Nehming Names (@ShemNehm)

Lenin and Cancel Culture We might be tempted to think that cancel culture is something novel in the world of politics, but it's not. Lenin, in the quote below, advocates it, suggesting that the party has a clear right to disassociate with what he would consider liars and anti-party elements. At the face of it, his argument may seem reasonable, but it, in fact, is an ideological swindle. First to note is related to the nostrum that "hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue". Lenin appears to be making a principled argument for the elimination of the right to free speech by appealing to the right of free association, when the motivation, as seen in the light of history, is the desire for complete and dominating control of information. He provides a dishonest moral slight-of-hand to justify later crackdowns on freedom of speech and the press. Second to note is the eliminationist rhetoric used. By the end of the quote he is not merely talking about distancing from wrong-speakers, but rather cleansing wrong-speakers from the party. Third to note is that Lenin's cleansing is not a consequence of due process, in which the offense is determined and ratified by just law in a legal proceeding, rather, the mere accusation is sufficient to grant the party the "right" to eliminate socialist heretics. Fourth to note is how all these points work together. It is a subtle, devious, and Orwellian technique whereby nuanced pronouncements are made by a movement's leader with the express intent of being (mis-) understood by the mob as a call to action. This technique provides plausible deniability for the leader, allowing him to claim that he never intended his "principled" statement to be taken in such a way. In the quote below, Lenin's pretense was to talk about the axiological balance of civil rights; his intention was to give Bolsheviks a green light in "cleansing anti-party elements" as well as to lay out a principle of political action once his Bolsheviks had complete hold over the reins of power. Just as then, we see the same techniques in play by the ideological Left today. Everyone is free to write and say whatever he likes, without any restrictions. But every voluntary association (including the party) is also free to expel members who use the name of the party to advocate anti-party views. Freedom of speech and the press must be complete. But then freedom of association must be complete too. I am bound to accord you, in the name of free speech, the full right to shout, lie and write to your heart’s content. But you are bound to grant me, in the name of freedom of association, the right to enter into, or withdraw from, association with people advocating this or that view. The party is a voluntary association, which would inevitably break up, first ideologically and then physically, if it did not cleanse itself of people advocating anti-party views. Lenin, Vladimir (1905), "Party Organisation and Party Literature", Novaya Zhizn