Religion and other opiums

 Dear Comrades, 

Coming from extremely conservative and poor backgrounds of India has an advantage of seeing the whole class structure naked in front of you. The relationship of humans and religion has been one of mutual interdependence. It seems really scarce to our liberal friends today how can we be able to survive without religion. It is for this reason I think it is highly needed that we, communists should clarify our stance on religion and similarly related things. Since Marx, Religion and Communism had tensions so great that many people died because of these tensions. Anything like religion, which serves a dual purpose in a class wise stratified society, viz. Service to the bourgeoisie by blinding the proletariat of it's class consciousness and service to the proletariat by giving them reasons for their suffering. But, this has changed since the advent of newer and updated economic systems. I believe, Religion today not only consoles the proletariat but also the bourgeoisie. It numbs down the mental and emotional suffering a rich endures by over-consumption and lack of good purpose. The poor suffers in a systematic way. The capitalist economy is designed in a way that it eats from the surplus flesh of the proletariat and the muscle mass of the bourgeoisie builds up. But, why the bourgeoisie suffers? The bourgeoisie, on the contrary to the proletariat, which suffers materially, suffers at the level of idea. The ideal world no longer remains ideal for the bourgeoisie. The guilt of being well off never leaves the soul of the bourgeoisie. However, it is doubtful if any soul is left in the bourgeoisie at the first place. Consumption of material world in a manner prescribed by capitalism leaves the rich in the most impoverished state possible. The mental problems that we see today mainly happens in the middle class and the rich, since the lack of material problems will give rise to problems at the level of idea. 

Religion here, serves as an opium. Give me some and let me forget myself for sometime in the grand idea of giving answers to every suffering possible and a fake otherworldly suffering resolution mechanism which will cure every disease, wipe every drop of tear, feed every hungry gut. It always served, in this way, the status quo. But, here also, religion went an evolution. Religion has transformed today into the mose commodified product in the market. What is the best commodity possible in the capitalist market? What do you think? It is not any material object. It is an idea of owning a grand material object. Spirituality is the morphed form of religion which capitalism sells today at a vast range of costs, from being free online today, to being as costly as the net worth of a high net-worth individuals. You may think that you are just spiritual, you don't consume anything. You are out of this market being spiritual. You may think all these kinds of delusion. But, anything that is providing you any service, be it mental peace, be it physical pleasure is not free in this economy. It is not in the human consciousness developed in this economy to be free of the transactional way of thinking. The free thing that you consume today is an investment on you of someone which will take from you a butt-load of money tomorrow. May be in the later part of your life, you will wish to join "The art of living" of some saint. Isn't it wierd that you need to learn how to live by someone who has quit living himself and calls himself a person who has left the worldly desires. In this way, Religion and it's morphed capitalist product, spirituality becomes the opium of masses. 

Actually, Humans are animals who wish a master to exist. They want a lease around their neck and someone to plan things for them in advance. In the absence of this master, Human, the intelligent creature, made it's own master by imagination. Exploited, saddened, emotionally drained human, who bereft of all kinds of happiness in this economy wants reforms. He thinks, doing just a little bit of lifestyle changes, little bit of hairstyle improvement, little bit of book reading, or change in the way you look at life can make things better. May be it can, but it will not change the ontological fact of capitalist suffering and all other physical and mental sufferings stemming out of it.

What to do then? My religiously blinded or may be enraged right now friends, who can't call themselves more than liberals today, liberals who think their common sense is their best friend, but it is the most defiant thing to think, will say that that's what we communists are good at. Pointing problems and doing nothing about it. Yes, I admit that. And here also, I, in a Foucauldian manner, will abstain from prescriptions. If anything, I will provide modesty and hopelessness. Modestly admitting that we are stupid creatures and we came up with imagined so called solutions to our real problems rather than solving them on a grand real level. And hopelessness, perhaps, can give us a break of being in the binary of solution finding and problem finding. Let us accept, that we are pathetic. Accept that we ruined our lives here at earth and we wish to have an otherworldly creature to mend things for us. Nobody will come. Nobody ever did. All happened was we told ourselves some stories over tea, called them epics. Nobody came, nobody ever will. I want a desire-less, almost obsessed set of humans who can even die for the cause of "mending this world ourselves". Changing the economic system, change the policy making, change the world yourself rather than dwelling in hallucinations. Till the point, when I make my army of these people, I will wait. I will listen to the taunts of these oppressed helpless, almost psychotic, people for they know not, what to do. And I know. But I am patient. Patient, till I get a chance. History marches on and I wait. I will wait, comrades, till the end of history itself. All I have to give till then is hopelessness, borne out of shear love for humanity. Be hopelessly hopeful comrades, revolution will come. And it will be televised this time. That day, I will smile, we will smile, our people will smile.

Signing off comrades! 

Vibhat

15-05-2023

On Class Consciousness

 Dear Comrades,

The word "Class" has as hidden meanings as it has open meanings. A person who is not class conscious is often reminded his class via phrases like "Apni Auqaat mein raho" or "Auqaat bhool gaya madharchod". It is very interesting to think about how the upper-class elite of this country thinks and is so alike and so much hypocritical. Do not get me wrong. The middle class and the lower class have their contradictions as well. But nothing matches in front of the upper-class hypocrisy. One that has material resources will never like that those who do not possess it remind him that he has those resources. The upper class will always try to give a count on how his life has been miserable as well. But one thing we should keep in mind. What we talk about in our agenda of communist ideology is not that the one who has resources is good to go and those who do not are at loss. We are not wishing to create a society where there happens a role reversal between the proletariat and the bourgeoise. We wish to recreate an economic system in such a way that there is an equitable distribution of resources where capital does not dominate labor. Where people who already have capital do not get additional advantage. How we do it is a separate question. The first and foremost thing the communist party or any other group of people who expressly want revolution is that today like every other identity, Class has to fight for its existence. There was a time in India when Caste was highly undermined by none other than the communists. Nothing heinous can happen other than ignorance of an existing identity by virtue of which a majority of people of this country suffer on a daily basis. Caste has hidden uprooting and open consequences. Similarly, today, one section of the society, majorly the right-wing government along with the rich and the elite who hide their faces when they see poor people, they hide in the garb of charity, they hide in their garb of sympathy and if you nudge them more, they will give you an elite count on how their lives have been miserable. One rich person told me that calling yourself poor is actually a personal attack on your forefathers, your father and your grandfather and so on. It is hilarious to see the rich crying his way out of the mess. The rich want that the poor always remains down to earth and even if he achieves something, kneels down to the rich for giving him favors as if it was not the poor's right but just the rich's charity. She will say things like my family have had economic problems too, who doesn't, but this does not mean that I say that I am poor and publicly announce it, it is disrespectful to my hardworking father who worked hard to make me educated. Here, we as communists need to be careful not to discard the problem by saying it is false consciousness. No consciousness is false consciousness. or every consciousness is. Here, we will go with the former. The problem why class becomes a personal prestige issue and why people do not want to blame the system for their poverty and their economic problems lies in the very consciousness that the capitalist system serves them with. A system where every moment is a moment of judgement of your caliber, where what you earn and what you do becomes a part of your identity, where you are told that it is your fault if you do not have food tonight, what other than this could you possibly imagine be anyone's response. The matter becomes complex. 

How do we possibly create a class consciousness where people stop questioning their self-worth before asking questions to the rich and the powerful? It remains a practical question to solve. Till then, these contradictions and emotionally and mentally disturbing Reponses, we will need to develop ears to listen. They know not why they say this, they nevertheless do.  Our fights are long, So, patience is our only friends, comrades! Red salute!

Vibhat 

10-05-2023