ProleWiki

From ProleWiki, the proletarian encyclopedia
Revision as of 17:45, 28 January 2023 by CriticalResist (talk | contribs) (added context to the last edit)

This article is about the history and notable events that happened on ProleWiki. For a description of the wiki, see the About page.

ProleWiki
The logo of ProleWiki, a globe featuring a star and wheat emblem, historically communist symbols
Main page of English ProleWiki
TypeOnline encyclopedia
Available in7 languages
Founded30 September, 2020
FounderComrade Forte
Key peopleCriticalResist, MxAsh
Users23 active users
406 registered users
URLprolewiki.org

ProleWiki is a free, collaborative Marxist-Leninist encyclopedia founded in September 2020 aiming to build an anti-imperialist proletarian online collection of pages and essays with information on history, current events, communist parties worldwide, and countries, as well as hosting a library of texts important to the international proletarian movement.

ProleWiki was conceived and created in the community of Lemmygrad, which is a communist community using the open-source software Lemmy. As of October 2022, ProleWiki is available in seven languages and has over 1,700 articles and 530,000 page views.[1]

History

Founding

Old logo of ProleWiki used until February 2022

ProleWiki was created on 30 September 2020 by current ProleWiki administrator Forte. The project began under his sole administration for some time, receiving a casual help from several contributors on technical aspects, the most important of which was MxAsh. She helped with organizing the database, maintaining the server and establishing regular backups if needed.

On 1 November 2020, user Jucheguevara joined ProleWiki and later become an administrator. In the month of November, ProleWiki received a mass influx of account creations and spam accounts,[2] prompting the administration to implement an account request system.[3] On 16 November, current ProleWiki administrator CriticalResist joined the project.[2] Jucheguevara and CriticalResist became administrators on 30 November and 5 February 2021 respectively, along with several other members of ProleWiki, in an effort to diminish the centralization of tasks into a single person.[4] Eventually, the effort was ineffective as the administration group suffered with absenteeism, and eventually the administrators would have their functions revoked months later.[4] The administrators who remained committed to the project at this time were Jucheguevara, Forte and CriticalResist.

On 29 December 2021, ProleWiki editor Ledlecreeper27 joined the project.[2] He brought the project to new heights through his extremely quality contributions spanning several subjects. As of 2022, he is the most prolific editor of ProleWiki.[5]

Purge of patriotic socialists

In September 2022, Jucheguevara worked with Infrared in an attempt to infiltrate ProleWiki with MAGA communists and patriotic socialists. He was banned on 27 September 2022.[6] Following the purge of patsocs, banned members of ProleWiki created InfraWiki on 13 October to promote settler colonialism and social conservatism.[7] On 22 October, ProleWiki added opposition to chauvinism and patriotic socialism to its principles.[8]

Internal conflicts

In June 2022, Wisconcom, a self-described Hoxhaist, joined ProleWiki. He was a competent editor and overall improved many articles on ProleWiki, reaching 4th in all time edits in late 2022.[5] In ProleWiki's Discord server, Wisconcom had behavioral and ideological conflicts with other editors, but he was allowed to stay due to his prolific editing. For the most part he respected the line of ProleWiki, even though he did not agree with it.

In August 2022, Wisconcom began to oppose ProleWiki's principles in the talk page of the Socialist market economy article.[9] When the discussion was shared in Lemmygrad, Wisconcom argued with others and sometimes insulted them.[10] Because of his behavior, he was eventually banned from Lemmygrad but later created another account to evade his ban.

After creating a community for Hoxhaism in Lemmygrad dedicated to anti-China propaganda, Lemmygrad administrators called for a collective debate on the issue in the People's Court of Lemmygrad, and it was decided that Wisconcom would be banned for ban-evading and anti-communist propaganda.[11] Even though he was banned in Lemmygrad, he was allowed to continue in ProleWiki. What started with honest engagements with ProleWiki's editors would gradually evolve to name-calling and general disruptive behavior. Wisconcom later edited articles to oppose the consensus of the editors without consultation and also engage in a dishonest manner with others, even resorting to lying and editing his messages after sending it to make it look like he said something different.

