The EVILution of Communism Workshop, Session 1
Communism is a religious view that has evolved and adapted over the last two centuries, including right up to the present day. Understanding the developments and threats in our present world requires understanding what Communism really is, especially in its Marxist variants, and how it has developed and changed over the years. In response to this need, James Lindsay of New Discourses held a four-lecture workshop series on the EVILution of Communism in Dallas, Texas, at the start of August 2024.
In the first of these lectures, Lindsay outlines the basics and origins of Communism both as a practical endeavor and as a sociognostic religious movement. He begins by outlining the broader theosophical and occult-mystical nature of a broad suite of belief systems and discusses how they began to graft themselves onto social, political, and economic programs in the middle of the Modern Period. This gives them new expression, although their fundamental core beliefs remain mostly unchanged. Using this foundation, Lindsay discusses the “crude” Communism of Gracchus Babeuf during the French Revolution and contrasts it against Karl Marx’s “transcendent” Communism as described in his early writings. Discussing nineteenth century Communism sets the stage and table to discuss the evolution of this religious movement through
the twentieth and into the twenty-first century.
The other three lectures in this series can be found here:
Session 2: Communism 2.0: Industrial Communism
Session 3: Communism 2.5: Social Communism
Session 4: Communism 3.0: Corporate Communism
The audio version of this presentation is available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, or by RSS.
2 comments
It seems at least some significant portion of populations being presented with propaganda that purports to elevate people by virtue of confiscating their property, eliminating their freedom of thought & speech & choice in favor of allowing these supposedly superior benevolent confiscators to control might wonder “how is it that all these things of value that were once mine & considered to be inhibitors of my enlightenment are not causing the same issues for confiscators?” Instead the confiscators are elevated to a dictatorial position and they are able to live in comfort and luxury.
Wished he’d drop the “huhs” and “ums”. They’re distracting to some.