A review by perrydimes
Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America by Richard Rorty
4.0
Offers a hopeful view of the leftist project in American politics, and gives a pragmatic case for why we should be genuinely proud of our achievements thus far. In the era of Bernie Sanders (who is not an anticapitalist, or a proper socialist, but social democrat), it's instructive to look back on where the so-called Old Left succeeded, and whether we can build on those successes in a similar way. There are some insightful bits of analysis here, including a paragraph which pretty much exactly predicts the election of Donald Trump decades in advance. Though he may have been the most precise, Rorty isn't the only author to predict such a development. The failures of neoliberal capitalism and globalization have been well-documented.
This book also gives a brief summary of the common story we tell ourselves about the history of the left. At the turn of the 20th century, there was a massive mobilization of union power which ultimately culminated in the New Deal and FDR's reign (Pullman strike, Eugene Debs, you know the story). When FDR actually got in office, of course, many felt he wasn't left enough (most famously Huey Long) but for the average American he is remembered as the closest to a socialist that an American president has ever been. Things started to change until the 60's when a schism occurred in the aftermath of the Vietnam war protests, mostly on common campuses. The so-called "New Left" often privileged cultural issues around identity, and criticized existing social structures built around sexuality, race, gender, etcetera. Eventually, as the story goes, the New Left drove out the Old Left, and the concern about economic issues evolved into one about cultural issues. I'm not sure if I agree entirely with this history -- though it is true that there has been much more of a leftward movement on cultural issues than economic ones specifically since the '80s -- but that's the story we tell ourselves.
Infighting among the left even today does often follow this script. Many progressives often accuse Bernie Sanders of focusing too much on class and neglecting race -- whereas the latter's supporters often accuse the former of playing "identity politics" and ceding ground to the populist right in the process. In reality, I think it is true that both of these types of issues deserve oxygen in a proper left movement, and ultimately agree with Rorty that we need to focus on left unity for pragmatic purposes. To the extent that he assigns blame to one of these two factions, though, I can't say I agree with him. Though Rorty himself couldn't have possibly commented on this since he died in 2007, if you ask me, the progressive shift amongst politicians and elites (since Clinton) on LGBT rights, feminism, and race issues is about equal parts cynicism and altruism. And furthermore (in my opinion), it was not the New Left (usually associated with academia, youth movements on college campuses, and grassroots activists) that drove out the Old Left, but rather the neoliberal consensus in the age of globalization.
But that's really the beauty of this book and why I like it so much -- Rorty is one of the rare writers who I can disagree with a lot but still find plenty of value in what he's saying. Is it strictly true that America is an as-yet unachieved project of liberty and democracy? Honestly, probably not. But this book makes a useful case for why it may be helpful to act as if that were true, at the very least for the purposes of material gains for the common American (a noble goal). This book makes the most succinct and convincing case for a reformist (as opposed to a radical) agenda that I've seen. I'll admit, I'm very sympathetic to this view, as I don't think the material conditions in America are amenable to anything close to a revolution, and again, ameliorating the lives of ordinary people is a noble goal.
I haven't read anything much by John Dewey, who is extensively cited as an inspiration and foundational to Rorty's view of the leftist project. I imagine doing so would make this book a lot more helpful.
This book also gives a brief summary of the common story we tell ourselves about the history of the left. At the turn of the 20th century, there was a massive mobilization of union power which ultimately culminated in the New Deal and FDR's reign (Pullman strike, Eugene Debs, you know the story). When FDR actually got in office, of course, many felt he wasn't left enough (most famously Huey Long) but for the average American he is remembered as the closest to a socialist that an American president has ever been. Things started to change until the 60's when a schism occurred in the aftermath of the Vietnam war protests, mostly on common campuses. The so-called "New Left" often privileged cultural issues around identity, and criticized existing social structures built around sexuality, race, gender, etcetera. Eventually, as the story goes, the New Left drove out the Old Left, and the concern about economic issues evolved into one about cultural issues. I'm not sure if I agree entirely with this history -- though it is true that there has been much more of a leftward movement on cultural issues than economic ones specifically since the '80s -- but that's the story we tell ourselves.
Infighting among the left even today does often follow this script. Many progressives often accuse Bernie Sanders of focusing too much on class and neglecting race -- whereas the latter's supporters often accuse the former of playing "identity politics" and ceding ground to the populist right in the process. In reality, I think it is true that both of these types of issues deserve oxygen in a proper left movement, and ultimately agree with Rorty that we need to focus on left unity for pragmatic purposes. To the extent that he assigns blame to one of these two factions, though, I can't say I agree with him. Though Rorty himself couldn't have possibly commented on this since he died in 2007, if you ask me, the progressive shift amongst politicians and elites (since Clinton) on LGBT rights, feminism, and race issues is about equal parts cynicism and altruism. And furthermore (in my opinion), it was not the New Left (usually associated with academia, youth movements on college campuses, and grassroots activists) that drove out the Old Left, but rather the neoliberal consensus in the age of globalization.
But that's really the beauty of this book and why I like it so much -- Rorty is one of the rare writers who I can disagree with a lot but still find plenty of value in what he's saying. Is it strictly true that America is an as-yet unachieved project of liberty and democracy? Honestly, probably not. But this book makes a useful case for why it may be helpful to act as if that were true, at the very least for the purposes of material gains for the common American (a noble goal). This book makes the most succinct and convincing case for a reformist (as opposed to a radical) agenda that I've seen. I'll admit, I'm very sympathetic to this view, as I don't think the material conditions in America are amenable to anything close to a revolution, and again, ameliorating the lives of ordinary people is a noble goal.
I haven't read anything much by John Dewey, who is extensively cited as an inspiration and foundational to Rorty's view of the leftist project. I imagine doing so would make this book a lot more helpful.