Whats left of the left?

Social transformation or social conformation: four points to discuss

Jan Lust
Abstract: The current correlation of class forces in Peru makes a radical and authentic left
change at national, regional and local level very difficult. As a matter of fact, the neoliberal
ideology has firmly taken root in Peruvian society. As a consequence, the Peruvian left is
not only affected by the strength of the free market ideology in society, but also by its own
ideological atomization that has caused confusion within not only the Peruvian population
but also within the ranks of the left. This article is dedicated to clarify four fundamental
questions that differentiate two types of organizations of the family of the left:
organizations that point to social transformation and those that want to maintain the social
status quo. The article concludes with a call to elaborate a revolutionary strategy of
development.
Key words: capitalist mode of production, class, capitalist state, imperialism, revolutionary
strategy of development
Introduction
The struggle for a radical change of the development model starts with a fight over the
consciousness of the population. In fact, having the correct consciousness regarding the
existing relations is an indispensable condition for a political practice towards the social
transformation of society. The current correlation of class forces in Peru, however, makes a
left-wing discourse that, among others, favors state-intervention in the economy almost
impossible. The radical neoliberal policies introduced in the 1990s has enabled the ruling
class to make the population believe that development is only possible with the free and
unregulated functioning of the markets. As Saad-Filho (2005: 228) observes, neoliberal
reforms have acquired a material basis in the transformations that they have wrought on
the economic fabric of Latin America.
The question of what is the left or, better, what is left of the Peruvian left has
everything to do with the actual political and social strength of those forces that favor the
functioning of unregulated free market policies. As a matter of fact, in the current Peruvian
context the strength of these social forces are not only inversely related to the strength of
left-wing oriented groups and organizations, but it has also dominantly influenced, or
maybe even determined, the ideological changes that slowly, but firmly, have been
introduced within the left in the last decade. In fact, Flix Jimnez (2014) is completely
right when he says that left-wing organizations that are in favor of the dictatorship of the
proletariat and advocate the extinction of the market are hard to find.
This article has the intention to contribute to a necessary debate regarding what it
means to be part of the left. Given the inflation of the meaning of the concept in the past
decade due to, among others, the lack of ideological and programmatic debate, we consider
it useful to begin to mark some of the differences between the left that points to social
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transformation and those elements that also form part of the family of the left but whose
purpose is social conformation.
Before we proceed to outline the structure of this article, we want to make it clear
that we do not have the intention to discuss the ideological and/or programmatic positions
of the different political organizations and electoral alliances that have their eyes put on
short-term, mainly electoral, objectives. We consider, instead, that all those who consider
themselves as part of the left should think in long-term strategic objectives. These
objectives cannot be less than to contribute to the taking of power by the Peruvian
population and to initiate a process that should lead to a society based on socialist
principles. Ideas regarding such a process can be found in the conclusion of this article.
This article is organized in six sections. Every particular section elaborates on a
fundamental aspect of left-wing political thought that should have been discussed within
every left-wing oriented political organization and/or electoral alliance. On the basis of
their point of view regarding each of these five issues, it might be possible to differentiate
between the left that points to social transformation i.e., an irreversible change of the
production relations, which can be deconstructed in relations of ownership, functionality
and exploitation; who produces what, for whom and how (Carchedi, 1987: 95), and the left
that favors social conformation i.e., those who belief in a human-faced capitalism and
think that by increased regulation and cyclically financed programs of social inclusion the
essence of social injustice in Peruvian society might disappear. In section 1 we discuss the
capitalist mode of production and section 2 is dedicated to social class. In section 3 we
delve a bit into the question of the capitalist state and in section 4 we turn to globalization
and imperialism. In section 5 we present, as a kind of conclusion, some concrete ideas
related to the elaboration of a revolutionary strategy of development.
1. The capitalist mode of production
The capitalist mode of production is based on the production of surplus value by the direct
producers and its appropriation by the owners of the means of production. From this it
follows that the social relations of production, comprise the relationship of the direct
producers to the means of production and their labour-power, the nature of any nonproducing owners and the mode of appropriation of surplus-labour from the direct
producers by any such owners (Callinicos, 2004: 54).
La relacin entre los propietarios de los medios de produccin y los que solamente
tienen su fuerza de trabajo por vender es adems una relacin de explotacin tambin una
relacin de opresin y de dominacin. Dominacin econmica, social, poltica e ideolgica,
ya que la articulacin de estos elementos confiere al modo de produccin capitalista un
carcter de sistema de organizacin social (general y especfico). Es decir que el modo de
produccin capitalista en su relacin con las condiciones particulares de determinada
formacin social despliega un conjunto de condiciones especficas de organizacin y
desarrollo socioeconmico en cada pas del mundo sin perder su carcter general de
dominacin.
Concrete capitalist social formations are never characterized simply by the capitalist
mode of production. Various kinds of pre-capitalist relations of production exist side by
side with capitalist relations, although typically these are of marginal importance and are
socially subordinated in various ways to the capitalist mode of production (Wright, 1980:
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329-330). De hecho, estos modos de produccin solamente pueden mantenerse porque,

