🔵 WHAT DO I KNOW, AND HOW DO I KNOW IT?

■ Karl Marx and the Freemasons (no, it's not a new music band!)

A lot of material like the following has been circulating again among good and honest people who have been politically active recently in the Movement for Medical Freedom and the Movement to preserve our Constitutional and Human Rights, which mobilized in the face of the coronacrisis and the Medical Dictatorship that was set up almost overnight all over the planet. As we all know the dictatorship received support through authoritarian Hygienic Fascism initiatives by a large section of our terrorized and misinformed populations. These authoritarian initiatives included ALL sections of the (former) Left, the Right, the Center, the all around and in between, and all colors of political affiliation and identity who sided with illegitimate authority and State-sponsored terrorism.

From a friend's letter who has been active in the Movement:

"Scroll down to the photo of Karl Marx.  Notice his hand inside his jacket.  This is how Napoleon always posed, and how Ted Cruz poses.  Why?  Because it's a signal of being a member of a secret Masonic society called The Hidden Hand."

The material below is published in an effort to restore some clarity on this subject.


■ A Photograph, and the Private Property issue

A.
The way a person poses for a photograph is not necessarily "proof" of anything, especially during an era when photographers were known to pressure their subjects to appear this way and that, saying "this is how it must be done", or creating an atmosphere where a person fit a particular "composition" the photographer had in mind, or took ten different photos of varying poses under direction, and only chose to release one of them. In this article there's a number of authentic photos of myself which can be used to "prove" anything about me.

But closer to the substance of the issue, what people mean today when they say "Freemason" is entirely different from what it meant in the 1800's. And also very different from what it was in the 1700's.

In the 1700's, Freemasons were one of the organizations of the newly-formed class of the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois artisans, merchants and capitalists; they stood opposed to feudal ruling classes (kings, royalty, gentry, etc.) and were dedicated to the values that were embodied the French Revolution, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" - which eventually spread all over the world as feudalism came tumbling down with serial revolutions lasting about 150 years, especially in the West, and a new form of class society (somewhat more democratic) replaced it.

The Freemasons also had a spiritual dimension to their shared values, but it was not much more than a shared faith that the Divine is a unitary (single) spiritual entity.

Due to this, and especially due to their revolutionary character, the Freemasons were opposed vehemently by all supporters of the feudal ruling class, with the reactionary feudal church at the head of a propaganda machine aimed against them, demonizing them and targeting them with every imaginable accusation.

By the 1800's and as more and more countries tore down feudalism and installed bourgeois (capitalist) democracy, the Freemasons became one of the many unofficial formations and secret fora of the new ruling class - the capitalists - who soon became dominant the world over as they conquered, expanded, and embodied a global capitalist Imperium. This Imperialism became even more pronounced toward the late 1800's, early 1900's.

Marx was OPPOSED to the power of ALL formations of the capitalist class, and especially opposed to their secret societies.

By the mid-twentieth century the worldwide revolutionary movement of the nineteen sixties and seventies popularized the revolutionary Left's opposition and resentment of the secret societies that belong to the ruling class, and especially the Freemasons. And so a grand alliance was formed in the sphere of ideological warfare which brought together the medieval feudal church's argumentations and accusations against the Freemasons (they are "satanists"; they are "evil"; they "sacrifice children", etc.), with the argumentations and accusations of the modern capitalist class against the revolutionary Left in a very clever false-flag operation. The operation aimed to channel the natural hatred of the people against the rulers' secret societies and use that hatred against the revolutionaries themselves ("they will take away the little bit that you own"; "they will take away your freedom"; "they will install a dictatorship"; "they are working with the Freemasons", "they ARE Freemasons", etc.)

As we entered the reactionary era of the 21st century with its failed uprisings, failed mobilizations, extreme deepening of poverty and extreme centralization of the Empire's dictatorial structures, we witnessed an almost complete takeover and co-optation of most of the Left's organizations, institutions, and slogans, and the absorption of entire sections of the (former) Liberation Movement into the machinery of the Empire: our people were left rudderless, ideologically ungrounded, unprepared for this, helpless, and under constant bombardment from the propaganda war machine.  

The Empire's propaganda war has been successful to a large degree, and it has managed to generate a large number of people who "know", or who believe that Socialism or Communism is a monstrous conspiracy of the ruling class itself, a campaign of the banksters, and that Karl Marx is this or that - without them having ever read a single book or pamphlet or even an article by Marx. They just "know" it all; memes and slogans on social media, or claims by people whose sources are entirely without validity... are all the "proof" they need.

A person needs to STUDY in order to understand what all this means and how to deal with it.

One fundamental question that EVERY person needs to grapple with is "WHAT DO I KNOW, AND HOW DO I KNOW IT?" "What are my sources? And how do I know they are valid? How do THEY know (or prove) what they claim is true?"

