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Marxist Answers Communism Questions From Social Media SPECTRE OF COMMUNISM

Spectre Of Communism · 2025-11-18

Core Argument

The central thesis of this episode is that the current weakness of the organised left is not a symptom of a rightward shift in society, but rather the result of the political bankruptcy of reformism. Ben Curry argues that beneath the surface of right-wing electoral victories lies a deep and growing class anger, which the reformist left has proven incapable of channelling because it accepts the permanence of capitalism. The episode claims that the crisis of reformism — its inability to deliver meaningful reforms under conditions of capitalist stagnation — creates a political vacuum that right-wing demagogues temporarily fill, but that this vacuum will ultimately drive increasing layers of the working class toward revolutionary conclusions. The argument is that the left is weak not because Marxism is irrelevant, but because reformism is exhausted.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis draws on several core Marxist concepts and traditions:

The critique of reformism is grounded in the classical Marxist understanding that reformism is not merely a tactical error but a political outlook that accepts the framework of capitalism. Curry explicitly invokes Trotsky's formulation that "betrayal is inherent in reformism," situating the argument within the revolutionary Marxist tradition that distinguishes sharply between reforms that strengthen the working class for revolutionary struggle and reformism as a substitute for revolution.

The material basis of reformism is addressed through the concept of the post-war boom. Curry argues that reformism was viable in the 1940s and 1950s because capitalism was expanding rapidly, allowing real concessions to the working class while maintaining or increasing capitalist profits. The current period of stagnation — characterised by overcapacity, glutted markets, and low capacity utilisation — has removed that material basis, making reformist promises impossible to fulfil.

The critique of Stalinism is deployed to explain the historical weakness of communism in the Middle East. The episode argues that the Stalinist bureaucracy, having abandoned world revolution for "socialism in one country," treated communist parties as expendable pawns in diplomatic manoeuvres. The Soviet Union's support for the 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine is presented as a concrete betrayal that decimated communist parties across the region and channelled anti-imperialist sentiment into Arab nationalism instead.

The critique of Malthusianism frames the discussion of degrowth. Curry identifies degrowth as a revival of Malthusian ideas that treat the limits of capitalism as if they were natural limits, ignoring the possibility of planned economic development that could simultaneously expand production and reduce environmental harm.

Conjunctural Relevance

The episode connects its argument to the current moment through specific data and events:

Electoral politics: The episode cites polling showing Reform UK at 27% and Labour at 18%, and notes Trump's gains among Latino voters and black voters. These are presented not as evidence of a rightward shift but as distorted expressions of class anger directed against an establishment that offers no real alternative.

Public opinion data: The episode provides striking figures on support for nationalisation in Britain — 82% for water (up from 59% in 2017), 76% for railways (up from 60%), 71% for energy (up from 53%) — to argue that radical economic sentiment is actually stronger now than during the Corbyn period.

Economic conditions: 40% of Americans skipping meals to meet housing payments, 70% living with economic anxiety, and the crisis in the solar panel industry (glut, collapsing prices, geopolitical barriers to deployment) are cited as evidence that capitalism cannot solve its own contradictions.

Geopolitical dynamics: Trump's tariff policies are analysed as an attempt to destroy the Chinese-dominated solar panel industry for geopolitical reasons, demonstrating how inter-imperialist rivalry blocks even the technological solutions that exist within capitalism.

Italy as a case study: The rise of Meloni's Brothers of Italy is explained not as a fascist turn but as the only available vehicle for anti-establishment anger after the grand coalition government left no opposition party except the far right. The subsequent general strikes in Italy are cited as evidence that class struggle continues beneath the surface.

Where the Argument Continues

This episode deliberately leaves open several threads that are developed elsewhere in the corpus:

The history of Stalinism and the Middle East is only sketched. The episode references the Iraqi Communist Party's near-revolutionary position in 1958-59 and the catastrophic impact of Stalin's support for Israel in 1948. A fuller treatment of the Stalinist betrayal of revolutions across the Middle East, and the theoretical lessons for revolutionary strategy, would be found in other Against the Stream or Spectre of Communism episodes on the region.

The critique of degrowth communism is developed primarily through the example of Kohei Saito and Jason Hickel. The episode argues that degrowth is a form of utopian socialism that mistakes the limits of capitalism for the limits of production as such. A fuller engagement with the Marxist theory of productive forces and ecological planning would be found in episodes on Marxist ecology or the transition to socialism.

The crisis of reformism is stated as a general thesis. The specific mechanisms by which reformist parties fail — the Corbyn movement, Syriza, Sanders — are referenced but not analysed in depth. Episodes dedicated to each of these movements would develop the argument further.

The strategic perspective — that revolutionaries must build forces to be "big enough to be heard" when the working class draws revolutionary conclusions — is stated but not elaborated. The RCI's documentary The Communist Coming is explicitly referenced as a fuller statement of this perspective.

Connections

This episode should be read alongside:

  • Trotsky, The Transitional Program: The theoretical foundation for the critique of reformism and the argument that revolutionaries must offer a program that bridges immediate demands to the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism.

  • Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed: The classical analysis of Stalinist degeneration in the Soviet Union, which provides the framework for understanding how the bureaucracy abandoned world revolution.

  • Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme: The foundational text on the distinction between reforms within capitalism and the revolutionary transformation of society.

  • Other Against the Stream episodes on the Middle East: For a fuller treatment of communist history in the region and the lessons of the Iraqi and Sudanese parties.

  • The RCI documentary The Communist Coming: Referenced in the episode as a visual manifesto for the revolutionary perspective.

  • The Spectre of Communism episode on the Russian Revolution: Referenced in the episode for historical context on the October Revolution and the Soviets.

Key Quotes

  1. "The problem was the leadership of these Communist parties was very much influenced by the ideas originating from Moscow, which at that time was under the dictatorship of the Stalinist bureaucracy. And which had maintained the outward appearance of communism, but had basically gutted it of the real traditions, the real principles of Bolshevism and of communism."

  2. "On the basis of capitalism, growth takes the form of capital accumulation. And on the balance sheet of the capitalist, nowhere on the balance sheet of the capitalist does the environmental impact figure whatsoever."

  3. "The real proof of the nonsense that is this idea of a shift to the right and towards fascism is Italy. The only party which was left in opposition was the Brothers of Italy. Therefore inevitably when the anger towards this government expressed itself, it was going to be the Brothers of Italy which gained."

  4. "If you believe that capitalism is the only system that is possible, that only the capitalists somehow can keep the wealth creators — as Tony Blair called them — that they are necessary to the economy and that the working class cannot take control of society... then what you're left with is the justification for your political existence: that you believe you can manage capitalism better than the capitalists' own representatives."

  5. "We are still too small. We need to catch up. Things are moving in our direction. But it depends upon our will to develop and grow as an organization and it depends upon the will of the communists to do everything that is necessary in terms of educating ourselves, organizing, and preparing for the struggles that are ahead."