subsumidos a la lgica del capital, son funcionales al modo de produccin dominante y a su
sistema de organizacin social. Por eso se podra decir que las diferentes formas de
produccin que existe en el Per, con grandes comunidades indgenas dueas de una
cosmovisin diferente a la occidental, donde el modo de produccin capitalista se enraiz
primero, son aceptados porque son polticamente y econmicamente tiles a la
reproduccin de la dominacin del modo de produccin capitalista.
In capitalist society, the owners of the means of production are forced to transform
surplus value in capital in order to survive in the competitive rat race with other capitalists
and to expand its production; the objective of capitalism is to accumulate. Esta necesidad
los obliga a aumentar la explotacin de los productores directos, produciendo ms
plusvala, absoluta y relativa.
A social transformation of society should imply the transference of the means of
production into the hands of society by a process of nationalization and socialization.
Political processes that favor social conformation intend to increase the economic, social
and ideological basis of the capitalist mode of production. As such, organizations that favor
these particular processes contribute to the accumulation of capital.
2. Social class
Capitalist society is structured according to the political, economic and social interests of
the individuals that make up society. These interests are determined by ones place and
function in the production and reproduction process of the system in place. The struggle
between these, principally, antagonistic interests determine the specific course of society.
The social structure of society might be understood in various ways. The left that
favors social transformation does it in terms of an individuals relationship to production (to
own or to be dispossessed from ownership of the means of production). Those
organizations that favor social conformation, structure society (i) in terms of the
individuals relation to consumption or the marketan individuals life chances, as
conceived by the sociologist Max Weber (upper, upper middle, middle, lower middle,
lower); (ii) an individuals relationship to work, or his/her location in the technical
division of labour according to industry and occupation (occupational class as conceived by
the sociologist Emile Durkheim); and/or (iii) according to an individual (or households)
level of income, as understood by most economists i.e., as a statistical grouping of
individuals in relation to national income rather than as a social group in a sociological
sense.
To structure society in occupational groups is helpful to determine the particular
relation that individuals uphold to production. However, as a multiple range of occupations
are presented without establishing their relations to the means of production, to labour
power, to the reproduction of the system as a whole and to the relations between the
particular occupational groups, it is rather difficult to determine the common, objectively
defined social interests of the individuals that through social struggle exactly determine the
course of society. To elaborate societys structure on the basis of the individuals relation to
consumption or the market and income groups has the disadvantage, apart from the ones
described above, that instead on production the focus is on distribution. Hence, of what is
presented as societys structure are its particularities or manifestations of a certain reality at
3

