Category:Essays

There have been many attempts at creating international auxiliary languages to unite the peoples of the world. The most famous of them all by far is Esperanto. But how does one even create such a language? And how can you tell whether or not it is any good?

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Recommended socialist films from ProleWiki's editors

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More and more people are saying the situation in Palestine is "complicated". That we have to deplore the amount of deaths on "both sides". That Hamas is "illegitimate" or "terrorists". Even worse, they are now compared to ISIS! What an insult.

Starting from the origins of Zionism through the colonisation of Palestine to the recent Flood of Al-Aqsa operation in October 2023, we aim to set the record straight and debunk Zionist propaganda that aims to retain its cushy privilege in Palestine by any means necessary -- including psychological warfare against the world population.

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Imperialism is perhaps the most prolific reactionary force in the world, regularly finding its downfall within revolutionary programs. The masses clearly find themselves no longer under the oppressive boot of a single capitalist yolk, but strangled by a double yolk: capitalism and imperialism. All communists who genuinely wish to free the global masses must probe deeply into the universal essence of imperialism, it is only by thoroughly studying and properly analysing imperialism that the modern situation can be accurately understood: how to approach it, and more importantly, how to change it. It is only through studying imperialism that the targets for our guns will make themselves clear.

To negate and dismiss an adequate analysis of imperialism, is to join the camp of global reactionaries, and abandon the world Proletariat.

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This essay aims to examine some misguided assertions that I have seen quite often over the years. Some of these views are not only held by liberals but also by communists, and not only by people who know little about language and linguistics but also by people who have dipped their toes in it and think of themselves as knowing quite a bit.

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I've been noticing a trend with certain comrades, where said comrades (particularly whom are cisgender) are supportive of transgender people, yet their analysis of the woman question didn't change much from the 1960s.

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An essay analyzing why the Communist Party of Greece has fundamentally wrong ideas and should be criticized.

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This essay is outdated, see Dogmatism, Cults, and Religion.

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We have heard of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s “self-imposed isolation” and the nation has been incessantly referred to as a “hermit kingdom”, but what is the root of this idea? What we have in reality is a state that has, in the course of its history, attempted to form peaceful relations, to establish travel, and to usher in the signing of a new peace treaty for the cause of reunification. On the other hand, the United States, the world’s paramount military aggressor, and its front group the “United” Nations has rebuffed these overtures, introducing limitations on travel for the purposes of producing a skewed image of a “hostile rogue state” incapable of negotiations, while at the same time escalating tensions.

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I'm serious. How is 'dengism' even defined to begin with? Maoists (and other Anti-revisionists) seem to love this word, as this is a catch-all phrase for any 'revisionists' who appears to support the People's Republic of China. We could define 'dengism' to be this way, however, it also can apply to 'revisionists' who support the 4 other claimed socialist nations as well. This leads to a question. What even is 'dengism'?

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Review of Marxism: Philosophy and Economics by Thomas Sowell

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The vestiges of the feudalist press and suppression were replaced with free press, free speech, and free expression. These phrases obscured the real essence of capitalism; where the press became an economic institution (the bourgeoisie possessing the masses of capital), it had at once reformed itself into a direct expression of class interest to which the proletariat were excluded on the very basis of their essence as a class.

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I've lived in China for over a year now. I moved here at the beginning of last year. Send me questions! You can hit the button marked 'Discussion' up at the top of the page to do so. I like writing so feel free to ask me anything about life here China!

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Anark has no understanding of the class character of the state, does not even mean to address it, this “class” has no features other than its oppression, so that we may arrive at Bakunin’s nonsense of a “new proletariat” suppressed by the DOTP. The state is an apparatus for the suppression of one class by another, of, in orthodox, the suppression of the majority by the minority, for the reconciliation of irreconcilable contradictions, although in the national sense the proletarian state (which Lenin clarifies in this sense is no longer a state proper) may through the masses suppress the bourgeoisie whose power is supported internationally, as seen from the counterrevolutionary movement against the Bolsheviks supported by the imperialist powers.

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It comes up again and again in the various socialist groups, and the issue never seems to be really settled. Is China communist? Should we support China?

We are surrounded by accusations, criticism, respect and deference to and for the Middle Kingdom. Let's try to understand the country for once. Whether actions or lack of actions are good or bad is complicated to discern, as it often depends on one's perspective. Based on this, I offer the following reasoning.

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Disclaimer: This essay contains transphobia and quotes from transphobic authors. If you are sensitive to this, please take caution while reading this essay.

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There is a narrative common in the West that claims that West Asia (often incorrectly referred to as the “Middle East”) is somehow inherently violent. That its people have been at war for thousands of years and just cannot be peaceful. It also promotes an Orientalist view of West Asia, claiming that the root of instability in the region is religious differences going back thousands of years. This is then contrasted with the “modern” and “civilized” Europe, which has been at peace for a long time and presumably would remain at peace forever if only those Muslims would leave them alone!

