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{{ambox|type=notice|issue=This article has been heavily edited by users associated with the topic. It may not reflect a neutral point of view.|image=none}}{{POV}}
!{{Infobox website|name=ProleWiki<br><small>''"The proletarian encyclopedia"''</small>|
{{Infobox website|name=ProleWiki<br><small>''"The proletarian encyclopedia"''</small>|
! colspan="2" |type=<small>"Collaborative online encyclopedia" (self-declared),</small><small> propaganda outlet</small>
! colspan="2" |type=Collaborative online encyclopedia, wiki
|language_count=7<ref group="note">However, most of the site is available in English, with the other language versions scarcely receiving any edits or updates. Some versions of ProleWiki in different languages, such as the Chinese ProleWiki, have not been edited in over half-a-year.</ref>|founding_date=<small>30 September, 2020</small>|founder=<small>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:Forte Felipe Forte]|key_people=<small>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:CriticalResist CriticalResist],[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:MxAsh MxAsh],<ref group="note">Largely in a technical capacity.</ref><br>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:Jucheguevara Jucheguevara]|num_users=<small>90> (claimed)<br>~5 (active users)</small>|url=<small>prolewiki.org</small>}}
|language_count=7<ref group="note">However, most of the site is available in English, with the other language versions scarcely receiving any edits or updates. Some versions of ProleWiki in different languages, such as the Chinese ProleWiki, have not been edited in over half-a-year.</ref>|founding_date=30 September 2020|founder=[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:Forte Felipe Forte]||num_users=>200 (total)<br>~20 (active editors)|url=prolewiki.org|espoused_ideology=[[Marxism-Leninism]]<br>Support for [[Actually existing socialism|AES]]|logo=File:ProleWiki logo 2022 english.png ‎|logo_size=256x256px|logo_caption=<small>Logo of English ProleWiki since 2022</small>|screenshot=File:ProleWiki frontpage 2023.png}}
|}'''ProleWiki''' is a self-described "[[Communism|communist]] ([[Marxist-Leninist]])" and "anti-imperialist" collaborative encyclopedia founded in September 2020. It is based on [[MediaWiki]] software.<ref name=":0">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/ProleWiki ProleWiki - ProleWiki]</ref> The site has promoted itself as ''"the proletarian encyclopedia".''<ref group="note">ProleWiki, however, has also hitherto entitled itself ''the people's wiki'' or ''the people's [[Wikipedia]]'', indicating ProleWiki's founding motivations as creating an ideologically alternative to Wikipedia.</ref>
'''ProleWiki''' is a [[Marxist–Leninist]] collaborative encyclopedia founded in September 2020. It is based on the MediaWiki software.<ref name=":0">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/ProleWiki ProleWiki - ProleWiki]</ref>


ProleWiki is infamous among most [[socialist]] circles for its exceedingly narrow range of accepted ideological trends, with most of its editors being militant [[Dengism|Dengists]] and those who are not often getting banned, its nearly uncritical support for the economic and political system of [[People's Republic of China|China]], [[Russia]], and other modern [[Capitalism|capitalist]] states (of which they codify their support of in their "principles"<ref name=":1">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/ProleWiki:Principles ProleWiki - Principles]</ref>), and its extremely closed and numerically small administration, and its support of anti-science movements. Depite claiming to maintain nearly 90 fully active editors as of January 2023, the site in reality has less than a dozen editors who are even moderately active.
ProleWiki spans several subjects, including information on history, current events, communist parties worldwide, and countries, as well as hosting a library of texts related to [[Marxism]]. The site is closely connected to the [[Lemmygrad]] community. ProleWiki is available in several languages, but is most active in English.


