Quote: Reactionary Horseshoe

Albert O. Hirschman in The Rhetoric of Reaction on 1991-03-01:

This sort of argument is of course familiar from the Marxist tradition which, at least in its more primitive or “vulgar” version, views the state as the “Executive Committee of the bourgeoisie” and denounces as hypocrisy any claim that it may conceivably serve the general or public interest. It comes as something of a surprise to encounter so “subversive” a reasoning among certain pillars of the “free-enterprise” system. But this is not the first time that shared hatreds make for strange bedfellowship. The hatred that is being shared in this case is directed against the attempt at reforming some unfortunate or unjust features of the capitalist system through public intervention and programs. On the Far Left, such programs are criticized because it is feared that any success they might have would reduce revolutionary zeal. On the Right, or among the more orthodox economists, they are subject to criticism and mockery because any intervention of the state, particularly any increase in public expenditures for purposes other than law, order, and perhaps defense, is considered as noxious or futile interference with a system that is supposed to be self-equilibrating.

While generally Hirschman aligns with progressive action, he takes some pains to identify places where the Far Left employs the same kinds of reactionary-structure arguments that the Right is so fond of. It is interesting to see Horseshoe Theory, which is pretty unsupportable in its broad form, find a manifestation in the structure of (some) arguments. Further interesting that in 2025 the quoted Marxist argument against the Welfare State is still being deployed. I have witnessed many an Online Leftist on TikTok and Bluesky decry "Electoralism" and its proponents for supporting a futile, doomed system; similar Futility Thesis arguments are made against "Incrementalism" or any economically or socially progressive actions because they support the doomed system of Capitalism.