Rev Left Radio - Mass Struggle: Misconceptions and Distortions of the Mass Line

Episode Date: July 16, 2022

Mass Struggle Linktree: https://linktr.ee/massstruggle   Here's the chapter: https://massline.info/mlms/mlch04.htm Here's the book: https://massline.info/mlms/mlms.htm   Check out Faith and Capital as well: https://linktr.ee/Faithandcapital

Hello everybody and welcome back to Rev Left Radio. On today's episode, I am going to actually release an episode from another podcast, a new podcast, from a comrade and friend, trying to get this sort of show off the ground. And I thought it'd be cool and easy for us, just throw one of the episodes up on our feed, give a little intro, and then link to the show and the show notes for people to get. go subscribe to on any podcast app if they're interested in this sort of content, which I think is very not only interesting, but important. Now, this comes from, you might know, my friend Chase from Faith and Capital podcast, a sort of well-known, you know, MLM slash Christian communist podcast

that wrestles with a lot of really fascinating issues at that intersection in particular, but of course has had me on to discuss things in general, and this is a really interesting, good show. Well, he's launched a second show called Mass Struggle, where he specifically reads and reflects on texts from the MLM tradition specifically, but from Marxist traditions even more broadly, perhaps, just kind of reading and reflecting on core texts. And this can be very, very helpful, very important to supplement perhaps a reading of the primary sources if you're struggling with them, or if you would just like to engage with the text without having to necessarily, you know, sit down and slog through it yourself, this can be very helpful.

And everything that Chase does on both of the shows and in general is geared toward equipping organizers with the proper tools to organize along a scientific basis, which is to say a basis of actual efficacy. And, you know, this new project is another extension of that broader goal of his, a goal that we broadly share in the Rev. Left family with Red Menace, guerrilla history and Rev. Left radio proper. So very much kindred spirits definitely comes from a more Marxist-Lennon as Maoist perspective

but is very, very, you know, passionate, very helpful and somebody that is not going to come out from a hyper dogmatic sectarian mindset to shit on other people on the left, but rather to say this is where I'm coming from and here's what I can offer

the, you know, the burgeoning, the growing, the needing to grow left movement, the communist, in particular left movement in the United States. So I wanted to lend our RSS feed to our Comrade Chase and his newest episode, Mass Struggle, or his newest show, Mass Struggle, and play an episode. And again, if you like this, in the show notes,

I'll link directly to the show. You can just go subscribe to it on any platform. And, of course, you can also, and you should, go check out and subscribe to Faith and Capital, his flagship show, if you will. So without further ado, here is the episode from Mass. struggle and this one is on misconceptions and distortions of the mass line and it comes from a broader text the mass line and the american revolutionary movement by scott harrison it is on mass line

info and again i'll link to that in the show notes so you can read along if you want to or follow up and read more chapters from this task so without further ado here's an episode of mass struggle on misconceptions and distortions of the mass line. Enjoy. 4 of the Mass Line and the American Revolutionary Movement titled Misconceptions and Distortions of the Mass Line. My plan is to read the whole way through Chapter 4, and then I will follow it up with a summarization, a brief summarization, and some reflection points. All right, let's get to it. Another preliminary task is to briefly characterize the most common misconceptions

of the mass line, since the best way to fully understand something is to contrast it with potential misunderstandings. When later we further explore various questions related to the mass line, it will be easier to see how differences over these questions can lead to fundamental error. There are lots of political errors, which can appropriately be viewed as being based, at least in part, on misconceptions of the mass line. These include commandism, tailism, adventurism, sectarianism, bureaucratism, dogmatism, empiricism, pragmatism, pragmatism, etc. Of course, many of these trends involve other mistakes in addition to an incorrect understanding of the mass line, but in this essay only their relationship to the

mass line will be gone into internal errors in applying the mass line as an aid in sorting out all these erroneous trends and their various relationships to the mass line i would like to first draw a distinction between one errors which are primarily internal to the mass line method itself and two those which are primarily external, but still related to it. To see what I am getting at here by internal errors, it is helpful to recall the remark made in Chapter 1 that quite often commentators seize upon only a single aspect of the mass line and fail to recognize its other aspects. In the last chapter, three basic steps in the mass line method were listed.

