- by Callum D
- The Guardian
- Issue #2173
Hasan Piker. Photo: mbv1567 – flickr.com (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Hasan Piker is one of the most successful leftist media personalities of the past decade. He commands a vast online audience with his unapologetic socialist critique of American capitalism and empire. From his studio, the 34-year-old former co-host of The Young Turks, an online video broadcast on YouTube and Twitch, leverages his platform to dissect the news through a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist lens, a persona that has earned him both a devoted following and the label “the Joe Rogan of the left.”
Twitch, for those who don’t know, is an app originally designed to let people record themselves playing computer games and commenting as they play, but has morphed into a popular platform for home made videos.
Yet Piker’s rise to prominence, reportedly earning more than AU$150,000 a month a month from subscriber donations, has created a central and defining tension. Can a multi-millionaire effectively champion the revolutionary proletariat while operating within the system he seeks to dismantle?
Piker’s influence on the global north’s modern left is undeniable. He is often credited with introducing political theory to a generation of young viewers, popularising Leninist critiques of imperialism, and providing a platform for a new wave of leftist creators. His stream often serves as a real-time political education for his audience, breaking down current events through a dialectical framework. However, in the transition from theoretical to material, Piker’s rhetoric has been tested by a series of pragmatic political endorsements that have put him at odds with the principles he promotes.
His political journey from The Young Turks exposes a consistent pattern of aligning with the Democratic establishment. An early endorsement of social democrat Bernie Sanders was criticised by some in his audience as a capitulation to imperialist tendencies. This was followed by a tepid endorsement of Joe Biden in the 2020 election, which Piker defended not as an ideological victory, but as a necessary act of “harm reduction” against the threat of Republican control. Piker cited Lenin’s “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder in support of this policy. Lenin does advocate pragmatism in the pursuit of revolutionary objectives, but he does not argue for giving up on those objectives altogether.
However, the contradictions of this supposedly pragmatic approach have become evermore apparent with Piker’s most recent endorsement of state Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner. Platner, a retired veteran with service in Afghanistan and Iraq under both the US military and Blackwater, initially attracted Piker’s support with a set of social-democratic policies, as well as leaked Reddit comments where he voiced anti-capitalist sentiments, declared that “all cops are bastards” and called himself a communist.
However, Piker’s endorsement swiftly backfired. Platner has called for an expansion of the US military and higher wages for soldiers. Recently, he’s posted comments online defending sexual assault in the military. He’s also been photographed with a Nazi-approved tattoo on his chest. While Platner claimed the tattoo and comments were products of youth and drunken confusion, he remains unrepentant about his military career defending US interests abroad, a stance that directly contravenes the anti-imperialist struggle central to Piker’s own brand.
There has been growing discontent among Piker’s followers. When challenged by viewers he dismissively labels them “pamphlet communists.” Piker has repeatedly shouted down dissent, creating a rift between the streamer and a large segment of his audience.
Piker is not alone – other progressive content creators such as The Majority Report and Chapo Trap House have also voiced support for Platner. For critics, the endorsements from these platforms are not anomalies, but a symptom of a deeper contradiction within the left of the imperial core.
The incident has ignited a fierce debate over Piker’s own class interests.
While he espouses a Marxist critique of capitalism, Piker is in practice a successful capitalist. He runs a lucrative business and employs staff. He’s hosted on a subsidiary of Amazon. He advocates for advocating for bourgeoisie interests: owning a means of production (his brand and channel), employing a staff, and managing a substantial revenue stream.
Hasan has found success appealing to a neoliberal democratic structure. Time will tell how far he’s going to move to the mainstream for what passes for the left in the USA, and how much of his original audience will stay with him.
