This author provides a much needed critique of what passes for leftist views in the US. Maybe it's all an issue of semantics over what constitutes the "left". The whole political spectrum has shifted to the right in the US since the end of WWII. However, I think his criticisms are directed too much at Occupier activists many of whom are not, and have never identified themselves, as the "left". They are simply large numbers of people who have been severely threatened by the recent collapse of the economy. The old, real left was decimated and nearly totally destroyed, and many of their followers contaminated by limiting liberal views. He only touches on this in a few sentences:
Many historical factors sustain today’s fuzzy thinking about capitalism. One is the legacy of the Cold War: the collapse of “actually existing socialism” and resulting “End of History” consensus only strengthened a hysterical anticommunism that made talking about capitalism, let alone socialism or communism, almost impossible in the United States. Systematic repression from McCarthyism to COINTELPRO also contributed to the rise of a left which largely neglected political economy for 40 years, while more robust critiques and history of capitalism languished in ever-dwindling sectarian Marxist circles.As I see it, after the McCarthy period, the US ruling class focused on destroying their "communist" rival, any government under their influence, and attaining world dominance under a capitalist system. They relied heavily on building a huge military machine and engaging in both direct and indirect wars against any governments who impeded their ambitions. This gradually took a toll on US workers in the form of a slow, steady decline in their wages and living standards. Then with the neo-liberal regime takeover of government in the 1980s, the US ruling class went global in their capitalist operations. They no longer needed American workers --there were so many in the 3rd world and developing countries that were much easier to exploit. To pacify and/or distract US workers from this development, One Percent propagandists have continued to refine and use more subtle methods to increase their control over all forms of indoctrination and by providing numerous forms of entertainment and consumer gadgets.
This history, I think, accounts for the degeneration of the US left which in the 1930s represented real threats to the system. So, it is not surprising to me to find current activist critiques as weak, confused, and misdirected as they are. Most of the current, remaining capitalist critics are liberals whose critiques are as he has described in his insightful article. It will take time and experience for many people to recover a more fundamental, radical view of capitalist societies and what is needed to establish a new system to serve the needs of the 99 Percent. Taylor's criticisms of existing activist views contributes to this process of radicalization.
