To win, the left needs to motivate large numbers of people to join or support our struggle. We think that this requires a simple, powerful narrative and vision – an account of how we got to this bad situation, how we can get out of it to something better and what that better world looks like, a positive account of a plausibly possible future. 

This requires going beyond critical analysis and strategy. These are necessary, but not sufficient. Critical analysis is inherently negative and strategy is necessarily constrained by current circumstances, which means it may not be very inspiring. They both rely almost entirely on facts and reason. And they must embrace the history and complexity of human society and the challenges of transforming it. 

Narrative – stories – are different. Their power relies much less on factual truth and rational persuasiveness and much more on how they resonate emotionally with people’s lives, values, fears, aspirations, etc. Examples of historically effective narratives include religious explanations of the origins and purpose of life and capitalist stories about hard work and talent are the keys to wealth and wealth the key to happiness.