The “lesser evil” was once imagined as an exception, a momentary lapse into evil that could only be rarely justified by the necessity of avoiding a greater evil. Today it is increasingly difficult to imagine political decisions as anything but a choice between competing evils. Lesser-evilism is pervasive, in the electoralist scold that “if you don’t vote than you can’t complain,” in the legalistic insistance that anyone advocating armed struggle must be a “terrorist,” and at every moment of the struggle against opportunism. Revolutionary movements demand more, and we must be prepared to identify and overcome this culture of lesser-evilism wherever it rears its ugly head.

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