In a recent issue of Catalyst, William Avilés and Earlen Gutierrez take up a classic leftist topic. But it’s one that seems to have left the stage decades ago. In short, should the left organize soldiers?
The question left the stage, in part, because of a shift in the base and cultural politics of the left. As the socialist left turned away from organizing, it lost the connections with working class Americans it had built as recently as the 1950s and 1960s. And since the progressives were always grounded in a relatively wealthy and highly educated base, they never had much contact with the sorts of people who become soldiers.
So, the left removed itself from the stage. And the progressives moved in a different direction.
But let’s return to the question. I think it can bring a certain focus.
Well, Should It?
At some level, I think the question has an obvious “yes” answer.
The left says it wants to build a working class majority. And, after all, lots of working class people join the military. No doubt many of them do so, in large part, because it’s one of the more promising career choices for working class young people. Especially ones who grew up in a tough neighborhood or didn’t have the best education as a kid.
When recruiting, you go where your base goes. So, you include soldiers.
Beyond this, Avilés and Gutierrez cite some of the obvious strategic concerns.
For one, the socialist left wants to make revolutionary change someday. Having hundreds of thousands of soldiers set starkly against you doesn’t help that project. And to be clear, I’m not even talking about violent change. Even in a relatively ‘democratic‘ country like the US, the military presents a credible threat to change. This includes even change achieved electorally. The far right heavily recruits from within the military, and it prepares those recruits for subverting election results it doesn’t like.
Beyond all this, I might add that some of the smartest, most insightful leftists I’ve known spent time in the military. And they learned their anti-imperialist politics in part through their experiences therein. Military service doesn’t have to turn someone into a right winger.
Why Doesn’t the Left Already Do It?
Well, then, there’s the question. Lots of rank and file soldiers can be found among our target base. And we have compelling strategic reasons to want soldiers on our side. So, why aren’t we already recruiting among soldiers? What’s stopping us?
I’ll start by acknowledging that there are a few legit concerns. Yes, many soldiers adopt militant attitudes. Many soldiers favor empire. But, then again, so do many workers. We can’t give up on a group just because many of its members hold problematic views.
More superficially, I might point out that soldiers are quite young and often inaccessible. They spend a great deal of time on military bases or even overseas. Hence, they’re difficult to reach.
Fair enough. But surely this could be a focus of youth sections of socialist movements (e.g., Young Democratic Socialists). These groups tend to flail away either in directionless discussion or mired in culture war topics rather than putting effort into recruiting or movement building.
And then there are cultural issues within activist groups and networks. Many adhere to progressive politics rather than socialist politics. And progressives have both stark differences from soldiers in terms of background, as well as aesthetic and political issue preferences that might suggest an incompatibility with soldiers.
Even beyond this, though, the way people set up activist networks discourages them from reaching out to people who might not already use the right language. Soldiers aren’t part of their subcultures. This applies even to leftist orgs, where ‘being a socialist’ gets as much, if not more, play than actually achieving socialism.
The Bottom Line
And so, we return to the question of what kind of orgs we want to build. If we want to build working-class orgs aimed, in the long term, at revolutionary change, it makes sense to organize soldiers as one part of our base.
I don’t think soldiers should be our main base. But, one part of it? Yes.
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