a certain particular point in time in the history of a given social formation and we are not
able to establish the social and economic fundamentals of these particularities.
Political organizations that point to social conformation have eliminated class as the
fundament of society, as the elemental unit for the analysis of the development of
capitalist society, and as the key for social transformation. By removing class from
society, the analysis of these organizations is concentrated on, for instance, inequality and
poverty i.e., on its superficial appearances instead on its causes. As a matter of fact, theories
which do not differentiate among various social institutions and identities, cannot deal
critically with capitalism. By eliminating class, the relation of exploitation disappears as
one of the objective conditions for the development of the capitalist system and is
transformed into a subjectively and individually felt matter (Wood, 1990: 79),
The removal of class from social analysis makes the totalizing logic and the
coercive power of capitalism to become invisible and it eradicates the possibility to define
strategic power relations as well as conflicts between social groups (Portes y Hoffman,
2003: 9). A social transformation of society can only be materialized if the owners of the
means of production, as a class, are politically and economically eliminated. The left that
favor social conformation do not point to this objective and as a consequence they, directly
and indirectly, serve the interests of the capitalist class.
3. The capitalist state
The capitalist state is as well the consequence of the contradictions between classes and
within classes, between fractions of classes (structuralist theory of the state), as an
instrument in the hands of the dominant class (instrumentalist theory of the state). 1 The
combination of both theories, according to the left that struggles for social transformation,
is crucial for our understanding of the workings of the capitalist system at the political
level.
The capitalist state is a collective of all institutional organisms that serve the
purpose of collective capital; it is an organ of and for class domination and oppression and
has the task to maintain the general conditions for the reproduction of the capitalist mode of
production. Therefore, on the one hand it depends on the correlation of forces within the
capitalist state that determines if, how and when production processes will be regulated.
On the other hand, it hinges on the class struggle if changes are introduced for the benefit of
the masses
In this era of neoliberal globalization it is been argued that the role of the capitalist
state is been reduced or minimized by the economic power of transnational corporations.
This point of view is wrong, as it not only abstracts from actual capitalist reality but also
from the political, economic and military practice of imperialism, embodied by the United
States. As is argued by Mrquez (2010: 12), the capitalist state is a central agent to expand
neoliberalism. Besides, as has been demonstrated by the worldwide financial crisis that
started to unfold in 2008, the capitalist state intervenes to socialize the debt of privately
owned companies. In the specific case of a country at the periphery of the world capitalist
system such as Peru, the capitalist state in the peripheral countries primarily executes the
economic and ideological functions that are indispensable for the enlarged reproduction of
1

In Marxist circles of the 70s, the character of the state was heavily debated. For reasons of space, we are not
able to reflect on these discussions. For these debates, see Poulantzas (1976a, 1976b, 1980) and Milliband
(1970, 1976).

multinational capital. Or, as Gonzlez Casanova (2006: 225) explains, the role of national
capital in the capitalist countries of the periphery, within the global capitalist system, is
reduced to principally the exports of raw materials, occupying a place as intermediaries in
the metropolis of the countries of the South.
The left that promotes processes of social conformation, in line with a civil society
discourse, does not consider the organisms of the capitalist state as class adversaries but
instead as partners. By bluntly accepting capitalist state institutions, they implicitly support
and maintain the dictatorship of a minority over the majority and everything what this
implies. A social transformation of society points to the destruction of the capitalist state
and a far-reaching democratization of society.
4. Globalization and imperialism
Globalization is the worldwide institutionalized form of exploitation and oppression by the
capitalist centre. It is the result of the continuously search of capital for higher rates of
profits, facilitated by the neoliberal prescription of abolishing capital controls, the opening
of the markets and favorable tax regimes.
Globalization is a class project for the accumulation of capital on a global scale
(Petras and Veltmeyer, 2011: 107), albeit its conditions are not, as in previous phases,
unilaterally dictated by capital from the centre countries (Amin, 1998: 141). The World
Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
(WB) are, as Bello (2006: 1349) writes, key pillars of the system of global governance of
the neoliberal global order and serve the interests of the United States and its allies in the
North. It is for these reasons that the term imperialism is more suitable to define what is
been known as globalization. The use of the term globalization by policy-makers and
mainstream economists has the intent to mask the class-nature of globalization, the class
realities behind it (Petras y Veltmeyer, 2010: 65).
The relations between the countries at the centre of the capitalist world system and
the periphery are not linear or static. As is argued by Petras and Veltmeyer (2011: 105),
these relations are dynamic and change over time, in part because the geopolitical and
economic concerns of the nation-state subject to imperial power leads to a quest for relative
autonomy by state officials and politicians in these countries and protection of the national
interest at issue. In addition, although capitalists in the countries of the North and the
South may have at certain points conflicting economic interests, however markedly
diminished by increased penetration of globally functioning corporations in the South, in
general, differences in economic interests and short term political objectives are put aside
when the system is questioned or is in danger.2
The left that favor a human-faced capitalism or social conformation helps i) to
maintain political stability that might be disrupted by the revolt of the impoverished and
hungry masses; ii) to lock the population into small scale projects as a mean to mystify the
structures that lay at the bottom of their particular socio-economic situation; and iii) to
2