All of these claims are false.

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A guide to writing SEO content on ProleWiki or other wikis

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An essay explaining ProleWiki's relationship to Marxism-Leninism, its principles, and criticism. ProleWiki has evolved to accept only Marxist-Leninists in its membership, and this essay explains the reasoning and context that lead to this decision.

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What are the material conditions of the United States? Understanding this question is central to grasping how far away the United States is from a revolutionary situation. Wang Huning's insights will help illustrate the current material conditions.

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ProleWiki is proud to present its brand new Essays feed!

With this new page, which is immediately replacing our legacy page, we hope to develop a more robust presence as essay/article writers and potentially even collaborate with other writers and authors!

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We are in an age where communication has reached a speed never before possible. Anyone who is active on the Internet experiences a sheer wave of information every day that floods the inexperienced user. One's own bilingualism even acts as a multiplier for the mass of information that the increased appearance of contrarians, slogan parroters and misguided people should surprise no one. Where, however, does the communist stand in this situation?

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An essay designed to find the qualitative and quantitative differences in the structure of both China's and Russia's economic reforms. Described as Reform and Opening Up in China and Shock Therapy for Russia. The argument of this essay is simple, the nature of China's economic reforms is not tantamount to simply "restoring capitalism" unlike what Russia did. We will measure the reforms from 1978 to around 1996, when the Russian reforms and Chinese reforms were both well under way. We will look at the effects on quality of life, structure of economic reorganization, public and private sectors under Deng's reforms and Shock Therapy.

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If we hold that Marxism-Leninism is a wide, all-encompassing framework, then it follows that we will see it in action in some fields (at times more in some than in others), and that there is something to be learned from these fields to apply them to Marxism.

In other words, we can further our understanding and practice of Marxism by integrating things -- which may not seem Marxist at first -- into it.

Design thinking has gone through its own dialectics and what was once a very niche term privy to only a select few has gone through its pop science phase through relatable 21st century bourgeois like Steve Jobs to finally become, in its current incarnation, a very rational process.

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Read inside to learn how you can edit ProleWiki without an account.

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If we are to understand the role that capitalism plays in the settler-colonialism that Canada is founded on, and how that relation perpetrates the racism which allows this extreme form of police brutality to exist relatively unhindered in our society, we must first understand why a state forms and who it serves. As Lenin wrote in The State and Revolution, “The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonism objectively cannot be reconciled”, from this we can understand that as long as we have capitalism as our dominate mode of production, the interests of those who the state protects will always be at odds with the interests of the vast majority of the population in that state. Since these class antagonisms cannot be rectified as the interests of the class are opposed to one another, the state creates “bodies of armed men” in order to enforce the will of the ruling class through force onto the oppressed class; it is from this reality where police brutality takes root. With this definition in mind, we can begin to explore police brutality against Indigenous peoples in both a modern and historical context.

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The use of substances that alter the quality of the consciousness is not something intrinsic to exploitation.

The primitive communists used consciousness-transforming substances collectively, following their hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Mushrooms, plants and other substances were all experimented collectively.

Our perspectives on drug abuse today are metaphysical, backward and reactionary: we treat addiction as phenomena directly caused by substances, not by the material conditions human beings find themselves in.

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All communists should know how to handle police when they come knocking. Not only do we understand the reasons to be wary of the police (systemic racism, their role as an enforcer of bourgeois rules...), we must be doubly cautious because our activism and ideological leanings put us at risk.

This guide will first give some general pointers to handle police no matter where you live and then delve into the laws of, hopefully, each country in the world.

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There have been many controversies around China's Socialist nature or not and the current economic system of China occured. China remains, to this day, a Marxist-Leninist nation. This article will primarily be tackling it's internal economic policy and attitude towards the markets, as well as how the nature of the state and market coincide with each other.

This essay demonstrates the historical context, ideological origins and justifiactions of China's economic model, known as the "Socialist Market Economy." I will also go into the specific mechanisms of the Socialist Market Economy itself, and how it contradicts "Capitalist logic", while simultaneously maintaining the dominant position of Public Ownership. And how the Socialist Market Economy/People's Republic of China continues to provide and improve the material quality of the life of the average Chinese person.

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To get the most out of this guide, practice Mandarin everyday. Even if you only have 15 minutes of spare time. Doing 15 minutes of practice everyday will give better results than a half-hour every other day.

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There are no two ways about it. When you started this path you probably had your mind blown at all the cool new things you learned. The class struggle, dialectical materialism, historical materialism… you probably started questioning everything around you; how come we live in neoliberal hellholes? How come the rest of the world is poor and we are not? How come this, how come that?

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As ProleWiki evolves, it's only natural that this project slowly finds a culture of its own and cements it -- and not only that, but self-reproduces it as well.