Attempted infiltration

Wisconcom retired on 17 October after being severely criticized for his behavior. Just 3 days later, he came back demanding that he had a higher authority over ProleWiki "to ensure that no unfair rejections of anti-revisionists takes place."[12] After arguing with administrators and condemning ProleWiki and Lemmygrad, he was banned on 21 October.[13] Following his ban, he has attempted infiltrating ProleWiki through several means and even managed to deface some ProleWiki articles in German. He has denounced ProleWiki as promoting "Dengist revisionist ideology."[14]

He used his account in RationalWiki to spread anti-China propaganda and denounce ProleWiki as "tankie", "pro-CCP", "whitewashing Chinese imperialism".[15] He even calls China a fascist state,[14][16] suggesting that it is committing a genocide in its easternmost regions[17], and likening the Chinese economy to that of Nazi Germany.[18] This event was shared on Lemmygrad,[19] leading him to create another fake account claiming he didn't make the edits.[20][21][22]

A screen capture of Wisconcom's message to the mods of the Prolewiki subreddit, under the alias ComradeWenger, saying "You have forced me to go THERMONUCLEAR!" as he announces the "Prolewiki Reconstitution Committee"

On 26 January 2022, Wisconcom contacted the mods of the r/ProleWiki subreddit (at the time, the same as the administration team of Prolewiki) and left them a message under a known alias of his, ComradeWenger, saying ProleWiki had "left him no choice" and he would "go THERMONUCLEAR! [sic]" (see picture on the right). Around the same time as this message, he founded a committee seeking to infiltrate ProleWiki and overthrow its administration.[23]

Working principles (to be moved)

International solidarity

The name chosen for ProleWiki was based on the term "proletariat", whose root "prole" you may find in common with very different Western languages: proletariat, proletariado, prolétariat, proletariato, proletariaat, etc.. This linguistic phenomenon accurately reflects the internationalist aim of the encyclopedia.

Free encyclopedia

ProleWiki is a free encyclopedia, in more ways than one.

Firstly, the encyclopedia has no price attached. It is free to access without payment as well as copy for private use.

Secondly, the encyclopedia is free because any comrade is eligible to apply for an account (a measure installed to combat spam) and start editing.

Finally, ProleWiki is free in the sense of free software. The content found on ProleWiki is generally free to use by anyone for their own needs.

Collaborative work

ProleWiki is also a collaborative project, meaning that most everyone is welcome to make an account and start editing. The encyclopedia does not belong to one person specifically, and relies instead on the labour of many editors who also give their inputs on decisions regarding the direction ProleWiki takes.

References

  1. "Statistics". ProleWiki. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 ProleWiki logs on user creation
  3. Camarada Forte (2020-11-16). "Enjoy ProleWiki's first spam attack" Lemmygrad.
  4. 4.0 4.1 ProleWiki logs on user rights
  5. 5.0 5.1 ProleWiki contribution scores
  6. @felipeforte (2022-09-27). "Jucheguevara has been removed from administrative positions" Lemmygrad.
  7. "InfraWiki" (2022-11-21). InfraWiki. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  8. "Principles of ProleWiki" (2022-10-22). ProleWiki. Archived from the original on 2022-11-22. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  9. Topic on Socialist market economy talk page
  10. Camarada Forte (2022-08-16). "Discussion about socialist market economy. Does socialism have commodity production? Is China a capitalist country because it has commodity production?" Lemmygrad.
  11. Black Tulip (2022-08-26). "The Admins want your opinion on the Hoxhaism community. [RESOLVED"] Lemmygrad.
  12. Topic on the talk page of ProleWiki administrator Forte
  13. "Blocked users". ProleWiki. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Wisconcom (2022-11-13). "On ProleWiki" Substack.
  15. Wisconcom (2022-11-03). "Revision of the page "Wiki" as of 02:08, 3 November 2022" RationalWiki.
  16. "Er behauptet zwar, ein sozialistischer Staat zu sein, steht aber in Wirklichkeit unter der Herrschaft einer kapitalistischen und sozialfaschistischen Oligarchie." (It [China] claims to be a socialist state, but in reality is under the leadership of a capitalist and social fascist oligarchy.)

