ideology

ideology

1. noun

The generic term used in revolutionary theory for systems of false consciousness. At the heart of every ideology, "revolutionary" and reactionary alike, lies a reification, an essential inversion of subject and object. Ideology is always alienation accepted, reification accepted: thus it always takes the side of the dominant class, or a new group seeking domination as a class, in the struggles of the world. Religious ideology is the oldest and simplest example: the fantastic projection called "God" creates and rules the world, especially mankind, and is the Supreme Subject of the cosmos, acting on every human being as "His" object. In the reactionary ideology of bourgeois political economy, capital is the real and "really productive" subject of world history, with the "invisible hand" of the capital system guiding human development even against human desire and will. On the other hand, the revolutionary ideology of Leninism sees its Party as the true subject and rightful dictator of world history, with the proletariat and capital as objects on which it operates. The examples could go on and on. But the secret of the "separate ideas" of ideology lies in their connection with separate power. Every ideology is the theoretical self-defense of a ruling power, or of a power that seeks to rule. The separate class of those who rule must deny subjectivity, both theoretically and practically, to the rest of the people, the classes over which they rule. The ruling group maintaining the passivity and impotence of the ruled majority is identical with the task of maintaining their rule itself, their separate power. "From now on, revolutionary theory is the enemy of all revolutionary ideology, and knows it"