Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Roots of "Mass-Line" Idealism, pt 2 of 4

Last time I ragged pretty hard on Leftspot[sic] for his misapplication of the mass-line. Today I’m going to elaborate a bit more on this issue.

The root problem is basic. At the heart of Leftspot’s mass-line problem is a class-analysis problem. To be precise, a problem of an idealist and subjective class analysis instead of a materialist one. To be fair, this problem is not one that is exclusive to Leftspot and his ilk. In reality, the problem of a haphazard appreciation for scientific class analysis is one that spans across the vast majority of First World “Maoist” entities.

Mao took class analysis seriously. So much so that the first eight words of his Selected Works are “Who are our enemies? Who are our friends?” For the revolution in China to succeed, communists had to have a basic grasp of not only class relations in China, but also how those classes related to outside forces. A scientific approach to these questions was at the forefront of Mao’s mind long before he started thinking about how to apply the mass-line.

For fake maoists today, the situation is reversed. “Mass-line” takes precedence while scientific class analysis takes a back seat. Leftspot and those like him simply do not take global class structure seriously. It is from this perspective that I say those like Leftspot are not practitioners of Maoism.

To what degree fakes are willing to tackle this fundamental issue, it is from a position of idealism and subjectivism, not one of materialism. What they end up with is an analysis that sounds nice; not one that is correct. Their class analysis is what they want to believe- not one that in its totality corresponds to reality.

Leftspot thinks that amerika is majority exploited. He holds this view despite all evidence suggesting otherwise. Leftspot is simply living in fantasy, not the real world.

But this series is not about global class structure or the pseudo-maoist pseudo-analysis of it: it’s about “mass-line.” And all you have to remember is that according to maoist fakes like Leftspot, mass-line is widely applicable inside amerika.

Next Part: The continuous failings of "mass-line" idealism.

See you next week,
Red Guard Camper

Update 12-13-07: Just so that everyone is aware, Leftspot's policy on this has been to thus far ignore it. He has gone so far as to delete a simple comment on his blog that said "Response to 'Fred Hampton Day' " and directed people to the first post in this series. Apparently Leftspot finds himself unable to defend his views. We'll see if he comes around by the end. I'll keep everyone updated.

Update #2: In case people are wondering, Part 3 is titled "A History of 'Mass-Line' Failings, The New Communist Movement Then And Now." But first I have to drop Part 2.9, "A Brief 'Biography' of the New Communist Movement." Those of you in the so-called "Maoist" blogosphere should really follow up on this stuff.

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