THE RETURN OF AMERICAN SOCIALISM

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez : The public face of American socialism.

Although Donald Trump claims that America will never be a socialist country, a growing number of Americans view socialism favourably, especially young Americans. But while the American socialist movement continues to grow, socialist politics remains moribund in New Zealand. This has much to do with an old left's continued allegiance to a politically bankrupt Labour Party. But the emergence of groups like Organise Aotearoa and Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa suggests that things are beginning to change.

DURING HIS 'State of the Union' speech Donald Trump took a number of swipes at the growing popularity of socialism in the United States. His comments were clearly directed at the progressive wing of the Democratic Party represented by people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders. Said Trump:

"Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. ... Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."

Not surprisingly Speaker Pelosi applauded Trump's comments. She is on record as saying that the Democratic Party will always be a capitalist party. But there is a growing sense that she represents a past and a way of conducting politics that does not resonate with an increasing number of Americans, especially the young.

Worryingly for the American political establishment, socialism is no longer a dirty word in the United States. A concerted effort to demonise socialism over several decades has come to nought. Among young people in particular capitalism offers them little but a troubled and insecure future and they have roundly rejected 'politics as usual'. A growing number of Americans view socialism favourably, including a majority of people between the ages of 18 and 29, according to a recent 2018 Gallup poll. Across age groups, Americans’ view of capitalism is at an all-time low in polling history. Trump's view that America will never be a socialist country bears little relationship to reality.

"I think he's scared', Ocasio-Cortez said after Trump's speech. " “And he knows he’s losing the battle of public opinion when it comes to the actual substantive proposals that we’re advancing.”

The upsurge in socialism's popularity is widely considered to have begun with the Occupy movement in 2011. But it gathered momentum with Bernie Sander's presidential campaign in 2016 and now the emergence of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the national stage has added further impetus.

The organisation that Ocasio-Cortez belongs to, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), has enjoyed a boom in membership. Established in 1982 it has, historically, never had more than 6,000 members. Since Trump took office its numbers have continued to climb. Last week the DSA announced that it now had over 55,000 members. It credits much of its recent growth to Ocasio-Cortez. It would be fair to say that the large majority of Americans who are members of any left wing group are members of the DSA.

While some on the American left criticise the DSA for not being 'revolutionary' enough, what the DSA has managed to do is lift American socialism out of the political backwaters where it has been confined for more than fifty years. That is now making its presence felt in the mainstream is evident in the stark fact that the political establishment feels it must now respond. It can no longer continue to ignore the socialist movement. We can expect further push back not only from Republicans but from corporate Democrats and their fading centrist politics.

Meanwhile over at Fox News, right wing hosts like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham are regularly beating the anti-socialism drum. This week the Fox News website features an article titled 'How to get your children to just say no to socialism'.

But while the socialist movement develops in leaps and bounds in the United States it remains depressingly moribund in New Zealand. That's not because there aren't people who aren't committed to building such a movement but because there remain so few of us to make a significant difference and we lack our own DSA in which to organise around.

Much of what constitutes the New Zealand left still clings to the Labour Party. Its been over three decades since Labour embraced neoliberalism but there are still some who  think that Labour is still salvageable or, at least, its brand of neoliberalism is preferable to National's brand. Its an infantile politics that desperately wants to believe that a determinedly centrist politician like Jacinda Ardern offers a new way forward. Unless there is a dramatic change of heart and change in direction, they will be campaigning for Ardern and the Labour Party in 2020.

But there is hope. The emergence of genuinely independent organisations like Organise Aotearoa and Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa  suggest that a new left is finally beginning to emerge. Its significant that many of its activists are millennials who, unlike the old left, see no distinction between Labour and National. It is from the ranks of this growing number of young activists that we must look for our own Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's.