The categories/concepts of class and class struggle can be interpreted in the the most narrow, sectarian way and then deployed accordingly. Of late, I notice this phenomenon here and there. But thankfully most political and social activists aren’t going down that daft rabbit hole!

In some strains of Marxism years ago (maybe now too?) “the rule of law” was considered no more than a constitutive element of the capitalist political superstructure. Its function was solely to legitimize as well as conceal capitalist rule and exploitation. That claim, as I see it, was one sided, undialectical, and unhistorical then and remains so now. In the current struggle against Trump and the larger MAGA movement, the defense and application of the rule of law is an integral part of the struggle of the broad based, diverse coalition battling for the preservation and deepening of democracy and democratic rule.

The notion of political independence from the two parties of capitalism advocated by much of the left has been – especially during the long rise of right wing extremism – more trouble than it’s worth. The embrace of this political abstraction hindered a timely adjustment of election strategy and tactics to the new conditions of struggle that arose in the 1970s.

With the election of Reagan in 1980, the urgency of modifying the left’s strategic and tactical guidelines to changed circumstances became imperative. And yet, little changed, strategically and tactically speaking, across much of the left. It wasn’t until the rise of Trump and Trumpism, beginning in 2016, and the candidacy of Bernie Sanders in that same year that some erosion of this holy grail of left wing politics became evident.

Any explanation for this seemingly inexplicable slowness of the left to adjust its election strategy and tactics to strikingly new conditions of struggle has to begin with this observation: strategy and tactics in the electoral arena and every other arena where people and parties clash are, if anything, concrete, malleable, and suspicious of timeless political abstractions.

In playing basketball, I learned that if my team took a thrashing, and we did on more than one occasion, a post game breakdown of the game was fruitful if we began – not with the bad calls of the referees – but with our performance. What we did wrong, what assignments were missed, what was flawed in our game plan, and what adjustments in the lineup and game plan were in order if we hoped to win the next time that we took the court. Such a practice served us well. And I would argue would serve progressive and left political activists well too in moments of defeat of which we have had our share.

Russians protesting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine takes courage, a lot of courage. They deserve the support and solidarity of the peace, democratic, and progressive movements here.