Number one, gathering the ideas of the masses. Number two, concentrating the ideas of the masses. masses with the aid of Marxist theory and an evaluation of the objective situation. And number three, returning the concentrated ideas to the masses. It would be an example of an internal error in understanding or applying the mass line to seize upon just one or two of these steps and ignore the others, or to give undue emphasis to one step at the expense of the others. Of course, of these three steps, the third is least likely to be ignored by anyone consciously seeking to apply a method of leadership.

To lead, some kind of line must be put out to the masses, and therefore the most common errors here are to seize upon the first step and ignore the second, or vice versa. Rightest internal errors. It is a rightest error to recognize the first step in the mass line method, but not the second. Someone holding this view of the mass line understands the importance of gathering the ideas of the masses, but fails to recognize the necessity of processing these ideas with the aid of Marxist theory. Of course, there must still be some method of choosing between the various contradictory views of the masses, which have been gathered, since for these rightists, the choice is not made on the basis of Marxist theory, and has to be made on some other

basis, which often means choosing whichever view the majority of the masses support. This conception of the mass line, which I will call the bourgeois populist conception, can be characterized by the slogan, quote, whatever the masses already understand and want to do is right, end quote. This idealizes the masses and as much as views the majority as infallible. The Marxist view, in contrast, is that while among the masses there exist many important correct ideas, these are by no means always shared by the majority. In general, such vital ideas are, first, held only by a few people, and only after the full application of the mass line, including wide and persistent propagation of these concentrated correct ideas

among the masses, will the majority come to share these ideas? A concomitant, rightist view is that the mass line is, quote, simply a set of techniques, for mobilizing the masses. Such a characterization makes this sound like anybody, even the bourgeoisie, could use the mass line. This is akin to bourgeois populism, and that it also leaves out step two of the three-part mass. line method. Processing the ideas of the masses with the aid of Marxist theory. The bourgeoisie is obviously not going to be able to do this, nor will they want to. It is important to recognize that there is a technique to the mass line, a technique which has to be mastered. But part of this technique

involves the application of Marxist theory to process the ideas of the masses. To speak of the technique of the mass line in opposition to employing Marxist theory is absurd. The bourgeois populist conception of the mass line is clearly tailist, since it follows after the majority of the masses instead

of leading them. It turns the notion of a vanguard party into a joke. It likewise is guilty of empiricism and pragmatism in that it denies that Marxist scientific knowledge exists, which is higher

than mere mass opinion. It reduces the mass line to an opinion poll, in the role of the communist to that of George Gallup. Leftist internal errors. The opposite of this is the leftist error of recognizing the second step in the mass line method, but not the first. As with a bourgeois populist conception, this really means distorting the step it recognizes as well, since, you can't very well process the gathered ideas of the masses if you haven't gathered any. This view does, however, recognize the centrality and importance of Marxist theory, and it may also recognize the importance of objective conditions in determining a correct line and course of action. But it fails to recognize that it is the ideas of the masses,

which form the raw material and starting place for the mass line method, and that the role of Marxist theory and the analysis of objective conditions in the mass line is to process these ideas. The core of this misconception of the mass line, which I will call the sectarian dogmatist conception, is the notion that correct ideas do not come from the masses, but exclusively from the Vanguard party itself. According to this view, the workers are not capable of originating ideas which can advance the struggle, except possibly on minor questions of tactics, et cetera, but only of grasping ideas put forward by communists. And thus, the first step of the mass line, insofar as it is recognized at all, is reduced

to merely checking with the masses to see how well they have grasped the ideas which communists have been presenting to them. This sectarian dogmatist conception might be characterized by the slogan, quote, Follow us. We have all the answers, and quote. Besides the obvious arrogance and dogmatism, this leads to bureaucratism and commandism. This, in turn, alienates the masses and leads to isolation and sectarianism. In socialist society, it leads to oppression of the masses and fosters the development of a new state bourgeoisie. Philosophically, it represents the sin of rationalism.

which here takes form as the view that the proletarian party somehow spontaneously develops every necessary correct idea, or even the view that all such ideas are already known by the party. External errors in applying the mass line I have characterized the bourgeois populist and sectarian dogmatist conceptions as errors, which are primarily internal to the mass line method, which result from undue emphasis on one of its aspects at the expense of another. By external errors,

I mean conceptions of the mass line which result from an inadequate appreciation of the place of the mass line method in the overall revolutionary process. That is, an incorrect understanding of the relations between the mass line and other important revolutionary activities. Rightest external errors.

