by In a manner of speaking. See this splendid piece here by Paul Embery:Paul Embery, “The Demonisation of the Working-Class Shames Our Nation,” HuffPost Politics, 1 July, 2016.Except the new class war is being waged against the working class by an arrogant, metropolitan, snobbish, middle-class leftist elite that rules the left at the moment, with hordes of young university-educated leftists in tow. The elite is, to a great extent, influenced by economic neoliberalism (think: New Labour).The mass of supporters and especially the young are steeped in Postmodernism and all its rotten ideas (cultural relativism, truth relativism, moral relativism, identity politics, etc.). Their core beliefs stand in stark contrast to an older generation of leftists like Noam Chomsky, who in his heyday had utter contempt for their ideology. The worst elements of them are what can be called the regressive left.A core element of this leftism is its quasi-religious faith in open borders and mass immigration, which is becoming politically toxic all over the Western world, for its deleterious economic and social consequences. Nor can you ignore the cultural problems caused by mass immigration either (though, admittedly, it does tend to bring out the far right and so-called “Alt Right” bigots and needs a diplomatic and light touch in discussion).
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Paul Embery, “The Demonisation of the Working-Class Shames Our Nation,” HuffPost Politics, 1 July, 2016.Except the new class war is being waged against the working class by an arrogant, metropolitan, snobbish, middle-class leftist elite that rules the left at the moment, with hordes of young university-educated leftists in tow.
The elite is, to a great extent, influenced by economic neoliberalism (think: New Labour).
The mass of supporters and especially the young are steeped in Postmodernism and all its rotten ideas (cultural relativism, truth relativism, moral relativism, identity politics, etc.). Their core beliefs stand in stark contrast to an older generation of leftists like Noam Chomsky, who in his heyday had utter contempt for their ideology. The worst elements of them are what can be called the regressive left.
A core element of this leftism is its quasi-religious faith in open borders and mass immigration, which is becoming politically toxic all over the Western world, for its deleterious economic and social consequences. Nor can you ignore the cultural problems caused by mass immigration either (though, admittedly, it does tend to bring out the far right and so-called “Alt Right” bigots and needs a diplomatic and light touch in discussion).
Even self-identified, university-educated Marxists are mostly part of the regressive left these days, because – let’s face it – Marxism seems to have been taken over by cultural leftism and to have succumbed to the cult of open borders as well.
Ask yourself: when was the last time a middle-class, university-educated Marxist made the principled, socialist case against mass immigration?
Of course, there are people who have an irrational view of immigration per se or an irrationally bigoted attitude to foreigners. But the correct response here is to quietly and even politely but strongly disagree with such people, and carefully and respectfully point out why they are wrong, rather than simply scream abuse at the top of one’s lungs.
The issue of such people shouldn’t be allowed to dominate the discussion and the best tactic of the left is to boldly seize the issue of mass immigration, take it away from the right, and urge sensible policies that will satisfy voters while crippling support for the right on this issue.