By: Max Herschman
On Friday, September 20th, millions of youths across the world marched in the name of climate justice. This decentralized movement, dubbed “The Climate Strike” has gained a lot of traction as Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg arises to superstar status, taking on the form of a figurehead “leader.”
OA Senior Anthony Gustowski and I were on scene at the Boston Climate Strike, marching and tabling with the Boston branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). Joined by a few students from other schools, our contingent of young Socialists walked through the pre-march gathering, distributing flyers, signing people up for the party, and making our presence known to the youth.
Since marching, I have made a few observations regarding the state of the Climate Strike movement.
The Climate Strike is an embryonic movement, still consolidating and arising out of spontaneity. As it is a new and strengthening mass organization, it is a big tent filled with various competing political tendencies. Due to this “big tent” structure, specific trends, whose intentions are not to push the movement forward, have been able to infiltrate the movement. This was seen clearly when Mayor Marty Walsh, a figure of authority in the very system being protested, made a surprise on-stage appearance during the prelude to the march. Even more noteworthy, the Montreal Climate Strike featured Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is an even more complicit force. Trudeau’s hypocrisy could be seen when he recently approved the construction of a new oil pipeline in Canada. Competition amongst political tendencies in a mass movement is a necessary obstacle, but if an incorrect tendency comes out the dominant trend, the very character of the movement changes from revolutionary to collaborationist. While this internal struggle is necessary, it is even more essential that the struggle is won by a correct tendency.
The fact is that our politico-economic system is fundamentally incapable of enacting the far-reaching reforms needed to combat climate change. The primary function of the state in a capitalist society such as ours is to protect the profits of a select property-owning few. It is undeniable that the reforms necessary to combat climate change will impede on the wealth accumulation of this select few; therefore, it is unrealistic to expect the state in our current system to find it within itself to stand up for climate justice. Greater and greater numbers of youth are beginning to understand this.
At the Strike in Boston, the PSL was received quite positively by the radical youth. I spoke with quite a few teenagers my age, a good portion of whom expressed interest in the party and in joining the struggle. Radicalism is increasingly finding a place in the hearts and minds of Gen Z. Be it in the form of Democratic-Socialism, Marxism, Anarchism, Feminism, Black Liberation, etc., the youth of today are seeing through the ever-withering facade of capitalist realism (i.e. the corrosive idea that the capitalist system is the only viable economic system), and understanding the need for a radical transformation of human society.
However, history shows that there has never been a spontaneous revolution. No successful revolutionary movement has ever been born without mass organization, vanguard leadership, and correct philosophical guidance. Because the Climate Strike represents a mass organization, as it is open to people of all ideologies fighting for a common purpose, it is vulnerable to being co-opted by opportunistic forces. This is why organized leadership united under a correct theoretical approach is so important. Without this organized leadership, a movement is simply a spark that will burn out before it can find fuel to ignite fully.
This is not a criticism of the Climate Strike movement, but rather a call to action for the youth, us who understand the need for far-reaching transformation of society in order to prevent ecological collapse, to reclaim this movement and transform it from a spontaneous reaction to a specific crisis, into a broad, organized, and united front fighting for a new, democratic, and sustainable society. If we wish for the world to live, we mustn’t just get involved in the movement. We must shape it in accordance with the world we want to create.
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” – Antonio Gramsci