VIJAY PRASHAD, MAY 22, 2026

The Working-Class Does Not Have the Time for Disunity.

The world needs the left to act in a united form. The working-class does not have the time for disunity. Lives are at stake.

The need for left unity is not an abstract moral desire but a concrete political necessity. At a time of deep capitalist crisis, widening inequality, imperialist war, ecological catastrophe, and the steady assault on democratic and labour rights, the fragmentation of the Left weakens the only social force capable of transforming society: the working class. The central obligation of all left forces today is therefore to strengthen the unity, clarity, and confidence of the working class.

Unity is necessary because the ruling classes are highly organised. Capital moves across borders with ease, states coordinate repression and austerity, and reactionary ideologies are amplified through powerful media and institutional networks. Against this concentrated power, scattered and sectarian left formations cannot effectively defend workers and peasants, let alone advance a transformative project. Workers experience exploitation collectively; their response must therefore also be collective.

Such a view does not mean that political differences disappear. The Left has always contained a diversity of traditions, analyses, and strategic perspectives. Differences over programme, strategy, and tactics are inevitable and, in many cases, healthy. Serious political questions require debate. But such disagreements must not become the basis for paralysis or mutual destruction. The task is to find forms of operation where differences can coexist without undermining the broader struggle of the working class.

The history of progressive movements teaches an important lesson: unity in action is often more decisive than complete ideological agreement. Workers learn through struggle itself. When left organisations fight together against privatisation, against fascism, against war, against attacks on unions, or for land, wages, housing, and dignity, they build not only victories but confidence. Shared struggle creates political clarity far more effectively than endless polemics detached from mass movements and from working-class communities.

Sectarianism weakens the people. When left organisations treat each other as primary enemies rather than comrades with differing perspectives, the only beneficiaries are the forces of capital and reaction. Endless fragmentation confuses ordinary people, discourages participation, and creates cynicism about politics itself. The working class does not need competing banners seeking organisational advantage; it needs instruments capable of advancing collective power.

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