Thread by @DavidNorthWSWS

Greenwald draws inspiration for his rightwing anti-vax orientation from the pathetic example of Jeremy Corbyn, whom he glorifies, in true toady style, as "one of the international left's most beloved political figures" and "one of the world's most admired leftist icons." 1/

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1471907305235091465

High praise indeed for an opportunist coward who, while British Labour Party leader, refused to fight the Blairites, went along with the witch-hunting of his own supporters, did nothing to defend Assange, and finally accepted his own expulsion from the LP. 2/

Corbyn's opposition to vaccine mandates - a necessary public health measure in a pandemic - is not a "defiant and courageous stance on principle," as it is called by Greenwald. It is, rather, a capitulation to the fascistic right. 3/

Greenwald legitimizes his rightwing trajectory by claiming that opposition to vaccination is based on "long-standing left-wing values of bodily autonomy and anti-authoritarianism..." This is rubbish. He is spouting the "anti-authoritarianism" of petty-bourgeois anarchism. 4/

All of Greenwald's arguments can be found in Bakunin's 1871 tract, "What is Authority", which specifically argues against individual subordination to laws developed on the basis of science -- which include all laws and regulations that protect public health. 5/

Friedrich Engels replied to Bakunin in his 1872 essay, "On Authority". Engels explained that the complexity of modern production "displaces independent action by individuals." Organization implies collective and collaborative activity, and, thus, the exercise of authority. 6/

Engels wrote that a "certain authority ... and a certain subordination ... are imposed upon us together with the material conditions under which we produce and make products circulate. 7/

"Hence it is absurd to speak of the principle of authority as being absolutely evil, and of the principle of autonomy as being absolutely good. Authority and autonomy are relative things whose spheres vary with the various phases of the development of society." 8/

Greenwald's anarchistic principle of "bodily autonomy" ignores not only the reality of modern social organization. It is oblivious to the reality of the class struggle. A strike is a form of collective action that involves the exercise of authority and disciplined action. 9/

The traditional purpose of a picket line is to enforce the shutdown of a plant. This involves, to the extent that the strike is conducted with the intention of winning, dissuading individuals from entering the plant, by force if necessary. 10/

Thus, a picket line is an extreme exercise of authority, involving a direct and physical infringement on the "bodily autonomy" of the would be strikebreaker. The greater the mass action, the greater the restrictions imposed on "bodily autonomy." 11/

Engels wrote: "A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is..." One part of the population imposes its will on another part. 12/

Confronted with a virus that is infecting and killing thousands of people every day, public health takes precedent over individual interests -- and especially when the individuals are undermining the fight to suppress the pandemic. 13/

Moreover, the fight for vaccinations combined with absolutely essential public health measures like school closings and lockdowns -- measures opposed by Greenwald -- involves a struggle against corporate-financial interests, backed by the capitalist state. 14/

Spouting reactionary anarchistic nonsense, Greenwald's petty-bourgeois anti-authoritarianism is a fraud that serves the interests of the ruling class. 15/15