Antonio Gramsci, Cultural Marxism, Wokeness, and Leninism 4.0

Am I the only one who is still reeling from that fact that Pete Buttigieg’s father translated Gramsci and studied him?

It wasn't until these critical theories came into prominence was I able to see that my university professors from nearly twenty years ago were setting me up to believe in Marxist ideologies. I can't tell you how many of my political science professors spent entire semesters discussing Gramsci and hegemony. At the time, I literally just thought that it was what I was supposed to be learning about almost exclusively in a typical political science class.

You absolutely nailed it. Not that you need me to tell you. The job of articulating this to our families and communities is a tough one. But it’s one that we all need to get on with as a matter of moral responsibility.

"Gramsci understood 100 years ago that If you could subvert the church you could remove the greatest impediment, while creating the greatest delivery mechanism for the ideology possible. "

Search "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy."

Your exposition of Gramsci's thought and his impact on the development of the eventual praxis of Marxist thought as it evolved in communist societies was a tour de force. It was comprehendible and comprehensive. Your incorporating and connecting his thought with the Frankfurt school was also excellent. The Frankfurt attempt to fuse Freud and Marx was attacked by fellow member, Erik Fromm in his "The Crisis in Psychoanalysis." In a ferociously worded critique he accuses them of illegitimately revising Freud's writings to fit their ideological bent and make it compatible with critical theory to promoting the Marxist agenda. The greatest vitriol was reserved for Herbert Marcuse. But there was one part of your discussion which I would like to pursue that I might have misunderstood regarding the Marxist take on antithesis (Aufhebung). You were spot on regarding Hegel's notion as jettisoning what was to be considered information that was passé in the light of new understanding or cognitive development while maintaining that which was considered still relevant. As you pointed out, the eventual fusing of the information maintained and the new was brought together into a synthesis through the process of sublation. But, the Marxist seemed to eventually reject any notion of antithesis as Aufhebung and substituted the idea of "negation." All the past was seen to be useless and a pernicious vestige of all that needed to be rooted out and destroyed. Thus, the new "Man," whatever that was. Thus, the Red Guard were told to destroy all China's classic works of art, literature and anything relating to the historical past. The Chinese were destituting themselves of their entire cultural-historical identity. The point was absolutely not sublation but obliteration. Thus, there was no synthesis. They, the Lumpenproletariate, were to begin obediently at point zero and build the new order under the instructions of the elite who never had any idea of what they were doing. Thus, Pol Pot murdered professors, artists, professionals, dancers of Cambodia's classical ballet, musicians, etc. They were to return to and be a purely utopian, agrarian society. Of course, negation failed miserably, but there was the near total destruction of the genetic, cultural identity of peoples. We're seeing the attempt to do this now in the West. There is no correcting this Marxist tendency to mindlessly self-destruct; it's inherent to the very warp and woof of Marxist thought and methodology - perhaps a confirmation of the tendency toward thanatos which haunted Freud in his later years. Ironically, one of the very earliest of the Greek philosophers, Parmenedes of Elea, saw the contradiction: "Something only comes from something; something cannot come from nothing; nothing comes from nothing." There's the answer to Marxist negation in three concise sentences from ancient metaphysics. It is always destined to fail, and untoward numbers of brutally controlled human beings are bound to suffer and even perish in the senselessness.

Most of my friends on the left don’t have the attention span to grasp the long game being played here.

If at any point cultural marxism gets stopped, you'll be one of the most important persons of our new century, I'm so glad to be able to listen to you through these mediums.

Third time listening to this. My 21 year old son has been reading The Communist Manifesto, and thinks it’s full of great ideas. I’m trying to really digest this information to be able to have good discussions with him. So thank you for doing this.

"Don't even get me started on the Pope". Great comment!

makes sense, that why i feel like i am back in ussr or living my grandma youth stories from the 30s soviet union.

2 years after this podcast was published, I saw a statistic from I don't know where, that the number of families that homeschool has increased 30% over the last couple years. I don't know how accurate that is, but it is encouraging.

Read Thomas Sowell's 'Intellectuals and Society'. It helps to put these things into perspective.

Hey James, thank you for what you do. I was fired from a Christian fellowship for speaking out against the critical theories within it. This talk really vindicated my actions, thank you

Thank you so much for educating me. I will be listening to this several times. Blessings to you and everyone else who is listening.

James Lindsay, you are a Treasure. PLEASE, continue to share your intellect. My family fled CZ in '68. This is the most articulate depiction of. What me family described living under Soviet Communism Bravo!

The parallel with the Chinese Cultural Revolution in terms of Hun-privilege is not something I've heard James talk about before and I think it is something he should mention more of. There is often the belief that American history is unique in terms of racial strife. Having concrete historical examples of very obvious parallels can really help make this esoteric and academic subject matter much more visceral and relatable. Part of the major obstacle in discussing CRT amongst regular people is articulating exactly why and how it is ultimately leading to an evil outcome. On it's surface it appears empathetic to suffering. Underneath it is driven by resentment and entitlement.

This is chilling, given what's happening in our major cities.

I admire you, James. You are a voice of rationality in these crazy, chaotic times.

James you and Jordan Peterson are absolute legends when it comes to understanding all of what's embedded in our frameworks and operating systems.