Despite the many challenges confronting us, socialist organizers must keep the faith in our ability to win a better world. That may require commitment that goes beyond what’s rationally warranted.
I’ve been thinking about Kierkegaard a lot recently, too. It’s interesting that faith, for him, was deeply individual and he loathed the institution of the church, if I recall correctly. Faith seemed to be available only in the most personal reaches of one’s self, everything that’s irreducible to systems and structures. For socialists, faith is naturally associated with collective struggle and the resolution of one’s own hopes and aspirations in the broader self-emancipation of all humankind. Maybe it’s the case that what Kierkegaard identifies as the “absurd” experience grasped by the knight of faith in choosing to believe despite resignation, socialists find in the awesome moment of collective action working. The phenomenon of true collective agency manifesting in some win—or even in some loss—but the fact of collective agency itself is a demonstration of so many individuals’ leaps of faith, and it strengthens my faith. Organizing creates the conditions for us to show each other our leaps of faith, and encourage each other to leap together toward the world that seems so far away. At the end, there is something rational about it: faith is a form of trust, and trust begets trust. Seeing your coworker or comrade trust in another person or project invites you to trust that person or project, too. The more we all trust, the greater our chances of collective action. Socialist faith is contagious—so I hope!
Thanks Jake! Yeah, Kierkegaard was definitely hyper-individualistic and I think sort of a reactionary politically. What you say about socialists having faith in collective action and having our faith strengthened by seeing successful examples of collective action sounds right to me. And I think you're right of course that there's something rational about putting our faith in collective action. I guess I think we need a bit of irrational (or at least nonrational) faith when we're at a point where we don't already see the collective action happening, and where it's on organizers to help bring it about in the first place.
I’ve been thinking about Kierkegaard a lot recently, too. It’s interesting that faith, for him, was deeply individual and he loathed the institution of the church, if I recall correctly. Faith seemed to be available only in the most personal reaches of one’s self, everything that’s irreducible to systems and structures. For socialists, faith is naturally associated with collective struggle and the resolution of one’s own hopes and aspirations in the broader self-emancipation of all humankind. Maybe it’s the case that what Kierkegaard identifies as the “absurd” experience grasped by the knight of faith in choosing to believe despite resignation, socialists find in the awesome moment of collective action working. The phenomenon of true collective agency manifesting in some win—or even in some loss—but the fact of collective agency itself is a demonstration of so many individuals’ leaps of faith, and it strengthens my faith. Organizing creates the conditions for us to show each other our leaps of faith, and encourage each other to leap together toward the world that seems so far away. At the end, there is something rational about it: faith is a form of trust, and trust begets trust. Seeing your coworker or comrade trust in another person or project invites you to trust that person or project, too. The more we all trust, the greater our chances of collective action. Socialist faith is contagious—so I hope!
Thanks Jake! Yeah, Kierkegaard was definitely hyper-individualistic and I think sort of a reactionary politically. What you say about socialists having faith in collective action and having our faith strengthened by seeing successful examples of collective action sounds right to me. And I think you're right of course that there's something rational about putting our faith in collective action. I guess I think we need a bit of irrational (or at least nonrational) faith when we're at a point where we don't already see the collective action happening, and where it's on organizers to help bring it about in the first place.