Architecture for Victory How the proletariat will use information war to mobilize millions for the overthrow of bourgeois rule Communist theory and practice will combine to deliver to millions of workers in the advanced industrialized countries the news that the fundamental solution to all the problems of the modern world--is the overthrow of the system of bourgeois rule--and its replacement with something that has never existed--workers' rule under modern conditions. Theory of Workers' Rule under modern conditions The rule of the rich will be broken • The economic, cultural and political life of society will no longer be ruled by the wealthy or subordinate to the needs of corporate profits. Sources of bourgeois wealth will be confiscated. All attempts by those with any remaining form of wealth or privilege--to leverage their resources and seize control of society--will be smashed. Workers will run society without restriction • Workers will have the democratic right to hear and voice uncensored views and form independent organizations under conditions of political transparency. Workers' News Network Reviews of all important articles in the mainstream press Inclusion of full text of all articles from participating progressive organizations Platform for "coopetition" (ie: competition and cooperation) between various progressive trends Web-accessible database • open to contributions from all • No copyright--everything is public domain Comprehensive and in-depth coverage of • Politics • Economics • Culture • Technology • from the standpoint of working class interests Readers decide what to read (and what to ignore) on the basis of collaborative filtering

What is progress to date ? Notes of an information theorist: CRITICAL MASS A communist movement worthy of the name can only organize itself around a theory of workers' rule that is fit for the modern world. But before this can happen charlatanism and denial must be smashed.   Digital Infrastructure and the Emergence of Communist Transparency How web-accessible databases will assist the self-organization of the anti-revisionist communist movement

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. A revolution communications medium is poised to fall into the hands of a revolutionary class, and with it, over the next several decades-- The power of the mass media is destined to fall into the hands of the masses ! .

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What are the decisive tasks to create a communist movement after seven decades of betrayal and confusion ? Read: 1917 was the Beta Version - - - The decisive task in practice is to create: ---- A WEB-BASED NEWS SERVICE ---- open to all trends and created such that no single trend (or group of trends) could dominate it in such a way as to censor or exclude other trends - - - The decisive task in theory is to provide: ---- A CLEAR PICTURE OF WORKERS' RULE ---- The decisive theoretical task is to show how the system of workers' rule . will suppress the bourgeoisie without also suppressing the working class . (and thus paving the way for the domination of a new class of privileged exploiters --as happened in the Soviet Union, China and other "socialist" countries).

