The revolutionary press
The revolutionary written, digital and web press (12/4/22) - La Marx International
The importance of the newspaper, and the revolutionary press, plays a fundamental role in ensuring that the proposals and slogans of Marxism reach millions of people. With the current developments in IT and telecommunications of capitalism, the media and press in general are developed today fundamentally on the Internet. Millions of people read the written press, news, books, studies, etc. on their phone or computer screens. All the written material existing throughout history, and everything that is produced in the present, is found there.
If all the elaborations written by Humanity are found on the Internet today, the revolutionary press must also be there. Not as journalistic material, of "commentary" on reality, but as material for Marxist agitation and propaganda. Leftist groups that break with Marxism structure their digital materials as "Communication Media", with " critical opinion" . They seek to reach "public opinion ", the intellectuals, with their publications , imitating the structure of the bourgeois media. The social democratic structure that these organizations adopt is manifested in the type of press they adopt.
The press for collective agitation
The role of the revolutionary press was clearly expressed in the text What to Do? of 1902, in which Lenin stated that: "The mission of the newspaper is not limited... to disseminating ideas... it is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer."
Our press goes in the Leninist sense, and oriented in this way, it allows us to act in 3 areas: 1) In the Agitation. 2) In Propaganda. 3) In the Organization. So the press is, first of all, an instrument of agitation, which is the first task of every militant. For millions to know us, our slogans must reach them, and the press allows us to carry out collective agitation with slogans such as: "Let's support Ukraine!", "Long live the revolution in Iran!", "Null vote in the elections in Brazil !, "Enough of Feminicides in Mexico!", etc. are slogans that identify us, and can make our organization known throughout the world.
The press for collective propaganda
But the revolutionary press not only fulfills the function of agitation, but also the function of propaganda. Many of our articles and materials are not about agitation, but about political training. For example, articles and materials such as "A Marxist Vision of Abolitionism", "Putin's War Can Be Winn", "The Politics of Imperialism and the Progressive International", or "On the Theory of Decoupling", etc., to name a few, They respond to fundamental debates, and explain aspects of Marxism in a simple way to be understood by any comrade from any country in the world.
In this way, the press of the revolutionary organization unifies the theoretical-political framework of our current. The theoretical-political battle is fundamental because the activists of the world are permanently bombarded with all kinds of charlatanism, misleading theories, and false consciousnesses launched by imperialism and counter-revolutionary organizations to confuse, divide and stop revolutions. Without this permanent theoretical-political battle our organization cannot exist. The revolutionary press is essential to express our propaganda collectively, use it internally, and at the same time make it reach millions.
The press for collective organization
As Lenin states, the role of the revolutionary press is one of agitation and propaganda, but also of organization. The press acts as a "conducting thread" of organizations capable of establishing regular links with groups and activists; it is the organizational expression of the Marxist revolutionary party.
The written press allows all militants to debate materials in organizations, arm themselves, and unify in the battles that confront us. But it also allows those comrades or organizations that are in distant regions, or are going through difficult situations because they are under a dictatorship, or under harsh social or work conditions, to be able to know everything that is happening, and to be armed to respond, just by reading the press.
The press collectively "gathers" all of us militants every week. And if we couldn't attend the meeting, we will know what is happening by reading the press. Lenin and the Bolsheviks devised this device based on the harsh conditions of the Russian exiles under tsarism, but also knowing that the situation of the class struggle is always changing, there can be advances, setbacks, triumphs or defeats.
Whatever the conditions in which we are involved in the military, whether we have moments of democratic freedoms, triumphs, or whether we are in the midst of a situation of setbacks, or defeats, or whether we suffer repression, we are in remote places, the language does not matter. , the country, or continent, and no matter what happens, the press must always be there. The revolutionary press organizes us because, having a permanent character, it unifies us in the face of changing social conditions and the class struggle that we have to go through.
The revolutionary digital press and the web
The revolutionary press in paper version has always been a formidable tool, and even today for those who like to read with the material in hand. But in the 21st century, the Internet has emerged, which allows the revolutionary press to be established in digital format as a Web page. Technological change allows our organization to strike with force, massiveness, and a capacity for penetration incomparably superior to all the work methods that we militants have had at our disposal from the birth of Marxism to today.
