The left lacks a productive concept of failure that the right possesses

Evidence

It’s this peculiar form of spectacular petition, which I think does not expect to win because there is no model of what it would be like to win, as it were. This is not to say that nothing went on there and those protests were completely valueless or insincere. But I do think we need a concept of failure on the left. I think that one thing that separates the neoliberal right from the left is that there’s much less tolerance of failure on the neoliberal right. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2156

Categorization

• QUESTION: Fisher claims the right tolerates failure less — is that empirically true? The right abandons failed policies ruthlessly while the left ritualizes them, but it is worth chasing where this asymmetry actually shows up.
• XREF: This connects to Fisher’s recurring critique of ‘spectacular’ politics elsewhere in k-punk — the petitionary form of protest that addresses no one — and to Alex Williams’ and Nick Srnicek’s later accelerationist work on winnable demands. — connects to: The left’s defeat may have been a slow disintegration rather than a battle — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 276; Leftists must transform during defeat rather than retreat or adapt — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1561; Left responses to crisis fail because they seek restoration instead of reconstruction — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 903 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Left romanticism about glorious failure blocks institutional learning #corroborates (0.92)
• Left movements must reject glorified failure and build coordinating memory institutions. #corroborates (0.85)
• Leftists must transform during defeat rather than retreat or adapt #expands (0.78) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1561
• The left’s defeat may have been a slow disintegration rather than a battle #qualifies (0.75) — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 276
• Left responses to crisis fail because they seek restoration instead of reconstruction #qualifies (0.72) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 903