There is constant and uninterrupted propaganda to write off communists and their radical democratic and socialist politics to ensure a smooth ride for right-wing forces and their forward march in upholding capitalism and maintaining imperialist hegemony over people and their resources across the world. However, the defeats of right-wing poster boys—Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and Donald Trump in the US midterm elections—the defeat of Serbian leader Mr Aleksandar Vučić, and the weakening of Narendra Modi’s popularity send a clear message that right-wing forces can neither offer any alternative nor promote the interests of the people. Right-wing politics, policies and propaganda are projects of capitalism.
Right-wing politics creates social disharmony, promote cultural and religious conflict, economically marginalises people, and divides people along the lines of nationality, religion, race, gender, sexuality and class under the false promise of representation and democratic participation without creating conditions for inclusivity and empowerment. It offers different forms of reactionary logic to justify capitalism while promoting bourgeois democracy, which creates conditions for cultural genocide to uphold the economic logic of capitalism—where human beings are mere consumers within an individualistic culture of consumption shaped by the capitalist market, a culture that demeans the collective foundations of society, politics, culture and economy.
The electoral defeat of right-wing forces sends a clear message, yet those forces continue to enjoy the support of large numbers of people in countries where their poster boys, political and economic narratives have been defeated. Therefore, it is imperative to uproot the ideological and electoral foundations of right-wing political and other groups in society that work overtime for the world’s ruling elites at the expense of the people.
The rise and revival of the left in Brazil under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the consolidation of communists in China, Cuba and Vietnam, and the absolute victory of the Communist Party of South Africa (SACP) in local government elections provide much-needed hope for a socialist politics of radical democracy that represents the needs, desires and aspirations of working people and stands as a moral compass in public life to protect peace, freedom, democracy and human rights.
The SACP’s victorious performance in the recently concluded local government elections in South Africa—amid progressive political turmoil caused by a split within the African National Congress (ANC)—was significant: for the first time, the SACP fought single-handedly and won without any form of alliance. It sends a strong message that South Africa is ready for revolutionary politics under the collective rainbow leadership of the SACP, which has promised to unite working people and to work for their economic, social and political emancipation by defeating existing colonial capitalism and imperialist interventions in South Africa and beyond.
The rise of progressive and radical student movements against the right wing forces across the globe also offers hope for radical democracy, socialist politics and progressive policies that can reverse the marginalisation of working people experienced during the period of neoliberal globalisation promoted and protected by right-wing and liberal ideologues to ensure capitalism’s dominance over people. By defeating right-wing politics in democratic elections, people have not only rejected but also defeated the neoliberal capitalism that has failed to offer them any form of relief or rehabilitation and has instead marginalised them across the world.
The revival of left, radical and socialist politics led by progressive forces provides much-needed hope for working people. However, while the electoral defeat of the right wing is necessary for pursuing the politics and programmes of radical people’s democracy, it is not a sufficient condition for removing right-wing politics, culture and economic ideology from society. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to advance political programmes, social and cultural initiatives, economic policies, educational projects, reform movements that completely defeat the social, political, cultural and economic ideological foundations of right-wing forces, in order to ensure the long-term emancipation of the working masses from the capitalist onslaught on people and the imperialist onslaught on the planet.
Despite all setbacks, communists and socialists remain the only forces that continue to fight in the streets and in parliaments to uphold the interests of people and the planet. The revolutionary politics of left forces is the only hope for defeating all forms of right-wing reactionary politics based on war, conflict and propaganda grounded in fear and othering. The left is the only force with an unbroken history of successful struggles that have defeated both illiberal and liberal forms of racialised colonial capitalism and fascist imperialism. The struggle against right-wing forces will be a long battle, but communists and their struggle for people in the streets keep the moral compass of politics alive. History repeats itself not as a farce but as a reminder to the ruling classes that the collective struggles of people for emancipation can never be defeated.
People are not looking for revolutionary words and hallow speeches, but people are watching the political praxis of revolutionary programmes; any deviation from that revolutionary praxis will only breed the reactionary politics that the people have defeated. The political hypocrisy of leadership, revisionist tendencies and the rotten culture of political hierarchies pose the greatest danger to the revival of radical politics and the revolutionary potential of our times.
Members, supporters and leaders of communist and socialist parties, left organisations and progressive political forces must rectify their individual, organisational, ideological and political mistakes, rise to the occasion to carry forward historic legacies, and serve as vanguards in the service of the people. Listen, understand and learn from the people before leading, representing, protecting, promoting and realising the people’s needs and desires in order to empower working masses. There is absolutely no place for bureaucratic managerialism, the disciplining of dissent, or authoritarianism in the name of internal organisational democracy and discipline.
