How Do We Create Communist Culture?
“Summertime and the livin’ is easy” are lyrics from a familiar old song. But this summer promises to be not so easy for millions of workers in the US and around the world.
Angry about racism, deportations, war, and genocide, tens of thousands have marched and rallied throughout the spring. These political actions have spread to recent summer music festivals in the US and the UK.
At Coachella (California, US) and Glastonbury (UK), a popular band from Belfast Ireland named Kneecap encouraged the audience to show support for Palestine. It delivered messages like “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people” and “It is being enabled by the US!”
The prime minister of the UK (Keir Starmer) stated that their performance was not appropriate and ordered the BBC to cut their set from the livestream broadcast.
Other bands and performers who have expressed similar political views have had their tours cancelled or their work permits denied. But it’s too late to stop the current surge of activism and rage.
Although the main struggles of the working class take place on our jobs, in our schools, and in the military, we can’t ignore the tremendous influence that popular culture has on our lives. Let’s face it…all major entertainment venues (and that includes all big sports events) are owned by huge multimedia corporations.
These media moguls steal all forms of culture created by the working class. The ability to create comes from living a life of labor. Ideas come from having to deal with reality and contradictions. How can we improve or invent something that will make our labor easier? How do we fit in the natural world? Sometimes these ideas are expressed in a song or a painting.
These huge events and festivals are really overdone, expensive versions of the gatherings that workers have enjoyed throughout history to celebrate joyous occasions with sport, music, and food that was shared with neighbors and their families.
We should talk about the power of culture and what sort of culture do we envision in a communist society. Will “creative” work be considered an important part of that world? Most people love to talk about movies, music, and sports. We need to hear some fresh ideas!
—Lifelong music lover