#historicalmaterialism — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #historicalmaterialism, aggregated by home.social.
-
https://cpmk.org/87-recent-news/444-the-vanguard-is-not-a-matter-of-opinion
Banger of a read from Kenya.
>Communists should indeed reject sectarianism.
>
>Sectarianism isolates revolutionaries from the masses.
>
>It substitutes slogans for investigation.
>
>It mistakes organisational isolation for ideological purity.
>
>But there exists another danger.
>
>Liquidationism.
>
>Liquidationism dissolves the communist party into the general Left.
>
>It blurs ideological distinctions.
>
>It dismisses organisational discipline.
>
>It celebrates diversity while abandoning revolutionary coherence.
>
>If sectarianism builds walls where bridges are necessary, liquidationism removes the foundations upon which the bridge itself must stand.
>
>Marxism Leninism rejects both.---Booker Ngesa Omole
#politics
#kenya
#socialism
#communism
#marxism
#MarxismLeninism
#leninism
#vanguardism
#sectarianism
#liquidationism
#BookerNgesaOmole
#BookerOmole
#capitalism
#neocolonialism
#neoimperialism
#colonialism
#imperialism
#theory
#practice
#praxis
#HistoricalMaterialism
#DialecticalMaterialism -
https://cpmk.org/87-recent-news/444-the-vanguard-is-not-a-matter-of-opinion
Banger of a read from Kenya.
>Communists should indeed reject sectarianism.
>
>Sectarianism isolates revolutionaries from the masses.
>
>It substitutes slogans for investigation.
>
>It mistakes organisational isolation for ideological purity.
>
>But there exists another danger.
>
>Liquidationism.
>
>Liquidationism dissolves the communist party into the general Left.
>
>It blurs ideological distinctions.
>
>It dismisses organisational discipline.
>
>It celebrates diversity while abandoning revolutionary coherence.
>
>If sectarianism builds walls where bridges are necessary, liquidationism removes the foundations upon which the bridge itself must stand.
>
>Marxism Leninism rejects both.---Booker Ngesa Omole
#politics
#kenya
#socialism
#communism
#marxism
#MarxismLeninism
#leninism
#vanguardism
#sectarianism
#liquidationism
#BookerNgesaOmole
#BookerOmole
#capitalism
#neocolonialism
#neoimperialism
#colonialism
#imperialism
#theory
#practice
#praxis
#HistoricalMaterialism
#DialecticalMaterialism -
ladyizdihar
Marx, women, historical materialism, and the danger of reading historical texts in isolation.
Thoughts?
#history #education #marx #marxism #HistoricalMaterialism
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbRx1IMBkxY -
ladyizdihar
Marx, women, historical materialism, and the danger of reading historical texts in isolation.
Thoughts?
#history #education #marx #marxism #HistoricalMaterialism
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbRx1IMBkxY -
I've been increasingly concerned about the corporate monopoly over frontier LLMs. While many ethically-minded people choose to boycott these models, I believe passive resistance alone cannot break the structural grip of big tech. To truly “liberate” these technologies and turn them into public goods, we need to look beyond moral high grounds and engage with the material basis of AI—specifically compute, data, and the relations of production.
I've written two posts exploring this through the lens of historical materialism. The first piece analyzes why current “open source” definitions struggle with LLMs, and the second discusses what it means to “act materialistically” in our imperfect world. My goal is to suggest a path forward that moves from mere boycotting to a more proactive, structural socialization of AI infrastructure.
If you've been feeling uneasy about the AI landscape but aren't sure if boycotting is the final answer, I'd love for you to give these a read:
- Histomat of F/OSS: We should reclaim LLMs, not reject them
- Acting materialistically in an imperfect world: LLMs as means of production and social relations
#LLM #AI #opensource #historicalmaterialism #histomat #materialism #digitalcommons
-
I've been increasingly concerned about the corporate monopoly over frontier LLMs. While many ethically-minded people choose to boycott these models, I believe passive resistance alone cannot break the structural grip of big tech. To truly “liberate” these technologies and turn them into public goods, we need to look beyond moral high grounds and engage with the material basis of AI—specifically compute, data, and the relations of production.