The site is greatly connected to other ideologically-aligned communities on the online left, such as [[Lemmygrad]] and [[R/GenZedong|GenZedong]], and is dependent on these external sites for their recruitment of editors and preservation of the ideological line of the site. ProleWiki often serves as a "gateway" for Communists to be indoctrinated into chauvinistic and [[Revisionism|revisionary]] ideology, with the site actively promoting "[[List of third position ideologies|Patriotic Socialist]]" and other social-chauvinist points of view and allowing users of those persuasions into the project.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220928154210/https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Talk:Patriotic_socialism Shall American communists hate their country?], by ProleWiki administrator Jucheguevara (1 August, 2022) ''ProleWiki''</ref><ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Essay:The_Mysterious_Destruction_of_Productive_Forces The Mysterious Destruction of Productive Forces] [an essay which promotes the "degrowth" conspiracy, a commonly-held view among the far-right] ''ProleWiki''</ref>
==History==
==History==
The following is a timeline of major events and developments which have taken place on ProleWiki.
The following is a timeline of major events and developments which have taken place on ProleWiki.
===Founding and early development (30 September 2020 – 24 November 2021)===
===Founding and early development (30 September 2020 – 24 November 2021)===
ProleWiki was founded on 30 September 2022 by [[Brazil|Brazilian]] pro-[[Communist Party of China|CPC]] propaganist Felipe Forte and other users of the internet forum Lemmygrad. The inital concept for ProleWiki likely originated as a reaction to the [[Liberalism|Liberal]] bias found on [[Wikipedia]], with ProleWiki initally attempting to promote itself as "the people's Wikipedia". The then-sole administrator of ProleWiki, Forte, would firstly attempt to attract editors via promoting his project to several pro-China [[Telegram]] channels and to Lemmygrad. He would also attempt to self-promote his site on Wikipedia shortly. Also at this time, the site allowed Marxist-Leninists are many distinct subgroupings to join and freely express their views, a policy likely taken out of pragmatism.<ref name=":8">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Topic:X5jeo7csdapak0mb Statement on democracy within Prolewiki], by ProleWiki administrator CriticalResist (23 October, 2022) ''ProleWiki''</ref> Forte would also create a number of fake accounts and spambots on the site to boost SEO engagement to make the site more visible to unknowing newcomers, however, when this action failed to be yielding regarding account creation, Forte would later falsely claim that the spambots he covertly made were unintentional and made a system of "account requests" which, supposedly, was implemented to repel future spam attacks,<ref name=":0" /> but in truth existed as part of Forte's plot to slowly turn ProleWiki into a pro-CPC propaganda outlet via preventing non-revisionist [[Marxists]] from joining.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/9176 "Enjoy ProleWiki's first spam attack"] by ProleWiki administrator Forte (16 November, 2020) ''Lemmygrad''</ref>
ProleWiki was founded on 30 September 2022 by a user who went by the name of Felipe Forte, as well as other users of the internet forum Lemmygrad. The initial concept for ProleWiki originated as a reaction to the [[Liberalism|liberal]] bias found on [[Wikipedia]]. The then-sole administrator of ProleWiki, Forte would firstly attempt to attract editors via promoting the project on Lemmygrad as well as various Telegram groups and Discord server. The website faced several spam bot attacks and eventually established an "account request" system.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Special:RequestAccount Account request] page on English ProleWiki</ref>


While the site was able to enjoy a short-lived spike of editors and general activity for the first weeks of its existance, and the sole adminstrator Forte delegated sysop roles to several other people.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/index.php?title=Special:Log&offset=&limit=500&type=rights&user=&page=&wpdate=&tagfilter=&subtype= User rights log] ''ProleWiki''</ref> However, this activity would soon sputter out entirely after the project progressed into early 2021. In response to this setback, Forte would later restrict adminstrator roles to merely two editors who were fully servile to his personal ideological line - CriticalResist and Jucheguevara (who was a known "Patriotic Socialist" and general holder of many reactionary views) - and declare himself "supreme comrade" of ProleWiki,<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/index.php?title=Template:Sign&action=edit Template used by "supreme comrade" Forte to indicate his "leadership" over the site.]</ref> claiming that the previous democratized administration was suffering from "absenteeism". However, these adminstrators were greatly commited to their positions, and this action was truly done in order to ensure ProleWiki would become purely a propaganda hub for Dengist revisionism and ruled in a top-down manner by him personally, as the other adminstrators were begining to question the pro-China ideological line of ProleWiki.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/index.php?title=Talk:People%27s_Republic_of_China&diff=8846&oldid=5359 ProleWiki adminstrators voicing their discontent on the talk page of the article on China]</ref>
The site was able to enjoy a spike of editors and general activity in the first few weeks of its existence, which prompted then sole administrator Forte to invite most editors into an administrative group.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/index.php?title=Special:Log&offset=&limit=500&type=rights&user=&page=&wpdate=&tagfilter=&subtype= User rights log] ''ProleWiki''</ref> However, this strategy did not work out because of absenteeism and eventual lack of interest in the project from most of this first wave of editors. Eventually, the administration shrunk down to just those who continued to work in the project – CriticalResist, Jucheguevara and Andassol. This action was done in order to ensure ProleWiki would have a stable and effective administration. Andassol eventually left the administration in 2021 due to a busy schedule.
===Ideological consolidation and first purge of anti-revisionists (25 November 2021 – 31 July 2022)===
In response to increasing discontentment on the part of the editors concerning the extremely revisionist and anti-Marxist stance Forte had taken towards the People's Republic of China, Forte would initate the first ideologically-motivated purge on ProleWiki on 25 November 2021, banning a total of 12 editors in the span of just 3 hours (which as at the time over 90% of all active editors on ProleWiki). In an attempt to obscure the reasoning behind this mass-banning, Forte would claim that these editors were "Khruschevites", "Trotskyists", and "Radlibs". Following this, Forte and the other administrators would openly state ProleWiki's dogmatic and permanent support for the People's Republic of China and codifed it in their principles.<ref name=":5">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Talk:People%27s_Republic_of_China WE '''''FULLY SUPPORT''''' CHINA's SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISM] by ProleWiki administrator Forte (25 November 2021) ''ProleWiki''</ref><ref name=":1" /> Forte and the others in his clique would proceed to completely discard [[Lenin]]'s scientific theory of [[imperialism]] (calling it "dogmatic" and "outdated") and started embracing anti-[[Stalinist]] ideology, even downplaying [[Stalin]]'s contributions to Marxism.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comradeship:Forte/Archive#Re:_Stalin_Talk Topic on Comradeship:Forte] ''ProleWiki''</ref> ProleWiki, from this point forth, would consistently deny the account requests of anti-revisionists and generally any Communist who failed to fanatically support China.
===Ideological conflicts and administrative disunity (1 August 2022 – 27 September 2022)===
While the internal condition of ProleWiki would remain relatively stable for most of early-to-mid 2022, with few notable conflicts within the editorship or administration of ProleWiki, This state of internal coherence would all rapidly disintegrate in August of 2022 when, along with others things such as protestations regarding the treatment of China, the inevitable creation of the page on Patriotic Socialism happened. The page noted Patriotic Socialism (with regards to the pseudo-socialist chauvinist ideology found in the United States of America) as being opportunist and revisionist. However, certain members within ProleWiki were Patriotic Socialist, including a then-administrator Jucheguevara, and a conflict would start between Patriotic Socialist and non-Patriotic Socialist (which included two of the three administrators) elements within ProleWiki.


