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.
As Lindsay discussed in his ultra-viral presentation in the European Union Parliament in Brussels in Spring 2023, Communism has evolved over time to attack different host societies. In particular, it had to undertake significant theoretical and strategic leaps to begin to conquer the West. In this workshop, Lindsay will break this process down in four in-depth lectures. First, a discussion of Marxism and Communism in its early theoretical form (Communism 1.0) will provide an overview of their way of thinking about the world. Then, in two lectures, Lindsay will explain the developments of an Eastern Industrial Communism (Communism 2.0) along with the parallel development of Western or Social Marxism (Communism 2.5), including influences of postmodernist theory. Finally, in the fourth lecture, Lindsay will outline the development of Woke and Corporate Marxism (Communism 3.0), which is what we face in the world today. To get a full understanding of how Communism has developed and mutated to attack our current world, this workshop is a must.
James Lindsay has included his personal notes that guided this workshop, found here.
Session 1: Communism 1.0: Theoretical Communism
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.
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music
Standalone Article: Communism 1.0: Theoretical Communism
Session 2: Communism 2.0: Industrial Communism
The second and third lectures in this series focus on what might be considered two tracks of twentieth-century Communism, both arising in different contexts, East and West, after the failure of Karl Marx’s nineteenth century agitational evangelism. In this second lecture, the Eastern track is the focus, tracing the development of the Soviet Union through Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik Party as a vanguard. Here, James Lindsay characterizes Eastern Marxism as a broadly state-industrial project, referring to Leninism, Stalinism, and Maoism variously as “Industrial Communism” and “State Communisms” for reasons he lays bare. The general theme is turning the state into an industrial apparatus for the socialist transformation of man himself, in addition to society and nature. In the end, the Eastern model of Marxism (Leninism, Stalinism, general Sovietism, and Maoism) failed everywhere it was attempted, leading to one of the greatest tragedies of human history.
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music
Standalone Article: Communism 2.0: Industrial Communism
Session 3: Communism 2.5: Social Communism
In this third lecture in the series, Lindsay continues discussing the development of twentieth-century Communism along its second track: Western Marxism. The Western Marxist tradition contains many threads, virtually all of which start with either the Fabian Socialist Society in the UK or, more infamously, with Cultural Marxism elsewhere throughout the Western world. Cultural Marxism itself gives way to Critical Marxism (that is, Critical Theory) through the middle of the twentieth century, particularly in America, and informs other movements such as feminism, radical racial movements, critical education theories, and eventually the development of an intersectional “Woke” Marxism we’re dealing with today. Understanding this requires understanding the influences of many Marxist thinkers including Mao Zedong, whose most culturally destructive ideas were imported by the Critical Marxists and Critical Pedagogues. This in-depth lecture describes the development of a whole new “Social” Communism that sought to find ways to penetrate Western Civilization to make it soft to socialism and Communism.
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music
Standalone Article: Communism 2.5: Social Communism
Session 4: Communism 3.0: Corporate Communism
In this fourth and final lecture in the series, Lindsay picks up the loose threads from the previous two lectures and weaves them together to describe a new Communism for the twenty-first century, a “Communism 3.0” or “Twenty-first Century Communism.” Lindsay characterizes this new model of Communism as the “Chinese model,” derived from the practical implementation by former CCP leader Deng Xiaoping in the People’s Republic of China, where it was tested first. Meanwhile, in the West, a parallel model was developed tracking not just with Deng Xiaoping Theory but also with the Western Marxist sensibilities of Herbert Marcuse, demanding a more “Sustainable” and “Inclusive” economy. Calling the model “Corporate” or “Corporatist” Communism, Lindsay explains how this model of Communism blends a Communist political theory and structure with a Fascist economic model of productive forces, creating the tyrannical hybrid that is intended to be the future for mankind both East, under the Chinese Communist Party, and West, under the United Nations and affiliates. This groundbreaking lecture provides a basis for completely changing the discourses around what’s happening in our world today.
Audio Version: SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music
Standalone Article: Communism 3.0: Corporate Communism