The intimate relations between the capitalists from the North and the South are clearly manifested by the
political practice of the Peruvian bourgeoisie. In the last two decades it was not only capable to implement a
large scale privatization process, but it was also the major political force behind the free trade agreements that
Peru signed with a variety of countries. Currently, the Peruvian bourgeoisie is the principal defender of the
interests of (transnational) extractive capital, having succeeded in avoiding an extra tax on the super profits of
the mining corporations.

develop small local markets as mechanisms for income generation and for spreading of the
capitalist ideology. The left that struggles for social transformation intends to break the
chains with the capitalist centre, lifts its population out of misery and makes it object and
subject of its own development.
5. Conclusion
We have the firm conviction that change in Peru is possible. However, we do not consider it
possible within the boundaries of capitalism. We propose a revolutionary transformation of
society that starts by empowering social movements, providing them with the ideological
arms to develop and implement proposals for change and to counter the attacks from capital
and the neoliberal policy makers.
The necessity for revolutionary transformation can easily be defended on the
grounds of general accepted development goals. If it means the steady and structural
improvement of the social conditions of a continuously growing part of the population, it
should imply a break with the commoditization of the basic social needs of the population,
such as water, healthcare and education. If it also points to a qualitative increase of the
participation of the population in political and economic decision-making, it should mean
giving the exploited and oppressed masses the ownership, the control and the management
over the means of production.
A strategy that points to the social transformation of society inevitability has to be
based on the social consciousness of the population and their socio-economic situation as it
is the only way to connect the project of social transformation to the reality of the masses.
In this sense, the particular synthesis of revolutionary strategy (long-term) and development
(short and medium-term) might contribute to break the deadlock in which, actually, a
revolutionary alternative to the capitalist system of oppression and exploitation is finding
itself. We suppose that this strategy might contribute to bring the internal contradictions of
capitalism in the open and to forge the class consciousness of the Peruvian population.
This, which we denominate as a revolutionary strategy of development, has to be based on
those social layers that may put the capitalist system in check. These are, currently, the
indigenous communities that are fighting (transnational) extractive capital.
A revolutionary strategy of development needs to be conceptualized as a process
that advances in accordance with the changes in the correlation of class forces, resulting
from the class struggle that evolves over the time period that the strategy is taking root in
the exploited and oppressed social layers of society, and is being internalized in their
political practice. The objective of the strategy is the advancement of the struggle for a
process that leads to a society based on socialist principles.
Starting from a reformist perspective, the strategy needs to define, first of all, what
it considers as development in a society based on a capitalist mode of production and
distribution. This should include a discussion regarding the production and redistribution of
wealth in relation to the Marxist concept of exploitation of as well human as natural
resources. Second, it has to elaborate on proposals that foresee in a diminishing role of the
market in the economy, the creation of other modes of distribution and an increase in the
participation of the citizens in social and economic decision-making, at local, regional and
national level. Besides, it should discuss alternative forms of government and the role of the
state in society.
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The fight for these in the Peruvian context revolutionary reformist proposals
might be considered as a leap forward in the class struggle as these intend to break the
dominance of the neoliberal ideology and contribute to generalize, by broaden its political
horizon, the mainly locally organized struggle of the indigenous communities to other
layers of society. However, as revolutionary these reformist proposals might be, their
implementation does not have a lasting and definitive character if the bourgeoisie, as a
class, has not been politically and economically eliminated. In addition, these
revolutionary proposals become reactionary if they are not turned into stepping stones
towards a society without exploitation and oppression.
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