We The People

Are we agents of freedom and democracy, actors of good faith, united in our resistance to be exploited by ruthless elite?

Or are we amorphous, heterogeneous, and largely unorganized bunch ready to get swayed by a charismatic leader?

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The 19th century term “populism” refers to a variety of political stances aimed to represent and put into effect the will of the people. In the early day, the main goal of populists was to engage with us, the people, and provide refuge for those excluded from political decision making or left behind by cultural and technological change. Due to its internet age renaissance, the term “populism” has become extremely loaded, stretched concept, frequently mistranslated, and overused as a pejorative. It might be safe to jokingly notice: A spectre is haunting the globe — the spectre of populism.

How It All Started?

Russian intelligentsia of the late 19th century, still seduced by the French Revolution, started to get increasingly involved in khozhdeniye v narod, trying to strengthen peasant self-governance against governing elites. The Narodniks were intellectual and political inspiration that greatly influenced not only Russian society, but also other agrarian movements across Eastern Europe. 

Russian Narodnichestvo shares a lot of similarities with the US People’s Party populist movement of the same period. Being a populist back then was a badge of honor. For early populists of southwest North America, “the people” were small, independent farmers, whereas “elite” were the bankers and politicians of the northeast. By the mid-20th century, US populism has become closely intertwined with anti-communist politics and somewhat controversial Cold War McCarthyism, and to this day increasingly growing in popularity.

Although Russian populism influenced China’s social movements before PRC, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, a distinct strain of Chinese populism emerged as a significant force in Chinese politics and social life. According to professor Ako Tomoko from the University of Tokyo, Chinese nationalism is relatively weak (in comparison to Euro-American), so the populist rhetoric mainly emphasises the importance of banding together against “hostile foreign forces”.

Today it has become increasingly hard to pin-point exact geographical coordinates or  exact ideological content of huge varieties of populist movement. It is not a phenomenon unique to democratic nations – it conquered the globe. It is spread across political spectrum, in both left and right flavors, for centrists and radicals alike. Since it has no pre-defined form of social transformation, it works perfectly well with any form of “ism”, whether it be liberalism, nationalism, socialism, federalism, conservatism,… It relies on a sort of antagonistic world view of us versus them, therefore it is considered to be more moralistic, rather than programmatic in its approach.

Simply put, anything nowadays seems populism, still everyone vehemently refuses to be called a populist.

Moral Struggle

In regards to core idea of populism — to serve the noble cause of translating popular sentiments into public opinion — internet age turned out to be a fertile ground for its spread. Mainstream politicians do not stray away from using the same, populist tactics they officially claim to despise. Clashes between grassroots social media and corporate-owned/state-run media are heating up everywhere. And in all this heat, populism somehow lost its noble connotation, so to become a term widely used to humble political opponent.

For example, if somebody says you’re left-leaning populist, that means you’re supposedly envious of powerful people, resentful and bitter. Even worse for right-leaning populist, not only you’re envious of powerful people, but you as well hate anyone that those in power are interested to uplift, like minorities, immigrants, homosexuals, etc.
Either way, as a populist, you’re seen to be a bad, bad person.

The Cure for Populism

Instead of shaming, name-calling, censorship and cordon sanitaire around anything slightly populist, we should know better. All strategies against populism so far have only added fuel to the fire. Instead of radicalizing vox populi, mainstream politicians should be more open about the restriction of their own power. As Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser suggested: the first step to deflate the appeal of radical populism, would be for government figures found guilty of corruption to be seen to face adequate punishment. Rule of law and the elimination of systemic corruption are the most potent antidotes to populism.

Are mainstream politicians ready to implement these simple suggestions? Or are they still more comfortable doubling down on lawyers, independent journalists, social-media activists, and others?

Populism: The Case Study

Populism often raises legitimate, simple questions. And it is always concerning when these questions turn out to be difficult to answer – one of the reasons why populism got such a bad reputation. But, why keep shooting the messenger?

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Under the various influences from European capitalism and citizenry, American liberalism, and Russian Narodnichestvo sentiment, Kingdom of Yugoslavia morphed into Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia after the Wold War II. When the soviet split happened in 1948, SFRY became original solution to narodna volja (peoples’ will) with its emphasis on democratic centralism, workers’ self-management and decentralization. Famous social scientists, historians, philosophers, and politicians gathered from all around the world to witness the miracle.

In the aftermath of its infamous collapse and all related destruction, there is no point in crying over spilt milk. Instead, politicians of the former Yugoslav republics got busy shifting blame from one to the other, and from East to West to East again. In the thin-centered populist fashion, apparently everything goes but nothing seems to really work.

Thus, one strangely hybrid political party emerged. Long ruling Serbian Progressive Party represent a perfect oxymoron of institutionalized anti-establishment rhetoric. In acrobatic attempt to maintain government balance between Eastern and Western powers, it absorbed in itself multiple strands of political legacy, from radical Russian narodism to national conservatism, paired with pro-European and neoliberal tendencies. All contradictions seem to peacefully coexist in this populist heaven. But under the shiny armour, one might notice a growing swamp of angry crocodiles. In the rage of ideological cacophony, there are no straightforward answers. Only short-term agendas.

We all bleed red, brother, listen to me

Kid Rock, We The People

The End

Global village of our Information Age populism has many colors, shapes and sizes. Now that there is a looming threat of unipolar world disintegration, it feels quite a dangerous place to be alive.

In the fog of propaganda wars, it gets harder to distinguish Anglo-American “benevolent” imperialist from Russian authoritarian apparatchik from Chinese hyper-responsive post-Maoist. Nevertheless, you’re pressured so urgently to pick a damn side!

Despite technological and socio-economic advances, we again seem to be painfully stuck in 19th century era. But throwing the word “populist” around and at each other, especially in such derogatory manner, only further pollutes the discussion.