In October 2023, The World Transformed, the annual conference of the British Labour Party’s leftist flank, offered a grizzled socialist organizer a brief speaking slot. He’d been asked the question “Why is the left losing?”—a mystery many liberals in America and around the world have been pondering as well.
The guest, a former organic farmer and scholar of social movement theory named Roger Hallam, looked weary. His lanky frame was noticeably slumped, his plaid button-down shirt hung untucked, and a curl of stringy gray hair escaped from his pony tail. With his beakish nose, sunken eyes, and untamed beard, Hallam’s appearance brings to mind a biblical prophet.
Aaron Gell