By: Dr Stane Granda
The pre-election period is already underway. Some time ago, a well-known cultural figure from the former Kučan’s Forum 21 spoke out against the democrats, whom he, as a Putin supporter, considers war hawks. Whether this is already part of the pre-election campaign, we will soon see. Given whom they are sending to Brussels as the European Commissioner, it is possible and likely.
We are also hearing voices from the opposite side, and the situation there is worse than tragic. We are being told about the ongoing struggle between left-wingers and right-wingers in Slovenia. By the way, I do not know who gives them the right to claim they are right-wingers. They represent typical liberal ideas. I do not recall right-wingers ever accepting them into their ranks.
When I listen to them, I am always reminded of the unfortunate MVAC. The Italians correctly labelled them, while they themselves accepted the name given to them by communists for the purposes of the revolution, they so desired: the White Guard. Had it not existed, our revolutionaries would have stopped fighting the occupier. After all, we know that Kardelj claimed this at the 5th Party Conference in Zagreb in 1940. Moreover, the label of anti-communist fighters would have carried a completely different weight at home and abroad, not to mention in history, compared to being named after a somewhat similar Russian movement that ended tragically. In fact, it preserved in historical memory the image of a tragic loser. Some people here would apparently like to repeat this folly under different circumstances.
Political movements can be divided into democratic and totalitarian ones. The latter emerged one after the other in the 20th century – first the communists, then the fascists and Nazis. These are complete dictatorships that deny individuality, allow only one party that worships its leader like a god. Everything is under police control, including the economy. Special attention is given to education and culture, which are precisely directed and controlled. All three ideologies stem from socialism. However, despite them, democratic political movements persisted: the right and the left, which split into liberals, and from them emerged social democrats and socialists who uphold the values of democracy. According to our official dictionary, democracy is “a political system advocating majority rule, protecting the personal and political rights of all citizens”. Communists, fascists, and Nazis, despite the loud condemnation of the latter two by the former, essentially mean nothing in reality but serve as warnings of their danger. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the left was reduced to former communists and their sympathisers, and everyone else was labelled right-wingers. How idiotic it is to hear that in Austria, far-right extremists won, when in fact they are classic liberals, bourgeois leftists, similar to our Gibanje Svoboda party in terms of anti-vaccine influence.
People on the democratic side who declare themselves right-wingers prove that they have fully adopted the terminology and game of communist totalitarians. By accident or by design (?). For now, it is their problem, but soon enough, it will also be ours. Essentially, it amounts to a denial of classical democracy. It denies the right to be a liberal and especially a socialist. They do not even know these words and lose their minds when they hear them. Just like the communists once did. The level of social development in a country indicates its level of civilisation. Of course, only those who meet the criteria have the right to social benefits. In our country, social centres are mostly nests of communists, their purse, organisations for the theft of state wealth.
Anyone who seriously thinks about Slovenia’s future, based on the values of our independence, where democracy was the first condition, cannot accept the terminology of the communist left and therefore cannot declare themselves right-wingers. The unfortunate and tragically relevant Jože Pučnik, given the state of our current situation, was anything but a right-winger. He was a democrat and a socialist, whether we like it or not. Those democrats who declare themselves his followers but invoke right-wing ideals, thereby deny him.
Labelling democrats as right-wingers is political suicide. By doing so, we alienate all the young people and those who are democrats but never willing to be right-wingers. The votes that the extreme left and communists receive in our elections, whatever they call themselves – social democrats were historically considered the greatest traitors to the working class – prove that voters reject them. We are not aware that they hate democracy. So, let’s embrace it! In our country, the real struggle is between democrats and totalitarians. Let’s not abandon democracy in favour of right-wingism! Especially because it is not even that! The large number of supporters of each new political movement shows our inability to address the real, everyday needs of the people. By shouting about right-wingism, we are cutting off the branch we are sitting on.
