He wants to reclaim revolution as a realistic and necessary objective. In another register it might be the ex-Labour Liverpool councillors’ drive to build a group focused on intensely local ‘community activity’.īut, very refreshingly, Enzo Traverso wants to talk about real revolutions, and rescue the word from smears and dilution. It might be the latest venture of the parliamentary left such as Jean-Luc Melenchon’s Nupes alliance in France, or the yearning for Jeremy Corbyn to launch some new electoral project. But often when it comes down to political practice, the prescription is for a version of some sort of radical reformism.
It’s become more popular to talk about the need for revolution-to confront catastrophic climate chaos or to tear out the roots of oppression. If you want to destroy capitalism then you have to embrace some form of revolutionary change. And equally, if you are in principle committed to just the electoral road then you will have to accept that you are not going to tear up the whole basis of society. If your vision is of tinkering with details of the present system, then winning a parliamentary election and ushering through some legislative shifts seems enough. What are socialists trying to achieve? We can argue about what socialism would look like, but there’s also the wholly linked fundamental issue about how we are trying to reach our goal. Enzo Traverso offers an analysis into into the symbols and memory of revolution (Picture: Verso)
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