[1] Ben posts to the "End Facebook Censorship" group [September 2] Hi folks, I hope this may be of interest (and considered on-topic) by some readers here. I would be quite interested in any thoughtful comments, questions or criticisms. Ben Seattle (on fb as "Ben Stevens") Excerpt from: "Democratic Algorithms for the Proletarian Mind" What principles must guide the democratic social media platform in our future ? http://communism.org/node/4002/ There have been countless criticisms of the practices of the biggest social media platforms, such as facebook and twitter. Many of these criticisms are related to fake news, hate speech and/or the tons of personal information which are being sold to advertisers. But the bigger issue in the background is the nature of the manipulative (and secret) algorithms which determine what you see in your "news feed". Some have called for government regulation. Some have called for the development of a government-owned social media platform that would function like a public utility. Depending on the details, such things may be useful. But we need something more. In this century, we must recognize that it is not enough to have the right to speak--we must have the right to organize information on a mass scale We will only be able to exercise this right--to organize information on a mass scale--and to understand what actions are necessary to free ourselves from the rule of capital--when we have a central nervous system of our own --that serves *us* and not our oppressors--in the form of our own democratic information platform and our own democratic algorithms--free from censorship, control, manipulation or abuse from the corporations, institutions and governments that serve our class enemy. [2] F replies to Ben (September 7) Hi Ben, interesting article. One thing is bothering me: The technical expertise (and appeal to online activists) required in the struggle to build such a social media platform would do unhealthy things to the social composition of the party built on that basis, so it would have a base of petty-bourgeois activists and more highly educated IT workers. As Lenin observed, every struggle within the proletarian party is a reflection of the pressure of alien class forces, so would your party be able to maintain a perspective of overthrowing capitalism when large sections of its membership benefit from private property? [3] Ben to F (September 17) Hi F, Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Apologies for the delay in my reply. Sometimes I go a week or two without checking facebook. > The technical expertise (and appeal to online > activists) required in the struggle to build > such a social media platform would do unhealthy > things to the social composition of the party > built on that basis, so it would have a base > of petty-bourgeois activists and more highly > educated IT workers. This is an interesting comment, and I understand your concern. However it appears to me that you are making a number of assumptions. The key thing is this--although technical work will be needed to build the democratic platform we need--probably 98 percent (or more) of the work in building this platform will be making use of it as a weapon. I was part of a small group in the 1970's and 80's. We had our own press (saves a ton of money when you need to print many thousands of copies of a leaflet). There were people who knew how to operate the press. Sometimes I helped a bit. But 98% of the work--was researching and writing the leaflets. What do we tell the workers (and others)? What do they need to know? What is important (politically) to tell them, etc. In other words--the real work is political. > every struggle within the proletarian party > is a reflection of the pressure of alien class > forces, so would your party be able to maintain > a perspective of overthrowing capitalism when > large sections of its membership benefit from > private property? Again, you are making all kinds of assumptions here. I wrote the article (above) as part of an effort to discuss the necessary principles with another tech worker. Hence the focus on algorithms. Algorithms is why facebook would not allow me (a few minutes ago) to post YouTube links to the movie "Waltz with Bashir". Algorithms is why I cannot post for you a link to the post that facebook deleted. Algorithms determine what you can and cannot read, and what you can and cannot say to others. So, at some point, a critical mass of people will need to recognize that algorithms are important to the organization of information and the organization of information is important to the organization of our class--the proletariat. You can find a more political perspective here: https://warforquadranttwo.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/sex_machina.pdf All the best, Ben Seattle (on fb as Ben Stevens) [4] F to Ben (September 18) Thanks for your reply Ben (I don't check Facebook so often myself, so no worries about any delay), Your assessment of what would be needed to grow the "information machine" seems solid to me (and my apologies for the implicit assumption that you weren't considering the political work necessary) - to grow a mass user-base would require explaining to the workers how their immediate struggles will benefit from freeing themselves from censorship and making them aware of the impact of algorithms on their lives. To put my own cards on the table, I use facebook almost entirely just to get articles from wsws.org out to the working class, so agree that a fight against censorship is a vital part of building a revolutionary party. We differ on the order of events though - I find it hard to believe that world capitalism can fend off all challenges for the time it would take to build a truly democratic social media machine, and such a thing will likely grow out of the struggle of workers against their immediate conditions once they break with the centralised trade unions. Kind regards, F [5] Ben to F (September 18) Hi F, It is good to hear from you. I have read a number of good articles on the wsws web site over the years. Many of these articles represent a good analysis and a fair amount of political maturity. On the other hand, most the interactions I have had with wsws supporters, on the internet, have been of a different character (ie: sectarian know-it-alls who do not know how to listen). Other activists I know have similar experience with wsws (ie: decent articles online + clueless idiots who are impossible to talk to). But there must be *some* intelligent and thoughtful comrades around the group--because *someone* has to write those articles. In any event, I hope you are one of the thoughtful ones, who understands that it is necessary to listen. > agree that a fight against censorship is a > vital part of building a revolutionary party Actually, the main problem with facebook is not censorship. This group is named "end facebook censorship", but censorship is only one percent of the problem. Ditto for facebook's outrageous privacy infringements in which people's most personal information is routinely sold to manipulative advertizers. That is only one percent of the problem. 98 percent of the problem is that facebook uses algorithms that make it impossible to organize information. And the organization of information will be the key to organizing people: (1) giving them news of important struggles and drawing them into action and (2) bringing to the proletariat an understanding of its historic mission (getting rid of the rule of capital, etc). > I find it hard to believe that world capitalism > can fend off all challenges for the time it would > take to build a truly democratic social media machine All kinds of things are hard to believe. Most people find it hard to believe that the proletariat will overthrow the rule of capital. How old are you? How long have you been around the wsws/ICFI/SEP? What are your estimates for how many decades "world capitalism" can fend off all challenges? What are your estimates for how many decades it would take for a truly democratic social media machine to emerge? What are these estimates based on? It is not my role to convince you of anything. You can believe what you want to believe. If you have questions, I can give you answers that you are unlikely to find elsewhere. But facebook is not the best place for that, because all the discussion threads are lost in Zuckerberg's fog and become impossible to find. If you go to where my article is posted, there is a link to a Reddit thread. That is a better place for discussion. > and such a thing will likely grow out of > the struggle of workers against their immediate > conditions once they break with the centralised > trade unions. In WITBD, Lenin argued that these struggles tend to spontaneously fall under the influence of reformists and similar misleaders--unless there is a conscious element that can intervene. You think your group represents such an element? It is time for me to put my cards on the table. I think your group is a cargo cult. Yes, you put out many decent articles. But so did my group, and it also turned out to be a cargo cult. I think your group would be threatened by a even a small-scale democraticly run forum in which all left activists participated. No such forum exists, but I would like to help create one in the time I have left. We can this discussion further (on Reddit) if you want. If you have more important priorities, I understand. I once stood in your shoes. All the best, Ben Seattle