Gabriel Kolko - Political Views

Political Views

Kolko is a Leftist and an anti-capitalist, writing that, although "socialism—whether as a theory or as a political movement—is essentially dead", although its analysis and practice have both been failures, and although it "simply inherited most of the nineteenth century's myopia, adding to the illusions of social thought", capitalism is neither a rational nor a stable basis for a peaceful society. "Given its practice and consequences, opposition to what is loosely termed capitalism—the status quo in all its dimensions—is far more justified today than ever. Precisely because of this, a more durable and effective alternative to capitalism is even more essential." As noted by Georgetown historian David S. Painter, "while very critical of Marxist and Communist movements and regimes, Kolko also counts among the human, social, and economic costs of capitalism the 'repeated propensity' of capitalist states to go to war." Kolko condemned Lenin's dismissal of anti-authoritarian socialism—what the Bolshevik leader variously described as an "infantile disorder", "old and familiar rubbish", and "'Left-wing' childishness"—in his Politics of War, where he was similarly dismissive of Stalin's dictatorship and summarised Mao as follows:

What Mao called theory, with the intense vanity which made him manipulate the party into passing encomiums to him, was nothing more than tactics, tactics designed to lead a national revolution of a reformist character. What is less important than the superficiality of the thought is its intent—designed to make a coalition and victory politically possible. Mao was a great strategist and tactician in the acquisition of power, but in fact below even Stalin as a thinker. His ideology was derived, intellectually crude, and strictly relegated to this desire and passion to use the dynamics of China in chaos to attain power. He never rose to even Stalin's sterile level of generality and abstraction, or above homilies that took more from Sun Yat-sen than Lenin. He always knew what was right for the moment, and in this regard he was a genius. . . . 's obsession with being confirmed as the Great Sage made him dogmatic about a theoretical line so nebulous and pragmatic that it was always successful as a tactical armory.

His Jewish heritage has not prevented his being harshly critical of Zionism and Israel. Like many left-wing Jews, Kolko regards the result of the creation of Israel as "abysmal": Zionism produced "a Sparta that traumatized an already artificially divided region", "a small state with a military ethos that pervades all aspects of s culture, its politics and, above all, its response to the existence of Arabs in its midst and at its borders". Overall, his conclusion is that there is "simply no rational reason" that justifies Israel's creation.

Kolko is a regular contributor to the political newsletter CounterPunch.