"To some extent, we can create the future rather than merely observing the flow of events," says Noam Chomsky. (Image via Shutterstock)"War is the health of the State," wrote social critic Randolph Bourne in a classic essay as America entered World War I:
"It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the Government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense. ... Other values such as artistic creation, knowledge, reason, beauty, the enhancement of life, are instantly and almost unanimously sacrificed, and the significant classes who have constituted themselves the amateur agents of the State are engaged not only in sacrificing these values for themselves but in coercing all other persons into sacrificing them."
And at the service of society's "significant classes" were the intelligentsia, "trained up in the pragmatic dispensation, immensely ready for the executive ordering of events, pitifully unprepared for the intellectual interpretation or the idealistic focusing of ends."
They are "lined up in service of the war-technique. There seems to have been a peculiar congeniality between the war and these men. It is as if the war and they had been waiting for each other."
The role of the technical intelligentsia in decision-making is predominant in those parts of the economy that are "in the service of the war technique" and closely linked to the government, which underwrites their security and growth.
It is little wonder, then, that the technical intelligentsia is, typically, committed to what sociologist Barrington Moore in 1968 called "the predatory solution of token reform at home and counterrevolutionary imperialism abroad."
Moore offers the following summary of the "predominant voice of America at home and abroad" - an ideology that expresses the needs of the American socioeconomic elite, that is propounded with various gradations of subtlety by many American intellectuals, and that gains substantial adherence on the part of the majority that has obtained "some share in the affluent society":
"You may protest in words as much as you like. There is but one condition attached to the freedom we would very much like to encourage: Your protests may be as loud as possible as long as they remain ineffective. ... Any attempt by you to remove your oppressors by force is a threat to civilized society and the democratic process. ... As you resort to force, we will, if need be, wipe you from the face of the earth by the measured response that rains down flame from the skies."
A society in which this is the predominant voice can be maintained only through some form of national mobilization, which may range in its extent from, at the minimum, a commitment of substantial resources to a credible threat of force and violence.
Given the realities of international politics, this commitment can be maintained in the United States only by a form of national psychosis - a war against an enemy who appears in many guises: Kremlin bureaucrat, Asian peasant, Latin American student, and, no doubt, "urban guerrilla" at home.
The intellectual has, traditionally, been caught between the conflicting demands of truth and power. He would like to see himself as the man who seeks to discern the truth, to tell the truth as he sees it, to act - collectively where he can, alone where he must - to oppose injustice and oppression, to help bring a better social order into being.
If he chooses this path, he can expect to be a lonely creature, disregarded or reviled. If, on the other hand, he brings his talents to the service of power, he can achieve prestige and affluence.
He may also succeed in persuading himself - perhaps, on occasion, with justice - that he can humanize the exercise of power by the "significant classes." He may hope to join with them or even replace them in the role of social management, in the ultimate interest of efficiency and freedom.
The intellectual who aspires to this role may use the rhetoric of revolutionary socialism or of welfare-state social engineering in pursuit of his vision of a "meritocracy" in which knowledge and technical ability confer power.
He may represent himself as part of a "revolutionary vanguard" leading the way to a new society or as a technical expert applying "piecemeal technology" to the management of a society that can meet its problems without fundamental changes.
For some, the choice may depend on little more than an assessment of the relative strength of competing social forces. It comes as no surprise, then, that quite commonly the roles shift; the student radical becomes the counterinsurgency expert.
His claims must, in either case, be viewed with suspicion: He is propounding the self-serving ideology of a "meritocratic elite" that, in Karl Marx's phrase (applied, in this case, to the bourgeoisie), defines "the special conditions of its emancipation [as] the general conditions through which alone modern society can be saved."
The role of intellectuals and radical activists, then, must be to assess and evaluate, to attempt to persuade, to organize, but not to seize power and rule. In 1904, Rosa Luxemburg wrote, "Historically, the errors committed by a truly revolutionary movement are infinitely more fruitful than the infallibility of the cleverest Central Committee."
These remarks are a useful guide for the radical intellectual. They also provide a refreshing antidote to the dogmatism so typical of discourse on the left, with its arid certainties and religious fervor regarding matters that are barely understood - the self-destructive left-wing counterpart to the smug superficiality of the defenders of the status quo who can perceive their own ideological commitments no more than a fish can perceive that it swims in the sea.
It has always been taken for granted by radical thinkers, and quite rightly so, that effective political action that threatens entrenched social interests will lead to "confrontation" and repression. It is, correspondingly, a sign of intellectual bankruptcy for the left to seek to construct "confrontations"; it is a clear indication that the efforts to organize significant social action have failed.
