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Ben/Conscious_Forces

BenSeattle — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:40:58 CST

My annual report is now online (along with a substantial essay):
Conscious Forces Will Bring Us Certain Victory

...............How, in the coming period of intensified class struggle,
...............activists will use open communities and information war
...............to win ever-increasing attention and support and create
...............the conscious forces that will bring us certain victory

My Annual Report and the essay are posted here:
http://struggle.net/ben/2009/conscious_forces.htm

Readers -- you can leave public comments
at the bottom of this page here on this wiki.
Your comments and impressions are very appreciated!

Discussion of this essay
Online forums (other than this page) where this essay has been posted or announced: -- (Last updated: Monday Dec 3)

Posted at:	Description of discussion may be posted here (if any substantive discussion develops)
This wiki page (in the "threads" section at the bottom of the page)
POF-200 and -300 email lists: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-200/messages - Post # 1432 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-300/messages - Post # 2254	(pof-200): Les Evenchick of New Orleans read my "Ozymandias" reply to Stiofan (see below) and asked how we can create the mass organization we need. I replied (on pof-300).
RevLeft http://www.revleft.com/vb/conscious-forces-bring-t123043/index.html?p=1605819#post1605819	Two readers "thanked" my post (ie: gave it a "forum credit"). There was no substantive discussion but this lead me to post to a blog article that one of them had written. My reply was: "Practical program of work may revolve around information war"
Kasama "Threads" forum http://z11.invisionfree.com/Kasama_Threads/index.php?showtopic=983	Stiofan posted with "Ozymandias" argument. I replied. Luis made some more thoughtful posts and I replied. Topics included: the influence of social-democracy within Kasama, the need for humility and the need for a revolutionary mass organization.
Indymedia (Portland, Chicago, NY, SFBA, LA) - http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2009/11/395573.shtml - http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/88101/index.php - https://publish.nyc.indymedia.org/en/2009/11/108370.html - http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/23/18630182.php - http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/11/232651.php

Table of Contents

The table of contents for my Annual Report and the essay are listed below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My annual report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) What I have done in the past year
(2) What I plan to accomplish in the coming year
(3) Problems that came up and solutions that were developed

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overview: Conscious Forces Will Bring Us Certain Victory
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A background of economic crisis and imperialist war
The objective factor
The subjective factor
The CPUSA was a revolutionary mass party
The degeneration of the CPUSA
Groundhog Day
The good news today -- conditions are maturing
The emergence of conscious forces
Ever-increasing amounts of oxygen
The hangman and the priest
.... (media control in modern society)
The emerging power of open communities
Conscious forces will focus on building
.... a healthy revolutionary movement
We are only as sick as our secrets
.... (ie: the need to speak out)
Conscious forces will be invincible
How open communities of struggle
.... will lead to the emergence of
.... a revolutionary mass organization
So how exactly will this happen?
My experience in four communities of struggle
-- 0 -- The RevLeft community
-- 1 -- The Media Weapon community-in-embryo
-- 2 -- The Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee (SAIC)
-- 3 -- The local marxist study group
-- 4 -- The Kasama blog
Fiery collisions and eventual merger
Conclusion: the Alkali Lake Band of Indians

Ben-Kasama-posts

BenSeattle — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:53:12 CST

(Back to Ben's page on Kasama)

Ben's Posts on Kasama

Autumn 2008

Date	Site	Title	Description
Dec 14	Kasama threads	Community, engagement and moderation on Kasama	Ben explains to the Kasama community why he is no longer allowed to post to the blog section of the Kasama site: Mike Ely (the moderator) believes Ben fails to respect the Kasama culture. (Update: Mike deleted Ben's post)
Dec 9	Kasama threads	We need a living conception of workers' rule, not a stinking corpse	Ben challenges Mike Ely to a debate on the nature of workers' rule and whether the concept makes any sense if workers will not have the fundamental democratic rights of speech and organization.
Dec 7	Kasama blog	Tailing the Big Ships or Charting an Uncharted Course	How reformism attempts to liquidate the progressive movements. Mike Ely, Carl Davidson and Ben.
Dec 1	Kasama blog	Collision Course: Building Anti-Imperialism After the Elections	Ben agrees with the criticism that Five Ridges makes of Carl Davidson's reformism. Ben also points to the contradiction between the need for discussion and the need for confrontation. Ben has several posts in this thread.
Nov 30	Kasama blog	Rick Wolff: Socialism’s New American Opportunity	Rick Wolff argues that the left needs to rethink what "socialism" is. I agree. However I disagree with his particular conclusions.
Nov 25	Kasama blog	Bill Martin’s Rubber & Glue 4: Dead-Ends in Science & the Science of Dead-Ends	Bill Martin appears tooppose the goal of a revolutionary mass organization. I think he is mistaken--but before I can reply to him--I need to ask him to better explain his thinkng and arguments.
Nov 16	Kasama threads	Kasama's future and the need for mass democracy, How do we make good on our potential ?	This is the post that Mike removed from the blog thread (see Nov 11 thread below) for supposedly being too lengthy and having a lecturing tone.
Nov 12	Kasama blog	Mike Ely: The Strange Way It Started Fresh	Five questions and seven answers related to creating a mass revolutionary organziation and Kasama's future direction
Nov 12	Kasama threads	The "sects" of Marxist theory...	I made two posts (on page 2 of the thread). I replied to Andrei and to Chegitz.
Nov 12	Kasama threads	Leninist Party Building, What is it?	Iris asked about "Leninist party building" and "democratic centralism" and what these terms mean in relation to the tasks for Kasama. I guess I have been waiting for someone to be interested in this.
Nov 12	Kasama threads	What's the place for authority in the future rev?, Opening a debate on Anarchism and Communism	New Day asked about some of the contradictions in theory between communism and anarchism. I briefly described the anarcho-leninist debate on the state
Nov 11	Kasama blog	Kasama Plans: Summing Up, Moving On, Digging In	I made 4 posts to this thread. Some were delayed by moderation and one was deleted. It can be seen here. There is also a substantive post on this thread by Nando in which he points out that there different models of revolutionary organization and the best model depends on the tasks that are most important and the times and conditions.
Oct 24	Kasama blog	Bill Martin On Conception & Collectivity: Pt. 5 New Forms After an Exhausted Project	Bill Martin said: "I don’t know what the next phase of organization will look like, though I am willing to work with others who believe in a communist future and a revolutionary road toward it to figure this out." I replied with a link to my How to Build the Party of the Working Class article. My post was held up in moderation for three days until the thread was dead. I got no reply.

Spring - Summer 2008

Title or topic	Topic / Who participated
How to build the party	Mike gave me a topic page to present my views on how to build the party of the working class. Unfortunately the comments and discussion reflected a fairly low level of interest in this topic. (March 2008)
Election Illusions, McCain’s Attraction, and Revolutionary Hope	Ben, Frank and autocritique take on Mike Ely on the question of reformism. (Feb 2008)
Ben Seattle's views	Mike gave me a topic page to give my views on our long-term goals. (Feb 2008)
Rescuing Lenin from the Leninists	Chegitz Guevara gives his own take on Cargo-Cult Leninism. (March 2008)
A rough overview of our theoretical project	John Steele outlines his views on the questions of revolutionary strategy, understanding and history that must be part of the organizational, theoretical and practical plans for developing a revolutionary project. (April 2008)
Welcome to Kasama	Ben and Mike Ely exchange opinions concerning the Kasama project. Ben outlines his "three point program for Kasama".
The Kasama-RCP polemic	Most of the RCP's criticism of Kasama is ********. But one of their central criticisms appears to be correct. Mike Ely and the Kasama community do not appear to be focused on building organization or taking up the tasks which are decisive. (May 2008)

Ben

BenSeattle — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:39:00 CST

I am Ben Seattle, information theorist and infrastructure architect.

This page is outdated but can be used to post your comments.
To post your comment: go to bottom of page and post a thread

Please click here for a concise overview of my work.

I also draw an occasional cartoon (see below).

(everything below is more than a year old)

Ben's page on Kasama

Since I have made a number of posts to the Kasama site I thought I should create a page to sum up my views on and contradictions with the Kasama project and its leadership.

