this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
32 points (97.1% liked)

askchapo

22764 readers
328 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I could have sworn I remember seeing a book about Marxism and the occult mentioned here sometime. But when I look that up all I see is chud shit about le communism and Satan!!!@!

So, am I crazy or does a cool book about that topic exist somewhere?

top 22 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 13 points 1 month ago
[–] gramxi@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago

I haven't read it yet but @thelitcritguy has a book out called Capitalism: A Horror Story - Gothic Marxism and the Dark Side of the Radical Imagination

[–] imogen_underscore@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] Kestrel@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

Yep this is what I was thinking of too

Capitalism is an occult mode of production controlled by a hidden God that manipulates its subjects to engage in great orgies of unnecessary sacrifice and ecstasies of blind accumulation.

[–] HumanBehaviorByBjork@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] CaliforniaSpectre@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

This looks really interesting, thanks.

[–] chickentendrils@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

I've only read capitalist realism but some of Mark Fisher's other stuff gets into this

[–] DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Maybe not occult per se, but I’d love to see more socialist takes on how to approach spirituality. So ima latch onto this thread.

[–] helplessvagabond@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

I am also interested in this. Following.

[–] Vampire@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

Something by Annie Besant maybe?

[–] Hewaoijsdb@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Not a book, but a video. https://youtu.be/n48uX6jjGlY. Also check out the description for further reading

[–] CaliforniaSpectre@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

Ugh, that first sentence makes me pretty much incapable of even watching.

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] tamagotchicowboy@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago

Closest I know of its utopian socialism being held closely by Eliphas Levi, though later in his life he had a reactionary turn iirc. Some other old occultists had utopian socialistic views or utopic communistic views, and there's some books on the rise of humanist/socialist religion out there but I haven't personally read them, so I can't make suggestions.

[–] MaoTheLawn@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

This quote:

"Now your dreams will never again be so peaceful. You will see capital in your nights, like a nightmare, that presses you and threatens to crush you. With terrified eyes you will see it get fatter, like a monster with one hundred proboscises that feverishly search the pores of your body to suck your blood. And finally you will learn to assume its boundless and gigantic proportions, its appearance dark and terrible, with eyes and mouth of fire, morphing its suckers into enormous hopeful trumpets, within which you’ll see thousands of human beings disappear: men, women, children. Down your face will trickle the sweat of death, because your time, and that of your wife and your children will soon arrive. And your final moan will be drowned out by the happy sneering of the monster, glad with your state, so much richer, so much more inhumane."

—Carlo Cafiero, Summary of Marx's Capital

Otherwise, everyone's given the main ones, so these are more tangential: mark fisher - 'the weird and the eerie'. And also, not explicitly but Althusser's 'on the reproduction of capitalism' feels very lovecraftian if you know what you're looking for, because it goes into the way that capitalism is a big self reproducing mass that is all consuming and practically incomprehensible in its entirety to the human brain.

There's also fiction about capitalist bureacracy as a lovecraftian monster, in Grimscribe, and My Work Is Not Yet Done by Thomas Ligotti.

[–] CaliforniaSpectre@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do you think The Weird and Eerie is still an enjoyable read for someone who is only aware of like 1/4 of the works he discusses?

[–] MaoTheLawn@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah, I think so. He describes them regardless. And with the internet, it's pretty easy to tune into a clip of a movie to have a vague idea if you're truly lost.

I mean, it's 3 quid for a paper copy and probably has a free a pdf online somewhere, so if it tickles your fancy then it's a low risk to go out on a limb and read it.

That said, I don't think it's as good as Capitalist Realism.

[–] Vampire@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I could have sworn I remember seeing a book about Marxism and the occult mentioned here sometime.

Is this what you saw: https://hexbear.net/comment/4879132

[–] CaliforniaSpectre@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Must have been it! Thanks!

[–] Philosophosphorous@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Robert Anton WIlson has some interesting takes in that regard, but also some cringe takes. i liked him more in my anarchist days, i would disagree more with some of his politics now that i'm more of a democratic centralist type communist.

[–] Vampire@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

He's a great writer, all politics aside.

He identifies as an anarchist: https://c4ss.org/content/46524