As with the internal errors, the rightest external errors are the most common and hence the most pernicious. Perhaps the most widespread example of this is the failure to understand the proper relationship between the mass line and Marxist agitation and propaganda. The starting place for the mass line method itself

is the various ideas of the masses. And through the application of the mass line, the revolutionary leadership seeks to change the prevailing ideas among the masses as a whole, to bring them into line with the concentrated views of what is originally the minority about how to advance the struggle. But all this is only one aspect of revolutionary work.

Another aspect is constant agitation and propaganda. The constant education, of the masses in the revolutionary outlook of Marxism-Leninismauism. The goal of Marxist agitation and propaganda, in its most general sense, as contrasted to its more limited goal in step three of the mass line method, is to bring the ideas of the masses into line with the whole of scientific revolutionary theory, Marxism, and not simply into line with what part of the masses already correctly understand to be a step forward in the revolutionary struggle.

It may be helpful at this point to note that there are two different relations between Marxist theory and the mass line method. One of these relations is as an integral part of the mass line method itself. Namely, in step two of the three-step procedure outlined above, the processing of the ideas and the masses by means of Marxist theory. The other relation is external to the mass line process, though central to revolutionary work as a a whole. Mao remarked that, quote, to overthrow a political power, it is always necessary, first of all, to create public opinion, to do work in the ideological sphere, end quote. How is public opinion created? Through agitation and propaganda, of course. The importance of this is stressed by Lenin, quote, the principal content of the activity of our party organization,

the focus of this activity should be work that is both possible and essential in the period of a most powerful revolutionary outbreak as well as in the period of complete calm, namely work of political agitation connected throughout Russia, illuminating all aspects of life and conducted among the broadest possible strata of the masses,

end quote. Marxist theory must guide this agitation and prophet and this is, in fact, the most important role of Marxist theory in revolutionary work, though by no means its only role. The relation of Marxist theory to agitation and propaganda is a relation which is external to the mass line method itself, though, as just mentioned, there is also an internal relation between Marxist theory and the mass line. In saying that agitation and propaganda bear an external relation to the mass line, I

I am not denying the close connection which should always exist between the mass line and Marxist agitation, but the point is to conceptually differentiate the two so that neither gets ignored. The most common rightest external error in connection with the mass line is in fact to downplay or forget agitation and to consider that since Marxist theory is employed in the mass line method itself, there is no need for its independent employment and agitation and propaganda. Marxist agitation is thus reduced to, and identified with, the third step of the mass line method itself, broadly propagating the concentrated ideas of the masses to the masses. This is to confuse the educational role of Marxist theory with its role in political leadership.

It is, in Lenin's phrase, quote, to confound politics with pedagogical. Goggics, end quote. This is also a kind of tailism and empiricism, and of a much more profound sort than is exemplified by rightist errors internal to the mass line method. Leftist external errors. There are also external errors in the opposite direction. Sometimes even those who genuinely favor Marxist agitation and propaganda view such work as being the same thing as a point.

the mass line. In effect, this is to abandon the mass line method of leadership, since it is not seen as adding anything to the work already encompassed under agitation and propaganda. This leftist error also amounts to confounding politics with pedagogics, of viewing political leadership as nothing more than Marxist education. In fact, revolutionary leadership is a lot more than this. Though to be sure, agitation and propaganda form the indispensable foundation for correct leadership. Both the left and right error here come from not recognizing that while political education and political leadership are obviously intimately connected, they are distinct processes, neither of which can replace the other. They both identify Marxist agitation and

propaganda with the mass line method of leadership. One resulting in the emasculation of Marxist agitation, the other resulting in the emasculation of the mass line and leadership in general. The relation between internal and external errors. The purpose of distinguishing internal and external errors in applying the mass line is to help clarify the different ways in which it is possible to go wrong. But in real life, internal and external errors are most often combined and intermingled. Someone who makes a serious rightest error, for example, is probably not simply showing a momentary aberration, but an underlying rightist outlook, which will lead to other kinds of rightest errors as well. This is why rooting out an error is apt to be a much more

