Thursday 19 November 2009

Look Left, Look Right, Look Right Again...

One surprising outcome of the credit crunch that began in 2008 was the resurfacing of the ideas of Karl Marx. Many commentators, from all sides of the political spectrum, turned to Marx as they attempted to grapple with the complexities of the causes of this extraordinary event. Some even went so far as to say that liberal capitalism as we know it in the West was dead, or at best, irrevocably changed.
What was interesting about this debate is the lack of impact. Though Marx may have resurfaced as a critique of capitalism, the Left almost universally failed to provide a constructive, unified alternative to the system. Even at the most populist level despite the almost universal condemnation of those who work in the banking sector, many are still receiving huge bonuses. Though state intervention has been considerable in Britain and the USA, and has arguably contributed to the survival of their economies, the current political debate in the UK is centred on who will cut public services the most in the coming decade, not who will provide for the poor or tackle the inequalities that deregulated, free markets have produced. Even in America where President Obama has sought to expand healthcare to include the 40 million or so who do not have access to adequate medical treatment, he has been branded as a socialist for proposing a shared state/private business partnership. Capitalism has prevailed. How did the Left fail to take advantage of this moment?