I have been noticing this tread over last couple years, I got introduced into leftistmin the 1980s various trot then weird maosist sects, now a days I could only describe my self as post left, you would have ask my postion on any topic to begjn to categorize me. I run with both the psl and dsa these days but im not married to them. To give context for me I dont want to make the new generation feel attacked in any way.
Anyhow the real question I have is: why are all the zooner seeming various Marxist leniinisims but with all the historical ml positions jumbled up into one not coherent thing like someone trying to rehabilitate stalin but in the same breath say deng is good and ok but krushchev bad and also Gorbachev bad Then they go on these really lengthy explanations about how it works because cited text out of context that im not sure they read it closely. Are young leftists reading theory togather in structured environments or is it all youtube and tiktocks? Im sorry if sound shrill and bad faith.
Like you say, we have a generation of leftists getting educated mainly online through disparate sources rather than through a party program. They’re gonna be eclectic. I’m a milineal so I’m guilty of this too, though I do irl Poli-ed with my org.
But also the old party formations in the US have ended or changed significantly from the 80s from what I understand. I don’t know enough to comment on the exact effect that would have, but I think to some extent we’re still all responding to 1991 and haven’t settled on firm ground yet.
(The out of context quotes thing is something I’ve noticed more and more as I’ve gotten deeper into history/theory).
My thinking is this chaos could be good to stir up ossified ideas, but only if it’s grounded within actual organizing with other leftists irl.
I think your probley on to to something it could be good to stir things up the funny thing about the x gen left is we basicly don’t have a left that isn’t the boomer left, that might be an obtuse way to say the x gen left is really small and we basicly died during occupied and everyone entered the dsa but our entire politics was the boomer polics of the new left, we got up to some wild shit I always advise people to look that the trot chart to get an understanding, read settlers, read third worldest maosit shit I was in. The 1980s was a wild ass time, for ideology a little bit like now I guess thats my connection I feel to the zoomers like I feel that energy.