by PATRYK TADEUSZ
“By nominating Trump as the defender of its interests, the world – and not just the American – bourgeoisie has chosen a path similar to that of 100 years ago”
“We in India connected well with President Trump and with the words of candidate Trump, “Abki Baar, Trump Sarkar”, rang loud and clear” – these words were spoken by the right-wing Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, in August 2019, openly supporting the re-election campaign of Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election. And I recall this for a reason, because we are currently observing the widespread joy of far-right forces around the world due to Donald Trump’s return to power in Washington.
- The Hopes of Multipolarists
In recent years, a number of commentators in left-wing circles – or what some call the “extreme left” – to which I belong and proudly identify myself – have been living in a certain belief. A trend had emerged in most of the global communist and anti-imperialist movements in recent years to believe in the emergence and permanent constitution of a multipolar world. I must admit with shame that I myself fell for this naive bait a few years ago (as evidenced by my articles from late 2022 and early 2023).
The illusion of this “multipolar world” was not entirely naive, however. First, this term (which was once part of academic Marxism only) began to appear in official documents and statements by heads of state. Russia, in particular, began to use “multipolarism” as a diplomatic figure after the launch of a special military operation in Ukraine. Media and politicians sympathetic to BRICS also began to talk about the formation of a multipolar world.
The second aspect of this not being just rhetoric was the steady weakening of the US global position in the international arena. Let’s be clear: we have been living for almost 40 years in a unipolar world completely subordinated to the US. Or rather, not the US but the global bourgeoisie that was concentrated mainly in the US and its interests.
Joe Biden’s presidency has been a series of diplomatic disasters for the US position. And of course, that’s good for the world, because the fall of the US will liberate – temporarily, until another capitalist hegemon takes its place – the nations of the world from the yoke of this one-sided imperialism.
The supporters of the multipolarity theory are convinced that this period, when the US unipolar hegemony will fall, will allow for the birth of many independent players on the arena of world capitalism, who will not be so strong as to destroy – as the US is currently doing – all revolutionary movements in the world. This, they argue, will allow for:
- local communist-led revolutions in certain countries of the world (although I am not sure that they themselves believe in this outcome);
- even if it does not lead to a single socialist revolution anywhere, at least the countries of the Global South, not being under the yoke of American imperialism, will be able to develop their own national bourgeoisie and go through an industrial revolution.
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