scarletghoul
13th September 2009, 15:33
Our culture is full of bourgeois thought, bourgeois moralism, bourgeois ideology, bourgeois prejudice and general bourgeois bullshit. Culture has traditionally required money or state power to produce and distribute effectively, and these powers both belong to the bourgeoisie. But this culture is not just an expression of bourgeois rule, it also enforces it. It makes the capitalist ideology a part of everyday life like the air we breathe. Much of the worker's free time is spent enjoying bourgeois culture, exposing himself to the bourgeois thought embodied in it.
So it's clear that culture is a major enforcer of class rule. What if this bourgeois culture was replaced with revolutionary proletarian culture? I think it would have a very posetive effect, and indeed be vital for the success of the greater revolution. This has been done before, in various socialist states, the classic and most potent example being the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of China, but revolutionary culture has also been big in anarchist Spain, Cuba, the DPRK, etc. However, all cultural revolutions have happened in countries already under workers' control (some will debate the technicalities of this but whatevvar), with the backing of state power. This begs the question:
Is it possible for the cultural revolution to occur before the polical revolution, under bourgeois rule? Or: Should we start it now?
To quote from 2 paragraphs back, "culture has traditionally required money or state power to produce and distribute effectively, and these powers both belong to the bourgeoisie". The latter part is still true, but the first part not so much. Now more than ever, culture is becoming something free for all to produce and distribute, thanks to technological developments, especially the internet. Music for example (this is after all a huge part of our culture in the UKKK). Thanks to technology, it's now possible and easy for ordinary people to record and edit good quality music, and to put it online for the world to hear. We can also share music, including bourgeois-produced music, for free. This impact of technology is, as the bourgeoisie say, "destroying the music industry!" or, put another way, destroying the bourgeois monopoly on music. It is freeing music from the shackles of capitalism, making it a property of the people in general. The process of freeing music is ongoing, and the capitalists are still trying to claw back the remnents of their dying industry by propagating the idea that sharing is immoral, putting in place anti-sharing laws, etc. But still, music is much more free than before. This is just one part of the general freeing of culture as a result of technological advances. This gives us the opportunity to produce and distribute revolutionary culture like never before, and therefore to expose the people to revolutionary thought. To begin the cultural revolution. So the answer to the question I think is yes.
Discuss.
So it's clear that culture is a major enforcer of class rule. What if this bourgeois culture was replaced with revolutionary proletarian culture? I think it would have a very posetive effect, and indeed be vital for the success of the greater revolution. This has been done before, in various socialist states, the classic and most potent example being the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of China, but revolutionary culture has also been big in anarchist Spain, Cuba, the DPRK, etc. However, all cultural revolutions have happened in countries already under workers' control (some will debate the technicalities of this but whatevvar), with the backing of state power. This begs the question:
Is it possible for the cultural revolution to occur before the polical revolution, under bourgeois rule? Or: Should we start it now?
To quote from 2 paragraphs back, "culture has traditionally required money or state power to produce and distribute effectively, and these powers both belong to the bourgeoisie". The latter part is still true, but the first part not so much. Now more than ever, culture is becoming something free for all to produce and distribute, thanks to technological developments, especially the internet. Music for example (this is after all a huge part of our culture in the UKKK). Thanks to technology, it's now possible and easy for ordinary people to record and edit good quality music, and to put it online for the world to hear. We can also share music, including bourgeois-produced music, for free. This impact of technology is, as the bourgeoisie say, "destroying the music industry!" or, put another way, destroying the bourgeois monopoly on music. It is freeing music from the shackles of capitalism, making it a property of the people in general. The process of freeing music is ongoing, and the capitalists are still trying to claw back the remnents of their dying industry by propagating the idea that sharing is immoral, putting in place anti-sharing laws, etc. But still, music is much more free than before. This is just one part of the general freeing of culture as a result of technological advances. This gives us the opportunity to produce and distribute revolutionary culture like never before, and therefore to expose the people to revolutionary thought. To begin the cultural revolution. So the answer to the question I think is yes.
Discuss.