Collapse: What kind of alternative program?

We apologize, but who is trying to feed whom again with Marx, Hobsbawm, and even Antonio Gramsci?

Something is happening. It seems a liquidation is being orchestrated.

The stage is heating up rapidly. It is very clear: Those who think that the Left, socialists, and even communists can be "officially fed" to restage an old game—some of whom are former "activists" of the pained Turkish Left—are trying to take the reins.

The "Abdulhamid III" regime has reached a dead end, and now a new "Ecevit 1977" game, supported by the Left, is being orchestrated.

It is very obvious.

We know who Abdulhamid III is, and this despotism of the new era naturally rises upon the foundations of past experiences; we know that too. The "Palace" does not repeat old games. We have lived through the fact that they did not copy Kenan Evren, and that they even made him and a few half-corpse retired generals "defendants" in the final stages of their lives. They succeeded in deceiving the nation through "yes, but..." leftists. Good...

But really, what fool of a capitalist would exactly repeat Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Pinochet, the scoundrels of the Junta of the Colonels, Tağmaç, and Evren, or their fascism or neofascism?

The setting has completely changed, the actors have changed, the stage is entirely different; the new despotic regime that capital needs will be very different from those of the past.

Therefore, the spirit of the programs tucked between the lines will remain the same; what matters is that this hidden spirit does not come to light.

Was that too cryptic?

Let's be clearer then: They are trying to run over the Left with a steamroller that "sprinkles leftist cologne" on it. But another deficiency stands out: Do some circles that we habitually call "the Left"—which already includes the remnants and defectors of the CHP, as well as the DEM and its hangers-on—have any program at all?

In the name of unity, some baseless slogans have been lined up one after another in recent days...

Let us ask then: Beyond repeating certain clichés, what kind of relief do you intend to provide to the poor people of Turkey in their struggle for peace and order? Where will you find the resources for this? What will you harvest from where?

For example, will you intervene in the property rights of giant corporations on behalf of the public? Domestic or foreign... Will you seize the assets of the Turkish-Kurdish dollar millionaires, whose numbers are increasing at a speed that surprises the world? If you are not going to nationalize the wealth of the new and old rich—that is, their factories, warehouses, banks, holdings, etc., in short, capital above a certain size—what are you going to do?

LIES OF ANTI-IMPERIALISM

The questions are justified. Because if you are going to change something to prevent the collapse, you need to cancel all past financial and production/distribution flows, replace them with new ones, and find resources for this.

More importantly, in our country, where war clouds are gathering, the issue is how and with what tools of force to oppose dark NATO games. No one is even touching upon these.

Let us continue to ask the "opposition" determined to back up the Left: You surely are not thinking of Turkey leaving NATO. If you are thinking about it, will one of the first decrees of your government, stamped with "united left," "side-by-side left," "new party left," etc., be "NATO is expelled from this country and all its past activities are subject to investigation; furthermore, all military, political, and economic agreements made with the US and the EU are canceled"? If it won't be, how are you any different from the AKP? Will you hold the current lawlessness to account by paying compensation to a few thousand politicians, writers, journalists, trade unionists, etc., whose lives have been wasted in prison for years due to the injustices they were subjected to? Well, does this have any significance for the 90 million poor people of Turkey?

Presumably, Mehmet Şimşek will be sent away, but will a new social-democratic Kemal Derviş be employed in his place?

What differences will the new economic policy you intend to implement in Turkey have from the current one and the last 60 years?

What will happen to secularism? How will you ensure that religion and religious dogmas are completely removed from public administration? That is, will you be able to declare that "Religious ideologies and all forms of nationalism are completely removed from public/state administration; secularism is the fundamental principle of state administration"? Will you ban religious sects with the first government decree? How will you protect women and children?

Again: Which large companies, banks, insurance firms, or even "mansions," lands, etc., will you nationalize? If you are not going to nationalize, where will you create resources for your government's new pro-public economic policy? Are you saying, "Sir, unfortunately, Turkey's resources are not enough for our government; we will call on European, US, and even Chinese-Russian capitalists to take charge again"?

We mentioned a planned economy. Although we haven't received much of a signal on that yet, what do you understand by planning? What will your plan look like? What kind of "planning government" will you establish?

How will you implement an anti-imperialist domestic and foreign policy?

What kind of peace policy will you have?

Where will you provide the energy flow from?

How, with which institutions, and where will you hold the old regime accountable for the crimes it committed?

NO ANSWERS AT ALL

They do not intend to answer these. Beyond repeating some empty slogans, they avoid a concrete confrontation. They cannot touch the rich or the religious-nationalist delusions. We know very well that slogans alone carry no weight.

We must declare that they will carry out operations to deceive the public as the "Pied Pipers of Hamelin" accompanied by a few slogans.

We need a progressive government program that is determined to confront the existing social system and includes extensive nationalization. At the very least, someone needs to do this.

Because we are being pushed into a period so terrible that it will even make us miss the AKP. We are in a political geography that will be occupied and torn to pieces. These people believe they can continue exploitation with postmodern, religious-racist mafia monarchies.

Do the revolutionary, socialist, and communist parts of Turkey not intend to intervene in this vacuum?

From the communists who approved and supported the establishment of the DP to this day, including the anti-communist Ecevit, have we learned nothing from what has happened over the last 80 years?

We would like to discuss the cadres who will unmask the new opportunists of the era and the prescription proposals of those cadres. Why? Because a government that is perhaps signed by the AKP, but is so terrible that it will make us miss even that, a unique political collapse, occupation, and fragmentation are at the door. Let us reiterate this.

Hölderlin wrote in his very famous and still frequently quoted poem "Patmos" in 1803: "But where danger is, there grows / The saving power also." ("Wo aber Gefahr ist, wächst / Das Rettende auch.")

If there is a collapse, an alternative transcendent program for it also grows.

We are waiting for a concrete revolutionary program. Not abstract slogans. Concrete analyses and programs for breaking away from the capitalist order... We are waiting for a revolutionary "shadow cabinet," for example, in the first stage, that will protect Turkey's social unity and do so with a socialist government. Now...

We know. Such a program exists. There is certainly a program determined to overturn this bloody table where dice are being cast over our lives, outside of this dirty stage... We will talk about these...