“We begin with objective reality, not subjective wishes.” (Mao)
Today this means rejecting the idealism of liberalism and its antipode illiberalism—i.e. fascism.
The subjective reality is shoved on us by a media apparatus and social media algorithms that are vying for not only our attention but our reaction. (Althusser) And is mostly a simulacrum of what’s actually happening. (Baudrillard)
The goal then, in a reality where we heavily use these same tools to communicate truths that are the same tools looking to control and affect our thought, is to investigate further and discern the forces acting upon the infosphere.
To make in, what has become a ultrastructure, on top of the existing superstructure, massive cracks (Gramsci) wider and deeper for truth to shine throughout to the masses. This requires reach and constant voices to replace the inevitably silenced. It may be cyber war, but it’s a front of class war all the same in the modernized technology vested epoch we find ourselves in.
This means explaining patiently
A comrade asked what does. “With Chinese characteristics” mean when talking about socialism in China. all it means is using marxist Leninist socialist theory and experience as the foundational theoretical guidance in statecraft, but using the material economic, developmental and global world-historical trends that are affecting the reality of china in it’s evolving historical moment to analyze how to proceed building to socialism.
I could have just said china’s material conditions, but I think a lot of Marxist use that as a cop out without explaining what “material conditions” means in the first place so I expanded it here.
The “with xyz characteristics” is going to be true of any society building socialism in their given nation, Vietnamese socialism looks different than China, looks different than DPRK etc. That was one of the major things the USSR taught us, and one of China’s major contributions to global socialist theory for us, is that there is a national character to the building of socialism in each country, and acknowledging that leads to more successful backing by the masses.
This was Stalin’s socialism in one country model as opposed to permanent revolution of Trotsky that said revolution would occur from country to country in one fell swoop, no country stopping at bourgeois democracy, but moving straight to dictatorship of the proletariat. As we can see historically, this didn’t happen. We’re in the international proletariat still trying to gain foothold in our own countries to even get socialist movements started.
To conclude, what can we learn from the eternal lessons of the past, and how can we apply them materially to these electronic information spheres we live with .
世界の電気で動く。
In our own little bubbles we are but raindrops in the wind yet organized, we are torrential we’ve become a terrible storm.
#Solidarity
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