When the situation becomes truly unfavorable, someone from the left always appears who quotes Mao to try to brighten up the atmosphere: “Everything under the sky is in great disorder; “The situation is excellent. » The expression is often used to remind us that chaos contains opportunities. However, its initial meaning was more limited: Mao was describing a moment of elite weakness that would open the door to political revolution. It was not at all a blind celebration of the collapse of previous balances.
The recurring use of this quote reveals two deeply rooted impulses on the left. The first is “majoritarianism”: the belief that the worse things get, the more options the left will have to capitalize on discontent. The second is the historical voluntarism of the socialist movement, which attributes to political will – of individuals, parties and organizations – the ability to overcome structural obstacles. Both attitudes combine, in my opinion, naivety and danger.
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