Naija Marxists

4. 𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑬 𝑰𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑵𝑰𝑮𝑬𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵 𝑳𝑬𝑭𝑻 𝑻𝑶𝑫𝑨𝒀? The Nigerian left is weaker and more fragmented than it once was, but it has not disappeared. Military repression played a part, but so did failures within the left itself. Sections of the revolutionary left abandoned independent class politics to work within bourgeois nationalist and pro-democracy movements, treating the removal of military rulers or the achievement of civilian government as ends in themselves. Others reduced politics to immediate bread-and-butter demands, separating those struggles from the revolutionary transformation of society. Without theoretical clarity and the unity of theory and practice, the left repeatedly found itself fighting alongside the bourgeoisie without building the independent political power of the working class. Yet the left survives in trade unions, student organisations, feminist movements, socialist groups and community campaigns. What is largely absent from Nigeria's dominant political parties is any meaningful disagreement over the economic system. The APC and PDP quarrel over who governs, but both broadly accept privatisation, market-led development and the dominance of domestic and foreign capital. 𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 “𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴”, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦: 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘮? A policy that enriches investors may impoverish workers. A government can fight corruption while protecting the very class relations that reproduce inequality.