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Monday, December 29. 2008Gramsci Week: Antonio Gramsci and "the long march through the culture"At vacation times, we like to re-post old material. The Dyl has proclaimed this week Gramsci week, so we'll re-post old Gramsci-related stuff daily. This from a couple of years ago - It is difficult to understand what has been happening politically in the US and in Europe for the past 30 years without understanding the influence of Gramsci (1891-1937) on Western Leftist thinking and strategizing. Gramsci was a clever Italian neo-Marxist who realized that the West, due to its prosperity, its increasingly-wide access to education and opportunity, social mobility, and its readiness to repair injustices (due to its Judeo-Christian morality), would never be amenable to a violent proletarian socialist revolution. So he came up with Plan B, which is often termed "Gramscian tactics." These were based on the idea, as the good Wiki entry says:
Thus Western "hegemonic culture" became the enemy - even more so than "the ruling class," which was simply a reflection of bourgeois culture. And defeating that enemy could not be done with guns. It required a "long march through the culture" to slowly discredit and undermine its institutions, values, and foundations. This was a brilliantly destructive idea. Eventually, the society would fall apart, opening the way to totalitarian socialism to rescue the mess. Thus the nihilistic flavor of the Western Left which is always seemingly-incomprehensively mingled with extreme Statism. One might well ask why he wasn't satisfied with the remarkable outcome of Western regulated markets, the growth of the welfare state, unionization, etc. - but he wasn't. He was determined to remain true to Marx and to find a non-revolutionary path to economic totalitarianism. A central component of the culture war he envisioned was the war on religion (also Wiki):
I hope I do not sound paranoid when I soberly say that much of the wacky, upside-down, right-is-wrong, black-is-white stuff we see in the news these days is directly or indirectly inspired by Gramsci: the attacks on Christianity, the family, individual freedom, morality and moral judgements; multiculturalism; the cult of victimhood, "tolerance," political correctness, the replacement of the roles of family, religion, individual responsibility and choice with government rules, laws, and regs; the expansion of the State and the Welfare State and the Nanny State; anti-tradition, anti-capitalism, anti-success, anti-nationalism, anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism, etc - all the stuff that makes me echo Bob Grant with "It's sick out there, and getting sicker." I am sure Antonio never anticipated that a Green movement would emerge to become an ally of the slow, incrementalist and thus less-alarming Gramscian revolution. Yes, it is all ultimately about suppression of the individual soul and spirit - his freedom, autonomy, initiative and self-definition - the highest and most noble notions of Western Civilization - in pursuit of a collectivist utopia run by "them." In short, it's about the location of power and money. OK. This is getting too long-winded for Maggie's ADD writers and readers and Editor. This Town Hall post from last year, The New Left, Cultural Marxism, and Psychopolitics Disguised as Multiculturalism is a nice little piece on the subject. I am sure our readers have many more, better links and commentary. Comments
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When I consider together this morning's post from the Anchoress regarding strategies to deceive the trusting, and this piece it becomes High Definition clear to me what has been going on in the Episcopal Church in the US. It never seemed quite right to me that a focus on homosexuality wa all that it appeared. Rather, as we can understand why--it is imperative to these new nazis to destroy America's most influential church in order to destroy the system of justice, ethics, and behavior upon which this great country was once based. Yep--they don't really give a damn about ordaining gays--they really want the whole thing shut down. They are doing a good job of it too! First, they gutted the coffers of the Catholic church, then they decimated the system of meritocracy in our universities, now they are destroying the strongest church. What's next do you guess?
The B shows clearly how Leftist actions are carefully structured to move society toward totalitarian Socialism.
How amusing that the Lefties forget who ultimately choses the dictator in a totalitarian society (hint: it has training, discipline, weapons and power). Not a bad idea, actually. Pederasts becoming Priests was a Gramscian plot. Dang, he was a clever little feller.
Ah, but it might be replaced by a different, stronger, more traditional and better church. Someone once said words to the effect that every attempt to reestablish the truths of the past was always a revolutionary change.
Sheesh Rufus - that was a bit rough on the RCs. What is good about that is that it was finally addressed. Active pedophiles are clearly no longer welcome as priests - but some pedophile priests do not discredit their entire mode of worship.
I didn't say it did, BD. I was just being a bit whimsical. I would have never dreamed it could have been construed that way. I mention specific people (Priests of a certain persuasion) not the Church.
It just seemed somewhat unlikely that that phenomenon could be laid at the feet of poor old Gramsci (who I knew absolutely nothing about prior to reading your fine post. Thanks) Rufus,
Do a little digging concerning where the acceptance of gay seminarians came from and you may find yourself surprised. Gramscian rot infected the church quite heavily until the ascension of JP II. The whole "liberation theology" movement within the church exuded a Gramscian stench for a couple of decades - fruit of the same clique of cardinals. Soros understands Gramsci as well as Miz Clinton understands Alinsky. Current US politics on the Dem side is a marriage of those two and given that both theories depend upon envy, greed and fear as their driving forces, it is small wonder that they succeed. For a while, at any rate. Rufus, I think a committed Gramscian would be opportunistic, and any group of people will eventually provide some opportunity.
