Ol' Dirty
22nd November 2010, 03:05
Petit-bourgoise. Lumpenproletariat. Means of Production.
Most working people have little to no understanding of what these words mean, and even people familiar with them get confused about their usage and meaning. So why do we use these highbrow words and phrases instead of language working people can actually understand and appreciate?
Jargon makes anti-capitalism inaccessible to nearly everyone except the well-educated, makes discussion fruitless, meaningless... even counter-productive.
Sure, a worker can join a study group, but then they're only exposed to the interperetation of the readers. That makes people into repositories of meaningless information. It's in the working class' best interest to know how to organize themselves.
The fact is that a vast number of workers on this planet are illiterate, either functionally or completely. To fully stimulate mass action, the left has to talk to workers in a down-to-earth, understandable way- not to patronize them, but to better communicate with them. Not to "dumb-things down," but to clearly, passionately and simply tell the world our goals. and aspirations. The left must drop all pretense of higher knowledge, drop all of the meaningless baggage at the door, and call a dog a dog, a pen a pen, and door a door.
Jargon is one of the most frustrating things I see on revleft and on the left as a whole, so I thought I'd bring it up. Please reply with your thoughts.
Thanks :)
Most working people have little to no understanding of what these words mean, and even people familiar with them get confused about their usage and meaning. So why do we use these highbrow words and phrases instead of language working people can actually understand and appreciate?
Jargon makes anti-capitalism inaccessible to nearly everyone except the well-educated, makes discussion fruitless, meaningless... even counter-productive.
Sure, a worker can join a study group, but then they're only exposed to the interperetation of the readers. That makes people into repositories of meaningless information. It's in the working class' best interest to know how to organize themselves.
The fact is that a vast number of workers on this planet are illiterate, either functionally or completely. To fully stimulate mass action, the left has to talk to workers in a down-to-earth, understandable way- not to patronize them, but to better communicate with them. Not to "dumb-things down," but to clearly, passionately and simply tell the world our goals. and aspirations. The left must drop all pretense of higher knowledge, drop all of the meaningless baggage at the door, and call a dog a dog, a pen a pen, and door a door.
Jargon is one of the most frustrating things I see on revleft and on the left as a whole, so I thought I'd bring it up. Please reply with your thoughts.
Thanks :)