Community culture is very important for many reasons. One of them is through that process of self-reproduction. As new editors come in, they can quickly get a feel for what is expected of them and where they can participate, with minimal delay to get them up to speed and active, as well as minimal reading required. Nobody wants to have to spend a dozen hours understanding what they just joined before they can participate on it.

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The LGBT Question involves answering many aspects. This includes sex, sexuality, and gender. Many Marxists and so-called 'Marxists' have tried to answer this question utilising the tools of science. However the correct application to the scientific method requires a concrete understanding of Materialist Dialectics. This essay serves not only to understand LGBT people from a dialectical perspective, but also serves as a critique to the 'marxists' (in other words: revisionists, reactionaries) who claim the LGBT people are either idealist, or do not align with the dialectical framework.

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Gus Hall (1910-2000) was leader of the CPUSA from 1959 until his death in 2000. Hall was known for frequently taking a staunch Marxist-Leninist stance and led the CPUSA through a number of difficult times. In late 1991, a group of reformist members of the CPUSA known as the Committees of Correspondence led a push to move the party away from Marxism-Leninism. This faction was defeated and as a result left the party. This, along with the dissolution of the USSR and fall of the Eastern Bloc socialist countries all in quick succession, resulted in a weakened communist party. The party remained under the leadership of Hall through this period, but as his health deteriorated he stepped down from the position in late 2000 and was replaced by Sam Webb, who was 55 at the time.

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On a day like any other of July 2023, ProleWiki archived its old library to make way for a new one, redesigned from the ground up.

In this essay, I want to go into the considerations and challenges surrounding the redesign of our library, and compare it to a very well-known library in marxist circles, the Marxists Internet Archive.

I hope it will provide comrades with valuable insight into how to conduct projects from a design perspective, whether for their party, agitprop work, or even their personal hobbies.

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The advent of the high-tech era, marked by the proliferation of personal computing devices in the 90s, has brought about a social transformation whose effects are still not entirely understood. Communication has been thrust into instantaneity: real-time chat and mobile devices have rendered "snail mail" and more static forms of voice communication to a bygone era, and thoughtful long-form writing has to fight its way across a caustic sea of attention-seeking headlines and quips written in record time.

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In the current context of the class struggle in the United States of America, it seems that with each passing day, a strand of theory known as patriotic socialism is becoming more and more popular with the masses.

At least, that is what its proponents would have us believe. Unable to create their own movement, self-proclaimed "patriotic socialists" in the States would rather focus on destroying other established communist parties and projects. This is how we were flooded with the "CPUSA 2036" slogan on Twitter: an attempt to infiltrate the Communist Party of the USA, hijack its power structures, and redirect its energy to "patriotic socialism".

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Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is a controversial ideology, to say the least. I wrote the Maoism article initially with a more 'neutral' standpoint whilst still critiquing its theory under the 'Criticism' section. This will be a more biased viewpoint of Maoism, as it describes the problems with it. Despite my bias, I will attempt to remain neutral. I will consider not only its theory, but its praxis, and seeing how it Maoism applies to the real world.

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ProleWiki announces its brand new homepage. Read more to find out what's new and what you can do with it.

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On B. R. Myers’ The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters (2011), a novel by a supposed "leading expert."

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it is Stalin’s Birthday today, and as this piece relates to him, I decided to post it on this day

Recently, a disturbing trend has come to my attention, the unrelenting defamation of comrade Stalin by certain Gonzaloist circles. These Gonzaloists , desperately trying to deepen the theoretical rift between Stalin and Mao even where there is no split to be found. They try to artificially expand a miniscule crack into an all-encompassing rupture. They unsuccessfully attempt to make Stalin look like a stupid idiotic reactionary who was [theoretically] completely destroyed by the absolute genius and humanity’s saviour, Mao: any credit to another of the 5 heads is an attack on Mao himself. They are obsessed. They are a cult.

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This guide is not aimed towards communists specifically -- the principles apply to everyone similarly. However, arguments can be made as to why a guide on a communist encyclopedia is important and interesting:

Many comrades want this information, but do not know where to get it. In this way we are bringing it to them if they happen to read ProleWiki. The fitness industry is dominated by reactionary content and personalities. With this guide, you are sure it was written by a communist and will not contain unwelcome anecdotes. And of course, fitness is important to all communists for a variety of reasons.

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The government of Taiwan, entranced in some rapacious delusion of money, of capitalist grandeur, further distances itself from the masses who, now in the highest percentage yet, oppose independence.

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ProleWiki has a plain-text Library of books, and to feed it, we need digitized books that we can copy from.

Digitizing books is something very few of us have ever had to do, yet it's not especially complicated.

In this guide, we'll cover various ways you can scan and digitize your own books, which will fit all budgets and technical capabilities.

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