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The transformation of the Left into a reactionary force, defining the establishment's new rigidly intolerant "moral Victorianism" aka political correctness, is a remarkable feature of the past 30 years. Its sway — not least over those compelled to think that riding on the regressive Left's bandwagon defines the moral person — is so profound that it strikes me as equally remarkable to encounter forms of intelligent opposition by personalities on the (realist) Left.
Comments Bill Mitchell,
When the British people voted to leave the dysfunctional European Union on June 23, 2016, I saw it as a massive opportunity for progressive forces to shed the neo-liberal chains that they have become enslaved by and narrate a new, inclusive manifesto for the future. The Brexit referendum was really a fork in the road for progressives – they could go one way and stay irrelevant and cede legitimacy to the rabid Right, or, go the other route, and reinvent themselves as the force of the future. The signs are they have opted to remain irrelevant. In doing so they have essentially conflated financial responsibility and competence with neo-liberal principles relating to the conduct of fiscal surpluses and the role of government in mediating the conflict between workers and capital. In the former sense, they have bought into the myths such as the need to run fiscal surpluses etc. In doing so, in relation to the latter, they have supported policy environments that are heavily biased in favour of capital and undermine the prospects for workers. And when the workers revolt, and, for example, use the Brexit referendum as a voice amidst their powerlessness, the progressives have turned on them accusing them of being ignorant and racist.
Writes Neil Wilson, in a comment to read at the same source: