There is no global leftist institution at the moment, but the conversations and debates that populate leftist discourse form an integral part of the leftist community. However, often this discourse is inherently exclusionary in its nature, armed with theoretical jargon and void of the value of lived experiences. The global left is as diverse as the experiences of the peoples that constitute its coalition. It has never been, nor will it ever be, a monolithic group — yet the struggles of a few prevail over others. Some systems of oppression gain more attention than others. The theoretical takes precedence over the practical.

There is no question about the essentiality of leftist theory. Class consciousness theory helps us make sense of the complex class dynamics in an increasingly globalized world; critical race theory allows us to realize the historic and current racialization at all levels of human society; gender theory enables us to understand the fallacious nature of patriarchal gender roles; abolition theory teaches us the practical way of dismantling existing systems of oppression and violence and decolonization theory empowers us to reflect on the legacy of colonialism and its continual impact on people’s material conditions.

There is no question about the necessity of leftist theory. However, all theory does at the end of the day is put into sociological terms what is experienced by oppressed people every day. It is merely a form of ideological expression, not a requirement to be a part of a movement. There is no academic study that can replicate the value contained in one’s own first-hand experience with racial, gendered, class, colonial and state violence. Theoretical studies of the systems of violence around us can be one path to class consciousness, but to insist on it being the only one serves to gate-keep the movement, not expand it.

One does not need to understand all the laws of gravitational theory to understand the existence and effects of gravity. Neither does a daily-wage laborer need to understand Marx’s labor theory of value to comprehend the routine exploitation they experience at the hands of the corporation that employs them. A worker with a full-time job barely has the time, energy and material resources to sustain themselves, let alone the added burden of familiarizing oneself with theoretical concepts.

That being said, the elitism of leftist academic circles need not be understated. The for-profit nature of modern academic institutions implies that many university departments studying leftist theory and sometimes even delineating it are populated by individuals separated from the daily struggles of the working class. That is not to say that academia can never sympathize with marginalized people, or that working class people can not be part of academia. Rather, it is to point out the current predicament of academic circles, access to which is dictated by one’s material conditions.

Besides the rigid insistence on theoretical analysis, there is also a selective tendency to emphasize certain forms of oppression over others. Many leftists tend to romanticize the utopian ideal of a ‘revolution’ without realizing how such an event would result in disproportionate crackdowns on people of color, gender non-conforming people and disabled bodied people. The plight of workers in the global South often takes the backstage in conversations around climate justice and ‘Green New Deal’(s). They remain the most disproportionately affected subjects of environmental injustice due to the dual evils of Western imperialism and local exploitative labor laws.

None of this is to say that such conversations are not taking place in leftist communities, but it must be highlighted that they remain far from the mainstream. Within the theoretical realm, there is a selective glorification of the writings of Marx or Engels or Lenin, wilfully ignoring the rich intersectionality in the writings of Kimberle Crenshaw or Angela Davis. The circumstances of disabled bodied, fat and neuro-divergent folks are barely ever dealt with the intricate attention that they deserve. The foundations of an inclusive left cannot be built on the exclusion of marginalized peoples whose existence is characterized by forms of oppression that are characteristic of capitalism, such as healthcare exclusion and consumer exploitation.

The foundations of a global left must be built on a mutual process of education — not on the grounds of theory but on the value contained in each of our individual experiences. This education needs to be a perpetual process because each of us has blind spots that we can remove by listening. This is where the role of allyship becomes central, where allies must amplify the voices of marginalized peoples and their experiences instead of speaking over them to make purely theoretical arguments.