Masks Off: Social Justice Warriors Were Always Devoted Leninists
"Cultural Hegemony" and “Long March through the Institutions" were just a quiet temporary tactical move. Our students say the quiet part out loud
Gone are the days when we were meticulously gaslit into disbelieving our own ears - the very ears that faithfully tried to transmit the whispers of “revolutionary uprisings” to our brains. Of course, the signal often got scrambled by Gramsci-Dutschke rhetoric designed to market the essentially Leninist “Cultural Hegemony”/“Long March through the Institutions” program as something that can fit a democratic society [SJW-to-Normal interpretation of the program: “Less Molotov cocktails at police stations, more infiltration of Liberal Arts faculties.”]
But thanks to UMass Boston’s trusty student newspaper, Hamass Media, we’ve finally confirmed we’re not crazy.
On February 24, 2025, Hamass Media graciously devoted half a page to the question of What Is to Be Done?, summoning the spirit of none other than the greatest Supreme Leader of all, Father of the Russian revolution, Vladimir Lenin:
As Lenin wrote [in Subsection III.E of What Is to Be Done? (1902)]: “The [socialist’s] ideal should not be a trade union secretary, but a tribune of the people, able to react to every manifestation of tyranny and oppression, no matter where it takes place, no matter what stratum or class of people it affects.”
It is high time that activists and organizers see the forest for the trees. We must understand that none of our demands will ever be met if we do not unite our struggles and fight for one demand, the very demand which unites us all: the demand for power. Only when power is in the hands of the oppressed, only when it is taken from the hands of the oppressors will we know true liberation.
— “On power: What is to be done now?” by Max Herschman, Hamass Media, Feb 24, 2025, p. 13.
Max Herschman, by the way, happens to be the Jewish liaison for the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). A Hamas-loving Leninist Jew. What a heartwarming intersectional fusion! What a wonderful product of modern day academia!
And he finally says the quiet part out loud: They’re not after justice or equality - they’re after power. Ah, so much for us being called “paranoid.” No need to book that therapy session. As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.
For those unfamiliar with the full scope of Lenin’s work, here’s a little taste of the man inspiring today’s best and brightest activists:
Just a few paragraphs away from the quote Hamass Media is raving about, Lenin outlined his balanced approach to legal activism and terrorism in the revolutionary struggle: It’s just a matter of timing, he said. Wait until the workers are better organized:
[C]alls for terror and calls to lend the economic struggle itself a political character are merely two different forms of evading [sic.] the most pressing duty now resting upon Russian revolutionaries, namely, the organization of comprehensive political agitation.
— Subsection III.D, “What Is There In Common Between Economism and Terrorism?” in What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement by Vladimir Lenin (under a pseudonym “N. Lenin”) (1902).
But that was before the Soviet revolution. Post-Revolution Lenin was far less shy. His later writings give us a glimpse into what to expect from our Social Justice Warriors in the future. We already got a taste with their Parliamentary Secretaries for Men’s Behavior Change as a prime example, but this is just the beginning. Their dreams of a “world without men,” their view of “white people… [as] culturally deprived,” and their distaste for the scientific method because of its “whiteness” add some flavor.
On the need to encourage mass terror:
Today we learnt from the Central Committee [of the Bolshevik Party] that in Petersburg, the workers wanted to respond to the murder of Volodarsky [a member of the Central Executive Committee] with mass terror and that you have restrained them. I protest decisively! … This is im-pos-si-ble! We must encourage the energy and mass type of terror!"
— Lenin to Comrade Zinoviev [Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet at the time], November 26, 1918.
On concentration camps for the enemies of the revolution:
We must unleash a merciless mass terror against rich peasants, priests, and White Guards [the anti-Bolshevik army]. Lock up the suspicious ones in a concentration camp outside the city. Telegraph when done."
— Lenin to the Penza Provincial Executive Committee, August 9, 1918.
On executions without trial:
Execute with a firing squad, not awaiting for an OK from the superiors and without the idiotic bureaucratic red tape.
— Lenin to Comrade Paikes, August 22, 1918.
To finish on a lighter note, a little bonus for our CLA colleagues:
All theaters belong in a coffin.
— Lenin to People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky, August 26, 1921.
Hamass Media should seriously think about starting reprinting modern practical guides for armed struggle (oh wait, it’s already happening on campuses, including our system). Perhaps they should launch a new line of Klutz-like “activity-driven books sold along with other items needed for the activity,” with Molotovs and crowbars instead of juggling balls.
After reading Herschman’s little manifesto, one burning question lingers: Once the oppressed seize power, won’t they become the oppressors and the former oppressors the oppressed? What should be done then?
What does Max do for money? Call his daddy?
Yes indeed comrades! There's a heavy dollop of Mao in the mix as well, especially evident on the K-12 front.