The Mainstream Left continues to insist that they have goals in common with the Classical Left and that we should let them into our spaces to “work” with us. Too many of us on the Classical/Alt Left complies with this for what I believe to be three major reasons:
1 — A misguidedly broad open door policy hoping for “unity” among everyone who claims the mantle of “Left” — as if a robin can be an ostrich simply by calling itself one;
2 — The hope of “reaching” these individuals and converting them over to the Classical Left via cordial debate. (This is not an impossible task with some but it’s difficult, and whether it should be a priority to the point of letting them into our spaces en masse is arguable — something I will take up in a future article);
3 — Let’s mention the elephant in the room: Too many on the Classical Left are flat out afraid of the emotionally volatile, all-too-often unhinged behavior of these individuals, and the lengths they will go to hurt people in “Left” spaces that do not tolerate their presence and behavior.
That said, let’s get to the differences in our goals and that make the two ultimately incompatible as allies.
The Mainstream Left are contemporary liberals who support DEI policies in big business to give designated minorities an advantage over white male cis-heterosexuals, insisting that the latter are still heavily privileged. They do not support a meaningful job guarantee for all working class people; instead, they want resource distribution priority to be based on identity.
The Classical Left are staunch egalitarians who support actual equality for everyone. As such, they do not accept the zero-sum mentality of the capitalist system that disburses our post-industrial abundance unevenly for any reason. Instead, they favor universal programs that provide priority to those based on individual economic need rather than identity (which would cover the needs of any designated minorities who were suffering in poverty).
The Mainstream Left supports the Democrat wing of the capitalist duopoly because of their brand of emotionally appealing identity politics — which are designed to divide the various demographics of the working class against each other while cloaking these modernized forms of blatant bigotry in Virtue Armor. They are dead set against Democrat-designated boogeymen like Trump and Putin, and believe their main goal is to help Democrats defeat the Republicans and to blast Russia into oblivion. Some have major issues with the Democrats but insist they are a “better” alternative than the Republicans.
The Classical Left rejects the capitalist duopoly altogether, and does not side with any wing or faction of the capitalist class. Their goal is not to help the Democrats win against the Republicans but to support the working class in winning against the capitalist class. They do not consider the capitalists who control the Democrats to be “better” than the Republicans for the working class on anything, but are mindful that both wings of Wall Street serve the same world order and are funded by the exact same donors.
The Mainstream Left are dedicated to fighting the Culture Wars, which basically pits everyone who is not male, PoC, cis-gendered, heterosexual, or able-bodied against anyone who is. Privilege is primarily considered to be based on identity more than economic class, and they support any type of policy that openly discriminates according to their identity-based views.
While acknowledging that remnants of traditional bigotry still exist, the Classical Left are dedicated entirely to the Class War, seeking to unite all demographics of the working class together based on our universally shared material interests, along with a recognition of the fact that our post-industrial level of technology makes the economic/material disparities of class-divided society obsolete and unnecessary; and further recognizing that economic class is the main source of any form of bigotry. They demarcate privilege based on individual levels of access to material wealth and favoritism by the law, and these judgments are evidence-based rather than emotion-based.
The Mainstream Left defines “Democracy” as specifically Democrat talking points and whatever they say it is. They consider free speech to be whatever happens to give an advantage to groups and policies they support. Hence, they have no qualms against denying such civil liberties to individuals they dislike or who do not support their favored policies or agenda.
The Classical Left supports the true essence of the Bill of Rights, i.e., the idea that civil liberties must be granted to all, no matter how much we may dislike certain ideas or how hard their proponents may work to throw a monkey wrench into our policies & agendas. They believe that words they dislike must be met with words they support rather than censorship, de-platforming, or “cancellation.” They are also mindful that allowing & supporting “dirty pool” tactics from the side you favor against those you do not can be used against your side should your opposition ever gain the upper hand in the future.
Despite periodic lip service to the contrary, the Mainstream Left do not oppose capitalism. What they ultimately oppose is certain demographics based on immutable human traits or choice of religion being disproportionately “represented” in the seats of capitalist and political power.
The Classical Left opposes capitalism altogether, or at least (in regards to Social Democrats) an unregulated capitalism granting carte blanche to capitalists in their relentless pursuit of profit and the commodification of everything. They support the working class as a whole being given full control or superior representation rather than being concerned about the optics of who holds the most power. In other words, they support no specific group having disproportionate power over anyone else rather than arguing over which group most “deserves” to have the power.
I agree with ALMOST everything you say - except this: “The Mainstream Left are contemporary liberals who support DEI policies in big business to give designated minorities an advantage over white male cis-heterosexuals…” DEI policies give cover to the fact that even perfectly qualified minorities stay firmly in place, but with a smile and fuzzy feeling.
My experience in the woke world is that there is always a spot for ONE minority of each type, but it’s perfectly AWESOME if you get a paraplegic black lesbian in that spot - because then, you’ve fulfilled THREE of your goals with just one hire! Then you can cover all kinds of egregious discriminatory behavior by pointing to that single (probably perfectly qualified) person to show your wokeness credentials.
In spite of the plethora of woke talk, DEI trainings, and pro-noun usage in whichever company, if you look at the window offices, they are still filled with people who look and/or speak or have the same educational and economic background as everyone else in those window offices.
The mainstream liberal is nothing new; Phil Ochs wrote “Love me, I’m a Liberal” in the mid-sixties. Nothing has changed except for our language.