Many authors from the US and Western Europe perpetuate the disturbing habit of justifying and normalising the contemporary modal of predatory capitalism, by severely criticising any attempt to move away from it. Authors such as Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, for example, attempt to ‘normalise’ the capitalist system by demonising and stigmatising any alternative visions of humanity as being ‘dystopic.’ Of course, the deck is stacked in the favour of their objective as they ensure that truly disturbing, unsavoury or nightmarish realities are ‘invented’ and ‘inserted’ in their narratives to give flesh to the bones of their contentions. Anyone can invent a nightmare and use fear to prevent the easily-led from exploring a certain avenue of exploration. Parents have done this to children since time immemorial, but the intended audience of these dystopic fictions are generally not children – but adults! The authors who employ this scare tactic make a living out of their labours, but more than this, they seek to preserve the idyllic (bourgeois) enclave within which they live, and within which most other people do not live. To achieve this objective, the capitalist system must be presented as the only viable alternative for humanity when all other variants have been considered (the latter of which NEVER happens beyond the sensational). Every word they write buzzes with a ‘narrow’ pro-capitalist rhetoric disguised as ‘universal’ concern for the welfare of humanity! Changing any aspect of contemporary capitalism is automatically associated with the agency of ‘horror’. There is a certain ‘technophobe’ element to this style of writing which the capitalist system extols – with a warning that ordinary people do not possess the intellectual ability or physical prowess to take control of society and guide its development in a different direction to the one it has been going in. This style of science fiction is therefore anti-working-class and anti-Socialist – as the true-horror for the likes of Huxley and Orwell is the proletariat taking-over the control of society and eradicating the unjust and unfair privileges currently enjoyed by the bourgeoisie. A question never asked is ‘where does the true horror lie?’ Predatory capitalism, when viewed honestly and across its broad spectrum of manifestation, presents an image of absolute and true horror a thousand times more terrible, frightening and deadly than anything that has emanated from the pens of Huxley or Orwell! Why is the brutal and oppressive (existential) reality of capitalism never assessed by these bourgeois science fiction writers? The answer is simple – it is because that if they admit the genuinely ‘horrific’ nature of capitalism, they will be betraying the interests of their own class. The pointing-out of the ‘horror’ of everyday capitalist existence is to simultaneously point-out the ‘how’ and ‘why’ the bourgeoisie live in an oasis of capitalist excess built on the bones of the millions of workers who have died earning it for them! Starvation, homelessness, illness, injury, high mortality, deformity, illiteracy, criminality, rape, murder and mayhem! The true horror of the heart of capitalism is the physical and psychological impoverishment of the majority of the people who waste their bodies performing soul-destroying labour which keeps the privileged few sat in their studies sipping tea and making-up nightmarish stories as to why it is that things cannot be changed!
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Marx and Engels correctly observed that external conditions influence the type of inner psychological and emotional terrain an individual experiences, whilst the functioning mind-set – through thought and action – can influence (and change) how the external environment manifests and operates! These observations can be read in the ‘Theses on Feuerbach’. The type of society a child is born into – conditions the ‘type’ of mind-set the child develops – whilst how an individual ‘thinks’ (following education and other experiences of life) can influence the type of behaviour (and interaction) the individual exerts upon the physical environment. Obviously, the logical suggestion is that a fully functioning physical environment pre-exists the ‘birth’ of each individual – and serves as a ‘rich’ depository of influences that channel the human-mind into a particular frequency of functionality. However, as the human-mind can be further influenced by all kinds of stimulus which direct its thinking-process into multitudinous directions, it is possible that given the right kind of influence, the ‘true’ reality of the external world can be clearly grasped, and a Revolutionary direction of behaviour embarked upon! The thinking is that once a Socialist Revolution is successfully achieved in the outer world – then an entirely ‘new’ inner terrain for humanity is experienced! Where meditation is useful is that it can ‘clear’ the inner mind of the ‘delusion’ and ‘confusion’ caused by the external environment of a capitalist society! Meditation can achieve this as an ‘act of will’ which allows an individual to ‘detach’ themselves from the strictures of predatory capitalism, and whilst still living in a capitalist society, and mould their behaviour in such a way so as to live in a progressive manner that helps assist the development of physical conditions that bring a successful Socialist Revolution ever-closer! This can happen because Buddhist meditation ‘uproots’ the essence of the capitalist system from deep within the habits of the mind. What is this ‘essence’ of the capitalist system? Is is greed, hatred and delusion. Being outwardly ‘non-attached’ to physical stimulus and inwardly ‘calm’ and ‘still’ can only result in the reality of Socialism! This means that by realising ‘empty’ space in the mind is directly linked to perceiving the ‘empty’ space of the physical environment – with the two experiences ‘integrating’ into one reality. This is how Buddhist meditation can bring a further layer of developmental structure to Marxist and Marxist-Leninist ideology. Buddhist meditation allows for the idea that individuals can ‘free’ their minds and bodies from being ‘directly’ influenced by capitalist ideology whilst still physically existing within a capitalist society! Of course, the external reality is still ‘capitalist’, but individuals can ‘detach’ their psychological processes and sensory reactions from the habitual ‘predatory’ nature of the capitalist system. Such an achievement propels the individual into a permanent state of ‘transition’ which has the tendency of moving all thought and behaviour into the direction of Socialism. This is a ‘new’ state of achieving ‘Socialism’ that acts in accordance with the thinking of Marx and Engels – but which was not developed in their writings during their lifetimes. This is despite the fact that Marx and Engels knew about Buddhism (via their friend ‘Karl Koppen’), but never had to time (or experience) to develop a ‘theory’ in this direction. Buddhist meditation, as a method of ‘uncoupling’ the inner-being from the outer capitalist system could well be developed into an objective science free of all religiosity no different to studying the written works of Marx and Engels!
