When to be Militant & when to gain Class Conscience

[The Vegan Marxist]

I was reading an interview with the Communist rapper Immortal Technique & he made a certain statement that I found was somewhat wrong, yet still spoke a lot of truth. Here's the question & his answer, in which I'll point out what I'm talking about in bold lettering:

Although your work remains peaceful and legal, do you see yourself as a militant?

I definitely do get militant about a lot of things. I actually wouldn’t even describe myself as an activist. I’m not a pencil pusher. I’m in the street doing what I need to do. It’s a lot more revolutionary than just getting a sign and marching from point A to point B. It’s difficult to categorize yourself in civil categories that are already built. I don’t feel that I fit into any of them.

People talk about being conscious and shit like that. What the fuck does that really mean? It just implies that you know something, but it doesn’t imply that you’re gonna do something about it. How many people are informed about how much corruption there is in their local and federal government? And yet they live in complete apathy and almost in a separate dimension of living and understanding when it comes to dealing with that.

To me, I don't think he completely gets why we need the majority to gain class conscience, & rather sees being militant needs to come first. The problem with this notion is that, yes, people are very aware that things are fucked up, but if they grabbed arms right now & destroyed the capitalist system then that would be it, because we'd have no clue where to go from there. This points out why we need to first gain majority class conscience.

Though, he makes a very valid point on how people, no matter how class conscious they are, tend to be quite apathetic & will still choose to not grab arms & hope for a peaceful solution towards Communism. Say we do gain majority class conscience, that doesn't mean that people are still going to grab arms & give their life for us nor the movement. What this specifically entails is that, not only do we need to gain majority class conscience, we also need gain a majority militant conscience as well. Because, if not, then we'll have a nation filled with a lot of placid Communists.

[Jimmie Higgins]

What he's describing is a real thing in the US I think - but I think it's political consciousness he's describing. Compared to the early 60s, political consciousness is generally much better off - even if things have backslided (backslid?) since the 70s. Today even conservatives will admit that Vietnam (and sometimes even Iraq) was wrong, that the US massacred native Americans, and that racism was a real problem (even if they now claim it isn't). Then when you break it down further, most working class people, people of color, and youth are well to the left of the Democratic party (although to be fair, the Dems have gone strong to the right since the 80s). It's something like 70-80% against the war, but the anti-war movement has become more timid and in bed with the warmongers at the same time. So there is a huge gap between political consciousness for most people and political action - this is real imo and probably one of the biggest causes for left-wing burnout and demoralization.

As for CLASS consciousness, I don't think that is as highly developed. In fact, in the past year or so, popular support for unions went from 60% to 40% and blaming unions for the economic crisis can get a solid following among a growing section of workers. Even the people in unions are often reluctant to be active in them and look at the union as sort of a rainy-day organization that's not important unless the boss suddenly tries to fire everyone or something.

But essentially, while general consciousness is more or less favorable to our perspective, the lack of class consciousness means that people don't know how and on what basis to fight back. This causes many people to look to non-working class methods of effecting change: lobbying groups, moral appeals, individualistic acts of violence, personal boycotts, and all the other loosing strategies for change. The development of class consciousness would mean that people would look to collective strategies based on their working class perspective and realize that their labor can be used as a weapon to get what they want - strikes, shutting down offending businesses and so on.

[Kléber]

You're right that Technique is exhibiting a bit of economism there, neglecting the need for a party which stands against the reaction of the times, and instead builds revolutionary consciousness. However, I think he means it as a reference to the subgenre known as "conscious rap," which is a broad and poorly defined category encompassing some terribly reactionary music. It is often just Republican and/or religious crap. As Boots Riley said, "Some songs that are considered conscious could be made by the Sergeant in A Soldier's Story where he’s like 'all these n------… they’re backwards and they’re bringing the race backwards' and there’s a lot of people with that theme throughout their music that are considered conscious and it’s not conscious at all. That’s very much like a black republican."

