Donald Parkinson, a member of the Marxist Unity Group and editorial board member of Cosmonaut Magazine, dives into the parallels between today’s political climate and 19th century France. He discusses the allure of right-wing populism for some leftists, exploring the dangerous alliances reminiscent of General Boulanger. The conversation highlights the internal conflicts in the MAGA movement and critiques the historical debates among socialists regarding these alliances. Parkinson also examines the implications of rising socioeconomic dissatisfaction and the evolving nature of political dynamics today.
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insights INSIGHT
What Is Bonapartism?
Bonapartism arises when neither the proletariat nor the bourgeoisie can fully stabilize rule.
It mobilizes mixed social strata and relies on bourgeois acceptance to maintain order against left threats.
insights INSIGHT
Stalinism as Bonapartism
Bonapartism can be a political regime semi-autonomous from classes, using populist support to maintain power.
Trotsky used Bonapartism to describe Stalinism, showing parallels in failed bourgeois and proletarian dictatorships.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Leftists Flirt With Right Populism
Marxists once flirted with General Boulanger's right-wing populism, trying to ride his discontent against the republic.
This parallels today's MAGA communist argument, showing risks in tailing right-wing movements.
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Silvia Federici's "The Many-Headed Hydra" offers a critical analysis of capitalism's historical development, challenging Eurocentric narratives. The book explores the interconnectedness of capitalism with colonialism, patriarchy, and ecological destruction. Federici examines the exploitation of women's labor and the privatization of common resources as integral aspects of capitalist accumulation. She argues that resistance to capitalism has always been multifaceted and deeply rooted in local struggles. The book's interdisciplinary approach draws on feminist theory, historical analysis, and political economy to provide a comprehensive critique of capitalism's global impact.
The age of entitlement
America since the sixties
Christopher Caldwell
In this book, Christopher Caldwell argues that the reforms of the 1960s, intended to make the nation more just and humane, have come with staggering costs in wealth, freedom, and social stability. These costs have been unevenly distributed among classes and generations. Caldwell explores key political turning points over the past half-century, including affirmative action, leveraged buyouts, iPhones, Oxycotin, Black Lives Matter, and internet cookies, showing how these reforms have led to two incompatible political systems and driven the country toward conflict.
Capital
Karl Marx
Das Kapital is a comprehensive critique of capitalism written by Karl Marx. The work is divided into three volumes. Volume I, published in 1867, focuses on the production process of capital, introducing the concept of surplus value and the exploitation of labor. Volume II, published posthumously in 1885, examines the circulation of capital, while Volume III, published in 1894, discusses the capitalist process as a whole, including the internal differentiation of the capitalist class and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. Marx argues that capitalism is characterized by the exploitation of labor, leading to class conflict and eventual crises that necessitate the emergence of a new mode of production[1][4][5].
Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution
Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution
Hal Draper
The eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
The eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
Karl Marx
As normie conservatives casually throw around terms like "Bonapartist" to describe Trump's new administration, we've entered a peculiar moment where Marxist terminology has infiltrated mainstream political discourse—often without its theoretical underpinnings. This wide-ranging conversation explores the historical parallels between today's political landscape and 19th century France, when General Boulanger's right-wing populist movement tempted certain leftists into dangerous alliances. Donald Parkinson of Marxist Unity Group and Cosmonaut Magazine helps us clarify.
We dissect the contradictory coalition behind Trump's second administration: an unlikely alliance between traditional middle American constituencies and Silicon Valley tech oligarchs that has fundamentally altered the movement's character. This creates a uniquely modern version of Bonapartism, where executive power operates independently from other ruling class factions, but with enthusiastic backing from tech billionaires rather than reluctant acceptance from established elites.
The historical debate between Engels and Paul Lafargue proves remarkably relevant today. Engels vehemently opposed leftist alliances with Boulanger, insisting socialists must maintain political independence while defending democratic institutions against right-wing authoritarianism. Today's versions of this debate—from "MAGA communism" to various post-left tendencies—echo Lafargue's failed argument that riding right-wing populism would ultimately benefit socialism.
As liberal institutions prove remarkably fragile against authoritarianism and traditional left strategies seem inadequate, we face fundamental questions about political strategy. How can socialists build independent politics without becoming either appendages to liberalism or useful idiots for the right? What does defending democratic rights look like when the constitutional order itself is crumbling? And how do we understand class politics when traditional definitions no longer map neatly onto social reality?
This conversation offers essential historical context and strategic clarity for navigating our deteriorating political landscape—a moment when understanding the mistakes of the past might help us avoid repeating them.
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