Strip Away the Disguise of Capitalist Freedom and Democracy, and All You See Is Still the Naked Dictatorship of Capitalism

What the title states is not a particularly noteworthy topic for discussion, just as a wolf in sheep's clothing is still a wolf. But in an age when more and more people hope to deceive others simply by putting on a vest, spending some saliva on this is an activity that is no more tedious than tedium itself. And in an age that worships packaging, dressing up naked dictatorship in the pretty garment of freedom and democracy gives various elites a non-tedious purpose for their tedious pastimes, even though this non-tediousness is essentially more tedious than tedium.

For elites who like to boast about how beautiful the garment of freedom and democracy in such-and-such country is, concealing the history of this so-called beautiful garment -- once nothing but tattered rags -- has become instinct. But their deeper instinct lies in concealing the naked dictatorship beneath the garment. The concealment of the concealment is the instinct of all the elite's instincts. Everyone looks the same in the bathhouse. The elites are not unaware of this, but they still insist: yours is a communal pool, but ours is a sauna -- and then what they scrub off is still the same black grime.

The elitification of the few and the stupefaction of the masses -- this is both the purpose and the result of the tricks that the so-called elites love about freedom and democracy. Once you understand the assembly line, you understand all the tricks of free and democratic politics, because the two are isomorphic. Elitification, specialization, technicalization, stupefaction, tabloidization, invisible brainwashing, and so on -- these constitute the dazzling colors of all free and democratic societies. Beneath these dazzling colors, what remains unchanged is still the naked dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, just as the myth of knowledge capital conquering financial capital reveals, once shattered, the same ferocious face of capital.

In a socialist society, socialist democracy must be based on the dictatorship of the proletariat -- this is something that need not be euphemized but is most easily forgotten. Just as the two poles of a magnet always coexist, there has never been freedom and democracy divorced from dictatorship, and socialism is no exception. Dictatorship is the foundation -- capitalists understand this far better than workers. And when Great Britain extended its butcher's blade to the entire world, it somehow left the world with the fine reputation of gentlemanly manners, inspiring admiration for its elite propaganda skills as boundless as the mighty rivers.

Tearing away all disguises and confronting the cruelty of reality head-on -- this is the source of all the power of materialist dialectics. Ridiculously, some people have elitified it, turning it into garbage of famous sayings. The cult worship of Old Marx's 1844 manuscripts is one labored performance of the elite conspiracy to domesticate materialist dialectics into mere quotable aphorisms. Presumably all elites wish Old Marx had died in 1844, because they fear facing Old Marx's awakening after 1844. "Beauty like jade, sword like rainbow" -- the ridiculous elites would rather huddle in the dead end of quotations and concepts, debating whether it's "let no dust alight" or "there was never anything from the start."

Even "neither the wind moves, nor the banner moves -- it is the benevolent one's mind that moves" is still dragging mud, not worth a look. Better to fix the eye that determines heaven and earth and see through all the intricate connections between bourgeois dictatorship and freedom and democracy -- the military, spy agencies, donations, elections, Hollywood, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment, pornography, drugs, organized crime, television, religion, public opinion, and so on and so forth -- and see how they construct an edifice of dictatorship, then paint it over with dazzling, enticing colors on the outside. For the still-imperfect proletarian dictatorship and democracy, these observations and lessons certainly have a degree of significance, but the most fundamental premise cannot be changed: reject "the elitification of the few and the stupefaction of the masses." Anyone who challenges this most fundamental premise is also someone who wishes to become a master -- then let the dictatorship of the proletariat serve them accordingly.