teaches modern and contemporary philosophy at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). His latest book is Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organization (Verso 2021).
The following is an excerpt from Rodrigo Nunes’ new book, Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organisation, out now with Verso. Part balance sheet of the struggles of the last decade, part diagnosis of the left’s traumas and melancholias in the last forty years, part attempt to develop a theory of organization that avoids sterile oppositions between ‘horizontalism’… Read more →
This text will propose that we approach Lenin not as a titan, but as an equal. Not the all-conquering revolutionary, the master tactician who always made the right decision, let alone the mighty party- or state-builder, but something more prosaic and relatable, though no less important: an organizer.
Whereas the traditional, teleological narrative would see “maturity” as putting all eggs in the one party’s basket, then, Spanish movements hedged their bets, creating an ecology of alternatives that, by balancing each other, increase the possibility of social control.
Viewpoint Magazine