History and Helplessness: Mass Mobilization and Contemporary Forms of Anticapitalism

However objectionable the current American administration is – and it is deeply objectionable on a very wide range of issues – the Left should be very careful about becoming, unwittingly, the stalking horse for a would-be rival hegemon. On the eve of World War I, the German General Staff thought it important for Germany that the war be fought against Russia as well as France and Great Britain. Because Russia was the most reactionary and autocratic European Power, the war could then be presented as a war for central European culture against the dark barbarism of Russia. This would guarantee Social Democratic support for the war. This political strategy succeeded – and resulted in a catastrophe. We are very far from a pre-war situation. Nevertheless, the Left should not make the same mistake of supporting a rising counter-hegemon in order to defend civilization against the threat posed by a reactionary power.

by Moishe Postone

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