in many British constituencies even the furthest left ones.

"Embrace the system and work with what ya got"

Only one problem with that logic in this instance. My state of tx doesn't give a crap and rigs the elections in favor of right wing trash anyways so what exactly am I working with here? Seems like these a holes don't wanna work with me, let alone work in the first place lol. How does one work with this? Many of them don't wanna work with me and just want me dead because I'm a "filthy commie" lol.

Great video BadMouse!

May I suggest some good praxis, especially for my USA comrades? Get involved in LOCAL politics. There are tons of boards with OPEN elected positions that need to be filled. Yes, this is small potatoes stuff, but participation is important for a number of reasons: 1) to learn the mechanics of civil governance; 2) to learn the arts and skills of deliberation, collaboration, conflict management, and consensus building; 3) to build OUR REPUTATIONS as doers, people who get things done and don't just stand in judgement on the sidelines. I may need be leading the revolution, but I'm sure as hell getting myself prepared for it.

Seconding the 'always happy to be among people who won't let us get complacent' thing. Any project of building a better world has to be engaged in with the understanding that it is both a) deadly serious and b) not any one person's to dictate.

He lives???!

I've never heard the phrase "licking the wood off the barrel" before, but it's a good one. Excellent videos!

I'm from "the right", just passing through, and most of us feel the exact same way about almost everything here said, in reverse.

The opinion of the everyman has never mattered and has always warped to the whims of those in control, because his opinion is given to him by the news and even if it wasn't he can only form opinions based on what he's allowed to see. It's not middle-ism so much as those in power use leftists to erode culture and community independence and use conservatives to empower the security state and military industrial complex all of which results in a more easily controlled population. No matter who you vote for, you're voting for one part of the agenda of someone who views you as disposable, and who has convinced you the different parts of their agenda are opposed to one another.

I don't really care whether restaurants exist or not.

I think I needed to hear the optimism. I’ve been otg for years, I’ve seen my friends get hurt, I’ve seen good people suffer for the arrogant whims of exploitative “socialist parties”, I’ve been actively marshaling and doing what little I can for Palestine, including volunteer work at a Palestinian community center. I feel like I’m simultaneously being stretched thin and like it’s all superficial and done in arrogance on my end. I thank you for the optimism, and im sorry for venting. I just don’t know where else I’ll be vindicated, except the void of a comment section

The thing is, while Biden has a lot of failures, he's (sadly) done more for workers rights and student loans than any president in like the last four decades. And that's because of electoral pressure from the left
Like, the dichotomy of praxis vs electoralism is a matter of "also" not "instead"

Ok, I see what you are saying…
But…
Why the hell did you feel like attacking MLs and making a parallel between Biden and Stalin?
Like, I guess if you are strictly referring to terminally online edgelords who heard about the Black Book of Communism and decided Stalin “has a bigger score” so he’s cooler, then, ok, but those are nazbols. I guess there’s also a liberal parallel to that by exclusively looking at history through revisionist rose glasses and pretending their favourite boi did nothing wrong as opposed to “he did wrong and that’s cool”… but a lot of serious MLs don’t actually believe their “heads” were perfect, I am a ML, I have a long list of things I don’t like about each and every socialist leader. But I still can engage in learning from what went well during previous socialist experiments AND, perhaps most importantly, I can understand and show critical support for governments and organisations that seem to cut against the worst effects of capital and colonialism. Sure, I don’t like every aspect about the UN and how they run their charity for Palestine… I still donated hundreds of dollars to UNRWA because even if I don’t like some things about it, Palestinians are starving in Gaza and there aren’t many organisations that actually try and succeed to push through some food. Yes, UNRWA is a liberal organisation… I don’t care, it’s not as if I can buy food and deliver it myself to people in a closed siege zone guarded by hitlerites. Also, let’s look at Cuba. Yes, I have my criticisms but do I think it’s worth supporting the current government over a theoretical US-backed alternative? Heck yes. Not to mention there’s also things to praise about the current political structure in Cuba since they passed a very progressive bill in regards to LGBTQIA+ rights despite ardent opposition from the catholics and it is better than what most liberal democracies were ever able to achieve. That’s nothing to scoff at, especially in a relatively poor and isolated country that doesn’t have the material benefits of other first world countries. Yes, the concept of a stepping stone is problematic, not everything we step on towards our goals is a stepping stone, sometimes it is a bear trap that anchors us in the past and dilutes revolutionary sentiment. However, comparing MLs who give critical support towards some current governments or organisations with blue MAGA liberals who turn themselves into 4-dimensional pretzels just to feel morally superior when they vote blue again… that ain’t it bro, that ain’t cool. It’s frankly reminiscent of the hilarious nonsense Vaush said about “Marx would vote blue no matter who” except mirrored and told from the “but that’s why he’s bad” perspective.

You say Trump was as bad as people said he was. I had to live in fear during COVID thanks to him sparking anti-asian sentiment and causing a huge spike in anti Asian violence.