Recent Postings

Date	Site	Title	Description
Nov 16, 2008	Kasama threads	Kasama's future and the need for mass democracy, How do we make good on our potential ?	This is the post that Mike removed from the blog thread (see Nov 11 thread below) for supposedly being too lengthy and having a lecturing tone.
Nov 12, 2008	Kasama blog	Mike Ely: The Strange Way It Started Fresh	Five questions and seven answers related to creating a mass revolutionary organziation and Kasama's future direction
Nov 12, 2008	Kasama threads	The "sects" of Marxist theory...	I made two posts (on page 2 of the thread). I replied to Andrei and to Chegitz.
Nov 12, 2008	Kasama threads	Leninist Party Building, What is it?	Iris asked about "Leninist party building" and "democratic centralism" and what these terms mean in relation to the tasks for Kasama. I guess I have been waiting for someone to be interested in this.
Nov 12, 2008	Kasama threads	What's the place for authority in the future rev?, Opening a debate on Anarchism and Communism	New Day asked about some of the contradictions in theory between communism and anarchism. I briefly described the anarcho-leninist debate on the state
Nov 11, 2008	Kasama blog	Kasama Plans: Summing Up, Moving On, Digging In	I made 4 posts to this thread. Some were delayed by moderation and one was deleted. It can be seen here. There is also a substantive post on this thread by Nando in which he points out that there different models of revolutionary organization and the best model depends on the tasks that are most important and the times and conditions.
Nov 9, 2008	pdximc	The ISO's socialism conference vs. the need for a mass revolutionary organization	Brief report on ISO's refusal to allow me to speak at their public meeting. Plus some brief exchanges with a sideline cynic.
Nov 9, 2008	seaimc	ISO's 2008 Northwest Socialist Conference	I raised my hand repeatedly to speak in the session on the need for a revolutionary party--but the ISO would not allow me to speak.
Oct 24, 2008	Kasama blog	Bill Martin On Conception & Collectivity: Pt. 5 New Forms After an Exhausted Project	Bill said: "I don’t know what the next phase of organization will look like, though I am willing to work with others who believe in a communist future and a revolutionary road toward it to figure this out." I replied with a link to my How to Build the Party of the Working Class article. My post was held up in moderation for three days until the thread was dead. I got no reply.

Kasama Threads
Below are some of my threads on the Kasama site (ie: refugees from RCP clustered around their former editor Mike Ely)

Title or topic	Topic / Who participated
How to build the party	Mike gave me a topic page to present my views on how to build the party of the working class. Unfortunately the comments and discussion reflected a fairly low level of interest in this topic. (March 2008)
Election Illusions, McCain’s Attraction, and Revolutionary Hope	Ben, Frank and autocritique take on Mike Ely on the question of reformism. (Feb 2008)
Ben Seattle's views	Mike gave me a topic page to give my views on our long-term goals. (Feb 2008)
Rescuing Lenin from the Leninists	Chegitz Guevara gives his own take on Cargo-Cult Leninism. (March 2008)
A rough overview of our theoretical project	John Steele outlines his views on the questions of revolutionary strategy, understanding and history that must be part of the organizational, theoretical and practical plans for developing a revolutionary project. (April 2008)
The Kasama-RCP polemic	Most of the RCP's criticism of Kasama is ********. But one of their central criticisms appears to be correct. Mike Ely and he Kasama community do not appear to be focused on building organization or taking up the tasks which are decisive. (May 2008)

Wikipedia Articles
To which I have added edits:

Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP) -- I added my political cartoon showing a naked Avakian holding hands with social-democratic supporters of the Democratic Party. Some RCP supporter removed it. I put it back. I do not have much experience in wikipedia edit wars. I guess I will see what happens. Here is the wikipedia "talk" page discussing whether my cartoon is appropriate.
Communist Voice Organization (CVO)
Marxist-Leninist Party, USA (MLP)

Ben-Kasama-reformism

BenSeattle — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:05:46 CST

(Back to Ben's page on Kasama)
Reformism and Kasama

RCP's "World Can't Wait" has always had a reformist orientation. Many Kasama readers still like the politics of WCW and object mainly to the excessive hype around the project and the fact that it turned into a fiasco.

This page is under construction

(Your comments are welcome in the threads section at the bottom)

Related Links:

McCain thread on the Kasama blog discusses World Can't Wait (Mike Ely, Frank, Auto-Critique and Ben)
Statement on World Can't Wait It’s not just Bush’s program—a powerful movement against repression and war requires politics independent of the equally imperialist Democratic Party by Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee (SAIC)
The RCP cries wolf over fascism by Ben Seattle

The problem with reformism is:
(1) Promote ideological influence of social-democracy: lie that Democracy Party can change and become people's party, etc (this is what was promoted by DP speakers at WCW events)
(2) Opportunity cost -- failure to do independent work.

(See this cartoon from 2005)

xxxx

Ben-Kasama

BenSeattle — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:43:27 CST

This is Ben's illustrated page for all issues related to the Kasama Project.

This page is under construction.
Your comments and criticisms will help me improve it.
(Please see the "threads" section at the bottom of this page)

What is Kasama?

The Kasama website has become a popular blog for activists who used to be around the RCP,USA and got burned (or burned out) by their experience. The blog has also attracted many activists who had the good sense to never get too close to the RCP. Many or most of the regular contributors to the site have left social-democratic (ie: reformist) politics combined with a revolutionary self-image (ie: similar, in that respect, to the RCP itself). However many readers are dedicated to revolutionary change and the site is an important one that has attracted a fairly wide readership.

Topics on this page:

A comparison: RCP, Kasama and the mass revolutionary organization we need
Challenges for the Kasama community
Possible next steps forward for Kasama
My disagreements with the Kasama leadership
Reformism and Kasama
Ben's Posts on Kasama

Want to comment on this page?

Scroll down to the bottom of this page and click "post a new thread"

A comparison: RCP, Kasama and the
mass revolutionary organization we need

The chart below is a work in progress. Comments are welcome.

	Key feature of revolutionary project	RCP	Kasama	The mass revolutionary organization we need	Comments by Ben
1	Expose crimes of US imperialism (and bourgeois society in general)	Yes	Yes	Yes
2	Mobilize support for popular struggles in the U.S. and internationally	Yes	Yes	Yes
3	Cultural news, discussion, criticism and debate	Yes/No	Yes	Yes	The RCP carries article of this kind. However there is no online discussion of any kind.
4	Building revolutionary news service that encourages mass participation	Yes/No	Not yet	Yes !!	The RCP has a news service but it is generally closed to articles and comments from people outside the RCP.
5	Developing open discussion and debate concerning the way forward	No	Yes (but secret forums used for key issues)	Yes !!	Kasama has private forums where key decisions are made.
6	Build alliances with "progressive" imperialist politicians	Yes (see below on WCW)	No, but could happen (WCW is popular with most Kasama posters)	Not like this	● RCP's alliance with liberal imperialist politicians was known as World Can't Wait (see below for more on WCW). ● A genuinely revolutionary organization would eventually have cause to create alliances--but these alliances would be of genuine benefit to the working class rather than existing mainly as vehicles to promote reformist illusions.
7	Oppose the treacherous influence of social-democracy	No	No	Yes !!	● Kasama allows discussion that opposes the influence of social-democracy, but the Kasama leadership tends to not understand the need for this. See, for example, this thread on WCW. ● A genuinely revolutionary organization would find itself in collision with the influence of social-democracy on a thousand fronts of struggle.
8	Lots of empty talk about "revolution", "socialism" and "communism"	Yes	Some	No	● The amount of empty talk on Kasama is small compared to that of the RCP. However the gap between words (ie: about building a revolutionary movement and advancing the cause of communism) and deeds (ie: comparatively little attention to the most decisive tasks) remains the issue.
9	Building consciousness on all important theoretical issues	No	Not yet	Yes
10	Pretending to build revolutionary organization	Yes	No	No
11	Building a cult around a "great leader"	Yes	No	No
12	Modest steps toward authentic mass revolutionary organization	No	Maybe	Yes

Challenges for the Kasama community

How can we develop a strong focus (including discussion and debate) on:

The kind of society we want to create
- What will this society be like?
- What principles will guide this society?
- How will we get from here to there?