I've written two posts exploring this through the lens of historical materialism. The first piece analyzes why current “open source” definitions struggle with LLMs, and the second discusses what it means to “act materialistically” in our imperfect world. My goal is to suggest a path forward that moves from mere boycotting to a more proactive, structural socialization of AI infrastructure.
If you've been feeling uneasy about the AI landscape but aren't sure if boycotting is the final answer, I'd love for you to give these a read:
- Histomat of F/OSS: We should reclaim LLMs, not reject them
- Acting materialistically in an imperfect world: LLMs as means of production and social relations
#LLM #AI #opensource #historicalmaterialism #histomat #materialism #digitalcommons
-
வரலாற்றுப் பொருள்முதல்வாதம்
இயக்கவியல் பொருள்முதல்வாதத்தை மனித சமூகத்திற்கும் அதன் வரலாற்றிற்கும் பயன்படுத்துவதே ‘வரலாற்றுப் பொருள்முதல்வாதம்’ ஆகும். மனிதச் சமூகம் எப்படித் தோன்றியது, ஏன் மாறுகிறது, எதிர்காலம் எதை நோக்கிச் செல்கிறது என்பதை இது அறிவியல் ரீதியாக விளக்குகிறது. இதன் முக்கிய அம்சங்களை எளிமையாகக் கீழே காணலாம்: 1. வாழ்நிலைதான் உணர்வைத் தீர்மானிக்கிறது மனிதர்கள் முதலில் உயிர
-
"What is the relationship of science and technology to human history, and how have Marxists conceptualized this problematic within historical materialism? The work of Boris Hessen represents one of the most sophisticated attempts to apply a materialist analysis to the history of science—specifically, how the economic needs of early capitalism influenced what we now think of as modern science and the Scientific Revolution. In this blog, I explore how Hessen pursues his analysis in his seminal essay “The Social and Economic Roots of Newton’s Principia” (henceforth referred to as “Newton’s Roots”).
While Hessen did not develop the first Marxist analysis of science, Hessen’s approach was one of the first truly systematic attempts. Moreover, his work helps us see past the often oversimplified division between “Western Marxism” and Soviet thought, revealing a productive tension in international Marxism through attempts to apply historical materialism in understanding science, technology, and nature under capitalist society.
In the same vein, Henryk Grossman makes the connection between science and capitalist society explicit in his work with the Institute of Social Research (Institut für Sozialforschung, or IfS)—several of Grossmann’s articles were published in the IfS’s journal Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung (ZfS). Grossmann was in fact one of the first defenders of Hessen’s work against critics such as George. N. Clark, Richard S. Westfall, etc. as these critics fundamentally misunderstood Hessen’s theses, and, by extension, Grossmann’s own formulation of the relation between science and capitalist society. While both reached similar conclusions independently, and Grossmann’s work is introduced at points, I focus on Hessen’s formulation here."
https://ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/RootsandBranches_Hessen/
#Marxism #Science #Newton #HistoricalMaterialism #STS #Capitalism -
"What is the relationship of science and technology to human history, and how have Marxists conceptualized this problematic within historical materialism? The work of Boris Hessen represents one of the most sophisticated attempts to apply a materialist analysis to the history of science—specifically, how the economic needs of early capitalism influenced what we now think of as modern science and the Scientific Revolution. In this blog, I explore how Hessen pursues his analysis in his seminal essay “The Social and Economic Roots of Newton’s Principia” (henceforth referred to as “Newton’s Roots”).
While Hessen did not develop the first Marxist analysis of science, Hessen’s approach was one of the first truly systematic attempts. Moreover, his work helps us see past the often oversimplified division between “Western Marxism” and Soviet thought, revealing a productive tension in international Marxism through attempts to apply historical materialism in understanding science, technology, and nature under capitalist society.
In the same vein, Henryk Grossman makes the connection between science and capitalist society explicit in his work with the Institute of Social Research (Institut für Sozialforschung, or IfS)—several of Grossmann’s articles were published in the IfS’s journal Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung (ZfS). Grossmann was in fact one of the first defenders of Hessen’s work against critics such as George. N. Clark, Richard S. Westfall, etc. as these critics fundamentally misunderstood Hessen’s theses, and, by extension, Grossmann’s own formulation of the relation between science and capitalist society. While both reached similar conclusions independently, and Grossmann’s work is introduced at points, I focus on Hessen’s formulation here."
https://ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/RootsandBranches_Hessen/
#Marxism #Science #Newton #HistoricalMaterialism #STS #Capitalism -
"I have always thought that such a fertile working hypothesis as historical materialism in no way required as a basis the absurdity of metaphysical materialism."