This conflict would result in the non-Patriotic Socialist attaining ideological victory over the Patriotic Socialist elements, with the correct anti-Patriotic Socialist viewpoint of the article persisting. Relative peace would remain in the ProleWiki community, however, this would not be long-lasting. A month after the initial conflict, in September, the before-metioned administrator with Patriotic Socialist views, Jucheguevara would, particularly following the creation of the articles on MAGA Communism and on Infrared, which similar to the one on Patriotic Socialism, made clear that “MAGA Communism” was anti-Marxist and revisionist, and the [[Infrared (media collective)|Infrared collective]] (who are major “theorists” and promoters of “MAGA Communism”) were chauvinist, apparently experience escalating discontent with ProleWiki itself. Jucheguevara would conspire with the Infrared community to effectively infiltrate ProleWiki and force it to adopt Patriotic Socialist ideology, and to enforce a pro-Patriotic Socialist viewpoint onto the previously metioned articles. The then-administrator, Jucheguevara, would be banned on 27 September 2022 upon the discovery of his actions by the other ProleWiki administrators.<ref name=":9">[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/391777 "Jucheguevara has been removed from administrative positions"], by ProleWiki administrator Forte (27 September 2022) ''Lemmygrad''</ref>
===Ideological conflicts on patriotic socialism (1 August 2022 – 27 September 2022)===
The internal condition of ProleWiki would remain relatively stable for most of early-to-mid 2022, with few notable conflicts within the editorship or administration, This status quo would be upset in August 2022 when the inevitable creation of the page on [[Patriotic Socialism]] happened. The page noted Patriotic Socialism (with regards to the pseudo-socialist chauvinist ideology found in the United States of America) as being opportunist and revisionist. However, a few members of ProleWiki were Patriotic Socialist, including then-administrator Jucheguevara, and a conflict would start between the (very few) Patriotic Socialist and non-Patriotic Socialist elements within ProleWiki.


This action, however, was largely done for non-ideological reasons on the part of the other ProleWiki administrators, with it being less the case that they cared about combatting social-chauvinist trends and more simply being the fact that their power within ProleWiki was increasing being compromised.<ref name=":4">[https://wisconcom.substack.com/p/on-prolewiki On ProleWiki] (13 November 2022)</ref>
This conflict would result in the non-Patriotic Socialists attaining ideological victory over the Patriotic Socialist elements, with the anti-Patriotic Socialist viewpoint of the article persisting and relative peace would remain in regards to that article. A month after the initial conflict, in September, the administration was contacted anonymously with a tip that Jucheguevara conspired with the Infrared collective to make accounts on ProleWiki under false pretences so as to push a patriotic socialist agenda on the wiki.
==="Great purge" of anti-revisionists and total adoption of ideological orthodoxy (28 September 2022 – 23 October 2022)===
In response to an increasingly militant ideological stance against anti-revisionist trends, [[Hoxhaism|Hoxhaist]] user [https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:Wisconcom Wisconcom] and like-minded users would begin to protest this anti-Marxist stance which the administrators were increasingly propagating by August 2022.<ref name=":6">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Topic:X1agp9ljig0tt2cj Topic on Talk:Market "Socialism" is Capitalism] by Wisconcom (15 August 2022) ''ProleWiki''</ref> After weeks of this ideological conflict within ProleWiki, the administrators, after repeatedly losing debates within the community to the anti-revisionist faction, threatened Wisconcom and other anti-revisionist users with a ban from the project.


While this would permit some internal peace to develop within the ideological groupings of ProleWiki, ideological disputes would soon develop when the ProleWiki administrators purposefully began blocking the account requests of anti-revisionists – with them instead turning towards ultra-Dengist communities such as Lemmygrad and r/GenZedong for editor recruitment almost exclusively<ref name=":2" /><ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/137894 We welcome our new members from r/GenZedong] by ProleWiki administrator Forte (3 March 2022)</ref> – and openly went on a propaganda effort against anti-revisionist figures and movements, with them openly calling [[Marxism-Leninism-Maoism|Maoists]], Hoxhaists, and other anti-revisionists "dogmatic", "ultra-left", "sectarian", etc. in their articles.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Hoxhaism ProleWiki - Hoxhaism]</ref><ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Maoism ProleWiki - Maoism]</ref><ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Anti-revisionism ProleWiki - Anti-revisionism]</ref> Following this, anti-revisionist users, led by user Wisconcom, would send a petition demanding administrative transparency (of which largely did not exist, with the administrators holding secret "proceedings" to ban users, make major decisions, etc., without anybody in the editorship knowing<ref name=":2" />), the allowance of anti-revisionist users into the site, the expansion of the administration to more members, and the development of a [[Democratic centralism|democratic centralist]] system, rather than the one-man rule that the lead administrator Forte had over the site.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Topic:X5dlyp67d28sfwgz Topic on Comradeship:Forte]</ref>
Following this revelation (and confirmation of the claim), Jucheguevara was banned on 27 September 2022. He was stripped of his powers as an administrator and his account banned from the project.<ref name=":9">[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/391777 "Jucheguevara has been removed from administrative positions"], by ProleWiki administrator Forte (27 September 2022) ''Lemmygrad''</ref>


