As Turkey officially enters the electoral process, much has been said about what the left must do to win and protect the gains. They are the subjects on which almost everyone agrees on issues such as unity of power, solidarity and joint action. It seems that the desired level of unity has not yet been achieved in this regard.
Even though our topic is selection, it would be useful to consider the issue a little further back and briefly evaluate it. For classical leftists, perhaps it would be better to start with a historical example. Whether it is the election tactic or strategy that TIP followed by not being included in the common list, or vice versa, whatever it will be called, we think of the subjects it dealt with in the book ‘left communism is a childhood disease’, written by Lenin in the 1920s. In this book, Lenin tries to explain the Bolshevik history by dividing it into stages. According to the requirements of the period, it recommends to foresee and work on all kinds of work at every stage. In a single sentence, he says ‘defeat is a good school for armies’ during the years of defeat (1907-1910) when tsarism crushed the revolutionary struggle. It is an important resource for learning lessons from defeats and for struggles at all levels. He explained the idioms of intra-parliamentary, legal-illegal rich struggle according to the principles of political science. As a result, he concludes by revealing the main theme of the book by saying, ‘If the Bolsheviks had not continued this fine tactic, a victory could not have been won or preserved in October 1917’.
Without generalizing by saying ‘left circles’, it is really necessary to focus on the line it has followed from the past to the present, especially regarding the Turkish left. The left’s inability to reproduce itself in a paradigmatic perspective, remaining marginal, not appearing in Turkey’s legal politics, inability to establish unity within itself, its view of the Kurdish issue, and not meeting sufficiently in the common struggle are issues that should be questioned.
In the past, the United Front of Resistance Against Fascism (FKBDC), today the United People’s Revolutionary Movement (HBDH) has given importance to the experience and practical steps have been taken. Significant developments have also been achieved in certain periods. The Kurdish freedom movement, with its 50-year history of struggle, is known for its efforts and attempts to become partners with the Turkish left, to create a platform of struggle together and to organize. However, the TYPE type of politics, however, did not get rid of the ‘childhood disease’ that Lenin identified in 1920. It would not be the right approach to evaluate all of the Turkish left by putting them in the same basket.
It will be very instructive to approach childhood illness in the concrete of TIP. It is precisely the election approach of TIP that a victory to be won according to the principles of political science is wasted. There is a situation like being ‘what the hell’s crazy’. Although the Turkish left has not been able to exist in legal politics throughout its history, it has not been able to learn lessons from the defeats it has experienced. In other words, he could not graduate from the ‘defeat school’ and get a diploma.
Founded in 1961 under the leadership of trade unionists, TİP added the Socialist Party of Turkey to its structure and received around 10 thousand votes in 63 local elections (1962). In the 65 elections, it succeeded in sending 15 deputies to the parliament with a vote rate of 2.97%, above 276 thousand. The following periods are the internal conflict and conflict periods of TİP. It was closed and re-established during the military coups of 12 March and 12 September. In its last version, a new TYPE emerged from the combination of the Communist Party of Turkey and the People’s Communist Party of Turkey. Since it is a party made up of communist parties, I would like to suggest a childhood disease book on ‘left’ communism, hoping that it would be useful to explain the mentality of thought by quoting Lenin.
It is expected that some of the exits of the TIP deputies will provoke a reaction among the members of the Labor and Freedom front, which will enter the elections with the joint list, and lead to louder objections, especially on the Kurdish front. There is even a murmur from the bottom, calling for the Green Left party to end the partnership with TIP and hold elections alone. The reason why things have reached this point is undoubtedly the concerns shown so that a single vote is not wasted in these elections. While TİP should have seen these concerns and acted accordingly, the statements that furthered the issue overflowed. It is actually not possible to treat the underlying childhood disease of people with TYP. By the way, it is also useful to speak frankly. Viewpoints are problematic. They are not clear in the solution of the Kurdish problem either.
TIP’s sociological readings of the PKK and Kurdish issue are similar to those of the official state ideology. His approach to the Kurds, who brought them to the parliament, is crippled. Despite all this is known, the Kurds are doing politics by making the necessary self-data. The style of doing politics by sacrificing the advantages of the policy of commonality in goals and targets to narrow party interests is morbid.
Those who think that it is politics to find an empty square and roar when it is not possible for legal politics to breathe easily without the self-sacrificing resistance of the Kurdish freedom movement PKK against AKP-MHP fascism are being deceived. The opportunistic approach of TİP, which does not go beyond left populism, will lose in the elections as well as as a party. It is not necessary to be an astrologer to say that TİP has no chance of winning.
It is a more reasonable behavior for a political understanding that cannot distinguish what the joint list and the separate list will bring or take away from politics. While Turkey has had the opportunity to get rid of the dictator Erdogan’s rule, it should not be an unforgivable mistake for TIP to cast votes to serve to evade this opportunity. The political cost of playing with the elections will be very heavy for them. The only thing that needs to be done until the last moment is to be patient so that TİP abandons this negative and losing approach. In case of an individualist approach that insists on party interests, necessary action will be taken.
Rauf KARAKOCAN
Source: Lekolin
