The Pope is right: the Left should unite within a multi-class alliance and fight against monopoly-capitalism, Andrew Taylor, Nov. 28/13

A thought arising from reading an ultra-left dismissal of Pope Francis' radical denunciation of the current economic system contained in Evangelii Gaudium "Some Challenges of today's World." (for example, see Michael Roberts Blog article "Ayn Rand, Pope Francis and the philosophy of greed.")

First, the ultras make the error of proclaiming immediate revolutionary demands in a non-revolutionary period. This current in the Left  fails to recognise the radicalism of the new pope's call for an anti-monopoly struggle for a society of people before profits.  To reject this platform is pure ultra-leftism that leads the people nowhere in the current global conditions .   

Second, the ultra-Left purists now dismissing the new pope's economic statements, show zero recognition that within the current stage of a rearguard fightback against the monopolies / neoliberalism, the communist parties are correct in advancing from the current defensive fightback to an offensive struggle by enlisting and exploiting allies in a multi-class front. A school for struggle exists for the party of the working-class through participation in the democratic struggles of the First Nations, LGBTQ, peace, anti-racist and ecological movements.

Today, given real global conditions, there is no possibility of an advance to socialist revolution without the Left joining with allies from 'the middle-class' in mass movements.This does not displace or replace participation in the overtly proletarian arenas of the labour class conflict, indeed, in our day, the fight for ecology and against Monopoly is intrinsic to the advancement of the class struggle.

Time for the ultras to think again about the inter-relationship between Reforms and Revolution, and the way forward to socialism. Revolution will NOT arrive because a few fringe independent radicals wish to jump ahead of existing global forces..