There is an additional factor which might explain the perseverance of the Gramsci's, Chomsky's, et alia. There have historically been several paths to comfortable status within any society: wealth, learning, art, persuasion, rectitude, courage - I am sure I am leaving out a few. In Christianity, all of these are considered good and valuable, but not ends in themselves. These were valuable only in the service of piety. Marxism offered an alternative vision for these roads to status. For all its condemnation of the materialism of free markets, it is marxism which is focused and justified entirely on material wealth. All these roads to status could now be brought under the aegis of historical socialism. Art or learning could now serve a different god. Nationalism rose up at the same time, and also provided an alternate vision. Marxism rolled the dice and lost. It did not provide the only thing it promised, material wealth. What were all those artists and writers to do? They could declare it all futile and meaningless - nihilism & its cousins; they could switch their allegiance to nationalism; they could return to the church... Or they could work to destroy their competitors. The interest that the marxist (and all the PoMo-lite variants) has in undermining nationalism, religion, or market capitalism is entirely self-serving. They get more status that way. Good job, Barrister! Went to college with myriad PC enthusiasts about the ideas you describe. Remember one of them literally falling off barstools in horror when they heard I was going to seminary. And the zeal with which they tried to dissuade me...it was as if I had just confessed to a penchant for little boys or dirty pictures....
Sorry, folks, it's just that when I first read it I flashed on this vision of furtive Gramscyites sidling up next to gay boys in High Schools across the country, and whispering, "hey boy, ya wanna be a Priest?"
I don't know guys, it seems like the Clintons, Pelosis, and Soros' have been with us, always. And, the goofy kids, and the goofy kids that never grow up (liberals.) I seem to remember those old guys in Greece spent their share of time despairing over remarkably similar people. Very well put. But it is true only to a point - they do and they don't want the edifice to collapse. They want it to collapse for all the reasons you mentioned. But if their taxpayer-funded sinecures were to disappear in the chaos as a result of that collapse, their soapbox and their status would probably vanish too. I think lots of them live in dread of being found out - and of not having a real job.
yep--and the golden age of Greece, the Hellenistic Age, collapsed after only a couple hundred years, due to the people having lost sight of the founding principles, and falling into civil wars.
Well, I'm just tryin to figure out if oil is going to $120.00 anytime soon.
I'm kinda leanin to the "Is." Me. Well, I am still trying to figure out how come we don't have any information on MZ Clinton, except that her brother was a fat lout. Who were her parents? What is her background? How did she get in to the schools she went to? Why is there no real information out there about her?
Well, if her Father was like her Brother, and her Mother was like her they probably both died in a "Double Homicide."
Hm, what a strange concept; someone around the Clintons dying of violent means. It's almost impossible to contemplate. The genius of Gramsci was his realization of where the progressivism of the late 19th, early 20th century was heading. The Marxian emphasis on the French model of violent revolution, terror included, was discredited by the failure of 1848 to fullfill the prophecy of historical determinism. Where to go? Gramsci assumed the socialist utopia was a practical goal although Marx's prophetic timeline hadn't played out. The cultural 'base' of family, faith and patriotism was never fully considered by Marx as the support for capitalism, only a symptom. Gramsci saw that base as the support for the whole capitalist infrastructure and as a kind of conspiratorial plot to protect 'capitalist' interests at the expense of the workers. The workers themselves held to such values and that had to change. Political correctness as wel as moral/ cultural relativism are relatively new phenomena in the 'Christian' west but are fully 'Gramscian'. The devaluing of 'old fashioned morality' was possible through the 'progressivism' and scientism he saw rising around him. As state power became more centralized through the acceptance of progressive thought ,top-down statism and central planning became more acceptable to the intellectual class of the time, gramsci knew that all his revolution rquired was the right people at the top. Gramsci's insight was his understanding that the top-down revolution of 'intellectuals' in power was practical as opposed to Marx's vision of bottom-up mass revolt of workers brainwashed by a thousand years of the conspiracy of 'western culture'.
Wow. Gramsci as the Rossetta Stone of our contemporary rot. Some pretty smart fellas (and gals!) visit this website.
Thank you Tom C for the Quick and Easy version. Once had an interesting conversation with higher level union leader. When I asked the question about so many jobs going to China and the American unions have done so little to stop this trend. His response: "unions care about the well being of every worker in the world". And, just what are our unions doing opening centers for labor and justice in Australian schools?
This is interesting. New to me. My gut has always said "you don't kick the legs out from under society." which is my perception of leftist leanings. It's always about discarding the tried and true in favor of kooky ideas that have never worked anywhere.
Just because I am not a believer, doesn't mean I can't recognize the inherant good in our kick-ass system. Plus I can't stand whiners or the told-you-so crowd (like those who take down the Catholic church). The most good is done in a system that encourages the individual to rise to his or her potential. This is all natural to me. Turns out my gut was right. ''It's almost impossible to contemplate''
I want to laugh, but I keep sobbing. You have to ask, what is it that makes an idea bad? What's wrong with Gramsci's ideal end-state? So far, the results are mainly anecdotal, involving such mundane behavioral adjustments as, say, back in the USSR, a widespread loss of the will to live.