Particularly objectionable is the idea of designing confrontations so as to manipulate the unwitting participants into accepting a point of view that does not grow out of meaningful experience, out of real understanding. This is not only a testimony to political irrelevance, but also, precisely because it is manipulative and coercive, a proper tactic only for a movement that aims to maintain an elitist, authoritarian form of organization.
The opportunities for intellectuals to take part in a genuine movement for social change are many and varied, and I think that certain general principles are clear. Intellectuals must be willing to face facts and refrain from erecting convenient fantasies.
They must be willing to undertake the hard and serious intellectual work that is required for a real contribution to understanding. They must avoid the temptation to join a repressive elite and must help create the mass politics that will counteract - and ultimately control and replace - the strong tendencies toward centralization and authoritarianism that are deeply rooted but not inescapable.
They must be prepared to face repression and to act in defense of the values they profess. In an advanced industrial society, many possibilities exist for active popular participation in the control of major institutions and the reconstruction of social life.
To some extent, we can create the future rather than merely observing the flow of events. Given the stakes, it would be criminal to let real opportunities pass unexplored.
This article is adapted from the essay, "Knowledge and Power: Intellectuals and the Welfare-Warfare State," which appeared in the 1970 book The New Left, edited by Priscilla Long. The essay is reprinted in Masters of Mankind: Essays and Lectures, 1969-2013 by Noam Chomsky.
Out of prison for the second time, rambling the length and breath of the country, on a daily basis, sleeping rough, with a head full of shit, I was truly phukt in every sense of the word. I walked into a room full of smoke, whores and sober cutthroats in Galway, and learned from the discipline of simply showing up at 12 Phukt Steps meetings in the west of Ireland, taking what I wanted from the meeting and leaving the rest, along with the discipline of staying until the meeting was formally finished, that a day at a time I could stay sober. This is far easier said, than done for someone as far gone as I was, because each one there, in one way or another, was a mirror image of myself and I did not like what I saw but I had nowhere else to go only hell. Not everyone there was my cup of tea but I realized my life was on the line and slowly but surely, I found the ones who were, who helped me considerably. I learned that I was as sick as my secrets and while I still do not trust easily, after my lifetime's experiences but without trust, I was riddled with fear, which was a living nightmare. I realized eventually that in order to enjoy life I had to find something I could trust.
Trust from my experience is earned but sometimes beggars can't be choosers. During this period, the old saying, "Above All else to thine own Self be True," became particularly important, because aside from being very confused, I was intensely lonely and totally dysfunctional in all respects, with the exception of showing up at meetings on a daily basis and plonking myself in a seat and staying right to the end. I also had massive hatred against all forms of religion, and as I mentioned previously this digger deviant, has no aspirations to ever be a born again virgin. In fact before I came in, I once sat down with some people and discussed the potential of bombing every church in Ireland both Catholic and Protestant. I was riddled with so much fear, that hate became my cloak. My mind, heart and body were full of it and I learned eventually, that my Spirit or soul or whatever we want to call it, were poisoned. I was defeated as a person, along with every ethical belief I ever had.
Like the Orange Order, I was born, bred and indoctrinated, with the philosophy of NO SURRENDER !, but eventually, I was forced to be honest enough with myself, that I truly was defeated as a going concern. This for a person like me, was truly humiliating! This was where my best thinking, actions and behaviour had taken me! Fortunately for me I was at this time given a present of a book called, A New Pair of Glasses written by Chuck C. Apart from the word God, which I am still not comfortable with, it has probably been the most influential book, I have ever read. It first of all offered me the best explanation, of that much abused word Love, that I have ever found. It explained that Love is Patient. He also demonstrated that, "The most Powerful Thing on the Face of this Earth, is the Unadulterated Truth." I later learned from the mother of my ex-partner, that at end of the day, to function effectively, we need to trust something.
About this time, I met a man called Bob from Australia, who went to India where he spent almost 20 years, searching out, all the Guru's in India he could find, for a spiritual path. A friend of mine at this time, also learned from a monk in Amsterdam, a definition of the word Spiritual, that rang true with me, which simply says, " Reflect who You really Are." What Bob lerned in India, after his 20 years, with some of it's best Gurus, he told me, was that it all boiled down to, "Living and Breathing in the Moment, as aware as possible with Our Five or Six senses, as the case may Be! That was the sum total, of his 20 years wandering in India, among it's best Gurus. As time went by, I was to learn, that the most valuable thing in Life, really is Experience. I have learned from the evidence and proof of my own experience, that I have a Higher Power, that I don't understand very much, despite being a cynic, who truly does love me patiently and unconditionally, despite being the digger deviant, that I mostly am and it is most certainly is not fear based.