Instead of a large number of people within the Movement engaging in this self-appraisal - immersing themselves in the process of questioning everything they know or think they know, in order to arrive at what is truly valid - what we see is millions of people who are absolutely certain that they "know" the truth (about Marx, or about anything) without being able to trace within themselves a single clue about how they came to "know" this thing. Nor are they willing to engage in pursuing the answer.


On the particular questions regarding Karl Marx and the Freemasons, here are some very good starting points:

a.
Hand-written Manuscripts of Marx, prove that he wrote extensively AGAINST the Freemasons - here is an excerpt:
«...Marx is also of the opinion that the First International Organization (International Workers’ Association) was destroyed from within by the hidden hand of freemasonry. In the "Reports and Documents Published by the Socialist Democratic League and the International Workers’ Association in accordance with the decision of the International Hague Congress", Marx talked about "freemasonry" in two places. Marx clearly stated: "Hidden behind the international Geneva branch is the Central Bureau of the Secret League; behind the international branches of Naples, Barcelona, Lyon and Jura, the secret branches of the freemasons are hidden. This is a freemasonry organization, and ordinary members of the international community and their leadership centres should have no doubts about such a (destructive) organization."»  
■ The Opposition of Marx to Freemasonry - BUDDHIST - MARXISM ALLIANCE (UK)
https://buddhistsocialism.weebly.com/the-opposition-of-marx-to-freemasonry.html

Archived here:
https://archive.ph/NPIia


b.
There's been a long struggle waged by Freemasonry against the organized revolutionary labor movement, socialism and communism. The following article documents large sections of the history of this struggle. The authors belong to an anti-stalinist communist organization.
[The article contains some typographical errors, you may need to read some sentences twice to get the meaning. There are 8 occurrences where the word "the" is mistyped as "me.]
■Workers' Movement: Marxism against Freemasonry | International Communist Current
https://en.internationalism.org/content/3741/workers-movement-marxism-against-freemasonry

Archived:
https://archive.ph/Wka5y


c.
Freemasons themselves address the question of whether Marx was one of them. Their answer is quick and easy: "he would have never qualified" as a member!
■ Was Karl Marx A Freemason
https://free-masons.livejournal.com/46309.html

Archived:
https://archive.ph/AWjsB


d.
What did Marx himself say about the accusations that supposedly the revolution which gave birth to the Paris Commune was the result of a conspiracy by secret societies? Here is his answer given during an interview for the "New York World" magazine, July 18, 1871. This is from the Freemason website of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia & Yukon.
■ Karl Marx on Freemasonry
https://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/marx_k.html

Archived:
https://archive.ph/ydvtT


B.
Regarding the issue of private property

The issue is very simple, but it appears complex. Marx and revolutionary Socialists use a specific terminology that contains particular meanings. When those terms are taken and twisted out of context, instead of history what we get is twistory.

Within the body of work known as Scientific Socialism, the phrase "private property" refers to the fact that the most important means of production (ie. factories, manufacturing facilities, mines, etc.) that produce and distribute what humanity needs (food, clothes, buildings, computers, vehicles, infrastructure)... are all held under private ownership. Even though they are operated collectively by working people, the fruit of that combined labor is stolen at the point of production and SOLD BACK to us at a price. If we want to have what we created together with our combined labor, we have to buy it as a commercial product at the market.

Scientific Socialism's primary tenet is that this conflict between the manner of production (collective) and the form of ownership (private), generates all of the modern world's strife and suffering. And it will be resolved only when all of the means of production and distribution (ie. factories, manufacturing facilities, etc.) come under our collective ownership. In that sense, they become the collective property of all of us combined together, ie. belong to all of society. So that what we produce together through our combined labor (everything that humanity needs such as food, clothes, buildings, computers, vehicles, etc.) will also be distributed to all of us collectively.

The phrase "private property" does NOT refer to your shoes, your clothes, other items of your personal usage, or anything that most people own that is outside of the cycle of
production->market->profits.

The aim of Socialism is to INCREASE what you own, so that in addition to whatever you use and own privately (toothbrush, shoes, clothes, your home), you will also become a co-owner of all the social means of production and distribution, and have a say in how they are used and to what purpose.

The way this happens is through the combined action of working people who seize and occupy the factories and other means of production, place them under a decision-making process of direct democracy where people decide things together in councils, and begin to operate them for human needs instead of profits. This act of expropriation is what Scientific Socialism identifies as "abolition of private property"; it is the act of rendering the means of production into collective property, owned by all of us together.

In contrast to this, the goal of most (especially the pettiest) of the members of the ruling class, is to actually take everything you own so that you'll be working all your life and never be able to get back even a small fraction of what you produce.

► Revolutionary Socialists want to take everything owned privately by the capitalists and render it into collective property - social property - that will be owned and controlled by you, and by all of us together, all of the people collectively.
► The pettiest of capitalists want to take everything YOU own.

The fact that some of our people confuse these above two types of appropriation is an act of mostly just plain ignorance, repeated without thinking about the meaning, or about the history of peoples' struggles through the centuries.