Gramsci/Grant = same old dilemma different day: What to do when assholes gain some power over you and your family. There’s gotta be more than:
1. Ally yourself with like minded others. Unionize. Form gangs. Aw hell.... 2. Freedom to do as you please sure is great as long as you don’t get caught. 3. Run away. 4. Become a philosopher. Commanders sometimes take the bullet that others luckily dodge, oft due to a shooter’s terrible aim. May you enjoy your Purple Heart and your sniper's attentions/ intentions. All the best, and many thanks!
To clarify, things will work out for you both, despite the shoot-out. The "many thanks" still stands.
I got the idea from my last visit to my local country store just today, which is closing. The old story - suburbia moves in along with all the volume discounters. She told me her main fear was leaving her family environment to have to deal with assholes out in the corporate world.
My point was whether you’re conservative or liberal, politics is usually simply all about dealing with the assholes. Capiche? Not completely. Most of life is usually/ simply all about dealing w/ the arses, or pretending they aren't.
Lo conosco. But things have a way of working out, and here's wishing you and friend/s, locality/ies, and personal politics all the best.
Check out Eric S. Raymond's post of two years back re what I described in a post of my own last year as "the Gramscian underpinnings of the Soviet Union's insidious infiltration of our elite institutions last century, offering a riveting checklist of 'some of the most important of the Soviet Union’s memetic weapons,' noting that 'Indeed, the index of Soviet success is that most of us no longer think of these memes as Communist propaganda.'"
Raymond's "Suicidalism": http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=218 Sisu's "Chomsky, Moore, Fisk: Pathetic memebots running the program of a dead tyrant": http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2006/02/honestly_at_the.html Nice tips Sissy. Oh.... careful how you read that :)
Anyway, I will head out in a bit to read your links. Just wanted to say what a succinct and excellent point you make, above. But the problem, obviously, is how to bring this information to the mainstream. It won't happen strictly with blogs, though it is through blogs that I personally have learned of such. It won't happen through the MSM, nor academia, nor pulpits nor through word of mouth. How do we transfer this essentially 'secret' knowledge to the 'people'? Two of the best pieces I have ever read on Gramsci - really authoritative discussions from a conservative standpoint - are here:
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/FonteCultureWar.shtml and here: here: http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=260 and I'd urge anybody with an interest in this insidious neo-Marxist's influence, and how to fight it, to check out those two pieces. The unspooling of Western and American culture is not accidental; the insistence of progressives that change is the end in and of itself is not a bug of liberalism, but a feature. Where did you get that name? Its a name I used in a novel I am writing about Alaska. And I used it briefly years ago when I first got onto the net. Interesting. Its not a common name.
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Yesterday's handy summary of Gramsci put me ta thinkin'. I realized that when I am in the mood to be appalled by a pure strong dose of Gramsci thought, I check out what Moonbattery has to offer.Top of his blog right now - Bloomberg compares US in Iraq to
Tracked: Sep 27, 17:44
Academic Lunacy. Hansen via Dr. Sanity. It's not insane - it's Gramscian!Oil reserves increase over time. Cafe Hayek. That seems true, for at least the next couple of hundred years, but I still like nuke power.Farm S&M Festival at Iowahawk. I can just
Tracked: Sep 28, 08:55
I reckon we all have our favorite blogs, but I can tell you the exact time and place I fell in love with Maggie's Farm. It was when I read Antonio Gramsci and The Long March Through Culture. You see,
Tracked: Mar 15, 18:46
A ZombieTime Photo I'm a trial lawyer by profession. Persuasion -- of both of individuals and groups -- is what I do for a living. Most of the lawyers I know are intelligent people. The better lawyers I know have
Tracked: Mar 24, 02:40
Obama's Leftism, by Joshua MuravchikThanks to a grant from a left-wing foundation, he was hired by a small group of white protégés of Saul Alinsky, the original apostle of “community organizing.” Alinsky’s institutional base was the Industrial Areas Foundation, which
Tracked: Sep 23, 21:45
However, Mr. Obama. I.will.not.serve. More on that later. First, the bright chirpy part! Much as I wish it weren't, on several levels, today is a historic day as a man of color is given "the football" and assumes control of greatest potential force of destruction and construction on the planet, the Presidency of the United States, as bound by the Constitution. As well you become the biggest target for, well, just about everything and everyone, good and bad. Heck, you know you aren't doing too bad when you've already been burned in effigy overseas and you hadn't even put your hand on the Lincoln Bible yet! I wish you great success as President, Mr. Obama, although there are some specific issues that I admit I wish you less success, and in fact, failure, as I believe our definitions of what constitutes a successful endstate differ somewhat dramatically. But on the whole, I want you to succeed, and not fail. Of course, I intend that in the bi-partisan angle of the Presidency, who acts for all of us, in concert, to a varying degree.
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