I am a member of the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions, or FNV, and they are not that progressive. They include the police union and don’t make a stand for Palestine. They have made a statement today as a reaction to calls to kick the police union out of the federation. These calls came after police violence against pro-Palestine supporters. The leader of FNV defended the police union in his statement. I think the union has an important place in the fight against capitalism before, during and after the revolution. So when the union is compromised, it means it will be harder for change to happen. I do have hope for the union, but how can you exactly help bring back the revolutionary spirit and ideals?
For me the central passage of that text is this:
“We can (and must) begin to build socialism, not with abstract human material, or with human material specially prepared by us, but with the human material bequeathed to us by capitalism. True, that is no easy matter, but no other approach to this task is serious enough to warrant discussion.”
It is in effect a complete rejection of idealism, the recognition that we must work with the material reality at hand and not with the fantasy of an idealized revolutionary subject which we have constructed in our minds.