For Marx religion is like a fix of opium designed to take the minds (and bodies) of the collective working-class off of the daily suffering implicit within the life of a capitalist society! Whilst for Lenin, religion of any sort is nothing but a ‘fog’ which distorts the collective thinking of the working-class. Furthermore, Marx exposes the underlying philosophical premise of any form of theism as being the product of ‘inverted’ thought processes, or to put it another way, a body of knowledge built upon a foundation of illogical thinking and incorrect conclusions. Marx explains that the idea of an ‘all-knowing’ God is nothing but a ‘thought’ in the human mind – a product of wishful thinking and imagination – which is then mistaken as existing ‘independently’ somewhere ‘out there’ in the universe. This argument is as powerful as it is simplistic and straightforward. For Marx, the vast body of theological literature does not matter – as it is all premised upon a false understanding of reality that relies upon ‘blind faith’ to exist and continue to exist. This is where religion receives its greatest support, as ‘faith’ does not require logical though or correct scientific scrutiny to ‘exist’ and ‘function’ throughout society. The Church Authorities are political entities that support the predatory capitalist system, and they sustain this influence (regardless of its obvious ‘corruption’) through the propagation of the agency of ‘faith’. Just as the Medieval Church gained its political power by aligning itself with the imperial Roman apparatus – modern Christianity has been developed by the bourgeoisie to represents its own best class interests – and grew-out of the process of industrialisation over the last four-years or so. Modern Christianity, therefore, exists as a statement of class dominance by the bourgeoisie which masquerades as a vehicle for personal development and deliverance. By transferring ‘religion’ from the ‘public’ to the ‘private’ sphere – as Marx and Lenin agree – the power-mongering of its modern priesthood is dismantled and disempowered. Religious doctrine is then replaced into a position of its founding – where it becomes a vehicle for self-cultivation with NO political ambitions or political power. An argument can be made that by placing religion into the ‘private’ sphere – religion is being returned to its ‘genuine’ state and purpose of being a vehicle for ‘inner’ development. This private-undertaking should be the only ‘lawful’ function that religious possesses. The ideology of Marxist-Leninism suggests that as times unfolds throughout a ‘Socialist’ society (which sees the working-class seizing control of the means of production) - it is believed that the ‘impulse’ toward religion will eventually die-out quite naturally as society is transformed from one of exploitation’ to that of ‘collective co-operation' - from ‘daily suffering’ to ‘daily collective and personal empowerment’! As the outward aspect of social organisation becomes ‘classless’, ‘just’, ‘productive’ and ‘equalitarian’, etc, the ‘inner’ health and vibrancy of the human-condition will becomes so ‘purified’, ‘positive’ and ‘progressive’ that there will no longer appear the impulse for the need for religion to arise as a psychological, emotional and physical habit. Therefore, Marxist-Leninist ideology offers a critique of religion that is so devastating to the Bourgeois Church that its power-brokers would rather support the ideology of ‘fascism’ and declare Marxism to be ‘evil’ than honestly and truthfully face the allegations levelled by Marx and striving to work with its conclusions rather than propagandising against it. Religion, if handled the right-way, can be useful for the development of a Socialist society, with any Socialist government possessing the moral responsibility of ‘integrating’ religionists into a new Socialist world-order with as little friction as possible. ACW (15.4.2021)
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AuthorAdrian Chan-Wyles PhD - Political Commissar and BMA (UK) Historian & Researcher. Archives
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