The Early Days of a Better Nation

Sunday, May 15, 2005


From 'Another World is Possible' to
... 'Another World War is Possible'?


Impossibilists-turned possibilists From Despair to Where? have posted a talk on the possibility of a future war between the EU and the US, and made a curious observation:
I wish I could say that I've been shocked at the response of numbers of comrades to the subject of this paper, who seem to think such a war would be a good thing, but unfortunately it isn't a surprise any more.
Indeed not. Left-wing enthusiasm for the next world war is something I've been expecting for a couple of years now, blogged about, and written about in my SF novel Newton's Wake. If there's anything surprising, it's that it should show up first in the ultra-left milieu (which is, I'm guessing, that of Despair-to-Where's comrades). But as the old saying goes, you first notice a rising breeze by the shaking of the smallest leaves. And the ultra-left is - no disrespect intended - a very small leaf.

So perhaps it's appropriate that they should be the first of the new pro-war left. To be so ultra-left that you regard the Spanish Civil War as a mere inter-imperialist squabble must make one feel a little lonely sometimes. To reconnect with your own imperialist heartland must be quite a rush. How tempting it must be to finger the power-switches of the popular front and the people's war. And before you know it you're waving them about, happy as a baby with a buzz-saw.

P.S. (16/5/05) To clarify: From Despair to Where? dissociate themselves completely from the views referred to above. You might be relieved to hear that everyone at the meeting expressed surprise and disgust on hearing that some of [the speaker's] comrades were looking forward to the next world war. [ ... I]t's certainly not a view shared by us or anyone we know. Glad to hear it.

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