The kind of mass revolutionary organization we need
- What will this organization be like?
- What principles will guide this organization?
- How will we get from here to there?

The revolutionary movement is paralysed by a crisis of theory on these issues:

The dominant view within the left is that the only alternative to the existing capitalist system is the rule of a single party with the ability to suppress the voices of its opponents (ie: a police state) and a "command economy".

And the dominant view of revolutionary organization is that of a so-called "democratic centralist" top-down organization.

Both of these views must be smashed up in order to clear the ground for genuine advancement and to take advantage of the emerging revolution in communications and the potential to use information war as a vehicle for the class struggle.

Ben's work on the "crisis of theory"
The kind of society we need: ● Politics, Economics and the Mass Media .. when the working class runs the show ● Proletarism is anti-revisionist Marxism .. for the 21st century ● Workers' Rule: Is it Dead or Alive? ● The Future Transparent Workers' State ● Finding the Confidence to Build the Future ● The World for which We Fight
The revolutionary mass organization we need: ● What is "cargo cult-Leninism" ? .. (includes a brief illustrated explanation of cargo cults) ● How to Buld the Party of the Working Class ● A scenario for the overthrow of bourgeois rule ● A collection of polemics under the title: .. We Need Mass Democracy
ls Ben some kind of super smart guy? Actually not. Some readers might think that only a really brainy person could stumble onto the solution to the crisis of theory. But that is not at all how it happened. Ben (see photo at right) was simply in the right place at the right time. The principles that Ben advocates will eventually be seen as totally obvious.

Ben's work on the "crisis of theory"

The kind of society we need:

● Politics, Economics and the Mass Media
.. when the working class runs the show
● Proletarism is anti-revisionist Marxism
.. for the 21st century
● Workers' Rule: Is it Dead or Alive?
● The Future Transparent Workers' State
● Finding the Confidence to Build the Future
● The World for which We Fight

The revolutionary mass

organization we need:

● What is "cargo cult-Leninism" ?
.. (includes a brief illustrated explanation of cargo cults)
● How to Buld the Party of the Working Class
● A scenario for the overthrow of bourgeois rule
● A collection of polemics under the title:
.. We Need Mass Democracy

ls Ben some kind of super smart guy?

Actually not. Some readers might think that only a really brainy person could stumble onto the solution to the crisis of theory. But that is not at all how it happened. Ben (see photo at right) was simply in the right place at the right time. The principles that Ben advocates will eventually be seen as totally obvious.

I have written on these topics and have reached the following conclusions:

(1) The society we need will, above all, be run by the working class. Everyone will have the fundamental democratic rights of speech and organization and the working class will use these rights to organize mass resistance to defeat the incompetence, hypocrisy and corruption (of people or principles) that will inevitably emerge even within a workers' state. The principle of separation of speech and property will be used to restrict the ability of money and commercial interests (which will probably be around for decades) to amplify the voices of reactionaries. In other words, everyone will have the right to speak their views on the basis of voluntary labor (ie: such as leaflets or websites) --but the state will restrict (ie: regulate) the ability of the wealthy to hire armies of flacks to amplify (ie: make slick and broadcast widely) reactionary views. In these conditions many independent organizations would emerge and both publicly compete and cooperate with one another.

(2) The revolutionary mass organization we need will:

(a) be united around:

(i) a program of common work (such as support for popular
.... struggles and the development of a revolutionary news service)
(ii) a common goal (ie: the overthrow of bourgeois rule
.... and the rule of society by the working class)

(b) include political trends which publicly compete and cooperate

(c) be guided by mass democracy and characterized by political transparency

Writing as a somewhat isolated individual (even if with some experience in the revolutionary movement) it is unlikely that all of my ideas are correct. However, I have made a strong effort to focus on the key questions and present solid arguments. I would like to see some discussion of the principles which I advocate. As an individual, I may not be particularly brilliant, but I believe that, by virtue of being in the right place at the right time, I have stumbled onto principles that are far more important and deserving of attention that I am. My theoretical work (see table to the right) is is written for bright and focused 14 year old minds. It is relatively easy to read and avoids most of the jargon, dogma and obscurantism that is common in work on these topics.

Possible next steps forward for Kasama Here are some of my suggestions for the next steps forward for Kasama: (1) Make it easy for everyone to understand and participate in developing the principles which will guide Kasama's future: (a) Create a graphical link (see illustration to the right with current and proposed links) for key threads related to discussion and debate on Kasama's future. (b) Add a category in the Threads forum (see screen shot below) for discussion of these decisive principles. Above: The "threads" forum currently has six top categories. Ben has proposed the creation of a seventh category for discussion of the principles which must guide Kasama. (2) Mike and/or the Kasama leadership can make a commitment to permanently maintain open discussion and debate for the most important principles related to Kasama's development xxxx (3) We need community participation and feedback on issues related to moderation xxxx

Possible next steps forward for Kasama

Here are some of my suggestions for the next steps forward for Kasama:

(1) Make it easy for everyone to understand and participate in developing the principles which will guide Kasama's future:

(a) Create a graphical link (see illustration to the right with current and proposed links) for key threads related to discussion and debate on Kasama's future.

(b) Add a category in the Threads forum (see screen shot below) for discussion of these decisive principles.

Above: The "threads" forum currently has

six top categories. Ben has proposed the

creation of a seventh category for discussion

of the principles which must guide Kasama.

(2) Mike and/or the Kasama leadership can make a commitment to permanently maintain open discussion and debate for the most important principles related to Kasama's development

xxxx

(3) We need community participation and feedback on issues related to moderation

xxxx

My disagreements with the Kasama leadership

xxxx
xxxx

xxxx
xxxx

Moderation-related issues

First: Moderation on Kasama is mostly done by Mike Ely. And he generally does a very good job. I have moderated by own public discussion lists for some years now and I appreciate that effective moderation requires a lot of attention and can consume a fair amount of time. Mike wants to build discussion on Kasama and, in many ways, he knows far more about this than I do.

However: I am currently not allowed to post to the Kasama blog. The basic issue is that my posts have upset people in ways that Mike feels are unnecessary. I hope this issue can be eventually resolved.

xxx

Reformism and Kasama

See: Reformism and Kasama

Ben's Posts on Kasama

See: Ben's Posts on Kasama

Alex/The Great Obstacle of Ideology

BenSeattle — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:53:05 CST

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this documentunder the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Contents

-INTRODUCTION
-PART ONE

What is Fantasy?

-PART TWO

The Symbolic and the Real
The Role of Fantasy
Fantasy and its Place in Ideology

-PART THREE

The Ruling Ideologies
A Fleeting Encounter with the Real

-LICENSING

Why is This Work Licensed?
The GNU FDL in a Nutshell
GNU Free Documentation License

Introduction

There has been an ongoing debate about Marxism in leftist circles regarding how the working class is to attain class consciousness and ultimately overthrow the current economic order. It was Marx’s view that conditions create consciousness, and that inevitably, a certain set of conditions would arise that would enable the workers to see capitalism for what it was and overthrow the system. A number of early Marxists interpreted this to mean that the workers would “spontaneously” attain class consciousness. However, in 19th-century and early 20th-century Russia, Vladimir Lenin did not see that happening. Despite the terrible conditions of the country, and the many opportunities for class consciousness to be attained, the working people were not getting any closer to attaining it. Lenin, and other theorists during this time, concluded that conditions alone were not enough to instill consciousness, and that nothing was going to happen “spontaneously.” Instead, the development of class consciousness would have to be aided along by a political organization dedicated specifically to that purpose (what became known as a “vanguard party”). This view was basically accepted by most of the Marxist community.

But obviously, the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia did not have the results it was looking for. Workers’ rule (or what could have been workers’ rule) was suffocated and democratic rights were suppressed, turning the USSR into a police-state. These events have scared many Marxists not just into rejecting the idea of a police-state (something that they should reject), but also the entire notion of a “vanguard party.” These Marxists have returned to the notion of spontaneity: the idea that the right conditions will spontaneously give the working class the consciousness it needs.

