Morning Comrades and welcome back to the actual start of 2023 in regards to this newsletter - thanks for sticking around whilst I was getting my bearings work wise this past week.
As mentioned in last weeks brief “hello” dispatch there will be a slight change in the publishing schedule going forward, with 3 dispatches a week going out to you. For the month of January all three of these will be available to everyone and then starting February, the free-tier of this project will get one newsletter a week, two if I deem it necessary and the other will be for the patreons of this project. It’s a trial to see if I can reconcile both this work and the kitchen work without compromising the quality of what you are getting from me.
2023 is off to a start, but then so has every year been for the last 4-5 years it feels. I cannot discern whether shit really is hitting the fan at an increasing pace, if it is the reality of an information warfare/onslaught that has increased since the beginning of the pandemic, a combination thereof of something else entirely. Saying that, a week into this part of the marathon at the end of western capitalism, I have to say that this year will have to be the year where we forego the sickening circus of the culture war colosseum the ruling class are shoving down our throats to prevent a class war. I know we have spoken about this previously but this subject will be dipped into at a deeper level going forward, mostly due to a personal sense of necessity and desperation. In addition, there has been a great amount of thought and discussion at this end of the screen in regards to ideology and materialism, how these two competing means of creating reality are what we must chose between going forward if we wish to succeed in changing the world in the way we want to. These underlying constructs are vividly engaging much of my own thoughts and thus will be heavily included here going forward. Obviously not in the sense of yet another dry, theoretical philosophical discussion but as they pertain to us, materially today and potentially tomorrow.
A sure reality even just by judging this past week is that the culture war circus, as initiated by the ruling classes via their extensive network of media and media personalities, is going to be reaching fever pitch temperatures this week. I have absolutely no intention to indulge the reactionary, infantile, reaction-type circuses that plague, or rather constitute, much of the terminally online self-proclaimed lefties, however, I hope that we can learn to understand what is what, decide where intervention ( rather than reaction ) is necessary and ideally, can come to a point where we create a critical mass like narrative to put said instigators of these fictional and deafening culture wars on their back foot. Best laid plans and all that, but for the sake of transparency this is where my mind is at these days and I want you all to know what is heading your way going forward - obviously, in addition to the usual fun and games, educational and practical tips and resources that you are used to me at this point.
To start off this week I will share a few stories, articles and resources with you that I have found to be brilliantly worthwhile my time. To start, by all means read this essay Branko Milanović, a rather brilliant economist that I follow here on substack- it’s about Victor Serge’s Notebooks from 1936-47 that reads like an insane fairy tale but one that was an utter reality of many European activists around that time- think Master and Margarita meets reality. Milanović’s take on it all is profound and highly engaging.
For anyone that lives in the UK or has been paying even the slightest attention to the sacking / destruction of the country at the hands of the ultra-corrupt conservatives it should be utterly clear that the pandemic opened the flood gates to the proverbial burning of Rome. To this day I cannot remember ever having witnessed the utter brazen corruption, top-down class war that the UK conservative elite have engaged in. This article lay bare just a few but remarkable cases of corruption so vile that it should serve, if anything, as inspiration to sharpen those pitch forks. Names and addresses and all that.
Surveillance Capitalism is a term that most of you will be know by now and this article from Counter Punch is a great read in regards to what is heading our way, offering ideas on how to combat this perverse tool of oppression.
Class analysis is, remains and will forever be one of the most important tools in our collective struggle for liberation and this most excellent piece published by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is an invaluable tool.
For the more scientific-minded among us, this collection of studies in regards to capitalism, imperialism, degrowth and more is an absolute gold mine. All of it is open source and available in PDF format and should keep you busy / enraged for a month at the very least.
That is it for the time being. As always, thank you for being here, your time and attention. If you are so inclined, by all means share this with your friends, on your social and so on. The more the merrier.
See you all back here on Wednesday.
Yours, warmed by the fires of the raging working class,
V.