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Our essays reflect only their author's point of view. We ask only that they respect our Principles.← Back to all essays | Author's essays Ideologism and Aestheticism
by Mitzo
Published: 2025-07-30 (last update: 2025-07-31)
1-5 minutes
Over the past few years, there’s been a few trends emerging in online groups, and even in socialist parties, that I’ve noticed growing like a malignant tumor. For lack of any pre-existing terms, I've named these trends Ideologism and Aestheticism. Although these trends have existed for decades, they’ve taken on a unique, and quite annoying, new form with the growth of the internet and, more specifically, the growth of the internet’s intersection with politics. This isn’t a consequence of the internet, it’s an outgrowth of a wider issue in modern marxism that’s been growing and growing, and has roots as far back as the split in the RSDLP between the bolsheviks and mensheviks, the internet has only made it more prevalent, and more dangerous.
To start off, what is Ideologism? Ideologism, in my eyes, is the fruitless pursuit of a perfect ideology. Mao wrote in Where do Correct Ideas come from? That ideas are in a dialectical relationship with physical actions. To understand something, you must change it. Ideologism rejects this, and takes an idealist understanding of ideology. There is a perfect idea of what socialism is, how to achieve socialism, and how to organize for socialism. Any modifications made, any new information gained through practice must be discarded. Of course, this lends itself well to splitting, which happens quite often. You’ll often see ideologism take the form of niche groups following the theory of one or a few authors, such as Italian left communists following Amadeo Bordiga, or Anarcho-Egoists following Max Stirner. These ideologies have no real presence outside of online contrarian groups, because they are destined to fail. The perfect ideology can not exist, there will be failures and contradictions that are resolved through theory and practice rather than group navel gazing sessions.
Aestheticism goes hand in hand with Ideologism, despite being the opposite. Aestheticism is similar to opportunism, albeit with different motives. Aestheticists join a movement not because they believe in it, or because they wish for a better future, but because they enjoy the idea, the aesthetics, of this movement. Aestheticism isn’t unique to socialism, in fact, reactionary movements bear the brunt of aestheticism, as that is what reactionaries rely on. Plenty of fascists couldn’t tell you WHY they are fascists, or what positives they see in the likes of Mussolini or Pinochet, because that’s not why they join, they join because they want to be part of something, to seem cool, to seem smart, or to belong.
Ideologism and aestheticism are errors every dedicated marxist should fight against. These errors can be corrected, and they MUST be corrected, because these tendencies lead to adventurism, revisionism, and other counter-revolutionary practices.