The excuse for this return to spontaneity is that Lenin was (according to them) an elitist who rushed history, and that is (according to them) a big reason why the USSR failed. However, while the term “vanguard party” itself may be outdated (as now it is associated with alleged “elitism”), the idea itself in its true form is not. This is because there is a great obstacle preventing consciousness from spontaneously being attained, and it is the same obstacle that kept the workers passive through the vast economic trouble of the past: ideology.

If the market crashes, those in power can easily claim that it is a natural occurrence and that the market will inevitably rebound. The leaders can give hope to the people that they will “fix” the problem. Many Marxists like to say that because they are “materialists,” they “know” that these ideas have no real effect on the people. The problem, they claim, is still that the right conditions have not presented themselves, and that when the right conditions do arise, the people will spontaneously see the lies for what they are. But if this is our view, we will be waiting for the right conditions for an eternity. The following essay will discuss why it is that ideology is in truth extremely effective in shaping our desires and, in fact, in shaping our very perceptions of reality. Ideology pacifies the questions and keeps the people at bay. Once we understand this fact and why this is the case, we can see that while conditions do indeed play a key part in helping us attain consciousness, another element must be present to cut through the ruling ideologies of the current order.

PART ONE

What is Fantasy?

Before we discuss ideology we have to discuss fantasy. According to French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, a fantasy is not an expression of our desire. A fantasy does not occur when we desire something, but cannot have it. Rather, the fantasy tells us how to desire. In Lacanian psychoanalysis, desire is not something that is natural to humans We have to be told to desire something. We construct fantasies for ourselves based on the information we get from our surroundings, or we are simply presented with a fantasy by an external entity, and these are what give us our desires. No one understands this better than American corporations. For example, we are told on a daily basis through advertisement that a certain product will make us happy. This presents us with the fantasy of having that product and being happy with it, and thus, the desire for that product is implanted in our minds. Some of us are able to resist this because at some point in time, some event led us to construct a fantasy which tells us that we don’t desire material things, and that we desire other things (like building a better world). However, on a mass scale, the corporations are quite successful.

In the same way, ideologies can use fantasies to shape our desires. The fantasies of being a good citizen, of living in a functional democracy, of living in a stable economy, etc. all implant desires in our minds that are in line with what the prevailing ideologies want us to desire.

The Marxist who favors spontaneity would say to this that all of these fantasies would dissolve in the right conditions. After all, they are only illusions. However, what these Marxists don’t understand is that fantasies are not just illusions; they are a fundamental part of what we call reality. The fundamental reason for the fact that ideology is such a powerful obstacle is that there is reality in illusion, and it is why the grip that ideology has on the people’s minds will not simply disappear spontaneously. But what is meant by the phrase “there is reality in illusion” and why do fantasies play such an important role in our reality? The answer can be found in the psychoanalytical concepts of the Symbolic and the Real, especially as described by philosopher Slavoj Zizek, who does a stellar job of describing how ideology functions.

PART TWO

The Symbolic and the Real

The Symbolic Order (a.k.a. the big Other) consists of all of our social structures, our law, our language, etc. It is the surroundings in which we fulfill our role in society as human beings. Thus, it constitutes nearly all of what we usually call “reality.” However, we are not naturally born into this Order; we have to be given a name, a role in society, we have to learn to speak, and the price paid for this, according to Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Zizek, is a sort of castration. What is it that gets castrated, so to speak? The answer is the Real.

Not to be confused with the term “reality,” the Real is what the world is before it is symbolized by the big Other. It is also, for Zizek, what exists after Symbolization. In other words, the Real is simultaneously what comes before the Symbolic and what refuses to be distorted by it. It is the goal of the big Other to symbolize the Real (i.e. through language, etc.) so that we can communicate and interact. It ultimately fails to completely achieve this task, however. We cannot fully express the Real through through our language and society, because our language and society are precisely what separate us from the Real. In other words, much of the Real simply cannot be expressed through our language or any part of the symbolic order.

Thus, there is a a gap that remains in our "reality."

One result of this gap is hysteria. In psychoanalysis, hysteria is defined as an attitude of questioning, especially toward the big Other. Often, psychiatrists see people who essentially pose the question, "What does the big Other want from me?" Would people question their existence, their role in society, or the meaning of life if the Symbolic Order managed to fully symbolize the Real?Questioners exist because the Symbolic ultimately fails to do this.

The Role of Fantasy

How do we deal with this failure in the Symbolic? According to Zizek, we hide this gap with fantasies. Rather than being merely fictitious dreaming, fantasies are key to understanding our reality. They pacify the questions and uncertaintly and allow us to experience things without distress.

To use a crude example, many of us may have experienced a small moment of anxiety while having sex. We may have asked ourselves, "What I'm I doing? These are just some stupid movements, it doesn't really mean anything." The big Other tries to symbolize for us what sex is so that we can understand it, but it fails. What we are basically doing during sex is just some "stupid movements." When we realize this, we are encountering the Real--the part that fails to by fully symbolized. This threatens our very reality; it challenges everything the big Other tells us. The feeling most commonly associated with an encounter with the Real is anxiety, which Freud called the "one true emotion." Thus, to understand our reality, we need to do so at a proper distance from the Real.

Fantasies allow us to do this. Sex, to be enjoyable, always requires this extra fantasmatic element. If this element dissolves, we get the "this is stupid" feeling.

In the same way, when we look into someone's eyes we see a complete void; there is "nobody home." This allows us, or rather compells us to project a fantasy onto that person. The most common one is the concept of the soul.

So in short, to compensate for the failure of the big Other to symbolize the real, we "fill the gap" with fantasies. They are key in our understanding of our reality; they are a part of our reality.

Fantasy and its Place in Ideology

Marx aptly described ideology in this way: “They do not know it but they are doing it.” Understanding the role of fantasy is essential in understanding why this is a good description of how ideology works.

Just as we need a fantasmatic element to enjoy sex, ideology needs fantasies to justify itself. An ideology is essentially a set of beliefs that guides how a group of people behaves. The question is, "How do ideologies influence behavior so effectively?" They exploit a powerful tool in our understanding of reality: the fantasy. Fascism in Italy and Germany would have been a flop without the fantasy of a "big, bad enemy" that was ruining society, an enemy that only a powerful leader could combat. Without these fantasies, people become excessively anxious and begin to question their surroundings. This was especially the case in Germany considering the state of the economy before Hitler took over. However, if you present the populace with a fantasy that "fills the gap" and pacifies the questions, the fantasy becomes part of our reality.

To use another example, the colonialism of Imperial Britain was justified by the fantasy that the British were cleansing the world of ignorance, and by the fantasy of attaining great wealth and power. Britain saw itself as the beacon of hope and the light of reason, a fantasy which pacified the questions about the big Other and, in turn, justified what basically amounted to mass murder. Further, this fantasy shaped the desires of the people into those of attaining wealth as opposed to respecting people in other cultures. The ideology of colonialism used fantasy to entice people into committing terrible acts for profit, while simultaneously justifying the acts and keeping people passive to it.

We are dealing with a very similar situation today. America sees itself, more or less, as the beacon of freedom and hope, and the fantasy it created for itself, i.e. the idea that America is the ultimate “good guy,” seeking to rid the world of dictatorships, has so far kept the public relatively passive while justifying a war in Iraq that is really about economic leverage and oil profits. Alas, the only major "objections" to the Iraq war in America have been that it is not "working."

Yet another example is the myth of capitalism. We are constantly told that in capitalism, you can succeed and attain what you want if you simply work hard enough. While we may not believe this, we are so scared by any alternative to capitalism that we refuse to think of anything else. We have been presented with fantasies about capitalism’s “freedom” and about how anything different would be a terrible failure.

We like to think that ideologies are dead, but modern-day ideology presents us with fantasies on a daily basis, i.e. what it means to be an American, what one should get at the grocery store, what “democracy” means, etc. These fantasies have shaped our desires and our very perception of reality, so with this in mind, we can begin to understand why ideology has such a strangle-hold on the general population and why it is a difficult force to combat.