20 years ago, the Internet was a reading-only tool, used in Universities and State Agencies. This period was called Web 1.0. But starting in 2005, a revolution occurred when Web 2.0 emerged with the appearance of Google, and social networks such as Facebook or Twitter, through which the Internet was transformed into a network of communication, exchange, and social interaction. From there the entire world of Communications, the oral and written press, and social interaction passes through the Internet. For example, Barack Obama's electoral campaign in the United States in 2008 was the first action of a large-scale political organization that incorporated the use of the Internet with websites and social networks.
And in 2011, social networks such as Twitter and Facebook played a fundamental role in the organization of revolutions, both in the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall, Street in the United States, or the Indignados Movement in Spain, to name examples. . From there, blogs, websites, and social networks play a fundamental role in all the revolutionary processes in the world. Today an activist takes his phone out of his pocket, films a mobilization, a strike, or an event for a few minutes, and millions on all continents can see it through social networks. Today it is not possible to build a political organization without the use of the communication and social interaction tools that Web 2.0 implies.
A plan for communication 2.0
Only around the year 2020 was Marx International born. It is not the purpose of this work to take stock, but undoubtedly from that moment to today we have made very good use of social networks, with an extraordinary militant attitude that has allowed comrades from different countries and continents to come closer to our current.
Our website @Revolución was published for the first time on January 15, 2020, and that day it had 75 visits. Two years later we have 5 web pages with 20 thousand of visits by month. The numbers continue to grow, our militant forces have thousands of readers that regularly visit @Revolución, the websites of La Marx México, that of the New PST of Argentina, La Marx Colombia, and La Marx Brasil. Just a year ago the version of @Revolución began in English, which is already the 2nd most read page of all. Also thousands also visit our social networks, we have dozens of La Marx profiles on Facebook. We are going to present a work plan to take advantage of the use of the revolutionary press in the era of Web 2.0
How we fight in Web 2.0
The first task of every militant is to enter @Revolución, which is our press in its two versions, English and Spanish, to read the news every week. When we enter the press we are already "meeting" with the party, we are catching up with the latest events and statements. Reading does not replace the meeting, but if we read beforehand we arrive at the meeting better, because reading awakens doubts, differences, concerns, questions or agreements that we later discuss in the meeting.
In addition to @Revolución, there are the websites of La Marx México, that of the New PST of Argentina, La Marx Colombia, and La Marx Brasil. In those countries the militant visits the page every week, but comrades from other countries can also do so. When we enter @Revolución we "organize", that is, we join the policy and orientation, and on the other hand we "form" that is, we incorporate political and theoretical elements to debate in the organizations.
The second step is to share that article we read on Facebook. When we post an article on Facebook we reach hundreds, or thousands of people at once. Social networks have a multiplier effect: If among those hundreds or thousands to whom we send our article someone shares it, it reaches other hundreds or thousands, and if among those thousands and if there is someone who shares or replicates it, it becomes to multiply by hundreds or thousands. So, when we post an article on Facebook we believe that we only reach the hundreds or thousands that we have on our Facebook profile, but that is not the case, we reach many more. Due to the replicating effect of the networks, it is impossible to accurately calculate the amount, but it multiplies the initial arrival several times.
So, when we post an article on Facebook we are agitating, that is, taking our politics and slogans to hundreds or thousands of people. This movement, that of agitation, seems to be carried out alone, but this is not the case because at the same moment we share an article, or a flyer, there are dozens of Facebook profiles of La Marx in different countries that are doing the same. same.
All this posting in unison, simultaneously, ends up becoming a collective agitation that geometrically amplifies the campaigns and policies, given that it produces the effect of multiplication. By hitting like a single fist on social networks, we seem like an organization with many thousands of militants, and many larger than we actually are, which allows us to appear as a pole of attraction for global activism.
The plan then is for there to be an interaction between websites and social networks. When we post an article on Facebook, and then send it via WhatsApp, we are combining the web with social networks. This combinatorics is the key to reaching thousands of people, and amplifying all our activity to hit harder in the class struggle and global activism.
But in addition to agitating, social networks also serve to organize comrades around our politics. Managing a Facebook profile is like managing a small organization, each profile has hundreds or thousands of followers who read our publications all the time, and interact with us, ask us for friendship, criticize our publications, or support them, send us private messages , etc. Having a La Marx Facebook takes time, but used well, it allows us to attract extraordinary comrades.