GUYS, HERE’S HOW BERNIE CAN STILL WIN

Elections are always going to be tough when you're going around saying restaurants are bad.

"I'm not an ideological anti voter I've come to this opinion because of what I've seen over the past eleven years" I mean let's not use "ideological" as an insult, you have a framework that lets you analyse how things will happen and what to do which you've built from experience and theory, that's an ideology, and on the subject of voting it's basically the same one as anti electoralism anarchists have been arguing in favor of since like a century and a half now
also very interesting perspective on the restaurant bit, I used to think this was a kind of joke, because I had not thought of how yeah, it's not really a restaurant anymore if it's organized in a socialist fashion
also as for that guy talking about how we should improve our lives instead of calling for radical action, it feels like yet another in the long list of people who broadcast their ignorance of history, theory or practice as though that was something to be proud of, like the people going "oh I just want cheaper rent, is that too much to ask ?" on your last video
as for third places, I definitely agree, where I live there's always a bunch of stuff being organized in squats or in other anarchist places, though one small issue I see with them is that they often tend to be mostly just "for" people already engaged, rather than places where everyone can join and get in contact with engaged people and learn about socialism while having fun
also I love "it was a bit of a shithole but it was our shithole" in many cases I've found places that were a bit run down and disorganized and sometimes a bit dirty, but each time that all felt like not much of an issue because the place felt very welcoming, it felt genuine, it felt like a home for everyone involved, that was so much more important, and I think that sentence explains this feeling very well
thanks again for your videos, you're doing amazing work, I just wish more people would watch and actually listen to them

Im starting to realize as a liberal that fringe lefties are not to be considered a threat as they will snipe each other out, they only become a problem if they weaponize fascism with a lefty aesthetic in the meanwhile theyre not bothering anyone being their smelly selves 😊

This is just purist gatekeeping.

The United Auto Workers calling for all unions to set their contract expiration dates for 1 May 2028 is better policy than anything proposed by the Democrats in the last 20 years.

I will be voting for Trump but I still enjoy your voice and hearing your beliefs

Glad I'm not the only one who came to that realization that MLs and Liberals are the two forms of Statist realism we see on the "Left", it's part of why I stopped being one

As an American, I have only recently become aware of George Galloway through his rhetoric against the Palestinian genocide. What I see there is effective public speaking and the only person in office doing it. I don't belieive he is beyond criticism, and I imagine he doesn't have great views or practice about everything, but the bottomline is I like hearing him speak and I think he is sincere about protesting the genocide, representing an unrepresented part of what is really within the democratic will of a great many people. I don't think he is just a grifter within that sense and I don't comprehend yours and others' criticism given that understanding.

I AM a radical third space. at least I try to be wherever I go

Another reason electoralism for the left is doomed is the fact that right-wingers simply start killing people when they lose. They have the police, the army, and they have every mass media apparatus. They don't even have to assassinate anybody, they just have to put some unflattering photographs in the newspaper and wait for a homegrown fascist to join the dots.

In a few years, we went from 'Jeremy who?' to Labour canvassers getting hospitalised. Corbyn himself was assaulted several times, and I cannot stress enough that there was a literal terrorist plot against him. (Which tragically ended in the murder of an old man outside a mosque)

All this just to prevent a slightly left-of-centre victory, which ironically would have preserved the status quo for longer.

AOC's mask has fallen off, she is deep into the corrupt DC culture,

In America, both the Left (nobly) and on the Right (criminally) have moved the definition of the middle. In issues like race and sexual orientation, the Left has moved the middle leftward. The norms of today would have been seen as radical beyond all reason in the past.

Sadly, the Right has played the game, too. Mainly in areas economic.

Where are the people of Israel to go? The Palestinians want an ethnically pure religious state. In existing Israel (no Utopia by any means) Islamic people of Arab ethnicity are judges, legislators, prominent acedemics, journalists, and business people. No Jews, Druse, secular Arabs, nor Arab Christians will be allowed in such roles or in Palestine itself. Why are you supporting ethnic cleansing?

Who cares at this point?! Ya'll have defined socialism to be an impossible utopian ideal, so by definition it will never come to pass. Might as well just go read LOTR and fantasize.

In a nutshell, bourgeois "democracy" doesn't work for the working class.
Build dual power structures, where the state has abondoned the people through austerity.

Bro this video is kinda boogers and basically just seems like a few half-baked opinions with some cheap infographics thrown overtop to "bamboozle" your audience into thinking you made any points. If I am wrong, and I must say, I couldn't, as an American, be, I would graciously accept your presence on my stream for a debate. Mano y mano as the kids say, in Spain, I've been assured, as well as Mexico. Consider this message my leather-gloved slap of challenge, lmao (laughing my ass off)

Bro what the fuck are you talking about restaurants not existing as a litmus test?

Do you understand that in the revolution, there is no instantaneous transition to socialism or communism? There is a reason why the Soviet Union couldn’t transform itself into an ideal socialist society instantaneously, they had war Communism and NEP - out of necessity, not desire. Honesty, anarchists are thick as dog sh*t.

