Culture here refers to the informal norms of the left itself – ways of acting and treating each other that are not defined in the explicit rules of any left organisation but manifested in the life of the movement. To win, the left needs to grow – to attract more people and keep them involved. 

The culture of parts of the left – perhaps significant parts – has problems. For example, it is sometimes:

  • too pessimistic about the prospects for success
  • too elitist, especially intellectually, in relation to things like Marxist theory and the history of the movement
  • too secretive – unwilling to have important disagreements in public
  • too dogmatic and stuck in the old, seemingly failed ways of doing things
  • too inward looking and factionalist, obsessed with fighting itself rather than its real enemies
  • too boring and joyless – it’s mostly about the dull grind of meetings and debates and the inevitably dull work of organising campaigns.

To do better, the left would surely be aided by being a nice place to be – by having a positive, accessible, open-minded and welcoming culture and by being fun and enjoyable, in addition to hard work. How can we cultivate a better culture?