By Julio Huato,
The following reflections were written in response to a question that a former student of mine asked me about my views on the relation between the workers and the socialist left. I also discussed — inter alia — the challenges of working-class organizing and some not properly recognized aspects of the Soviet legacy.
- The socialist left seeks to be the intellectual, moral, and political expression of the workers of the world as they may unite and fight to own the social conditions in which they work and live. In other words, socialism intends to be the consciousness of the workers’ movement, the consciousness that helps the workers go from where they are now to where they need to be in building a socialist society. Socialism makes an effort to stick to the rigorous standards science (facts and logic) so the workers’ movement can learn from history and best avoid preventable mishaps.
- Socialists view the liberation of the workers not as the result of a relatively small number of socialist intellectual high achievers patronizingly educating and liberating a mass of largely passive workers. On the contrary, socialism holds the view that the liberation of the workers can only result from the workers’ own struggles. The job of socialists is merely ancillary (but important) to this process of workers’ liberation.
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