PART THREE

In part one of this Guide, we touched on the fact that fantasies are not expressions of our desire. Rather, fantasies tell us how to desire. In part two, we discussed how fantasies allow us to understand our reality and how ideologies use fantasies to shape our desires and perceptions. In the third and final part of this guide, we will tackle two major questions: 1) What kinds of fantasies are we presented with on a day-to-day basis? and 2) If we don’t want the current ruling ideologies shaping our perceptions, than what do we do?

The Ruling Ideologies

Marx once said something along these lines: whatever ideologies the ruling class has become the ruling ideologies. Today, ruling class ideologies present us with fantasies in an attempt to shape our perception of reality and, ultimately, to guide our actions.

It is interesting when people say that it is “human nature” for someone to want more than what s/he already has, or that the desire of material things is somehow natural to our species. There is, as we have discussed, nothing natural about desire; it is completely artificial. However, to the average person, the view that humans have unlimited desires is part of their reality.

Why is this?

The answer is that the ruling ideologies (those of the big-time capitalists like those that run society’s corporations) have presented us with the fantasy that we need more material things to be happy. Thus, that has become the reality for many people. The desire for material positions has basically been implanted in our minds. In turn, the belief that desire itself is natural has become a reality for most.

There are a plethora of fantasies that we are presented with that work in this way. The belief that capitalist nations are necessarily practicing democracies is a very prevalent one. This fantasy serves three purposes: it presents the notion that we are living in a democracy that works, it makes capitalism and democracy seem to go hand-in-hand, and it tells us that any other formula for democracy (i.e. one without capitalism) would be impossible. None of these things are true. But they are what many people perceive as reality. Thus, we can understand why it is difficult to counter these claims.

A Fleeting Encounter With the Real

What then is the solution to this problem? Our goal is not to eliminate fantasies, for we need fantasies to understand reality. The goal is to rid ourselves of the influence of the ruling ideologies, which means that we must deconstruct the fantasies they present us with. But how do we do this if these fantasies shape our very realities? The most important thing to understand here is that ideologies are not fool-proof.

It is truly horrifying for us when some catastrophic event happens, and the fantasies we have constructed seem to dissolve before our eyes. It is in this situation that we encounter the Real, and in turn, our entire reality collapses. For example, if you discovered that your spouse was cheating on you, your fantasy of your spouse as the ideal person would dissolve, and your reality--everything you thought you knew--would seem to collapse around you. The emotion associated with this is anxiety, which is potentially damaging to our mental health. However, it is also an opportunity to reconstruct our reality (with new fantasies, mind you) and be stronger for it.

We are told, time and again, that capitalism is the formula for a good society, and this is indeed the reality for much of the public. We could counter that argument with arguments of our own, but on a mass scale, it would be difficult (if not impossible) to convince the entire population in this way that their reality is a lie.

This is why, today, there needs to be some event or a set of conditions that arises which helps to dismantle the fantasies we have been presented with and gives humanity a brief encounter with the Real. Such an event or series of conditions would be potentially devastating to the people. But it would also allow us to reconstruct our reality. As Slavoj Zizek points out, the best ideas emerge when you are in such a deep shit that you have to think of something new out of the sheer urge to survive.

However, we cannot sit on our hands and wait for this to happen. To use an analogy, the conditions of the ground can be just right, but if you don’t plant the seeds, nothing will grow. Whether or not the conditions lead to an encounter with the Real and how we reconstruct our reality afterward will be dependent upon the work we do now.

For example, a huge catastrophe could happen, but the leaders could claim that they have things “under control” and that the people need not worry. This fantasy would be greatly weakened by the terrible conditions, but if not effectively challenged, it could just as easily continue to dominate and define our reality. To dismantle this fantasy, an organized and already informed portion of the working class would have to have worked for years to gain experience and develop the correct slogans, arguments, etc. to succeed in cutting through the prevailing illusions. In short, the conditions only have the ability to weaken the fantasies that the ruling ideologies present us with. An external force is still needed to dismantle them.

We do not know when the right conditions will come, so it is our task now to work as much as we can to gain experience and develop our ideas so that when the time arrives, we can cut through the prevailing fantasies, leading the masses to encounter the Real, and effectively giving us a clean slate with which to build a better world.

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Ben/SAIC and the struggle for sobriety

BenSeattle — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:38:09 CDT

In honor of those who have fallen
SAIC and the struggle for sobriety

(and a high productivity of labor)

in the antiwar and

revolutionary movements

Ben Seattle -- July 17, 2008

They were the best people. They were the most clear-sighted, determined, dedicated and politically conscious people. Now they are dead--all except Frank and me.

Ray, Joe, Mohammad, Anthony, Danny, Fred, Maggie, Molly, Pat and many others were the people who inspired me when I was new to struggle--who allowed me to believe that a small band of determined comrades, armed with a scientific understanding of society, could assemble a revolutionary mass organization with the ability to mobilize the immense energies of the working class for the overthrow of the economic and political system of imperialism.

Now they are gone. Of course, they still live and breathe, in a technical sense, if you want to be nitpicky. But they are lost to the struggle. Politically, they are dead: rubbed out, not by bullets, but by a sense of futility and hopelessness; by a feeling that revolutionary work at the present time is useless.

The few words above are the story of my youth (not a wasted youth by any stretch--on the contrary a truly excellent preparation for my work today).

Why did I remain active in struggle when so many comrades, more dedicated and disciplined than me, have fallen?

The 21st century, more than any period humanity has witnessed, is destined to be a century of information war.

Most likely, it is simply because I was in the right place at the right time. I could see something the others could not.

The war of ideas, organized on a mass scale, will be known as "information war". And information war is bound to emerge as the central organizing principle of the class struggle. The 21st century, more than any period humanity has witnessed, is destined to be a century of information war.

For whatever reason, I have seen this with a bit more clarity than many others. I want to do everything possible to prepare for the gathering storm which, I believe, will sweep away the rule of society by the social class, the bourgeoisie), which is dependent for its existence on the circulation of capital.

But I must return to the theme of my story.

My determination to learn and apply the lessons from the loss of my former comrades surfaced during a minor confrontation at the most recent public meeting of the Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee (SAIC) [1].

SAIC (for those who are unfamiliar with it) is certainly the best organization of its kind in the Pacific Northwest (and most likely in the entire country). It is distinguished by its work distributing large quantities of skillfully written leaflets which, with clarity and consistency, target the influence of the liberal-imperialist illusions which currently hold the antiwar movement hostage. More specifically, SAIC works to break the antiwar movement from its current state of dependence on the various social-democratic and "socialist" flunkies in orbit around the left-wing of the imperialist Democratic Party. It is the politics of class struggle and independence from imperialist influence, manipulation and control that, above all else, our movement needs.

But there is also a problem with SAIC. Any organization which stands up to the blackmail and slander of the mainstream reformist antiwar organizations will face the immense pressure of isolation. Overcoming this isolation and bringing class-based anti-imperialist politics to activists and to the movement requires making full use of the emerging revolution in communications. It requires creating an organization which is accountable to activists and which "belongs to" activists--who must have the opportunity to intervene (by means of knowing what is going on and by giving public voice to their opinion) in the struggle for the direction of the organization and the principles which must guide it.

And this brings us again, patient readers, to my story.

On the agenda of the SAIC meeting was a brief summation of the significance of the resignations of two members of SAIC.

One of these people was a supporter of the PLP [2], a sectarian group at odds with another sectarian group, the CVO [3] which, for all practical purposes, charts the course of SAIC. The guy from the PLP had been around SAIC for a few weeks.

The other person to resign was a woman who quit, essentially, because she felt that the sacrifice of her time to SAIC's agenda and program of work was not producing the kind of results which left her feeling enthusiastic and encouraged.

For two years of her life, this woman had devoted a substantial portion of her free time to SAIC. One might think that her resignation might have resulted in at least a single moment of sober reflection.

Not a chance.

This inevitably leads to demoralization because, when supporters of an organization are wasting ninety percent of their precious life energy--sooner or later they will sense, even if at a subconscious level, that the organization lacks the ability to have significant impact over the long term.

All present at the meeting (with the exception of me) concluded that this woman's resignation was a result of her own inability to see and appreciate the value of SAIC's current methods and current work (which are mostly centered around creating and distributing leaflets).

I had a different view.

