When Hal Draper's theory of socialism from below was first becoming popular amongst post-Trotskyist circles in Toronto––circles that, at one time, defined what was fashionable amongst the marxist left––there were some queer socialists connected to these circles who joked that they were more interested in socialism from behind . While this joke might, at first glance, appear to be an unserious rejection of a theoretical province, it contained a kernel of critique: there was little reason to be interested in a theory, regardless of its rhetorical force, that was utterly unremarkable when it came to the concerns raised by the non-marxist anti-oppression discourses. After decades of feminist, anti-racist, and queer theory, therefore, how did Draper's insights really matter? Simply put: they did not. And yet the rhetorical force of the slogan socialism from below is compelling. After all, many of us indeed want a bottom-up socialism that, while retaining key aspects of Lenin
Marxist-Leninist-Maoist reflections