Christopher Rufo, Antonio Gramsci, and Social Justice
‘Social Justice’ is a collection of ideas originating in North American academia. I wish to contribute to the effort to defend my society against it.
Andrew Doyle’s book, The New Puritans, September 2022, is a recent rigorous critical analysis of this phenomenon.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Puritans-Religion-Justice-Captured-ebook/dp/B09FJL1LFF
Social Justice activists exaggerate the degree of bigotry in modern Western countries. This is especially worrying for members of minorities. They have divided students, including children, by race. They have driven people who failed to use woke language out of their jobs. They screen candidates for academic positions in the humanities and social science, and, increasingly, in science, for contributions to social justice. For a mountain of evidence for this assertion, read Ideological Intensification: A Quantitative Study of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM Subjects at American Universities, Mason Goad and Bruce R Chartwell, November, 2022:
https://www.nas.org/reports/ideological-intensification/full-report
If we want to debunk Social Justice, we need to follow some simple rules. For example, don’t repeat a historical claim you found on the internet, without giving a source.
Christopher Rufo is an important figure in the fightback. This is a quote from his speech at Hillsdale College, April 2022:
“This idea is traceable to Italian communist Antonio Gramsci, who wrote in the 1930s of ‘capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media by transforming the consciousness of society.’”
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/laying-siege-to-the-institutions/
But did Gramsci really write these words?
I searched Google and Google Scholar for the phrase, and sections of it, in English and Italian; for example, “catturare la cultura,” “coscienza della società.”
There were over twenty results. Some of them do not contain anything resembling the phrase. Those which do, either have no source, or refer to each other. The exception is a book by conspiracy theorist William Borst. He claims Gramsci wrote it in the magazine Ordine Nuovo. He doesn’t give a date, but the magazine published its final edition in 1925, not the 1930s, as Rufo said.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog/qt0C77CCQeUC
I consulted an Italian friend to see if he could track down the quotation. He could not; he said, “it’s probably made up.” I ploughed through the entirety of the English version of Gramsci’s works. I could not find anything like “capturing the culture” or “transforming the consciousness.”
Rufo is referenced by a growing number of articles. One example is this article in the March 6th 2023 edition of the National Review, The Long March Back, Antonio Gramsci And Us, by Nate Hochman:
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2023/03/06/the-long-march-back/.
It claims that Rufo “routinely cites” Gramsci, but gives no original source for his citations.
Rufo has said that he has relatives in Italy who are familiar with Gramsci’s work. I refer to his interview on the Ayaan Hirsi Ali podcast, in June 2021. If his quote exists, surely he could have found the source for it.
James Lindsay is another prominent critic of Social Justice. He is the author of the book Race Marxism, March 2022. The phrase ‘false consciousness’ occurs seventeen times. He gives the impression that it is a central Marxist concept. I found it once in the collected works of Marx and Engels, in a throwaway remark in a letter written by Engels. It’s easy to find numerous similar errors in Lindsay’s work.
https://www.amazon.com/Race-Marxism-Critical-Theory-Praxis/dp/B09SJ1NHG7
Social Justice academics could use these questionable claims to discredit their critics. To avoid this, we need to follow the rules, such as ‘give sources for citations’.