Among people who know what they're talking about, equating these two forms of "private property" expropriation is criminal propaganda It is aimed at poisoning people's minds against Socialism in order to support the capitalist ruling class in its war against the radical Left.


So to summarize:

► There is no proof that Karl Marx was ever positively involved with the Freemasons except a clever misinterpretation of a photograph. While there is PLENTY of proof in his writings, his statements, and his legacy that he stood against the Freemasons of his era.
► Claiming that Karl Marx wanted - or that Socialism wants - to take away the little bit that you own is a lie.

All you have to do is read and study a little, and talk with some Socialist you trust. You might discover a world of joyful truths and enjoy the relief of living without the lies that constrain you in your social activism for Freedom.

Petros Evdokas, petros@cyprus-org.net

Further Readings and Resources

■ Left Lockdown Sceptics
"Left Lockdown Sceptics is a forum for critiques of ‘new normal’ societal changes from anarchist, feminist, Marxist and socialist perspectives. We stand for an informed, open debate and discussion about everything relevant to the Covid phenomenon and its related issues..."
https://leftlockdownsceptics.com/about/?doing_wp_cron=1662649092.0787079334259033203125

■ Revolutionary Communist Group
https://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/explore-topics/covid-19

"Humanity faces a profound crisis: a devastating pandemic, soaring poverty, inequality and insecurity, with escalating rivalries between the world’s wealthiest nations, leading to global conflicts and wars. Environmental destruction and climate change already devastate the lives of millions of people and threaten humanity’s extinction. We are in a race against time to prevent this outcome. The only answer is to fight for socialism: a system in which resources are democratically controlled and rationally organised to meet humanity’s needs rather than those of a tiny minority.
...No capitalist ruling class has ever given up power voluntarily; it will take mass direct action, a revolution led by the working class and its most oppressed layers. The RCG exists as a vehicle to strengthen the revolutionary anti-racist, anti-imperialist trend within the working class..."
https://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/about/6248-what-we-stand-for-2

■ If you have the clarity and presence of mind to study the opposition, please see what a FORMER radical Leftist has to say in these troubled times. You can trace the ideological shift from radical Left opposition to the ruling class all the way to... not just acceptance of its propaganda, but a willing participation in the propaganda war being waged by the Corporate State, on their side! Here:
■ It’s shocking to see so many leftwingers lured to the far right by conspiracy theories
George Monbiot
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/22/leftwingers-far-right-conspiracy-theories-anti-vaxxers-power

■ Thank You Greece! Thank You SYRIZA!
"...the political
program of the Left CAN NOT be actualized without active mobilization
and physical-emotional participation of the people, without a hands-on
tangible involvement of the population in the process...
...No one is talking about organizing the farming brigades and worker's
brigades that will be required to re-vitalize the country's ability to
feed and clothe itself; i.e. to create a self-sustaining economy for the
country. It seems that both the party and its supporters are assuming
that all that can achieved by conventional "investment and development"
procedures (State-directed investment by the banks; in other words a
humane management of capitalism). No one is talking about the need to
mobilize people for occupations and seizures of productive units (idle
factories, housing units, hospitals, etc.) No one is talking about
mobilizing the reserve soldiers into the self-organized defence teams
(some sort of militia) that will be required to protect the country from
Turkey's military aggression or from resistance to the popular
mobilizations mentioned above that might be thrown up by the fascist
elements of the Police.
Socialism cannot be "proclaimed"; it can only be achieved by active
participation of the multitude..."
https://web.archive.org/web/20150914184141/http://cyprus.indymedia.org/node/4968

■ For a Hellenic Socialist Revival
"Some features of this project, or junctures of this political period, might necessitate some of the following:
    Seizure, occupation and operation by the people of many industries and branches of agriculture, and the introduction of workers' control with direct democracy;
    The establishment (and empowerment) of people's councils throughout the whole of the country, through which the day-to-day activities will be administered. These can be based in the neighborhoods, the workplaces, the schools, and within the security services (military, police, etc.);
    Social or State control of foreign trade;
    Self-organization of labour-brigades along the lines of a modern democratic People's Army, and militarization of labour (more on this below);
    Seizure or requisition of agricultural, industrial or trade surpluses for decentralized (community determined) distribution among the population;
    If social assets and production dwindle and the country is forced into a state of emergency, it might become necessary to introduce rationing of food and of most other commodities, with distribution to the people according to need and availability;
    Encourage and support small private enterprise alongside with enterprises by collectives, communes, bands, worker-owned businesses, which should receive priority;
    Social control of the railways, highways, airports, telephones, electricity, water and other large scale elements of the social and economic infrastructure, ensuring that these will serve the people's needs..."
https://web.archive.org/web/20161002011438/http://cyprus.indymedia.org/node/5021

■ Endo~Media / Socialism
https://cyprusindymedia.blogspot.com/search/label/socialism

■ Endo~Media / Revolutionary Politics
https://cyprusindymedia.blogspot.com/search/label/revolutionary%20politics

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