    "China wird von der sogenannten 'Kommunistischen' Partei Chinas regiert, einer sozialfaschistischen und revisionistischen Partei." (China is ruled by the so-called 'Communist' Party of China, a social fascist and revisionist party.)

    "Die Staatsideologie ist der 'Sozialismus chinesischer Prägung' [...]. Diese Ideologie wird durch ihr neofaschistisches korporatistisches Wirtschaftsmodell [...] definiert." (The state ideology is 'Socialism with Chinese characteristics'. This ideology is defined by its neo-fascist corporatist economic model.)

    "China basiert auf einer 'dritten positionistischen' (faschistischen Korporatismus) staatskapitalistischen Wirtschaft." (China is based on a 'third positionist' (fascist corporatism) state capitalist economy.)

    "Informationen aus der Volksrepublik China angesichts ihrer faschistischen Politik der Autarkie und ihrer quasi-dystopischen Überlebenssysteme [...] knapp sind." ([In reference to trade unions] Information about the People's Republic of China is scarce given its fascist politics of autarchy and its quasi-dystopian systems of survival.)

    "1989 protestierte eine große Anzahl von Studentenprotestierenden, [...], gegen die kapitalistisch-faschistische und revisionistische Diktatur von Deng Xiaoping" (In 1989, a large number of student protestors protested against the capitalist-fascist and revisionist dictator Deng Xiaoping.)

    "Die sozialfaschistische dengistische Regierung unterdrückte die prosozialistischen Proteste [...] bald mit brutaler Gewalt." (The social-fascist Dengist government quickly suppresses pro-socialist protests with brutal force.)

    "Nach 1989 wurde in China eine definitive faschistische Diktatur geschaffen." (After 1989, a definite fascist dictatorship was established.)

    Wisconcom (2022).: Volksrepublik China. (in German). ProleWiki. Archived from the original on 2023-01-03. Retrieved 2022-10-29.

  17. "Es begeht derzeit zahlreiche Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit und soll in seinem östlichen Land sogar Völkermord begehen." (It [China] is committing numerous crimes against humanity at this time and is even said to be committing genocide in its eastern territory.)

    "Bild, das die chinesische revisionistische Unterdrückung und den Völkermord in Tibet darstellt." (Image depicting the revisionist Chinese repression and the genocide in Tibet.)

    Wisconcom (2022).: Volksrepublik China. (in German). ProleWiki. Archived from the original on 2023-01-03. Retrieved 2022-10-29.

  18. "...die einzige erlaubte 'Gewerkschaft' ist eine einzige staatliche Institution namens 'Gesamtchinesischer Gewerkschaftsbund' [...], ähnlich der 'Gewerkschaft' in Nazideutschland." (The only 'trade union' allowed is a state-owned institution called the 'All-China Federation of Trade Unions', similar to the 'trade union' in Nazi Germany.)

    Wisconcom (2022).: Volksrepublik China. (in German). ProleWiki. Archived from the original on 2023-01-03. Retrieved 2022-10-29.

  19. @felipeforte (2022-11-13). "Wisconcom has made edits on RationalWiki claiming we are "pro-CCP" propaganda" Lemmygrad. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  20. “I request to have my username changed to "Fiscornus", [my] present username just doesn't feel right for me.”

    Wisconcom (2022-11-03). "Revision of the page "RationalWiki:Requests to change username" as of 20:20, 13 November 2022" RationalWiki.
  21. @Leninimusundthings (Wisconcom) (2022-11-13). "Comment on "Wisconcom has made edits on RationalWiki claiming we are "pro-CCP" propaganda"" Lemmygrad. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
  22. “I temporally changed my username due to security reasons, however, those reasons no longer exist. I request my username be changed back to Wisconcom, sorry for the confusion.”

    Wisconcom (2022-11-20). "Revision of the page "RationalWiki:Requests to change username" as of 03:44, 20 November 2022" RationalWiki.
  23. Wisconcom (2023-01-26). "Announcement on the creation of the Committee to Reconstitute ProleWiki" Archived from the original on 2023-01-27. Retrieved 2023-01-28.