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[Beam me up, Scotty] . . The Proletariat Ascendent Why the next 50 years will be unlike any that have gone before. Digital infrastructure, transparency, information war and the ultimate virus. -- approximately 300 words -- . . The cyberLeninist Manifesto The principle of information wants to be free fits Leninism as a bullet does a rifle in what turns out to be the ultimate nightmare for the bourgeoisie. -- approximately 1,500 words -- . . The Digital Fire . . Will the dictatorship of the proletariat censor the internet ? . . How the communications revolution will transform the ecology of the left today and prove to be a weapon of immense power in workers' hands after the overthrow of the capitalist system. -- approximately 10,000 words -- . . Now available ! -- "Popular" version -- Nearly 80% shorter Most "polemical" sections surgically removed ! The Self-Organizing Moneyless Economy a polemic against the defenders of the Single Point of Control theory featuring brief sketches of the organization of political, cultural and economic life in a future where all authority flows from principles that have been distributed universally and are part of everyone's internal compass rather than institutions which are external to the individual and which use one or another form of carrot or stick -- approximately 20,000 words -- . . [Beam me up, Scotty] . __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ How to Build the Party of the Future __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ __/ . By continuing our political development and harnessing the the power of the coming revolution in communications -- we can help to lay the foundation for a communist "trend of trends" with the ability to eradicate sectarianism from our ranks, puncture the influence of reformism over a vast audience, capture the imagination of workers in their millions and mobilize our class to ignite a fire that cannot be extinguished. The coming revolution in communications, now in its earliest stages, is already beginning to demonstrate its potential to influence the development and interaction of Marxist (and would-be Marxist) organizations. In the next decade or so, the communications revolution holds promise to completely transform the "left ecosystem" at present consisting predominantly of squabbling sectarian grouplets, craven reformists and the just-plain confused. In place of this will likely emerge a dynamic and powerful system of communist organizations which will both compete and cooperate with one another at levels which at present may seem inconceivable. This series is being written for serialization (on a sporadic basis) for the Spoon's Marxism-International (M-I) listserv. . . A cyberLeninist Perspective on Information War Riding the crest of the wave of the communications revolution, we are going to bring information war (as a battle of ideas, as a struggle for consciousness) to the masses, as a vehicle for their aspirations . What the hell do you mean by that ? - - - - Fighting Words - - - - The bourgeoisie (and its apologists and flunkies) seek to control the language so that they can control the ability of the proletariat to think and reason politically. Language (as an instrument of consciousness) is both a passive target and an active weapon in the sphere of information war. The definitions of key terms are themselves objects of struggle and represent contested terrain. Here are definitions worth fighting for.     Zhang Shanguang and the Proletarian Revolution    Criminal or Courageous Activist?     Zhang Shanguang, a political activist in China, was recently sentenced to ten years in prison for giving an interview to a foreign reporter.     Some believe that Zhang's imprisonment is necessary to prevent China from being ruled by a class of wealthy and powerful thugs. Others believe that China is already ruled by a group of wealthy and powerful thugs--and that a real workers' state would not be so afraid of the free flow of information.     The question is decisive to the proletarian revolution because a clear and unifying goal of a workers' rule can never emerge to mobilize millions--until a clear distinction can be made in the popular consciousness between workers' rule and a police state.    Read all about it or take an instant poll ! . [Beam me up, Scotty] Coming Attractions: . The Digital Infrastructure of the Proletarian Revolution Humanity stands at the dawn of the greatest communications revolution in history. The development of a global digital communications infrastructure promises, as decade rolls after decade, to release vast and ever-increasing amounts of oxygen onto the fires of the class struggle, setting the stage for an eventual political explosion of stellar magnitude. . On the Transition to a Communist Economy A workers' state would organize a "communist sector" of the economy side-by-side with a regulated capitalist sector. The capitalist sector would itself consist of both private capitalism and state capitalism. The communist sector would be a "gift economy" that would operate without money, wages, commodities or exchange. It would be highly experimental and would grow as it learns what it is doing, eventually competing with the capitalist economy and absorbing and transforming it as a developing chick does the white of an egg. . [Beam me up, Scotty] . (last updated May 8, 2002): What's going on with this site ? The good, the bad, and the ugly Report by your correspondent, Ben Seattle Current Report -- May 8, 2002 This site has not had a decent overhaul in four years ... Unfortunately it has been a long time since I have made more than minor updates to this site. The pressure of other political work has made it necessary that I prioritize my tasks. Recently I put together a useful index to my current (and past) work including the email lists that I run, my theoretical work and my work with digital infrastructure. You are welcome to check this index out at http://struggle.net/ben To get on the Party of the Future email list (sent out a few times a year) send email to pof-100-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Also, some of my recent activity can be seen at the following sites: Proletarian Democracy How will economics, politics and culture work when the working class runs modern society? Includes bulletin board and email list! Notes of an information theorist -- Ben's posts to various marxism-related lists -- Watch Ben apply the tactics of information war (characterized by intelligent listening and calm, scientific argument) to help transform the marxism space into a powerful weapon against the system of bourgeois rule. The Red Team • Information refineries for the proletarian century • Now building   the digital nervous system of the working class 17 Theses Seventeen Theses on the Destiny of the Revolution in Communications and the Concept of Workers' Rule Seattle Anti-Imperialist Alliance Organizing opposition to the current and future imperialist wars Previous Report -- 1.May.98 1. Transfer to WWW.LENINISM.ORG completed It took a lot more work than I thought it would--but the entire cyberLeninism site has now been transfered to its new home. In the process, I overhauled every single page. I cleaned up all the dead links. I also redesigned many of the pages to take advantage of the fact that hardly anyone is still using Netscape 2.0 (which can't handle colored tables). The new server is faster and will also allow me to use automation in the form of "Active Server Pages". 2. Chapter 8 released of "How to Build the Party of the Future" Chapter 8 is the first chapter dealing with the period during which Lenin was in power. Current plan is to release the chapters a month apart. Will this be realistic? (There was a 10 month gap between chapters 7 and 8.) All released chapters are now posted at: www.Leninism.org/pof together with most of the good discussion (and some of the bad discussion). Instructions for posting your own comments or getting on the "Party of the Future" email mailing list are on that page. Check it out. 3. Cool animated button You can now link to this site using a cool, animated button. All you need to do is include the following in your html code: <!--- cyberLeninism ad ---> <a href="http://www.Leninism.org"> <img src="http://www.Leninism.org/images/button.gif" width=88 height=31 border="0" alt="www.Leninism.org"> </a><p> If you really like the button, you can make it display at twice normal size by using width=176 and height=62 in the code above. Then it will look like this: 4. Forum is STILL frozen And the links page is still drastically overdue for an overhaul. The good news, however, is that nearly every single dead link has been removed. The forum and the links page will be functional, better than ever, as part of the site automation. 5. Site automation has been slightly delayed At least I hope the delay is slight. It took me much longer than I thought to transfer this site to Leninism.org and overhaul every page. Automation will begin (hopefully) very soon now. Does "soon" mean days or months? I hope it means days. I've got a lot of work to do tonite before I go to sleep, so I'll sign off here. Best wishes to all the readers who give me encouragement! Ben Seattle (cyberRed) ---- 1.May.98 -- 2am ----//-// Previous Report -- 14.Nov.97 Many readers are upset or disappointed that the forum has been frozen for more than 10 months. Here is one letter: Date: Wednesday, October 15, 1997 12:45 PM > Dear ben, > > Hi, i'm a big fan of your cyberLeninism page > but I'm becoming concerned with the apparent > inactivity in the site.  When do you plan to > unfreeze your forum if ever and where can I > get involved in an on-line communist > discussion until then? -- Ben replies -- Here is the good, the bad and the ugly: -- The good -- The good news is that I plan to "automate" my site--so that the forum will operate without my having to hand-code the e-mail I receive into html, fix all the dumb mistakes that I make and then FTP everything up to my ISP. -- The bad -- The bad news is that before I can start this task--I must finish at least the theoretical section of my How to Build the Party of the Future series. Originally intended as a weekend project--it will likely take me thru the end of the year. I have written 7 chapters so far and am currently working on the chapters which sum up the period in which Lenin was in power. I have only had time to post the first 3 chapters--but will post everything as soon as I have a chance. -- The ugly -- The best forums that I know of for Marxist-related discussion--are in the Marxism Space maintained by the Spoon Collective. These are e-mail based discussion lists. The best of these Spoon forums is Marxism-International. I am not necessarily recommending these sites--because few of the participants are serious about actually doing anything--and the quality of the discussion is very uneven--with occasional brilliance side-by-side with unbelievable stupidity. But until there are Marxist forums of higher caliber--this is the best of which I am aware. PS: If you find a better forum--please let me know! Ben Seattle ----//-// 14.Nov.97 [Home] • [Links] • [Forum] • [cyberLeninist Manifesto] . . .   [The Digital Fire (10,000 words)] • [The Self-Organizing Moneyless Economy (20,000 words)]