Does anyone notice that this whole video is a straw man? These are literally none of the arguments socialists have ever used to argue strategically for electoralism. Stop listening to bread tube morons that haven’t read a single book, besides Anarchist literature.

Asking genuinely what contrapoints has done/said that's reactionary? I'm not super familiar with her but liked the videos of hers I've seen.

At around 2 minutes, you finally put a thought I've had for a while now into eloquent words. Why does the left have a notorious infighting problem while the right has much less of a problem unifying opposing groups to a common goal (think Ben Shapiro spouting the same rhetoric as full on Nazis, and Nazis praising Shapiro for being one of "the good ones")

Well aside from cowering to authority, the difference is as you said. The left is trying to dismantle, replace, supplant, or otherwise change the status quo, try ideas that haven’t been tried before. For better or worse, the left has lots of ideas that dofferent people prefer, so we end up tripping over each other sometimes over which ideas should be implimented.

The right meanwhile has the status quo on their side, and they only want to preserve it, or strengthen it with regressive policies. Shapiro and the Nazis may have fundamental disgreements on some policies, or why they believe in what they do, but they'll both spew the same vile rhetoric about abortion, trans people, gay people, minorities, immigrants, etc.

i think in the US it pays for lefties to just vote for whatever the least crappy person/choice is once or twice a year when it pops up. most of the time it will be less effort than your worst poop of the year, and sometimes it actually makes something better. we dont have a model or a path laid out yet for a major change in the imperial core, nor do i think whatever that change ends up being will feel particularly "revolutionary", but i think investing minimal time and effort in the electoral process isnt gonna damage all our other efforts over the long or short term.

I argue that what the left needs is branding and revenue, strong online communities that can build its diverse messaging, and personalities that can deliver the basic messages of leftism across a variety of perspectives. However their has to be regulators within that community that should keep the message on track so that the personality who delivers that message doesn't become more conservative over time due to branding, lifestylism, money, or simply seeing it as more marketable for themselves.

Leftists being negative Nancies will always brighten my day!

I was visiting Hydra between 2015 and 2016 when I was at grad school there (short, failed endeavour). We might have even met without you realizing...

Or, perhaps, it is unappealing. And the alternative doesn’t work.

"Licking the wood off the barrel?"

I've never heard that before and have no context for it. All I'm thinking of is splinters on my tongue, and why am Iicking this barrel? Is someone forcing me? Plus, where do I find a wooden barrel?

Good video.

Derick Varn has same points on his channel which i agree

I disagree with your statement that the right and left are fundamentally different because the right represent the Status Quo and the Left are basically a force of progress.

For one thing I think it would be much more accurate to say that the right is a force calling for regression and the left is a force calling for progress and the Center is the Status Quo.

Which would imply that the answer to your question "why can't the left just do what the right does?" is: we totally can.

But above and beyond the right being regression and the left being progress I also think it's just wrong to characterize politics as left and right in the first place.

I don't think those categories are particularly stable, I don't think they make much sense, and I don't think we have a clear enough idea of what "progress" should even mean to state with confidence that the left is for it and the right is against it.

For example, I believe that our rapidly changing technology requires something along the lines of a "Postliberal" response (Postliberal in the Eudamonia, Charles Lasch, Patrick Deneen, Adrian Vermeule sense.)

Because as our technology, like, say, our phones, get more advanced, the capacity for harm increases.

As a result "progress" means our society catching up to the technological changes that have taken place. Which might mean a more "authoritarian" or "collectivist" or "paternalist" response.

We might need more state regulation of addictive algorithms, socialization of social media to redesign them towards positive ends. Similarly we might need a more responsive state in regards to junk food (which is itself a kind of technology or an abundance created through technology), abundant porn, etc.

All of these responses are "Right-wing" but they're also necessary, I believe, for technological progress to be beneficial rather than harmful to people's overall quality of life.

Thus, by this logic, one could consider the right progressive

Be wary of LaRouchism , my fellows

Leftism is the left wing of capital - which is why the likes of Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and Mao etc adored capitalist management structures and systems (rather than the workers owning and controlling the means of production). The left is fake 'anti-capitalism' that diverts the workers and in power it always subjugates the working class and the individual. It does this with the party and the state, which holds the class system and the authoritarian rule of leftist leaders and bureaucrats together with repression and violence. It is outright collectivism - the subordination of the individual to the group (ruled by a minority of privileged, self-serving leaders who manage capitalism and oppress the people).

When you were introducing Russell Brand, I was actually confused for a minute, because I had totally forgotten he existed, or I'm only reminded he exists every month or so. But maybe that's because I'm an American and he's just not as much of a figure over here.

I did a whole thing on TikTok about project 2025, and honestly, what I think the biggest thing that those of us on the left need to take away from it is we need to view it through a Gramscian lens. Because what it's all about is Hegemony. The point of Project 2025 isn't actually to enact these specific policies work for word as outlined in the text of the document, it's to create a political context in which the most right wing ideas of the conservative movement become dominant within governing structures, and a new ideological in the United States.