Protest Aristocrats and Black Bourgeois Misleadership
A fundamental principle of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is the mass line method of leadership, through which our movements gain in strength and raise the political level of the masses. This is one of the key mistakes that right opportunists make, they see the mass line as simply “doing stuff” with no input from the masses, no theoretical foundation, and see “large numbers” at protests to be sign of correct political practice and line. Mao taught us:
The correctness or otherwise of the ideological and political line decides everything. When the Party’s line is correct, then everything will come its way. If it has no followers, then it can have followers; if it has no guns, then it can have guns; if it has no political power, then it can have political power. If its line is not correct, even what it has it may lose. The line is a net rope. When it is pulled, the whole net opens out. — “Talks With Responsible Comrades At Various Places During Provincial Tour”
What does this mean? It doesn’t mean be dogmatists sequestered in our monastic cells reading books and discussing politics aimlessly while the streets erupt around us, absolutely not. What this does mean is that we have to realize that without a thorough foundation in the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, our political work and party-building work will fall flat. If we veer to the left, we’ll have isolated small sects with “generated organisms” of 20 or 30 people but no capacity to impact the lives of the masses because we aren’t connected to them. Right opportunism turns us into protest aristocrats chasing popularity with various segments of the “activist community” and pursuing such things as electoralism, NGOization of mass work, and other things that may provide temporary gains but are sugar coated bullets because they turn mass work into a simple question of “numbers served” bereft of all political content. Without a correct political line determined from a concrete and thorough analysis that can only come from thorough social investigation and firm command of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory, we will be at the mercy of the black misleadership class and protest aristocrats that inevitably come about after every spontaneous uprising. Maoists do not fear struggle because we understand that in the course of two-line struggle at protests, in movements, and in forums that correct ideas come to the fore, struggle agains the incorrect, and begin to gain hegemony among the masses who for a time have been under the influence of reactionary and opportunistic individuals who claim to “lead the movement”.
One of the main hallmarks of a protest aristocrat/misleader is that they fear struggle, ideological or otherwise. In many cases when confronted directly with their opportunism they issue hollow threats or call up identity politics to cow the weak or liberal. The opportunist candidate for state house of representatives that formerly had the endorsement of my city’s DSA branch was one of this type. One thing about Saint Louis is that everybody even remotely “left” has a firm dislike and even hatred of the police. We have some of the most transphobic, racist, and boastfully brutal pigs in the United States. A candidate that receives an endorsement from Jeff Roorda’s pig association like this particular opportunist did opens himself up, rightfully so, for ridicule and the rescission of his endorsement from a left organization in Saint Louis. When this happened, instead of hearing criticism from revolutionaries (most of whom, like myself, consider this whole business of running for office stupid and wasteful in the first place on principle), he simply proceeded to slide into people’s DMs and start talking about how he’s a “poor black man”, who he knew, what the circumstances of his life were, in one instance calling me and ranting for 7 minutes. That’s all well and good, but what the protest aristocrat and budding black misleader failed to realize was that political line > identity. Every black person on the North Side has a similar story, in my case my mother was sent to prison and I used to fight the roaches to do my homework. In response I became a revolutionary Communist. In his case he decided to become a lackey of the pigs and seek personal prestige and money for himself. If you resort to identity politics when criticized for taking an endorsement from the police, you are a misleader. If your response when questions of revolutionary principle is raised is to wriggle and worm your way around instead of struggling ideologically and politically, you are being a misleader and your influence among the masses must be struggled against. Not personally, but on principle. There is nothing that stands above class and political line determines the success or failure of our movement and our revolution.
Other hallmarks of black bourgeois misleadership and protest aristocracy: fear of revolutionary violence, twisting of revolutionary figures’ words (Assata, Malcolm X, Huey Newton) so that their revolutionary essence is gutted and you can use them for your own opportunist political ends, isolation and targeting of revolutionary activists, formation of gossip cliques, collaboration with the police. The fear of revolutionary violence, manifested in the calls during uprisings to “be cool”, “go home”, “don’t tear up your own neighborhood” are pig work and pig serving. Who are you to tell the masses to go home? Get off the car and throw a brick yourself. Anybody who brings this type of rhetoric to a heated protest where the revolutionary “fuck shit up” political line is hegemonic and demonstrated by the fact that people are fucking shit up is suspect. Oftentimes it’s local “black businessowners”, chickenshit aldermen/women, and clergy that are promoting this line. There are indeed some revolutionary minded clergy that will face down tear gas with the rest of them but by and large the silk suit and Cadillac preachers are tied to the interests of the local white business and political elite and as a result of this comprador alliance are relied upon to defang protests and manifestations of mass revolutionary violence.
Twisting of revolutionary figures’ words and works. Huey Newton and Fred Hampton weren’t just brothers that handed out food and clothing. Why did they do this? Because they realized that it was necessary to demonstrate the importance of revolutionaries, those who seek radical, revolutionary, earth shaking change, one that topples empires, to serve the people heart and soul. They picked up the gun, yet these misleaders pick up their words to encourage our people to put down the gun. That’s worse than anything any white academic mealymouthed “Marxist” can do! These misleaders oftentimes show much interest in Huey Newton after his right opportunist turn during which he and Elaine Brown essentially turned the BPP, the most revolutionary organization in US history, into a wing of the Democratic Party. You can tell someone by their idols. I respect Elaine Brown as an elder for a myriad of reasons, and there are many things to be learned from her, but out and out she was a right opportunist as was the late Huey Newton. When political lines degenerate, we don’t copy them in degeneration just because it’s Huey. The point is this, you ain’t upholding the Panthers at their best, at their most revolutionary, keep their name out of your mouth.
Isolation and targeting of revolutionary activists. This oftentimes takes the form of snitch-jacketing, oftentimes in the middle of protests. “I hear they the police”. Hear from whom? Just because someone is militant and angry doesn’t mean they’re cops. That’s what real cops want you to think. Now, if someone is saying “Let’s go off some cops right now, here’s a gun” after knowing you for 5 minutes, yeah, they’re probably a pig and you’d be right to warn people to stay away from them. The point is that there is a liberal and petit-bourgeois pettiness and amateurness in this whole business that more often than not emboldens and empowers our enemies. People can’t move 5 feet without stumbling over some old drama or being filled up with gossip. If somebody is “problematic”, as the pomos say, LET PEOPLE KNOW OPENLY. Don’t start whisper campaigns, don’t sneak around behind their back and don’t lie on people. Liberal bourgeois “call-out culture” is detrimental and harmful and should be replaced by principled and through investigation from neutral, disinterested parties. Down with all gossip cliques and bourgeois coffee clubs, up with principled and thorough revolutionary investigation that involves and relies on the masses.
Again, there is always a possibility that some of this misleadership class may be won over in the course of a revolution. Everything is constantly in transformation and I’m not quick to throw people away. But if someone’s entire existence is predicated on them betraying the Black proletariat and the world proletariat so they can be a miniature Beyonce or William Lacy Clay, their prospects aren’t all too bright. When you see misleaders, struggle against them.