I have often criticized SAIC's obsessive focus on short-term goals and what I call SAIC's "next leaflet--next 60 days--keep people excited--urgency addiction" orientation [7]. This orientation allows SAIC to do much useful work--but it fails to address many of the real needs of the movement. This inevitably leads to demoralization because, sooner or later, supporters realize that the organization lacks the ability to have significant impact over the long term.

I said that SAIC was wasting ninety percent of its potential because its priorities were screwed up. I said it was inevitable that this would create a crisis of confidence and demoralization. When supporters of an organization are wasting ninety percent of their precious life energy--they may not fully understand all the details--but they will sense, even if at a subconscious level, that their time is being wasted.

Whatever its shortcomings, SAIC remains the best organization of its kind. And, for this reason, I support it in various ways. But I do not support it blindly and, over the years [4] I have publicly criticized SAIC's failure to:

(1) make a commitment to building an open community of supporters,

(2) make greater use of internet forums on a national level,

(3) be more politically transparent,

(4) take a long-term view of its tasks, including those theoretical tasks which are decisive for the revolutionary movement.

More concretely, I advocated that SAIC:

(5) distribute a political summary of its work to activists and activist organizations at least once a year (making wide use of electronic forums) and ask for and publish feedback and advocate that other organizations create, publish and discuss similar summaries of their own experience

(6) maintain a public email discussion list

(7) publish summaries of their public meetings in postings on their blog, so that readers can more easily understand (and publicly comment on) SAIC's priorities and the confrontation of agendas which is inevitable in any genuinely mass organization.

(8) Give all members and supporters of their organization the right to some form of representation on its web site -- so that the politics of the people and political trends within SAIC can be public and the SAIC web site can represent and function as the union of its members' politics rather than the intersection or "least common denominator" everyone can agree with.

(9) Post drafts of their leaflets as these leaflets are developed, along with summaries of the related discussion (to the extent that time allows) so that other activists can better understand how high-quality political agitation is created and participate in this process.

(10) Encourage discussion and debate concerning how society can exist and function without the political and economic system of imperialism (and the capitalist system of production for profit which makes imperialism inevitable) in order to help overcome the universal belief that the only alternative to the existing system of bourgeois rule is a corrupt police-state, such as the former Soviet Union or China, where a single party holds a monopoly of power and can suppress the voice of its opponents.

There is no guarantee, of course, that the measures I advocate would have prevented either of the recent resignations. But I believe that such measures would expand the scope of SAIC's work and provide a more effective vehicle for the systematic engagement of a larger number of activists on a wider range of levels This conforms to the needs of the movement and would better position SAIC to gain experience (and attention for its politics) in the coming era of information war.

Even the best, most determined and most conscious groupings of activists, in order to protect their sense of mission and purpose, will often surround themselves with a protective cocoon of myth, illusion and self-deception.

It goes without saying, of course, that my views were not warmly received at the SAIC meeting. I was accused of being "passive and demoralized". It was pointed out, correctly, that my own efforts to help build an activist community with its own practical program of work have, so far, come to very little [5]. But such a response, and the general failure to recognize that SAIC's priorities are distorted, are what one would expect from a dysfunctional organization.

Nothing about SAIC is going to change in the short term. This is an organization so obsessed with control that it refuses), in a world of interconnection, to link to its own MySpace page [6] from the website which it advertises on its leaflets.

Even the best, most determined and most conscious groupings of activists, in order to protect their sense of mission and purpose, will often surround themselves with a protective cocoon of myth, illusion and self-deception. We underestimate the significance of this factor (in a period in which the revolutionary movement is paralyzed by a crisis of theory) at peril to everything we hold dear.

The only realistic and reliable way to overcome self-deception and maintain a clean and sober perspective is to strive to develop a depth of humility equal in magnitude to our confidence in our principles and the boldness of our vision. This means, above all, that we must ask for help from one another for the purpose of keeping ourselves honest. We need mass criticism. Mass criticism is a matter of life and death. Mass criticism equals victory. The lack of mass criticism equals defeat.

Our defeats and our victories, our strengths and our weaknesses (large or small) must be publicly discussed), in real time, in the light of day.

This is what will strike a chord with other activists (who want to see a mass organization where the conflicts concerning which principles and agendas will guide the organization are not concealed with smoke and mirrors). These activists will help us recognize and correct our errors and maintain sobriety in a society (and in mass movements) saturated with intoxication and illusion.

Only by correcting our errors will we be able to touch the heart of god. Our god is the working class and the oppressed of our country and the entire earth. This is the source of infinite reserves of energy and consciousness which will eliminate imperialism (and the system of bourgeois rule from which imperialism is inseparable) from this planet and bring forth a world of peace, abundance and authentic culture and community for all.

Some of the good comrades of SAIC (or the CVO) may object to my airing "dirty laundry" or making SAIC "look bad" and so forth. My reply to them is to simply say, again, that we need to take a sober view of our long-term tasks. And, in the long term, the antiwar and revolutionary movements will never be truly powerful until they confront the need to build organization on the basis of genuine mass democracy. And this will prove to be inseparable from the concepts of political transparency and information war.

Ben Seattle

Posted at these locations:

Indymedia

email lists

Ben's website and Media Community wiki

Public comments are welcome on the "Party of the Future" (POF) open email lists
and the wiki maintained by the Media Weapon community-in-embryo.

See also: How to Build the Party of the Working Class by the same author.

Notes:
[1] SAIC, Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee
[2] PLP, Progressive Labor Party
[3] CVO, Communist Voice Organization
[4] Real organization cannot be built on a foundation of sand
[5] The Media Weapon community-in-embryo
[6] SAIC myspace page
[7] See the illustration (below) of the Covey activity matrix from my 2007 annual report

Frank replies to Ben
July 25, 2008

Ben is a liar and demagogue when, in reference to a person who resigned from the committee, he writes in this link that:

“For two years of her life, this woman had devoted a substantial portion of her free time to SAIC.
One might think that her resignation might have resulted in at least a single moment
of sober reflection…Not a chance.”

The facts are that we had worried over and discussed both this person’s heavy work schedule, and her growing passivity in SAIC for a very long time. (We also like her.) Moreover, she wrote a letter of resignation to explain what was going on, which was the comradely thing to do. Meanwhile, for months, Ben, who now treats us to these tear-jerking sentences, wasn’t even interested enough in the person to learn her name. Why? She’s a woman, and therefore not very important in his view. (Yes, Ben, everyone in the SAIC noticed this.)

Ben also mentions the resignation of a man from the PLP. But this wasn‘t really a resignation, the person just disappeared. And this isn’t surprising given PLP’s stand toward the Palestinian and other national movements. But since this person was male and therefore “important“, Ben was immediately trying to exchange addresses with him, and he didn‘t forget HIS name!

For the rest, if we tried to do everything that Ben has in his organize-over-the-Internet “program” for us, 24 hours a day on a computer would probably still not be enough time. (And there‘s more to his program than is in just this article.) Taking this up would utterly destroy the committee as an anti-imperialist political force, or any political force at all.

Meanwhile, for 15 years the individual, Ben, HAS been striving to make “full use of the emerging revolution in communications.” (It was emerging 15 years ago, it‘s emerging today, and if Ben is still alive 15 years from now, he‘ll be singing the wonders of this emerging revolution then too.) But his practical experience shows that he essentially remains an isolated individual posting his “wisdom” around the Internet, and this is what he would reduce us to were we to follow his suggestions, i.e., atomized individuals.

But in defiance of his own practical experience, Ben tells us that 15 years ago he “could see something the others could not.” He’s the best of the best, the staunchest of the staunch, the most clear-sighted of the clear-sighted. So I guess our conclusion should be that we should join Ben in taking up that “ol’ time (Internet) religion,” and shouting halleluiah to our savior.

Well, no, I think that we can do better than religion.

(Source: SAIC blog - July 25)

The Road to Sobriety
Ben replies to Frank

September 7, 2008 My regular readers will know that I have immense respect and admiration for Frank but believe his comments are mistaken. Frank asserts that the Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee (SAIC) would have to work more than 24 hours a day to implement my recommendations. However, Frank fails to be more specific.

1) Is it difficult to set up an email discussion list? No. Would maintaining a discussion list require more than an hour or two per week? Only if it was done without discipline.

