- RSW 03 Page 12 & 13 -
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A point raised at the November ‘98 conference at Bridgwater was that of the difficulty of persuading people of the validity of revolutionary politics and also the perennial question arose - where are the young? These have long been problems for revolutionaries in liberal capitalist societies where many have a perceived interest, however small, in the continuation of the system, however briefly. Should anyone book a holiday next year?
It is difficult, for some of us at least, to thoroughly understand what it is like to be on the outside looking in on this melange of ideologies. To have to consider joining in the seemingly interminable and often inconclusive debates, and to understand who did what and when and were they right to do so. To grasp the finer points at issue, to care enough, and to wonder how and if anything practical will come from it all. It can be quite hard going even when you’ve been in for a while and must be quite intimidating for the uninitiated. Not too surprising then that we are not bowled over by hordes of enthusiasts at our meetings.
One response could be that this is not the way it happens, that people arrive at a revolutionary position having been through the mill of trying to obtain social justice by means of orthodox politics and having realised the futility of such a pie-in-the-sky approach have moved forward from that. Few arrive by means of having individually assessed all the possibilities. This being the case then clearly a degree of patience is called for on our part!
Another obvious response might be that events change people far more than propaganda, that all revolutionaries can do between social upheavals is to support ongoing short-term struggles and educate without being frustrated at the lack of insurrection every weekend. It looks like being a long haul. However, the sixties changed a lot of minds and broke many of the hierarchical ties that bound people to the ideas and methods of the past; how far we are from anything like a similar situation at present is a moot point but as I recall no-one anticipated the events of May ‘68 so, comrades, there is always room for optimism.
As to where the young are, has anyone tried to approach them? Who are "the young" anyway, is it a definable category? Isn’t it relative? On what terms do we address them? Doesn’t revolutionary politics, at a time of non-revolution, require a degree of maturity, or is that patronising? Who was it who said that revolution is the province of the young - just another jaded misquote? Too many questions, too few answers; the usual situation for me.