Breaking through the propaganda wall

[Regicollis]

I think one of the main hindrances for spreading socialist views is the bourgeois media monopoly. It completely marginalises socialist views, is presenting globalised capitalism as the only option and is presenting right-wing reformism as the most leftist thing imaginable.

What can be done about this? I know there are many small socialist newspapers and alternative news sites but they are too small, too underfunded and sometimes of too poor a quality to make any difference. It is wishful thinking to believe that one day the masses will read the Socialist Worker.

Do you know of any good examples of socialism getting fair representation in the media? What are the possible strategies for breaking through the propaganda wall and presenting socialist views and socialist angles on news stories to a broader public?

[roy]

i don't think there are any. a million sects have tried everything imaginable. don't worry; it will be a lot harder for the ruling class to monopolise the media when the economy implodes.

[Koba Junior]

You're looking at the best we've got right now, I'm afraid. But it isn't so much that media marginalizes socialism (it certainly does) as much as it is that there is a "middle class" of people living in relative prosperity in Western countries. They are not a class of true owners, but their position in the process of exploiting the proletariat creates a conservative worldview. Those on the peripheral of this prosperity, the most exploited, often adopt this worldview, rather than recognizing the role it plays in frustrating them. Capitalism is able to marginalize socialism because socialism doesn't sell. The best we can hope to do, right now, is to make as available as possible information and propaganda that will empower the proletariat with awareness. In conjunction with this, socialists must do work in winning concessions for the people and in relieving the injury done to the people by capitalist exploitation. The key to our success, though, is in finding a way to circumvent the efforts of the bourgeoisie to silence us and hinder our work.

[Offbeat]

We have the internet, which is a great resource that's for the most part uncensored. They say that fewer people read newspapers these days as you can get the news online for free, the next step is to encourage people to get their news from our sources rather than just from the website of the bourgeois paper they used to read.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Revolutionary ideas are always a small minority... until they aren't and then that's what we call a revolutionary situation. Egyptians had it much worse as far as the media than people in most European and North American countries and most Egyptians believed that the Egyptian "national character" was too passive for a revolt against Mubarak. So socialist and pro-democracy and pro-union movements were small, repressed, and not even talked about in the media enough to be called "marginalized" - intentionally invisible is more like it. So these protests stayed small and (radical) organizations limited and mostly isolated... until they weren't. When things broke through the media was instantly discredited and was forced to tail the protesters to regain credibility. This political, social, and media opening was sudden and the groups with the best prior organizing and networks were able to respond the best - which meant the Muslim Brotherhood in that case.

So as for us, and as someone who has stood at a picket-line or bus-stop selling Socialist Worker to strangers, I don't think the goal should be to reach out to as many people as possible with a passive message - although this can't hurt and will help raise the public profile of radicals (I can't really feel comfortable anywhere if there's not an anarchy symbol scratched or painted in a bathroom or on a wall within 10 miles). My goal if I'm doing some street propaganda is to try and meet the few people out there who might be thinking about these things and to try and convince them that if they agree they should become revolutionaries or at least independent activists involved in real movements. The more we are able to create networks and organizations and papers and so on now, the better the already-revolutionary workers will be able to connect to the tons of people who might radicalize really quickly if there is a spontaneous movement or some crisis that makes revolutionary politics suddenly seem much more relevant to millions of people.

[Robespierres Neck]

We have the internet, which is a great resource that's for the most part uncensored. They say that fewer people read newspapers these days as you can get the news online for free, the next step is to encourage people to get their news from our sources rather than just from the website of the bourgeois paper they used to read.

I agree. I, 95% of the time, have my television off. Most of the news, information, ect. I discover is on the web, which is a lot more universal.

[Bostana]

The bourgeois media is the only reason any worker hear in America hates socialism. To break it would mean less anti-communist propaganda, and hopefully people would get to know the true meaning of Communism, to liberate the Proletariat. It would be wise to break through this propaganda wall. Maybe we can put up Stalin posters and create are own propaganda....:D not really.

Actually we need to be activists and spread the truth, the real truth. Give the people knowledge and refute bourgeois media lies.

[campesino]

I think we need to organize and make our presence be know, if communist demonstrations develop at campaign stops across the country even if the demonstration is just 50 people it will give the impression of an organized popular movement. force our way into the media. the campaign stop may have 200 attendees, but they won't be organized and we will. 50 people shouting slogans and being disruptive will certainly leave an impression on 200 onlookers, they will be the audience and we will be the show. I wish there also was a repository of well made, relevant to modern day, pamphlets and papers, to distribute and put under car windshield wipers.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

It's all about doing media specific to our organizing/community projects. Take the same bus/subway line to work every morning? Start a weekly broadsheet, frame the discussion in terms of your likely commonalities (shitty jobs, distrust of media, distrust of government, etc.) and invite contributions from other folks you see every day. Live in an apartment complex? Is there an internal listserv? If not, start one! There's a neighbourhood listserv where I live that serves not only to promote radical events, but also facilitates sharing resources, finding people/organizations, holding potlucks, whatever.
You know, like, build the party, amirite?