Emancipation and the left: the issue of violence

Abstract

Anyone who is convinced that capitalism must not be the last word of history is obliged to search for alternatives. And anyone who claims that the emergency is so big that we must not continue on the path we are currently on is compelled to point to a way out of the crisis. So the question has to be posed again with complete clarity: is violence in the last instance not the only radical means to bring about radical change? In the history of the left, has the renunciation of violence not also entailed in practice a renunciation of the goal of changing society fundamentally? All larger and smaller reforms, all 'improvements' here and there, the small or half-baked compromises--have they been anything more than an excuse, because one could not or did not want to resort to violence?