2) Would it take a lot of time to post a short summary of SAIC's public meetings? It would take about 30 minutes a month.

3) How about creating an annual report and posting it to leftist email lists and discussion sites? This would take more time--but would only need to be done once a year.

4) How about posting drafts of their leaflets? This could be as simple as posting to a public email list (set up for this purpose) the drafts and comments that they regularly email to one another.

5) How much time would it take to give members and supporters the right to have some form of representation on the SAIC website? This could be done by giving them links on SAIC's website and setting up a wiki (setup time is less than an hour) and linking to it.

6) How about encouraging discussion of the decisive theoretical issues? This could be done on the wiki. A disciplined pace of activity might involve interested individuals devoting one evening in each 90 day period (ie: four evenings a year) to wiki pages or threads on these topics.

Of course all of these tasks could easily take far more time than this if a disciplined approach was not used. But this is not an argument that these tasks are not necessary. Rather--it is an argument for the necessity of discipline. One example of discipline is that one of my discussion lists restricts subscribers to one or two posts per week. This encourages thoughtful comments and a higher signal-to-noise ratio.

Frank notes (correctly) that so far little has come from my efforts to create an open political community with a clean focus on the decisive tasks and a practical program of action. But this does not prove that efforts in this direction are not necessary or are bound to be futile. My lack of success, so far, only proves that such a project is beyond the reach of a single individual with limited time and ability. Nor does my lack of success prove that SAIC would "reduce itself to atomized individuals" were it to implement the six specific recommendations I advocate that would help SAIC overcome its isolation and build community:

1) maintain a public email discussion list
2) post summaries of its public meetings
3) create and distribute an annual report
4) post leaflet drafts and comments
5) give SAIC supporters the right to representation on its website
6) encourage discussion of decisive issues

Frank appears to believe that collective work (ie: on SAIC's leaflets) would not be possible if SAIC's work also included the tasks above (some of which involve individual initiative). Frank's assumptions are heartfelt and sincere--but this does not make them correct.

I am in the position of a messenger who delivers bad news that Frank (and others) do not want to hear. In one amusing incident at SAIC's July public meeting (no one could make this stuff up) a supporter of the Communist Voice Organization bellowed so loudly that I was a "class enemy" who made him feel the need to vomit--that the librarian had to come upstairs and close the meeting room door in order to avoid further disturbing everyone else in the building. And Frank now writes that I am a "liar" because I had written that the recent resignation of a SAIC member did not result in "a single moment of sober reflection".

Frank replies that he and other members gave much thought to this painful situation.

My description, however, remains correct: the reflections of Frank, and other SAIC members, were not sober if they failed to consider the possibility that this woman's resignation did not so much reflect on her lack of consciousness as it did on SAIC's distorted priorities and excessively narrow conception of its tasks.

Revolutionary activists must struggle to understand (in a sober way) what work is necessary and possible. SAIC is failing to take (or even consider) steps which are necessary to overcome its isolation and the isolation of many serious activists across the country.

The challenges of creating authentic antiwar and revolutionary organization are complex. I believe that solutions to these challenges will make use of the emerging revolution in communications.

Frank's skepticism on this topic should be taken into consideration. But we also have a responsibility to think these things through for ourselves. Frank's skepticism, it appears to me, is based on fear. Frank is part of a cargo cult which is unlikely to survive in the coming era of information war and political transparency.

The need to take a sober view of our long-term tasks will not go away. If we are serious about overthrowing bourgeois rule we must focus on what is decisive.

Posted at:
* http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/268695.shtml and
* http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/379339.shtml

Showdown on Seattle Indymedia
(September 7 - 13) Sparks fly! SAIC supporters X9 and Eric call Ben various names.
Ben replies with excerpt from "Ozymandias" (1817).
(if seaimc is down, the thread is cached here)

Ben/proposed rules for wiki

BenSeattle — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:49:28 CDT

Following are proposed rules:

1) Individual responsibility for pages

All pages must be of the form <your name>/<page title>

examples:

ben/proposed rules for wiki
paul/abc
alex/def
marik/ghij

Each user will edit only his or her pages except as mutually agreed or negotiated for various group projects.

However anyone will be able to add their own comments in the "threads" (ie: discussion) area at the bottom of each page.

2) Joint pages

Joint pages that comrades work on together will (for now) be under the name of the person taking responsibility for driving the project forward. Readers will be informed of the people who can edit that page

3) Core pages

Eventually, after we have a functioning core group,
it will create pages using the name "core"

4) Conduct: we treat one another with respect

Our conduct on the wiki will be the same as on the POF email lists: we treat one another (including our opponents and the class enemy, when appearing on the list) with respect. This does not mean that we pull our punches or avoid offending. This means we strive to be political and deal with issues of political line rather than personal insult.

5) We strive to act in a collective way and work out details as we go

We will not tolerate commercail spam and the spambots that will attempt to post here about blue pills and ways to "make money fast".

6) Users should probably make use of names that look like names -- in order to help make clear to readers that this is a person and not a group, etc. However this is a suggestion and not a firm requirement

A note of security culture and names:

It is probably not a good idea to use any part of your real name (even your first name) on this wiki or in internet work that is directly involved in revolutionary politics. In the U.S., at this time, our work is legal. However harassment from the political police (and from employers and potential employers, etc) is part of life in capitalist society. Furthermore, they day will almost certainly come when the bourgeoisie tosses aside its "sacred" constitution and attempts to decapitate the revolutionary movement by imprisoning or assassinating its leaders and supporters (ie: either directly by police and courts or indirectly by means of reactionary or fascist gangs they control). So, while we are not intimated by the potential harassment--we take basic precautions to help protect ourselves and our revolutionary work.

Ben/To-Do List

BenSeattle — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:46:50 CDT

In order to make more effective use of the time that I do have, I am listing my intended goals. Plans change--but this is how it looks now.


	Q1 --Quadrant of Urgency (firefighting) x x ( nothing is urgent )	Q2 ----------------------Quadrant of Investment (fire prevention) ● Maintain Sabatical - resist the temptation to be drawn into an unsustainable level of political work and activity ● Assist any motion - that comes from the core members of our community-in-embryo (ie: Alex, Paul or Marik) in the direction of creating a practical program of action xx
	Q3	Q4

Ben's political sabatical:

Currently I am on a political "sabatical" (in order to deal with a number of issues in my personal life that require my full attention).
I generally unhook my internet connection for one or two months at a time and then hook up again for a few days. I will,
most likely, be repeating this pattern of activity/inactivity for about a year or so.

Near term goals:

email letter to Eric asking for link to my reply
email 8th floor re: previous wiki (can we get pages for downloading?)
Ben replies needed:
** Ginger Group, "The First Step" by Garnet
** Paul comments on D of P on front page of this wiki

post text (with my comments) from shipyard chapter of "radical passions" at:
http://www.radicalpassions.com/yardbird.html
and http://counterpunch.org/jacobs07122008.html

Place my graphics on wiki (so that readers who browse "Photo Gallery" will find)

Longer term goals:

project

description

magnitude

of effort

magnitude

of impact

establish firm beachhead on RevLeft with theretical articles and graphics,
recruit the better or more serious readers there to Media Weapon community medium very significant

create article (using 20 percent of my reply to Eric plus the graphics from it)
with the title "Mass Information War is our Road to Certain Victory" small
small

create animated version of the above for YouTube medium significant

Work on the AttentionRefinery very large very large

Appendix: What is Covey's activity chart?

Stephen Covey (ie: the "Seven Habits of Highly Successful People" author) developed a way to chart goals and activity along two dimensions: importance and urgency.

The problem for many people (and organizations) is that they tend to get trapped in the first quadrant (ie: activity that is both urgent and important).

But real success comes from a focus on the second quadrant (ie: activity that is important but not urgent).

Successful management of goals and activity involves learning methods of spending more time and energy on the 2nd quadrant. The second quadrant is the quadrant of investment. Time spent there will be far more productive than time spent in the first quadrant in the same way that it is cheaper and easier to prevent a fire than to put out a fire that has broken out.

