"In analyzing a society and deriving its laws of motion, Marxism proceeds by studying its economic base, then also its superstructure (politics and culture) both in their particularity and in their interaction. The class that controls the economic base and appropriates the surplus product is the determinant factor in the long run, producing its own framework of political rule and dominant cultural precepts.
As Marx aptly said in The German Ideology:
The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. … Insofar, therefore, as they rule as a class and determine the extent and compass of an epoch, it is self-evident that they do this in its whole range, hence among other things rule also as thinkers, as producers of ideas, and regulate the production and distribution of the ideas of their age: thus their ideas are the ruling ideas of the epoch.
However, the superstructure can become crucial in intensifying contradictions within the economic base or in breaking deadlocks towards resolution and general advance. Thus to be a cultural activist, one must understand the underlying contradictions and define one´s class stand. On whose side are we? As cultural activists, we stand with and for the people. We expose and criticize oppression and obscurantism in any or many aspects of this vast mental, communication, and behavioral complex that we call culture, and espouse revolutionary changes in society in that same space.
In the past two or three decades now, the world’s countries and peoples have been facing a renewed cultural offensive by the foremost imperialist powers. This offensive advances in parallel with their economic and political-military offensives. This cultural offensive is led by US imperialism. It is the “soft power” aspect of the US ambition for full spectrum dominance in the economic, political, military, social and other spheres, including outer space."
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Imperialist Cultural Offensive:
"In analyzing a society and deriving its laws of motion, Marxism proceeds by studying its economic base, then also its superstructure (politics and culture) both in their particularity and in their interaction. The class that controls the economic base and appropriates the surplus product is the determinant factor in the long run, producing its own framework of political rule and dominant cultural precepts.
As Marx aptly said in The German Ideology:
The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. … Insofar, therefore, as they rule as a class and determine the extent and compass of an epoch, it is self-evident that they do this in its whole range, hence among other things rule also as thinkers, as producers of ideas, and regulate the production and distribution of the ideas of their age: thus their ideas are the ruling ideas of the epoch.
However, the superstructure can become crucial in intensifying contradictions within the economic base or in breaking deadlocks towards resolution and general advance. Thus to be a cultural activist, one must understand the underlying contradictions and define one´s class stand. On whose side are we? As cultural activists, we stand with and for the people. We expose and criticize oppression and obscurantism in any or many aspects of this vast mental, communication, and behavioral complex that we call culture, and espouse revolutionary changes in society in that same space.
In the past two or three decades now, the world’s countries and peoples have been facing a renewed cultural offensive by the foremost imperialist powers. This offensive advances in parallel with their economic and political-military offensives. This cultural offensive is led by US imperialism. It is the “soft power” aspect of the US ambition for full spectrum dominance in the economic, political, military, social and other spheres, including outer space."