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this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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I've never come across the term "vulgar Marxism" before. Are you saying the takes in this post lack rigour? From a quick search I read that vulgar Marxists are those that believe in the separation of Marxism from philosophical thought and that Marxism-Leninism is Lenin's response to that. Is that an accurate assessment? I am gonna have to do a lot of reading
Vulgar Marxism is thinking there's a crude one way direct causal relationship between base and superstructure. i. e. in a capitalist society, workers are atomized psychologically, and artists working in this society make art promoting this kind of atomistic individualism (or whatever)
I also include this more recent wave of thinking, "Well, the CIA/NED helped XY financially, therefore their values perfectly aligned with the US State Department"
The truth is much more nuanced. This was one of the big topics of 20th century Marxism. You can choose randomly (Benjamin, Gramsci, WIlliams et al) and they will touch on this.
here's a pdf of Raymond Williams's Base and Superstructure