#Sartre #JeanPaulSartre #Existentialism #Phenomenology #Marxism #HistoricalMaterialism #Philosophy
-
I might think that the word "Lumpenproletariat" ought to find some use in US political discourse nowadays, considering the support for Trumpism among the working class.
-
■
..... This applies to all theories of history based on the necessity of the course of social events. It applies especially to historical materialism, which traces every historical event to the prevailing conditions of production and tries to explain everything from that. No thinking man in this day can fail to recognize that one cannot properly evaluate an historical period without considering economic conditions. But much more one-sided is the view which maintains that all history is merely the result of economic conditions, under whose influence all other life phenomena have received form and imprint.
There are thousands of events in history which cannot be explained by purely economic reasons, or by them alone. It is quite possible to bring everything within the terms of a definite scheme, but the result is usually not worth the effort. There is scarcely an historical event to whose shaping economic causes have not contributed, but economic forces are not the only motive powers which have set everything else in motion. All social phenomena are the result of a series of various causes, in most cases so inwardly related that it is quite impossible clearly to separate one from the other. We are always dealing with the interplay of various causes which, as a rule, can be clearly recognized but cannot be calculated according to scientific methods.
There are historical events of the deepest significance for millions of men which cannot be explained by their purely economic aspects. Who would maintain, for instance, that the invasions of Alexander were caused by the conditions of production of his time? The very fact that the enormous empire Alexander cemented together with the blood of hundreds of thousands fell to ruin soon after his death proves that the military and political achievements of the Macedonian world conqueror were not historically determined by economic necessities. Just as little did they in any way advance the conditions of production of the time. When Alexander planned his wars, lust for power played a far more important part than economic necessity. The desire for world conquest had assumed actually pathological forms in the ambitious despot. His mad power obsession was a leading motive in his whole policy, the driving force of his warlike enterprises, which filled a large part of the then known world with murder and rapine. It was this power obsession which made the Caesaro-Papism of the oriental despot appear so admirable to him and gave him his belief in his demi-godhood.
The will to power which always emanates from individuals or from small minorities in society is in fact a most important driving force in history. The extent of its influence has up to now been regarded far too little, although it has frequently been the determining factor in the shaping of the whole of economic and social life. .....
-
"Joy is not a word that naturally rhymes with communism, at least the Soviet variety. But pleasure is central to Star Trek‘s version of communism, which rejects the notion that escaping the logic of accumulation requires individuals to submit to a collective. Star Trek‘s writers make this point brilliantly by contrasting the Federation, made up of creative individuals who are free to choose their projects and partners, with the Borg — a dystopian cyborg collective made up of drones linked together in a beehive-like social order that expands by assimilating every species it encounters.
Star Trek rejects collectivism while still avoiding lazy critiques. We are treated to the traumatic reintroduction of a Borg drone to humanity, who experiences debilitating withdrawal symptoms, missing desperately the collective’s voice in her head. It is a reminder of how authoritarianism can be dangerously attractive to the lonely, but also of how important it is to pay the price of personhood.
But Star Trek does not just offer a vision of a splendid future. Like any other practical manifesto, it offers a theory of change: of social evolution founded on solid historical materialist tenets."
https://unherd.com/2025/01/why-the-left-needs-to-watch-star-trek/
#Communism #StarTrek #HistoricalMaterialism #SciFi #ScienceFiction
-
"Joy is not a word that naturally rhymes with communism, at least the Soviet variety. But pleasure is central to Star Trek‘s version of communism, which rejects the notion that escaping the logic of accumulation requires individuals to submit to a collective. Star Trek‘s writers make this point brilliantly by contrasting the Federation, made up of creative individuals who are free to choose their projects and partners, with the Borg — a dystopian cyborg collective made up of drones linked together in a beehive-like social order that expands by assimilating every species it encounters.
