Editing Postmodernism

'''Postmodernism''' is an [[Idealism|idealist]] and [[Petty bourgeoisie|petty-bourgeois]]<ref name=":2">{{Web citation|author=J. Sykes|newspaper=[[Fight Back! News]]|title=On the origins and development of postmodernism|date=2023-09-15|url=https://www.fightbacknews.org/2023/9/15/origins-and-development-postmodernism|retrieved=2023-09-16}}</ref> movement associated with [[neoliberalism]] that rejects historical truth and science. It sees all ideas as equally viable even if they are not based in [[Materialism|material]] reality<ref>{{Web citation|author=Connor Harney|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Teaching assistants’ strike stops rehabilitation of Confederate statue|date=2018-12-19|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/teaching-assistants-strike-stops-rehabilitation-of-confederate-statue/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421023135/https://www.liberationnews.org/teaching-assistants-strike-stops-rehabilitation-of-confederate-statue/|archive-date=2021-04-21|retrieved=2022-12-31}}</ref> and completely rejects the existence of progress.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|author=Hamid Alizadeh|newspaper=Socialist Appeal|title=In Defence of Hegel|date=2020-08-27|url=https://www.socialist.net/in-defence-of-hegel.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201032314/https://www.socialist.net/in-defence-of-hegel.htm|archive-date=2022-12-01}}</ref> Postmodernists reject any theory that attempts to explain all of [[human history]], including [[Marxism]]. Major postmodernist theorists include [[Jacques Derrida]] and [[Michael Foucault]].<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=J. Sykes|newspaper=[[Fight Back! News]]|title=Red Theory: Marxism against postmodernism|date=2022-07-03|url=http://www.fightbacknews.org/2022/7/3/red-theory-marxism-against-postmodernism|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926195512/http://www.fightbacknews.org/2022/7/3/red-theory-marxism-against-postmodernism|archive-date=2022-09-26|retrieved=2023-02-05}}</ref> Foucault rejected [[historical materialism]] and believed history happened by accident.<ref name=":2" />

 

 

 

[[Structuralism|Structuralists]] and [[Post-structuralism|post-structuralists]] argue that [[language]] and not [[class struggle]] shapes society.<ref name=":2" /> However, according to [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]], language is not a part of the [[Base and superstructure|base or superstructure]].<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1950|title=Marxism and Problems of Linguistics|chapter=Concerning Marxism in Linguistics|quote=In this respect language radically differs from the superstructure. Take, for example, [[RSFSR|Russian]] society and the Russian language. In the course of the past thirty years the old, [[capitalist]] base has been eliminated in Russia and a new, [[socialist]] base has been built. Correspondingly, the superstructure on the capitalist base has been eliminated and a new superstructure created corresponding to the socialist base. The old political, legal and other institutions, consequently, have been supplanted by new, socialist institutions. But in spite of this the Russian language has remained basically what it was before the [[October Revolution]].|city=Moscow|publisher=''[[Pravda]]''|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1950/jun/20.htm}}</ref> Post-structuralists also believe that language is shaped by power and use linguistics and psychology to criticize power. They do not distinguish between [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|power held by the workers]] and [[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|power held by the bourgeoisie]].<ref name=":2" />  

The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] spent millions of dollars promoting postmodernist groups including museums, theoretical magazines, and cultural fronts.<ref name=":0" /> The CIA report "France: Defection of the Leftist Intellectuals" praised Foucault for the "critical demoliton of Marxist influence in the social sciences."<ref name=":2" />