Revolutions in Reverse - Minor Compositions

The Shock of Victory | 15turns out, the capitalist system proved more than willing to jettisonthe nuclear industry the moment it became a liability. Oncegiant utility companies began claiming they too wanted to promotegreen energy, effectively inviting what we’d now call theNGO types to a space at the table, there was an enormous temptationto jump ship. Especially because many of them had onlyallied with more radical groups so as to win themselves a place atthe table to begin with.The inevitable result was a series of heated strategic debates.It’s impossible to understand this, though, without first understandingthat strategic debates, within directly democratic movements,are rarely conducted as strategic debates. They almost alwayspretend to be arguments about something else. Take for instancethe question of capitalism. Anticapitalists are usually morethan happy to discuss their position on the subject. Liberals onthe other hand really don’t like being forced to say “actually, I amin favor of maintaining capitalism in some form or another”’ – sowhenever possible, they try to change the subject. Consequently,debates that are actually about whether to directly challenge capitalismusually end up getting argued out as if they were short-termdebates about tactics and non-violence. Authoritarian socialistsor others who are suspicious of democracy are rarely keen on havingto make that an issue either, and prefer to discuss the need tocreate the broadest possible coalitions. Those who do support theprinciple of direct democracy but feel a group is taking the wrongstrategic direction often find it much more effective to challengeits decision-making process than to challenge its actual decisions.There is another factor here that is even less remarked, but Ithink equally important. Everyone knows that faced with a broadand potentially revolutionary coalition, any governments’ firstmove will be to try to split it. Making concessions to placate themoderates while selectively criminalizing the radicals – this isArt of Governance 101. The US government, though has an additionalweapon most governments do not. It is in possession ofa global empire, permanently mobilized for war. Those running itcan, pretty much any time they like, decide to ratchet up the levelof violence overseas. This has proved a remarkably effective wayto defuse social movements founded around domestic concerns.It seems no coincidence that the civil rights movement was followedby major political concessions and a rapid escalation of the