I myself do not really view “What is to be Done?” as a great beginner work for Marxists, since it mentions a lot of obscure philosophers or groups that a modern audience (with their cursory knowledge of Russian history being from the lips of liberals, or worse, conservatives) would hardly know the context of, and I am reading a version that has notes on these people!
That is not to say that it is not an influential or essential work of Lenin (I think it might be up there with “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism” and “The State and Revolution” in terms of either factor), but one has to be willing to trudge through Russian names that you will likely never hear again.
This might be more of a complaint on how some Marxists act vs an ideological disagreement, but it has to do with some of the dismissiveness on certain topics.
For example, if someone decides to talk about their Fandom culture, or some piece of media they enjoy which is not explicitly revolutionary or just generally mainstream, there are quite a few Marxists who will jump on that person, and tell them “this is nonsense you should be busy organizing.”
I generally don’t go into my interests here on the Grad just because I don’t often get the opportunity to. Sometimes I do indulge however when a topic comes up in the gaming, free chat, or anime communities.
Regardless, I think some Marxists underestimate the amount of effect agitprop can have when you engage in Marxists analysis of consumerist media. I don’t mean just going into a fanspace for a media you like and scolding everyone there either, I mean just existing Inna community as a Marxist openly, as it can be surprising how receptive people can be when you apply Marxism to something outside of strict political discussion.
This is one of the things which strengthened reactionaries duing the 2010s and caused a social democratic backlash in the same spaces online. We are seeing a more explicitly fascist reaction confronting the old socdems and need explicitly socialist opposition to battle for cultural hedghemony online.
I can definitely see some Marxists being quite critical of works when the situation does not call for it, considering the very scientific (yet political) substance of Marxism in combination with the fact that it has not become widely accepted (the lack of widespread acceptance despite the scientific substance means that some Marxists have a tendency to be very critical in the situation you mentioned above).
People can be receptive to Marxism when it is applied outside of politics? I never really thought of it like that, and I assumed that people would not be receptive to Marxism under any circumstance.
Are there specific events during the 2010’s that show what you are talking about? I never knew of the fascist counterreaction against social democrats during that time (I just knew about anti-feminism being a toxic thing back then).
The fascist counter reaction is happening right now. We are seeing that the reactionary online personalities are shedding their “classical liberal” facade in favor of outright fascism. I forgot to mentioned that the socdem surge occurred in 2020 until today.
I have noticed a larger amount of fascist sympathizers lately (though maybe I just have not been paying attention to comments much before that).
Absolutely! I’ve had far more success sharing ideas and viewpoints in a game-related community that isn’t involved in political discussions very often than I’ve ever had trying to organise or discuss politics at work or elsewhere online.
Gatekeeping is absolutely a problem. I would go even further - even extremely flawed bourgeois media have their dialectic. As a trash anime enjoyer, I can say that development of the modern tropes is itself an opportunity for a dialectical analysis.
Isekai, harems, getting kicked out from hero’s party… – popularity of all of these tropes have reasons in material conditions of the main audience (which is Japanese youth rather than American/European youth but mostly applies to capitalist society in general too). They are nothing but fantasies addressing concrete problems of society - people’s material conditions stagnating, romantic bonds being commodified, competent workers getting laid off by companies that can’t notice their importance…
People who enjoy these tropes should be encouraged to analyze the material reasons they are so appealing for them rather than judged for liking them. And diamat is a tool we should share with people, not just in direct confrontation with capitalism. There is plenty little things that can be used as distraction by the capital but can also be used by us to help people link dots to the source of their problems.
Also, I think that there should be more left-wing creators in the anime space in general since anime culture seems currently dominated by right wingers. Lately they have been harassing a VTuber named Camila over the death of her family in Lebanon by Israeli bombings.