I am now 62 years young and have been doing this stuff for 27 years. Despite that, I still wake up most mornings with a head, that is not a million miles from a hangover. My head is often not my friend. It has a 3D imagination that works to the extreme, both for me and against me but unlike my past, I now have a choice, of which way to go. Before rising I have learned from experience, that it is a good idea for me, to apply the Third Phukt Step as sincerely as I can from my head, heart and gut, in the following words, that have special meaning and significance for me. Some days, I do not have the capacity to be very sincere about it but I do it anyway. (Higher Power ?) I offer myself to you, to do your will. Relieve me of the prison of my self, my extreme selfishness, my extreme self-centeredness and my extreme self-will. Please give me the power mentally, that I need today, the power physically, the power materially, the power emotionally, and the power sexually, I need today. I have learned over time, that I can trust these things will be given to me, to the extent of my sincerity, when request it from my mind, heart and soul.
Now for most people the gift of life is not a miracle at 62, but I can tell you for me, it is. I have always had a yearning to enjoy this gift to it's fullest but unfortunately on my own, I did not have a set of tools to achieve it. I have lost everything in life, that is worth having except my life. I lost 10 children by 5 partners, I lost several homes, I lost my freedom, with two spells in prison and before finding the 12 Phukt Steps, I lost my health and any form of sanity. Now there are plenty of people will tell you, I still haven't recovered it, but I am mostly a very happy man with a heart that is full and no longer isolated. I have recovered a lot of what I have lost, with the exception of several of my children. I have learned to enjoy life better, than even my best days drinking and I am being careful about the facts I write here, because I know I must walk the talk. I will not lie to you in these matters, because I can only keep what I have by giving it away and remembering where I come from. This not alll just for you benefit you know.
For many years, I did not have the strength, to engage with Irish politics, because it simply was too distressing. I have never ignored it and have carefully observed, that in many ways, it reflects my own personal life or perhaps I project that. But then as Jimmy from Limerick once said, how could it be any other way. My primary conditioning, is from a dysfunctional home and a dysfunctional country of violence with an inordinate amount of politically engineered emigration and repression. I have now come to the conclusion, that Mairead Farrell's statement, "Your mind is your best Weapon," and Terence McSweeney's Principles of Freedom are my best guiding light for the future, from people who actually walked their talk before me. Terence McSweeney was Lord Mayor of Cork. He died in a British Gaol, gave his life on hunger strike for his Principles of Freedom. Mairead after ten years in Armagh's women prison on release, returned to the struggle and was summarily executed, unarmed in Gibraltar.
Under present conditions in Ireland, similar to deprived areas of the US, I do believe, that unfortunately, people do have the right to bear arms, strictly for defensive purposes. I long for the day when we have a society, that has evolved to a level of civility, where this archaic form of life, is no longer necessary. Life is very precious. Censorship and political internment, play a considerable role in creating political violence in Ireland. When people are denied free speech, they often as I did in the past, see no alternative, to what I now see as reactionary politics, which I now accept has no long term future. Gerry Adams may have recognized this earlier but the non transparent, devious manner of expediting it was wrong and the Republic does not belong to a bunch of elitist, whether intellectual or material. The Republic belong to all of the people of no property in Ireland. I trust that there is still enough commonsense left in Ireland, that all it's people can determine their own future, in an environment free from censorship and disinformation. I have seen no credible evidence to the contrary, I do however feel it is our moral requirement before resorting to any form of political violence, that every other eventuality is explored thoroughly first.
Perhaps in the age of the internet this is possible, despite considerable censorship, disinformation and blanket surveillance. Ultimately I believe that we are all as sick as our secrets and sadly I believe Ireland certainly is currently but there are a few green shoots, starting like the Right2Water, People before Profit, along with some enlightened leaders in Republican Sinn Fein, however elitism and patriarchy are still a bad hangover, from the various religions in Ireland. I am certain, that eventually the 'Truth will Out' and Ireland will collectively be liberated when the lessons of Unity and Principles before Personalities are learned. The Principles of Freedom by Terence McSweeney are in the link below and I believe are essential reading for any Irish Freedom Fighter. beir bua, brion
