| Line 15: |
Line 15: |
| | During the French [[Reign of Terror]] of the early [[Enlightenment]], the Left attempted a de-Christianization movement to replace the "reactionary" worship of God and replace it with the worship of national patriotism, or the ''Patrie''. Many churches were closed and either converted into Temples of Reason,<ref>John Hall Stewart, ''A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution'' (Macmillan, New York, 1963).</ref> or otherwise demolished outright under the order of Jacobin leader [[Maximilien de Robespierre]] under the pretense that their design was "undemocratic."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050309031846/https://culturewars.com/CultureWars/Archives/Fidelity_archives/parricide.html Operation Parricide: Sade, Robespierre & the French Revolution]</ref> The Left even formed a new calendar [[Liberal censorship|secularizing Christian holidays]]. This calendar was short-lived though and was never accepted in the rural, more religious parts of France. | | During the French [[Reign of Terror]] of the early [[Enlightenment]], the Left attempted a de-Christianization movement to replace the "reactionary" worship of God and replace it with the worship of national patriotism, or the ''Patrie''. Many churches were closed and either converted into Temples of Reason,<ref>John Hall Stewart, ''A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution'' (Macmillan, New York, 1963).</ref> or otherwise demolished outright under the order of Jacobin leader [[Maximilien de Robespierre]] under the pretense that their design was "undemocratic."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050309031846/https://culturewars.com/CultureWars/Archives/Fidelity_archives/parricide.html Operation Parricide: Sade, Robespierre & the French Revolution]</ref> The Left even formed a new calendar [[Liberal censorship|secularizing Christian holidays]]. This calendar was short-lived though and was never accepted in the rural, more religious parts of France. |
| | | | |
| − | The term Left has its origins in 1790s, when in the French revolutionary parliament the representatives for the socialists sat to the presiding officer's left.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/left Left Ideology], Encyclopedia Britannica</ref> In addition, it was also stated that the left-wing had some origins in the [[Book of Revelation]] when [[Jesus Christ]] transfigured people on his right and left as sheep and goats, respectively.<ref>https://www.theculturewatch.com/the-french-revolution</ref><ref>James Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men: Origin of the Revolutionary Faith.</ref> | + | The term Left has its origins in the 1790s, when in the French revolutionary parliament the representatives for the socialists sat to the presiding officer's left.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/left Left Ideology], Encyclopedia Britannica</ref> In addition, it was also stated that the left-wing had some origins in the [[Book of Revelation]] when [[Jesus Christ]] transfigured people on his right and left as sheep and goats, respectively.<ref>https://www.theculturewatch.com/the-french-revolution</ref><ref>James Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men: Origin of the Revolutionary Faith.</ref> |
| | | | |
| | ==19th century European leftists == | | ==19th century European leftists == |
| Line 25: |
Line 25: |
| | | | |
| | ===Bakunin=== | | ===Bakunin=== |
| − | Anarchist thinker Mikhail Bakunin critiqued prominent leftist theoritician [[Karl Marx]] in 1873 with these words, | + | Anarchist thinker Mikhail Bakunin critiqued prominent leftist theoretician [[Karl Marx]] in 1873 with these words, |
| | | | |
| | :"..if the [[proletariat]] is to be the ruling class, over whom is it to rule? ...the peasant "rabble" who, as it is known, does not enjoy the sympathy of the Marxists who consider it to represent a [[Racism|lower level of culture]], will probably be ruled by the factory proletariat of the cities. Or, if this problem is to be approached [[Nationalism|nationalist]]ically, the [[Slavs]] will be placed in the same subordinate relationship to the victorious German proletariat in which the latter now stands to the German bourgeoisie." <ref>Michael Bakunin, ''Statism and Anarchy'', (1873), in Sam Dolgoff, ''Bakunin'' On Anarchy, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1972), p. 330.</ref> | | :"..if the [[proletariat]] is to be the ruling class, over whom is it to rule? ...the peasant "rabble" who, as it is known, does not enjoy the sympathy of the Marxists who consider it to represent a [[Racism|lower level of culture]], will probably be ruled by the factory proletariat of the cities. Or, if this problem is to be approached [[Nationalism|nationalist]]ically, the [[Slavs]] will be placed in the same subordinate relationship to the victorious German proletariat in which the latter now stands to the German bourgeoisie." <ref>Michael Bakunin, ''Statism and Anarchy'', (1873), in Sam Dolgoff, ''Bakunin'' On Anarchy, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1972), p. 330.</ref> |
| | | | |
| − | It should be noted that Bakunin was also a leftist, and in fact, the only difference he had from Marx was the exact extent that they should get rid of government. In addition, he also declared regarding anarchism: "Let us put our trust in the eternal spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the unsearchable and eternally creative source of all life--the passion for destruction is also a creative passion!"<ref>''Reaction in Germany'', 1842</ref> Richard Wagner also noted of Bakunin that “The annihilation of all civilization was the objective on which he had set his heart…. It was necessary, he said, to picture the whole European world - transformed into a pile of rubble.”<ref>https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/understanding-tyranny-and-terror-the-french-revolution-modern-islamism</ref><ref>Richard Wagner, quoted in Bryan Magee, The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy (New York: Henry Holt, 2000), p. 39.</ref> | + | It should be noted that Bakunin was also a leftist, and in fact, the only difference he had with Marx was the exact extent to which they should get rid of government. In addition, he also declared regarding anarchism: "Let us put our trust in the eternal spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the unsearchable and eternally creative source of all life--the passion for destruction is also a creative passion!"<ref>''Reaction in Germany'', 1842</ref> Richard Wagner also noted of Bakunin that “The annihilation of all civilization was the objective on which he had set his heart…. It was necessary, he said, to picture the whole European world - transformed into a pile of rubble.”<ref>https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/understanding-tyranny-and-terror-the-french-revolution-modern-islamism</ref><ref>Richard Wagner, quoted in Bryan Magee, The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy (New York: Henry Holt, 2000), p. 39.</ref> |
