As communists, every piece of propaganda we produce; from artwork and photography to pamphlets and online publications, carries a political and artistic element. Visual art, music, literature, etc. are often expressions of class society and struggle. This is hardly as abstract as ultra-leftists may consider it to be, considering expressions of class society often find their roots in materialism. However, it is incorrect to say that all art and propaganda is materialist in nature.

Dating back to the eras long before the rise of capitalism, propaganda and media have often been used to solidify the influence of ruling classes. In the Renaissance era, for instance, the Vatican commissioned prolific artists such as Michelangelo to create works of propaganda such as the painted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. At the time, the Catholic Church recognized it needed to counter growing advances made by the Protestant Reformation. A great deal of the population was illiterate in that era, so it made sense for the Church to try to convey messages to the masses with art. (Now, of course, this wasn’t the only tool used to establish regional hegemony. The fear of violent repression, whether through prolonged incarceration, exile, or death was also prominent.) So as we can see, most forms of rule are cemented by the perpetuation of effective propaganda work. Every form of state has used propaganda to some degree but the ultimate gauge of its character will always be determined by its goal and ultimate objective for the masses. Propaganda that is ultimately meant to strengthen a select few at the expense of the working masses is reactionary. Propaganda that is meant to strengthen the working masses and the cause for humanity is revolutionary.

Propaganda, however, does not exclusively serve the ruling class in a given society. It has also been used by non-ruling classes as a form of expression and a vessel of dissent to ultimately overthrow class structures as they currently exist. Though it is often more subtle, we view these expressive pieces every day in street art and when viewing our favorite artists across all media. With this in mind, it is the collective duty of the Reds to constantly create and adapt our propaganda to better reach the masses and meet them where they are at.

To be effective, propaganda must be relatable to the masses, so it is the line of BRC to place heavy emphasis on locale and relativity. When we speak of these two particular elements, we must be honest when asking ourselves:

Will our main viewers, readers, and listeners recognize the main fixtures in this piece of propaganda?

Can we embed various elements and symbols, like prominent street murals, that everyday residents in our neighborhoods notice?

If so, who are the ones who typically recognizes these fixtures, the gentrifying bourgeois types or the common workers?

Is the propaganda accessible to those who may not necessarily be well read on jargon-heavy revolutionary works? (It is vital to have some level of appeal to a variety of different, non-capital owning, workers. The primary or principal elements of this appeal however, can vary greatly. A thorough investigation from the particular to the universal rather than the other way around is necessary to properly gather the information needed to create effective propaganda. What good is this information if it isn’t drawn from the everyday people? Observations made exclusively from the “universal” will never be fully adequate.)

These are the types of questions we must be able to answer to when evaluating our propaganda before an official release.

Aside from surface level appeal, it is just as important for our political messages to be sharp and true to the masses. It is paramount to listen to their ideas and responses to see what resonates and what doesn’t. We must be grounded in our language to avoid unnecessary disconnect when conveying messages. However, we must stray from overcompensating and tailing hollow, liberal slogans that only serve the interests of capitalism. Correct ideas come from the masses and they are the engine for revolution. There is no wood for the fire of our movement without the dedication and brilliance of the masses. Every aspect of our work should prove that we are amongst them rather than standing ahead of them.

In the US, the industrial labor forces are not what they once were. The class-conscious proletariat is arguably more diminutive in size due to the country’s pair of Red Scares and McCarthyism. Many of the jobs in production and heavy industry have been deliberately moved overseas as part of the natural motion of capitalism in imperialist centers. Capitalism in the most economically “advanced” countries isn’t self-sustainable (and it never is, to be frank). Imperial centers such as the US need to exploit the laborers of other countries in order to remain afloat and shoddily counteract regular economic crises. This not only has a reductive effect on the industrial workforce of the US but it places great harm and further exploitation on others around the globe that fall victim to imperialism and colonialism. However, we digress. The offshoring of labor, particularly of the industrial variety, has been “balanced” by the general growth of administrative and service industry jobs that further isolate people in the US from the production of raw goods and the means of production in general. When cuts are made, it is rarely management or servants of the bourgeoisie that feel it, it is almost always felt in full by the everyday working class. Unsurprisingly, offshoring has been linked to the growth of the petty-bourgeoisie in the United States for countless years. The fate of the bourgeoisie and its servient subclasses, as we are starting to see, lies on a plateau with a steep ending. As late-stage capitalism continues to decay, the excess managerial and administrative jobs follow. Laborers in those fields are not the ones with the highest levels of revolutionary potential but they can still be won over. With all of this in mind, our broader propaganda should adapt accordingly, but carefully. Tailing petty-bourgeois elements does not constitute the purpose of this acknowledgment. It simply recognizes the phenomenon of labor progression in the United States and its scope. This means that in some locales with a higher proportion of petty bourgeois elements, it makes more sense to be more cognizant of the approach needed to reach these types and do so effectively. In the heart of imperialist centers such as Manhattan, the day-to-day grind correlates to the amount of spare time people have to deeply and critically observe what surrounds them. In these centers of capitalism, lower level wage workers rarely live in the areas where they are employed. Busking, street vending, and colossal advertising are all very common, so there is a sense of over-saturation with such an influx of information present all at once. People often lack the time in these places to read excessively long writings in an ad, or critically pick apart cryptic symbolism so it is important to adapt our propaganda effectively and efficiently. Artistic elements must have high importance, the way our political messages do. To be absent of one while in the presence of the other is dull. To be dull is to lack appeal and any far-reaching message without appeal is, for lack of a better term, useless. For this reason, BRC is calling for revolutionary groups across the US and other centers of imperialism to begin focusing their propaganda on local conditions. It is necessary to appreciate the successes of revolutions past but absurd to copy and paste their propaganda thinking it will have an equal effect on the masses based in our day and locales. BRC has made this mistake and fully recognizes it. For this reason, the Reds of Brooklyn have started the process of cultivating local works of photography, art, and everyday culture to better shape and refine our propaganda. Our work is empty without the direct say and influence of our neighborhoods, so everything we do must be oriented towards our locality.

Ultimately, propaganda is only one of the many important areas that the Reds must be efficient in to effectively communicate politics with the masses. It is not enough to lazily copy the great proletarian culture of revolutions past. It is however, time to really start building a sense of local relevance and genuine grassroots work with our propaganda and furthermore, all of our work as communists.

In solidarity and struggle,

– The Brooklyn Reds