The 2019 general electionsprovoked undeclared and unstructured discussions and debates in the Nigerian Left. Of the various themes that can be articulated from these animated exchanges of opinions—some of which are continuing—at least three may be considered central in the history and politics of revolutionary socialist struggle in Nigeria.
On the transition to socialism: The name given by Karl Marx himself to the form of state in the transition to Marxian socialism is “dictatorship of the proletariat”. Socialism itself, as we know, would have no need of state, as state. That was the classical formulation in the second half of the 19thcentury.
On the classification of politics: Since the emergence of All Progressives Congress in 2013 and, in particular, since its victory in Nigeria’s presidential election of 2015, comparison between this ruling class party and the People’s Democratic Party —the ruling class party it defeated and supplanted—has remained on the agenda of the Nigerian Left. And, of course, the two parties have remained the dominant ruling class parties in Nigeria.