| | | | |
| | ==United States leftists == | | ==United States leftists == |
| Line 51: |
Line 51: |
| | ===Gramsci=== | | ===Gramsci=== |
| | [[File:Gramsci.png|thumb|150px|right|[[Antonio Gramsci]] ]] | | [[File:Gramsci.png|thumb|150px|right|[[Antonio Gramsci]] ]] |
| − | [[Antonio Gramsci]] was a lieutenant of [[Joseph Stalin]] who headed the [[Italian]] branch of the International Communist movement ([[Comintern]]). After several failed assassination attempts on Mussolini, Gramsci was imprisoned in 1926 until his death in 1937. While in prison Gramsci wrote his ''Prison Notebooks'', speculating on the failure of [[violent]] [[revolution]] to materialize in [[Western Europe]] as [[Karl Marx]] had predicted. Gramsci's works are considered by [[Socialists]] to be foundational to modern [[public education]] and [[Cultural Marxism]].<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/23768314?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents</ref><ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/prison_notebooks/problems/education.htm</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTTr4iYT0M</ref> | + | [[Antonio Gramsci]] was a lieutenant of [[Joseph Stalin]] who headed the [[Italian]] branch of the International Communist movement ([[Comintern]]). After several failed assassination attempts on Mussolini, Gramsci was imprisoned in 1926 until his death in 1937. While in prison, Gramsci wrote his ''Prison Notebooks'', speculating on the failure of [[violent]] [[revolution]] to materialize in [[Western Europe]] as [[Karl Marx]] had predicted. Gramsci's works are considered by [[Socialists]] to be foundational to modern [[public education]] and [[Cultural Marxism]].<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/23768314?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents</ref><ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/prison_notebooks/problems/education.htm</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTTr4iYT0M</ref> |
| | | | |
| − | Gramsci's theory of "cultural hegemony" states that the ruling capitalist "oppressor" class uses cultural institutions, such as "traditional marriage," to maintain power. The "oppressors" develop a "hegemonic culture" using [[ideology]] unlike Socialists who use [[violence]], economic force, and coercion. "Hegemonic culture" propagates its own values and norms so that they become "[[common sense]]" values and thus maintain the [[status quo]]. According to [[Wikipedia]], this "Hegemonic power is therefore used to maintain consent to the capitalist order, rather than coercive power using force" as Marxism does "to maintain order. This cultural hegemony is produced and reproduced" by the dominant Christian oppressor class "through the institutions that form the superstructure." | + | Gramsci's theory of "cultural hegemony" states that the ruling capitalist "oppressor" class uses cultural institutions, such as "traditional marriage," to maintain power. The "oppressors" develop a "hegemonic culture" using [[ideology]] unlike Socialists who use [[violence]], economic force, and coercion. "Hegemonic culture" propagates its own values and norms so that they become "[[common sense]]" values and thus maintain the [[status quo]]. According to [[Wikipedia]], this "Hegemonic power is therefore used to maintain consent to the capitalist order, rather than coercive power using force" is used as Marxism does "to maintain order. This cultural hegemony is produced and reproduced" by the dominant Christian oppressor class "through the institutions that form the superstructure." |
| | | | |
| − | Joseph A. Buttigieg, [[Pete Buttigieg]]'s father, was a founding member of the International Gramsci Society and served as the executive secretary."<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20100616163619/http://english.nd.edu/faculty/profiles/joseph-a-buttigieg/</ref> | + | Joseph A. Buttigieg, [[Pete Buttigieg]]'s father, was a founding member of the International Gramsci Society and served as the executive secretary<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20100616163619/http://english.nd.edu/faculty/profiles/joseph-a-buttigieg/</ref> |
| | | | |
| | == Leftism: Use of condemnation/mockery rather than reasonable argumentation == | | == Leftism: Use of condemnation/mockery rather than reasonable argumentation == |
| Line 76: |
Line 76: |
| | *In [[Seattle]]'s [[CHOP]] zone, leftists shot three Blacks, killing two, one of them a child. The third survivor was also a child. | | *In [[Seattle]]'s [[CHOP]] zone, leftists shot three Blacks, killing two, one of them a child. The third survivor was also a child. |
| | *In [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia]], leftists murdered an 8-year-old Black girl and a Black male adult as part of the [[Black Lives Matter]] protests. | | *In [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia]], leftists murdered an 8-year-old Black girl and a Black male adult as part of the [[Black Lives Matter]] protests. |
| − | *In [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], leftist murdered a 77-year-old retired Black police captain in retaliation for the death of [[George Floyd]]. | + | *In [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], leftists murdered a 77-year-old retired Black police captain in retaliation for the death of [[George Floyd]]. |
| | *In [[Oakland, California]], leftists murdered a Black federal security policeman to protest police brutality against Blacks. | | *In [[Oakland, California]], leftists murdered a Black federal security policeman to protest police brutality against Blacks. |
| | *In Washington, D.C., leftists defaced the [[World War II]] memorial to commemorate the soldiers who defeated [[fascism]]. | | *In Washington, D.C., leftists defaced the [[World War II]] memorial to commemorate the soldiers who defeated [[fascism]]. |