Cyber-Leninism
Few thoughts shared by Comrade Luna17…
1. The left needs to use the Net far more – and more effectively – than at present. That does NOT mean abandoning other methods entirely.
2. The Net is useful for spreading ideas, connecting people, and promoting activities happening offline. It should not be a substitute for activity in the ‘real world’ – it reports on, helps organise, and promotes that activity.
3. Most people are now online – it is therefore no longer credible to claim emphasising it as a political tool is elitist or middle class. It simply isn’t.
4. Conservatism in resisting online activism is linked to conservatism in other ways. Bending the stick (in Leninist terms) towards using the Net properly goes together with overcoming conservatism and inertia inside a revolutionary party more generally.
5. It’s not enough to bung printed material online. We have to utilise the particular strengths of the web – it’s more dynamic, immediate, interactive, audio-visual, etc.
6. We should utilise the Net’s potential to enable people to be participants not just readers, feeding in their own reports, stories etc and offering own comments. It is interactive not one-way. This is consistent with Lenin’s Pravda, but with modern tools.
7. Any active socialist who isn’t on Facebook should be. Simple as that!
8. Many non-socialists in anti-capitalist and other movements have been far quicker at getting hang of all this. The left has to catch up. Poor use of the Net is one reason for marginalisation of the left in some campaigns and movements.
