The Safe Depository’s raison d’etre

The left has been on the defensive for decades.

Attempting to parry attacks on unions and the social welfare state has monopolized our time, settling for half-loafs and neoliberal-lite candidates has been our modus operandi. And still the country has slid to the right, the inequality gulf has expanded apace, and union density has plummeted. There’s been little time and energy to think big about fundamental questions. The confabs and conversations that did occur were accompanied by more than just a tincture of resignation. (It should also be noted that seismic shifts for the good, including the expansion of LGBTQ rights, have occurred over the same time span.)

Then Occupy happened. If its legislative effect has been hard to quantify—and its future remains uncertain—Occupy has immeasurably improved the mood and vibrancy of the left, vanquishing hopelessness, despondency, and torpor. Fresh ideas and lively debates are around again. One of the most invigorating developments in the age of Occupy has been the rise of what some have called The Next Left, a cadre of impressive young lefty writers;  Jacobin, The New Inquiry, and N+1 are the primary organs of this precocious cohort. The expanded conversation extends outside of these pages, however, and I’d like to use this blog to consciously insert myself into the conversation.

As such, “The Safe Depository” will focus on more intra-left discussions and conflicts I feel the front page is less amenable to exploring. The mission of The League, as I see it, is to have a running discussion with intelligent people of widely varying political persuasions. I still value that, so I’ll maintain my (sporadic) front-page presence. My intended audience, though, is those already firmly on the left, especially those interested in wrestling with questions of power and inequality and the future of Occupy and the democratic left.

I look forward to fruitful conversations and spirited disagreements. Thanks in advance for reading.