Editing Infrared (section)

== A New Beginning for Western Marxism ==
Much of what distinguishes Infrared from all Marxist schools of thought in the West is its fundamental rejection of [[György Lukács]], the seminal thinker of all Western Marxist traditions. While the majority of Social-Democratic Marxists openly regressed into revisionism, repudiating the revolutionary aspirations of Marxist thinking, Lukács is widely regarded as the founder of Western Marxism proper due to preserving a vague commitment to its revolutionary aspirations, as the broad 'emancipation' of all humanity and society.

Additionally, Lukács originally defended actually existing socialist states, and in his earlier years is widely regarded to have been a 'Stalinist.' However in Infrared's view thinkers like Lukács, alongside and in parallel with the [[Frankfurt School]], were just as afflicted with neo-Kantian revisionism as the rest of Western Social Democracy. According to this view, Lukács did not 'preserve' Marxism, but rather opportunistically elected to revise the essence of Marxism in the first placing an overly-exaggerated emphasis on 'sociality' as the ultimate transcendent horizon in direct opposition to nature.

'Western Marxism' was therefore founded upon the rejection of objectivity in Marxism, as it was expressed by Frederich Engels in ''Dialectics of Nature''. This led to the complete dominance of both the 'social-constructivist' tendency in Western Marxism, which eventually regresses into the insanity of contemporary identity and cultural 'politics.' It additionally led to an overall rejection of Actually Existing Socialist countries, on account of an inability to recognize the ''integral'' ''objectivity'' of history, reducing it instead to the transcendental horizon of 'inter-subjective and discursively mediated social relations.'

The material content of social relations, being excised from any connection to nature, amounted to a repudiation of ''objective historical necessity'' in Marxism. The long-term consequences of Lukács' ill-gotten monopoly on 'Western Marxism' was the complete replacement of materialism with subjectivism and, in fact, voluntarism.

Because of Infrared's rejection of Lukács, a newfound appreciation for the objectivity of civilizations, nations, polarities, and integral historical formations has become possible within the framework of Marxism in the West.

==== Socialist Patriotism and the Rejection of Cosmopolitanism ====
Because of Infrared's rejection of Lukács and 'Western Marxism,' it recognizes, drawing from basic Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, the objectivity of nations and countries as the fundamental context of class struggle.

As opposed to a narrow form of nationalism, Infrared regards ''countries'' as objective and integral receptacles of historical development, and appreciates the wisdom of Marxism-Leninism's rejection of ''historical nihilism''. As such, not the narrow context of the nation-state, but what in today's world amount to ''regional-poles'' suffice to constitute objective historical formations.

Infrared therefore rejects 'nationalism,' but also and simultaneously rejects cosmopolitanism for the same reason. And in fact, the rejection of the nation-state as the fundamental context of class struggle actually represents one of the main critiques Infrared has of the orthodox Marxist-Leninist view of the nation. This means that the view of Infrared is ''less nationalist'' in orientation than orthodox Marxism-Leninism. 

Infrared regards the Marxist-Leninist conception of the nation to have borrowed from Social-Democracy, and narrowly confined to the paradigm of the nation-state. Such a view is 'euro-centric' and historically has yielded mixed results as far as satisfying the authentic national aspirations of non-Western peoples for whom the paradigm of the nation-state amounts to balkanization and the destruction of otherwise integral, multi-ethnic civilizations. Lenin's national policy deserves critical examination. It is clear that the Soviet Union and even today's Russia amounts to an integral Eurasian civilization irreducible to any 'nation-state.'

==== Rejection of Liberalism ====
Infrared, in continuation with its rejection of 'Western Marxism,' likewise rejects 'leftist' cultural politics and their universalization across the world. 

Infrared can be broadly regarded as socially conservative in the same sense that Communist states were historically. This does not amount to a one-sided view that all aspects of culture deserve to be preserved, or that there can be no progress in the sphere of culture. 

It amounts to a basic humanist view which rejects the voluntarist liquidation and 'social engineering' of human culture. Infrared regards the development of culture to be based on the objective and total integration of history, and rejects attempts to liquidate the wealth of historical traditions at the disposal of mankind on account of the narrow and superficial view that they are 'unjust' or 'problematic.'

The overall rejection of historical nihilism means that Infrared, while not turning conservatism into an 'ideology,' is socially conservative in the sense that it regards the wisdoms of historical experience to be a fundamental foundation of human culture. This is a 'conservatism' based not on any abstract idea, but on the conservation of the integrity of history.

While culture changes, it does not change according to the whims of 'activists,' 'academics,' and 'social engineers,' but based on an organic receptivity between the people, society, technology and nature. Authentic culture is conducive to the reproduction of civilizations, societies, families, and well-rounded individuals, whereas inauthentic and contrived culture is based on ideas that come at the expense of humanity's modes of existence. Thus Infrared rejects the 'punk rock' and 'romantic' infantilism of 'Western leftists' as social-constructivist and even fascistic, and instead adheres to a political position that respects the integrity of a people's history--i.e., culture--as the essential context for the class struggle to be raised in the first place. Without this, Infrared contends that an appreciation for the class struggle cannot be meaningfully articulated into any relevant political demand. Infrared therefore rejects what is often characterized as "identity politics" and "intersectionality" while also rejecting "class reductionism" and theoretical economism.