the “parapsychology” thread got nuked but the discussion reminded me of a Return of the Repressed podcast episode I had listened to in December
it was a Q&A episode and in his typical style, the host Marcus went deep on a question posed by fan/collaborator Reid (@seriations on twitter) regarding the role of magical-religious (i.e. non-materialist) beliefs in proletarian revolution. We’re all familiar with the ways the bourgeoisie promote and exploit these sorts of beliefs to their own ends (ex. Filipino aswang vampire psyops vs the Huk guerillas, Indonesian anticommunist “witch hunting” vs Gerwani feminists, Operation Wandering Soul trying to freak out Vietcong with “ghosts”, etc etc etc, up to Qanon and the UFO-cult of today) – and of course, how their own worldviews are often propped up by these sorts of beliefs (ex. social hierarchies are in fact justified by genetic blood-destiny) – but what about the inverse? How might we use them, too?
(note with respect to the aforementioned “parapsychology” thread, this is not a question of whether some such belief might be substantiated, proven “real” or not, but rather of strategy)
Marcus explained his first intuition was to look at the history of accusations of vampirism lobbed at feudal European aristocracy (ex. Elizabeth Bathory), but abandoned this line of inquiry when his research suggested that these accusations actually tended to reflect intra-class conflict between rulers/institutions of the time, i.e. factional power jockeying.
Changing tack, Marcus then offers a long exploration of the contentious historical relationship between Chinese secret societies, magical-religious beliefs, martial arts, and rebellion.
To anyone curious about how these things might intersect (short version: it gets messy), I would recommend the episode and I’ll drop some other related links below
https://podbay.fm/p/the-return-of-the-repressed/e/1703245745
SHOW NOTES
In these dark times its difficult to find reason for making believe, this will all change once you hit play. Answering Reid for almost two hours I will do my outmost to lift you spirits to unknown heights. Counterintuitively by taking a deep dive in to Chinese secret societies, covering thousands of years, culminating in a communist community exorcism by the black and red Dao.
We are talking apotropaic magic, the swallowing of protective charms, anti-fascist Kung Fu fighting, mystic mind-control and brain washing in the Tang dynasty, social tech of the Henan peasantry and the socialist Shaolin monks who would liberate Beijing from the compradors, the war and drug lords as well as imperialist invaders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_movement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lanterns_(Boxer_Uprising)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Spear_Society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Spears'_uprising_in_Shandong_(1928–1929)
➡️ The Red Spears, 1916–1949 Tai Hsüan-chih translated by Ronald Suleski https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.19970
➡️ The Red Spears Reconsidered: An Introduction Elizabeth J. Perry https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/166/oa_edited_volume/chapter/2707255
➡️ Secret Societies Reconsidered: Perspectives on the Social History of Early Modern South China and Southeast Asia: Perspectives on the Social History of Early Modern South China and Southeast Asia by David Ownby (Author), Mary F. Somers Heidhues (Author) https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315288055/secret-societies-reconsidered-perspectives-social-history-early-modern-south-china-southeast-asia-mary-somers-heidhues-david-ownby
➡️ “Secret Societies” Reconsidered: Perspectives on the Social History of Early Modern South China and Southeast Asia (review) Scott Lowe https://muse.jhu.edu/article/396407/pdf
Encourage spiritual scholarship - like, “hey, they’re trying to use our own beliefs to trick us, so let’s study up and expose the fraudsters”. Spiritualism, religious practices, even lower-case ‘o’ “occultism” (haven’t got a better word for it, sorry) – these are as much a part of shared culture as this or that film franchise or book series or local sports team or music genera. Yankeedom doesn’t like talking about belief and that’s bullshit. A religious reference can be just as clarifying to a discussion as a film reference or talking about systems like mechanics in a game.
And there is a spiritual component to people’s feelings - this sense of bigger things, of being a part of something even while we’re distinct. Denying that or treating it as taboo is silly. I’m agnostic but I won’t deny feeling spiritual things. But I also won’t limit myself to a single set of cultural explanation. Any materialist movement that actually wants to help people shouldn’t avoid the spiritual. It should treat it carefully and with respect, though.
Revolutionary optimism is - as one poster mentioned some time ago on here - the irrational belief that things will get better. But they didn’t say this in a negative way. I mean, why would anyone pick up a gun and kill tyrants if they don’t believe their children can finally eat one day - or if not their own children, then their neighbor’s children - even if the situation is dire? Why would Hamas or any of the anti colonial forces in the previous decades keep fighting even in the face of supposedly superior firepower? Without the irrational hope, then morale disappears, and you get savage spite. And I don’t even think savage spite is all bad either because if you know objectively you will fail, and you no longer have hope, then you’re gonna take as many of these bastards to hell with you if they want to roll that way.
Of course, this is not to say that these people are 100% irrational. Morale is also bolstered by superior tactics and victories. It’s a combination you have to balance and master for an effective resistance against exploitation and misery because exploitation and misery caused these spiritual, ‘irrational’ conditions in the first place