Star Trek rejects collectivism while still avoiding lazy critiques. We are treated to the traumatic reintroduction of a Borg drone to humanity, who experiences debilitating withdrawal symptoms, missing desperately the collective’s voice in her head. It is a reminder of how authoritarianism can be dangerously attractive to the lonely, but also of how important it is to pay the price of personhood.
But Star Trek does not just offer a vision of a splendid future. Like any other practical manifesto, it offers a theory of change: of social evolution founded on solid historical materialist tenets."
https://unherd.com/2025/01/why-the-left-needs-to-watch-star-trek/
#Communism #StarTrek #HistoricalMaterialism #SciFi #ScienceFiction
-
Early Neolithic genetic data suggest that central Europe's first farmers lived in equality
https://phys.org/news/2024-11-early-neolithic-genetic-central-europe.html
#socialism #anthropology #ScienceforthePeople #historicalmaterialism #socialequality #ecosocialism #agroecology #indigenous
-
Early Neolithic genetic data suggest that central Europe's first farmers lived in equality
https://phys.org/news/2024-11-early-neolithic-genetic-central-europe.html
#socialism #anthropology #ScienceforthePeople #historicalmaterialism #socialequality #ecosocialism #agroecology #indigenous
-
#HistoryReIterating #HistoricalMaterialism #Organize #United
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKGPQ4Z8uFc
Do we have the strength to come together at some point?
-
It’s called determinate negation Uncle Karl! You wrote about it! 🤷🏼♂️ #Philosophy #marx #Zizek #hegel #Lacan #psychoanalysis #psychology #HistoricalMaterialism #marxism #sociology #dialectics #academia #academicmastodon https://www.dustinjbyrd.org
-
Dialectical and Historical Materialism by Josef Stalin is not a very exciting read, as he is quite repetitive to ensure points are clearly made. However, it has helped me understand these concepts MUCH better than I had previously, so I must say that it accomplishes its goal well. It's an important read for leftists so that we may better understand the world and how to change it more clearly!
#booktoot #Stalin #DialecticalMaterialism #HistoricalMaterialism #Marxism #Socialism #Communism
-
[2/2] ... 7 #nonfiction influences on the #scifi I'm writing
— A People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millenium by Chris Harman
— The Religion of the Future by Roberto Unger
— The People’s Republic of Walmart: How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism by Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski#cybernetics #socialism #utopia #utopianism #history #ancienthistory #HistoricalMaterialism #religion #theology #sciencefiction #speculativefiction
-
By way of an introduction
I work as a #researcher with interests in #labourprocess, #workersinquiry, #marxism, and #classcomposition. I'm an editor at #historicalmaterialism and #notesfrombelow
I organise with #iwgb, #ucu, and a project for supporting new worker organising #organisenow!
As a side project, I'm also interested in #scifibooks and have written some things for #redfutures
-
By way of an introduction
I work as a #researcher with interests in #labourprocess, #workersinquiry, #marxism, and #classcomposition. I'm an editor at #historicalmaterialism and #notesfrombelow
I organise with #iwgb, #ucu, and a project for supporting new worker organising #organisenow!
As a side project, I'm also interested in #scifibooks and have written some things for #redfutures
-
To help newcomers make connections: as #introduction name 5-7 things that interest you but aren't in your profile, as tags so they are searchable. Then boost this post or repeat its instructions so others know to do the same.
#Music #Jazz #Funk #RareGroove #Afrobeat #Afrofunk #Reggae #Dub #Jungle #Bass #BassMusic #Vinyl
#Programming #WebDevelopment #JavaScript #TypeScript #Racket #Smalltalk
#Politics #Marxism #Socialism #DialecticalMaterialism #HistoricalMaterialism
-
To help newcomers make connections: as #introduction name 5-7 things that interest you but aren't in your profile, as tags so they are searchable. Then boost this post or repeat its instructions so others know to do the same.
#Music #Jazz #Funk #RareGroove #Afrobeat #Afrofunk #Reggae #Dub #Jungle #Bass #BassMusic #Vinyl
#Programming #WebDevelopment #JavaScript #TypeScript #Racket #Smalltalk
#Politics #Marxism #Socialism #DialecticalMaterialism #HistoricalMaterialism
