CUI BONO?
[Latin: “To whose benefit?”] A wise Roman adage that means that when investigating crimes, or
when trying to understand politics (which also often amounts to a series of crimes), the best
place to start is usually by asking yourself, “Who stands to benefit from this?”. In bourgeois
society, for example, it will almost always be found that governmental decisions are made which
promote the economic and political interests of the ruling capitalist class.
CULT (Political)
Most people associate the term ‘cult’ with unorthodox or outrageous religious
sects characterized by fanatical devotion to the doctrine and
leadership of the sect and the refusal to even seriously entertain the possibility that
anything the top leader might say could be mistaken. But there are also similar political
cults. The key concept in political cults, too, is devotion, the devotion of the
adherents to every single aspect of the doctrine of the cult and an unquestioning acceptance
of whatever the top leader says.
Cult members are conditioned by powerful social
pressures within the cult toward:
1) The belief that their top leader is an
indispensable individual, and in effect, a savior not only for their group alone, but
for their whole country and even for all humanity;
2) Inability to question any significant aspect
of the doctrine of the group, unless and until the top leader makes a change in the
official doctrine;
3) Frequent direct quotation of their leader,
especially when asked by outsiders to explain the doctrines and ideas of their group;
4) Fear of publicly saying anything else; in
other words, the fear of getting approved doctrine slightly “wrong”;
5) A tremendous reluctance to raise any
disagreements or criticisms of the group (let alone of the top leader), because they will be
harshly pounced on, and possibly ex-communicated, if they do;
6) A great reluctance to raise any new ideas
of any kind, even if they don’t seem to go against current doctrine (because these ideas might
be interpreted by the leadership that way);
7) A strong tendency to hide their own
personal shortcomings and failures to successfully carry out the instructions of the group and
its leader (because they similarly know they will be severely attacked if shortcomings and
errors come to light). This is doubly the case because of the often extreme demands which
are placed on the members;
8) A strong tendency toward
sectarianism, and the strong beliefs that only their own leader
and group can generate knowledge about the correct path forward; and even the subtle feeling
that anyone outside the group is really sort of the enemy (even if they have never directly
criticized the group);
9) A strong tendency toward monasticism,
of making the group and its leader the entire focus of their whole life, and of restricting or
cutting off even social relationships with other people and the masses (especially if they ever
express any strong opinions the group disapproves of, and certainly if they ever express any
major criticisms of the group or its leader whatsoever);
10) A tendency to nevertheless “burn out” and
drop away after a number of years when the false predictions and expectations of the group
continue to prove wrong time after time—especially if they are among the members of the
group who get blamed for these failures. (The leader of the group rarely admits to any
personal role in these failures of the group, except where it is absolutely unavoidable. Even
then various excuses will be offered up.);
11) The tendency to seize upon the defections
and departures of other members as an opportunity to blame them for the failures of the
group, and to view them as having been hidden enemies who the group is now well rid
of;
12) A tendency to still be infected with
much of the outlook of the group and its leader even if they themselves do drop out or
get forced out, and the tendency towards an inability to think how to organize and operate a
political group in any other fundamentally different way. (Indoctrination runs deep.) Of
course over time, and with the exposure to different ideas, more of the lingering
indoctrination can be expected to fade away.
All of this is a total travesty of Marxism, and
is in essence a religious approach to politics rather than a rational, democratic, and
scientific approach. It is hard to understand how anyone could ever think otherwise.
A clear current example of a political cult in
the United States is the Revolutionary Communist Party with its top
leader Bob Avakian being the undeniable object of devotion
by the members of the group, who are required to promote a “culture of appreciation,
promotion, and popularization around the leadership, the body of work and the
method and approach of Bob Avakian.” (See: AP&P
).
CULTURE
All the accumulated social consciousness (knowledge, opinions, abilities, etc.)
of a society, especially in regard to its manner of living, and the material results
of that social consciousness, which together characterize the historical stage attained in
the development of the society. Culture may therefore be divided into intellectual
culture, consisting of all social knowledge and consciousness, and material culture,
consisting of all the material wealth and means of producing this wealth. Culture in both
its intellectual and material forms undergoes constant development, and is transmitted from
one generation to the next.
See also:
SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS,
IDEOLOGY
CZECHOSLOVAK CORPS (In Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution)
An army of Czech and Slovak soldiers which under the influence of the Entente alliance in
World War I revolted and, with the active participation by the
Mensheviks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries, joined the attempt
by the imperialist countries to suppress the Russian revolution.
“The Czechoslovak corps was formed in Russia prior to the Great October
Socialist Revolution from Czech and Slovak prisoners of war, soliders of the
Austro-Hungarian army, for waging war against Germany. After the establishment of Soviet
power, the Czechoslovak corps, by agreement with the Soviet Government, was to be sent
to France through Vladivostok. But the counter-revolutionary commanders of the corps,
perfidiously violating the agreement with the Government of the R.S.F.S.R. on the
surrender of weapons and deceiving the Czechoslovak soldiers, at the end of May 1918
began an armed insurrection at the bidding of the Entente. Acting in close co-ordination
with the whiteguards and kulaks, the Czechoslovak whiteguard corps seized Chelyabinsk,
Penza, Tomsk, Omsk, Samara and other towns. Nevertheless, a considerable section of the
Czechoslovak prisoners of war did not succumb to the anti-Soviet and nationalist
propaganda of the reactionary top stratum of the Corps; over 10,000 Czechs and Slovaks
fought in the ranks of the Red Army.
“In the autumn of 1918 the Volga
area was freed by the Red Army. The revolt of the Czechoslovak corps was finally
suppressed at the end of 1919 together with the rout of Kolchak.” —Note 2 in Lenin,
SW 3.
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One of three components of the international balance of
payments between countries. The current account balance includes the value of imports and
exports as well as receipts from or spending abroad in other ways, such as through tourism or
workers in foreign countries sending money back home. It also includes receipts from foreign
property income.