difficult job than merely addressing the one concrete point of disagreement. Erroneous Alex, like icebergs, are mostly below the surface. This is true even when those making the air attempt to be open and above board with their views. It is why political disagreements among revolutionaries should always be hashed out in depth, and why it is wrong to abandon the line struggle at the moment when those holding the erroneous outlook first changed their minds about the specific point which gave rise to the discussion. The discussion should always be pursued further in order to discover what underlying outlook gave rise to the specific disagreement in the first place. In this connection, I might

mention my law of dribbling corrections, which seems at least as valid in politics and social science as it is in natural science. If any false theory is finally recognized as completely erroneous by those who have upheld it, this will only be done gradually, one small point at a time. Corollary, the public confession of such errors, will be even more gradually. The bourgeois populist distortion of the mass line typically involves downplaying Marxist aditation and propaganda, as well as failing to process the ideas of the masses with the aid of Marxist theory. Similarly, the sectarian dogmatist distortion of the mass line involves more than just failing to base the mass line on the ideas of the masses.

By concentrating exclusively on Marxist education, it means in effect giving up Marxist leadership of the masses altogether. Thus, by and large the main main. errors associated with attempting to apply the mass line are encompassed by one or the other of these two opposite distortions, bourgeois populism and sectarian dogmatism. Okay, that wraps up our reading for the day. Now on to our final section where I'm just going to quickly summarize what we just heard and throw in a couple reflection points. So the first, we had two internal errors, the rightest internal error, right, the bourgeois populist

conception recognizes the importance of gathering the ideas of the people, an organization or parties trying to organize, but fails to process them with Marxist analysis. And so what ends up happening is they end up simply choosing the view or action that the majority already supports. The bourgeois populist air idealizes the majority's opinion and trails behind the more correct ideas and more advanced activity than only a few of the people being organized may presently, or at least at the beginning, share. But we are not bourgeois populists. This isn't called the popular line. We are Marxists. And Maoism has demonstrated for the necessity of implementing the mass line.

So let's be aware of how our efforts to implement a mass line can easily fall to a bourgeois populist line that ultimately fails to develop our consciousness and struggle. Then there was the leftist internal error, the sectarian dogmatist conception. And this error occurs when a cadre knowingly or unknowingly skips step one and goes straight to number two. Processing not the ideas of the people, they're attempting to organize, but really their own ideas instead. Even worse, some sectarian dogmatists truly do believe that correct ideas do not come from the people they are organizing, but in fact they themselves are the harbingers of the ideas at the people need to grasp and accept. One way you know someone is going to be a terrible organizer is if they communicate in word or in attitude, The belief that every day people are not capable of organizing, of developing, let alone defeating our common enemies.

This kind of practices guaranteed to alienate the non-revolutionary masses and will often mean the cadre is unable to meaningfully unite with organizations of other ideologies that should, in given circumstances, be seen as an ally, not an enemy. This tendency sees all contradictions as antagonistic, as opposed to correctly understanding and handling the contradiction that may momentarily be non-intagonistic. Thus, we have the two internal errors that occur when a cadre skips one of the first two steps in gathering, processing, and returning the ideas to the masses. Next, we have the two external errors. The rightest external error fails to properly agitate and propagandize. So not only are we to help make the advanced ideas of the minority of the people become held by the majority, but we also want to agitate and propagandize, two different things, for even greater revolutionary consciousness and struggle. It is one thing to organize a group around the advanced ideas of some people in that group.

It is an entirely other thing to organize a group around the advanced ideas of the few and agitate and propagandize for revolutionary consciousness and activity. In order for agitation and propaganda to be effective, education needs to be done in light of the particularity and context of a given situation and community, a common failure on the part of us communists, but I'm sure we'll talk more about that in the future. And finally, the leftist external error opts for all agitation and all propaganda, but totally fails to organize anyone. In fact, I think groups that tend to implement this leftist external error probably conflates agitation and propaganda with,

organizing. They confuse organizing with passionate preaching. All right. All helpful things for us to be reflecting upon and analyzing while we are out there experimenting, assessing, and summing our failures and successes. All right. Thanks for tuning in friends. There are links in the show notes. You can find the chapter link where you can read the chapter in the show notes. Also, Patreon is there. You can find bonus free resources material there as well support the show by leaving an iTunes or Spotify rating and review or sending the this episode or this podcast to a friend a good comrade all right thanks y'all we'll talk soon