A quote from Olivia Chow in an article critical of Olivia Chow (https://www.thegrindmag.ca/july-2023-olivia-chows-troubling-start) is indicative of what the so-called progressive left here in Toronto actually means:
“Even with all the challenges we face, we can’t forget all the wonderful things already happening. Recently, I met with people involved in the community-focused development model in Scarborough’s Golden Mile. Many of you are nodding your head, you know. Where we saw United Way and other community organizations sitting alongside corporate CEOs and developers; they’re working together to deliver housing and economic opportunities to the area for the local residents, because they know that they can deliver more for people when they come together and work together. That’s the magic.” [my emphasis]
I already twice on the reformist nature of the United Way, which implicitly calls for class harmony between workers and the class of employers (see Class Harmony and Social Reformism: The United Way as a Reformist Organization, Part One and Class Harmony and Social Reformism: The United Way as a Reformist Organization, Part Two).
My prediction for Chow’s election is now even more pessimistic: I predict that she will end up actually expressing at least the same rhetoric at the end of her term in 2027 if not more reactionary views since she will probably become even more co-opted into the status quo than at present. From what I have seen of the “left” in Toronto, I doubt that grassroots organizing will be strong enough to constitute a counterpressure to both the local class power of employers and to her own evident middle-class rhetoric of class harmony.
And what is the radical left doing? Not much, as far as I can tell. Apart from John Clarke’s emphasis on the need to engage in even more organizing in the wake of her election and the linked article–which really does not address the social-reformist stance of Chow since the writer probably shares such an ideology–I have seen little criticism of Chow’s middle-class ideology.
Where are all the Marxists when you need them? Why are not Toronto Marxists engaged in a systematic effort at cooperation in order to, on the one hand, pressure Chow from below and, on the other, engage in constant criticism of her middle-class ideology? Why do they not constantly engage in exposure of such limitations in relation to the class interests of workers in relation to the class power of employers?
The Abolitionary 