[The Vegan Marxist]

You're right that Technique is exhibiting a bit of economism there, neglecting the need for a party which stands against the reaction of the times, and instead builds revolutionary consciousness. However, I think he means it as a reference to the subgenre known as "conscious rap," which is a broad and poorly defined category encompassing some terribly reactionary music. It is often just Republican and/or religious crap. As Boots Riley said, "Some songs that are considered conscious could be made by the Sergeant in A Soldier's Story where he’s like 'all these n------… they’re backwards and they’re bringing the race backwards' and there’s a lot of people with that theme throughout their music that are considered conscious and it’s not conscious at all. That’s very much like a black republican."

Maybe, but it seemed to me he wasn't referring to being militant in rap, because he already is VERY militant in his rap, which is why I love listening to his music. What it seems like he's referring to is being militant on the streets, in real life, because that's what will bring change, not some piece of paper, our guns & our numbers.

[Across The Street]

In that quote he is essentially saying that knowledge without action is bullshit. Most people have no concept of what can be done to change anything really, just conceptions of how fuckin bungled the whole situation has become. Class consciousness, to me, implies a degree of militancy.

But on another note: How do you suppose that people would have no idea what to do after the current system is done away with? Most, if not all people dream of a better world, especially one without monetary influences ruling our decisions


My guess would be that it's because most people don't even know what to do now that the world economy is failing (has been since its inception), but i want your take on it.

[Tablo]

What is militancy even supposed to mean? To me militancy is striking, organizing, and being vocal about your opposition to the system. I don't think Immortal Technique is necessarily saying we gotta be carrying guns and stuff. He is just saying that going to a protest every once in a while isn't good enough.

[bcbm]

Though, he makes a very valid point on how people, no matter how class conscious they are, tend to be quite apathetic & will still choose to not grab arms & hope for a peaceful solution towards Communism.

i think this may be more your interpretation than what he is really trying to say. i don't think this is a call to start taking up guns, but a call for those who are "conscious" to use their knowledge and take an active role in resisting, most likely through organizing and things like that. and what's wrong with trying to minimize violence in our struggle for a communist society? we shouldn't hope to use guns, but hope to not need them.


Say we do gain majority class conscience, that doesn't mean that people are still going to grab arms & give their life for us nor the movement. What this specifically entails is that, not only do we need to gain majority class conscience, we also need gain a majority militant conscience as well. Because, if not, then we'll have a nation filled with a lot of placid Communists.

people aren't pawns to be recruited to die for "us" or "the movement." and why is the only legitimate form of activity in your mind running around with guns? i think there are probably quite a few productive things one can do between apathy and starting a war.

[REVLEFT'S BIEGGST MATSER TROL]

What he's describing is a real thing in the US I think - but I think it's political consciousness he's describing. Compared to the early 60s, political consciousness is generally much better off - even if things have backslided (backslid?) since the 70s. Today even conservatives will admit that Vietnam (and sometimes even Iraq) was wrong, that the US massacred native Americans, and that racism was a real problem (even if they now claim it isn't). Then when you break it down further, most working class people, people of color, and youth are well to the left of the Democratic party (although to be fair, the Dems have gone strong to the right since the 80s). It's something like 70-80% against the war, but the anti-war movement has become more timid and in bed with the warmongers at the same time. So there is a huge gap between political consciousness for most people and political action - this is real imo and probably one of the biggest causes for left-wing burnout and demoralization.

As for CLASS consciousness, I don't think that is as highly developed. In fact, in the past year or so, popular support for unions went from 60% to 40% and blaming unions for the economic crisis can get a solid following among a growing section of workers. Even the people in unions are often reluctant to be active in them and look at the union as sort of a rainy-day organization that's not important unless the boss suddenly tries to fire everyone or something.

But essentially, while general consciousness is more or less favorable to our perspective, the lack of class consciousness means that people don't know how and on what basis to fight back. This causes many people to look to non-working class methods of effecting change: lobbying groups, moral appeals, individualistic acts of violence, personal boycotts, and all the other loosing strategies for change. The development of class consciousness would mean that people would look to collective strategies based on their working class perspective and realize that their labor can be used as a weapon to get what they want - strikes, shutting down offending businesses and so on.

This.

I think we perhaps underestimate the amount of workers that agree with us, its just that the official left is so lame, that all of the fronts for struggle are so wet, and that anything left of centre is denouced as hardcore communist, that people who might be inclined to a radical view aren't able to express them.