Example: Here is an example related to opposing views concerning the priorities of the Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee (SAIC):

Ben/wiki warfare

BenSeattle — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:21:03 CDT

"Wiki warfare" appears destined to be a very big thing.

The Wikipedia-style neutral point of view (NPOV) does not "scale" well in a class-divided society. The result is that an article on a political topic like "palestine" or "communism" that would be considered "neutral and objective" by most readers -- would also tend to be hard-to-read and boring. Better to have articles by individual authors (or groups) that openly "fight it out" to win attention and recognition (and links) from readers.

I will use this page to collect notes on the topic.

Already there is one issue for me: The RCP page on wikipedia. I added my political cartoon showing a naked Avakian holding hands with social-democratic supporters of the Democratic Party. Some RCP supporter removed it. I put it back. I do not have much experience in wikipedia edit wars. I guess I will see what happens. Here is the wikipedia "talk" page discussing whether my cartoon is appropriate.

Related topics:

http://www.helium.com/ a wiki where individuals create their own pages that compete with one another. See results for socialism/communism
Squidoo - something similar
Knol - likely to be the 800 lb gorilla in this area if Google ever releases it ...

Ben/mock-up for proposed project: survey of the left re: Obama and 2008 election

BenSeattle — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:20:52 CDT

survey: obama and 2008 election

We could survey left organizations listed here: http://www.broadleft.org/us.htm
and display their positions on Obama and the 2008 elections.

Organization	Title and link to article on this topic	Summary of their position in 100 words (or less) in their own words	Summary of their position in 100 words (or less) in our words	Our rating of the position of this organization
ABC	Which way forward in 2008?	Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their party. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their party. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their party.	blah, blah, blah ...
DEF HIJK	How to Defeat McCain
LNMOP	blah, blah, blah
etc.

Ben/towards a program of action (ideas and suggestions)

BenSeattle — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:20:13 CDT

The central problem in the development of our community-in-embryo
is that we do not have a practical program of work that can attract
and hold the attention of the serious activists who we need.

Our main priority, in my view, must be the development of practical projects that:

1) Illustrate the potential of the principles of systematic information distribution, interaction and organization -- in a phrase: information war
2) Attract the attention and energy of political, cultural or tech activists

For a project to be practical, it must be fairly simple and easy

Possible projects include:

1) Creating a distribution (and response) channel similar to what was started at http://WeaponOfTransparency.com
(see notes below)
2) Gathering systematic replies from organizations which describe themselves as
revolutionary giving their position on Obama and the 2008 elections in a 100 words or less.
3) We could do something similar to the above concerning the main issues for developing the antiwar movement
4) We could do the same for some of the theoretical issues realted to the DoP
5) We could put together a FAQ on Workers' Rule (aka the DoP) based on
questions we solicit from RevLeft and other places.

Notes on creating a Channel

(adapted from Ben's June 8, 2008 post to pof-300)

The central problem in the development of our community-in-embryo is that we do not have a practical program of work that can attract and hold the attention of the serious activists who we need. We have had a number of serious activists in our community (ie: X9, DJ Dialectic and Ulyanovist) who gave up on this community because "nothing was happening here".

Marik and I worked (July - November 2006) to create a media distribution channel that would distribute some articles to Indymedia sites and reply to the more serious comments. This effort fell apart when issues in my personal life made it impractical for me to give this project the time and attention it needed. (And there were practical issues that required my attention--for example we needed to use tables in our website for the project--and these were difficult to create--we did not have an easy-to-use wiki like we do now.)

I believe, however, that the basic concept, of systematically distributing key articles (ie: antiwar agitation, revolutionary theory and also interesting political articles we find on the internet) and replying to the more seriouscomments -- and gradually expanding the channel (ie: in boththe number of articles and the places the articles aredistributed) is sound and corresponds to our very limited time and abilities. Organized well, such a project would be able to draw on the work of volunteers who might like our work and want to assist it.

The project history and principles are on the web at: http://WeaponOfTransparency.com . Some of the discussion concerning how to create it will be on the archives (from that period) on pof-300 and the theorist list. There are a number of pitfalls in organizing such a project. It would be easy to waste time replying to the many know-it-alls and self-styled "marxist" generals-without-armies on the internet. It would also be easy to inadvertantly recruit such know-it-alls and generals-without-armies into the project in such a way that they would end up representing the project--with the result that many readers would conclude that the project was mainly hot air and hype and run by people who had little contact with or understanding of the needs of the movement. (This was one of my concerns with Grok, when he was participating on our email lists.)

My view is that the pitfalls can be avoided--if we understand the need to do so. Necessity is the mother of invention.

I have no time, unfortunately, to assist in such a project this year. Life is uncertain. I do not know when I will be able to more fully participate in such a project. Such a project would represent a concrete effort to learn about and harness the potential of information war. And, one way or another, information war will represent our program of work and the fundamental salvation of our movement.

The Media Weapon Community Wiki Home

BenSeattle — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:27:19 CDT

More about our community can be found at http://MediaWeapon.com

Our main email lists are pof-200 and pof-300 (see the link above for more about these lists).

Our Mission
Our mission is to help liberate the world from bourgeois (ie: capitalist) rule. Our proposed mission statement is:
"To learn how to use information war to organize the working class for the overthrow of bourgeois rule".

Our Status
We are more of a community-in-embryo than a real community at this time. Before we can be more of a real community we will need:

a practical program of work deserving of the attention of serious activists and
a core of serious activists (at least half a dozen or several dozen) who believe in and support the mission of this community

Core members
Core members of the Media Weapon community are activists with political experience and maturity who have worked to help build our community-in-embryo. We are listed below (in alphabetic order).

Who	wiki page	web page	annual report	projects or project pages
Alex			May 11, 2008	The Ginger Group blog We need mass democracy (see below)
Ben	Ben	Ben	June 1, 2008	We need mass democracy -- polemical exchange and discussion, includes How to Build the Party of the Working Class (2001-2008) The Anarcho-Leninist Debate on the State -- theory (2002 - 2004) Proletarism -- proposal for a decisive break from the name "communism" after the revisionist betrayal of the Soviet and Chinese revolutions -- includes essential history of communist movement in a simple chart (2004) The Attention Refinery -- proposal for a new kind of wiki (2006) The News Refinery -- proposal for a revolutionary news service (2005) Weapon Of Transparency -- experimental distribution channel for discussion of decisive political and theoretical principles (2006) Culture: History of the Universe, Desert Goddesses saturate Burning Man
Marik				Weapon Of Transparency (see above)
Paul	Paul	Paul	May 13, 2008	pof-200 posts pof-300 Posts Pushing Reno Antiwar Leftward * SovietDemocracy Site Partial PolAutoBio * Revleft Posts * ......... ( * = viewing requires registration and membership)

Other members
Our community is open to political activists and people who are considering becoming political activists. Anyone can be part of our community by reading or posting to our email lists or wiki. People who post must be at least 14 years old and act in a way that is respectful to others and sincere.

(One of our subscribers, Jacob, has also written an annual report.)

Our email lists

pof-200 -- 200 subscribers, you can only post once per week (activists who march in antiwar demos can post twice per week). Although there are 200 subscribers--few of these people participate in the list and, most likely, only a dozen or two of these people pay any attention to the list at all.
pof-300 -- 30 subscribers, you can post as often as you want to this list--it is better than the pof-200 list for casual discussion
Red-Team -- list for technical side of development

How to use this wiki
The rules for who can use this wiki and how are currently being discussed. For now--only core members can add or edit pages. Eventually we will open it up so that any member of our community can add pages. Currently--you must register in order to post a comment on a page. This is a measure to discourage commercial spammers. This wiki is experimental and may (or may not) prove useful. If it is useful--then it will be updated. Eventually the google knol wiki may prove better--but in the meantime we have this to play with.

Paul

hekmatista — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:04:54 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

project description	magnitude of effort	magnitude of impact
establish firm beachhead on RevLeft with theretical articles and graphics, recruit the better or more serious readers there to Media Weapon community	medium	very significant
create article (using 20 percent of my reply to Eric plus the graphics from it) with the title "Mass Information War is our Road to Certain Victory"	small	small
create animated version of the above for YouTube	medium	significant
Work on the AttentionRefinery	very large	very large