Security issues
Social networks are controlled by large capitalist companies, and can also be infiltrated by state security agencies for the control and surveillance of activists. That is why it is essential that we take measures for serious work, which allows us to develop politically, taking care of all the aspects that make up the security of our militants and organizations.
The first is that on social networks we only publish political issues about our organization. We do not publish content from other organizations, neither written materials nor flyers, nor anything, because the information from other organizations is not verified and may be false. In addition to the fact that politically it is surely opposed to ours, everything we publish that is not from La Marx can turn against us.
We share the statements of @Revolución, our press, and the presses of the countries. We do not publish personal photos, neither of friends, nor of family, nor of affection, all that material can be used against us. If we need to publish personal issues, we do so on our personal networks, not on political ones.
We have to have permanent monitoring of our social networks, because when we start a La Marx Facebook or another social network we become the public face of the organization, which implies a responsibility. The networks are full of criminals who share pornography, and their illicit activities, many times they use our walls and pages to spread their material, or they label us their garbage. As soon as we verify that pornographic or illicit material is posted, or messages that are not those of our organization, we immediately delete them from our social networks, which is why we have to be attentive 24 hours a day to our networks.
Finally, La Marx's generation of social networks shields us, gives us protection, allows us to act by raising issues that we could not raise in our personal networks, because it can put our jobs or personal ties at risk. By publishing as "La Marx" we enjoy a certain anonymity, which gives us cover to act, providing the least amount of personal data possible, and at the same time enhancing the presence of our organization more massively. The more La Marx Facebooks, the more La Marx social networks, and the more La Marx content that permanently circulates in different countries shared by different activists around the world, the more difficult it is for security agencies to control us.
Plans in organizations
We propose that all tables, teams and organizations debate this material and make plans. Democratically, the militants in the organizations decide which Facebook profiles to open, who manages them, what name we give them. Facebook profiles can be named after countries, cities, or regions. At the same time, in the meetings, comrades who are learning to manage social networks, or do not have experience, must have a space to explain their problems. For example, a comrade can ask at the meeting: How do I have friends? How do I answer when they ask me? What do we post this week?
And the organization has to respond, the management has to help the new comrades who join, or those who do not know how to manage the networks. It is something that appears very difficult to those who are not familiar with the networks, but when you learn it, the comrades realize that it is simple and then once they learn they do wonders. From the International team of La Marx we are going to edit a guide for the use of Facebook, but the fundamental thing is the debate at the tables and teams.
The paper press must be maintained to carry and deliver by hand at events, actions, and meetings. We are establishing a work team to have publications laid out with the objective of being read and printed on paper, which allows us to deliver, distribute, distribute. For propaganda we already have the Marxism 1 and 2 courses that are available to print via free download at @Revolución in both Spanish and English, in addition to other materials.
A plan for the use of other web 2.0 tools
Many comrades believe that the Press is one thing, and social networks are a completely different thing. But this is not the case, in the 21st century the Revolutionary press and social networks are intrinsically linked: The majority of our readers read us by telephone and by computer, which makes Web 2.0 formats essential. The growth we are experiencing is the product of the success of political positions, but also due to the correct use of social networks and websites. We can implement a Leninist method, but with 21st century resources, which includes finances. Our websites include a subscription button with values ranging from $2 to $15 for all militants.
The idea is that with a simple click, any militant or sympathizer contributes to our website, that is, to our press, anywhere in the world, and with that money we can finance the web pages that have an annual cost, which allows us to have more professional pages, with more space, and more materials for us to read. In this way, we achieve that the revolutionary press fulfills its objective by concentrating in the same structure, the Web page, agitation, propaganda, organization and finances.
But the tools we have do not end with Facebook. There is also Instagram, more used by young people, there is Twitter, there is Tik Tok, there is WhatsApp whose channel we recently launched, and there is YouTube, among others. The idea is that from now on we will advance a serious plan for the use of all these tools. We can send short messages on Instagram, or Tik Tok, calls for mobilizations, events, and we can do live events, also You Tube programs. Several comrades propose that we make podcasts, or other tools that disseminate our political positions.
Our teachers would have given their lives to have the tools we have today, it is time for us to make a plan to use them, seriously, and scientifically. Let's then, step by step, establish a work plan to advance this first plan that includes the Web and Facebook, and then advance in the use of the other 2.0 tools.
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