The administration would reject this petition, despite its popularity among the ProleWiki comradeship, claiming that it was a purely "careerist", "factionalist", and "sectarian" action.<ref name=":3">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Topic:X5jt5fmceilpdixv On the blocking of Wisconcom] by ProleWiki administrator Forte (23 October 2022) ''ProleWiki''</ref>
===Banning of Wisconcom (28 September 2022 23 October 2022)===
====The "great purge" on ProleWiki (23 October 2022)====
Immediately following this, the ProleWiki administrators would proceed to ban editor Wisconcom from the project for his ideological stance and threat he posed to the power of the administration (a decision acted upon without any consultation from the wider community, and purely from the "initiative" if the administrators alone), with him otherwise being largely supported by the comradeship of ProleWiki for an administrator role.<ref name=":3" /> However, the banning marked the start of a "great purge" across  the project, with over 25 accounts of mostly anti-revisionist users (called by the ProleWiki administrators "Hoxhaist worms") being banned within the span of a few hours. The administrators would later deny the clearly ideologically-motivated nature of this purge on ProleWiki, with them later framing Wisconcom, along with other banned users, for "careerist" actions, even including concocting fake screenshots and messages in an attempt to discredit these anti-revisionist users.<ref name=":2" /><ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Special:BlockList?wpTarget=&wpOptions%5B%5D=addressblocks&wpOptions%5B%5D=rangeblocks&blockType=&limit=50&wpFormIdentifier=blocklist Blocked users] ''ProleWiki''</ref>


Following this event, the ProleWiki administration would effectively prohibit any sort of anti-revisionist communists from being allowed into the project, and would codify this stance in their principles.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":7">[https://twitter.com/ReubenG06/status/1606717845991301123 Post by @ReubenG06] (24 December 2022) ''Twitter''</ref>
{{ambox|type=notice|issue=This section has been edited by a user associated with the topic. It may not reflect a neutral point of view.|image=none}}
{{POV}}
[[File:Wisc screenshot thermonuclear.png|right|500px]]
In June 2022, a user by the name of [https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:Wisconcom Wisconcom], who self-identified as a [[Hoxhaist]], would join ProleWiki and began to protest the encyclopedia's stance on [[China]] and [[market socialism]] in August of that year.<ref name=":6">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Topic:X1agp9ljig0tt2cj Topic on Talk:Market "Socialism" is Capitalism] by Wisconcom (15 August 2022) ''ProleWiki''</ref> After weeks of an incessant ideological conflict within the editorship, the administrators first gave Wisconcom a moratorium to essentially stop discussing or editing topics related to China. Wisconcom was sometimes insulting or being disrespectful to other comrades in the editorship.


=== Recent developments (24 October 2022 – present) ===
While this would permit some internal peace to develop within ProleWiki, ideological disputes would soon develop. After being warned multiple times about his behavior, Wisconcom claimed he "retired" and left the project of his own accord, but returned three days later along with a petition demanding extended user rights over ProleWiki. The administration rejected this petition as they deemed Wisconcom had not earned such privileges through his mere 5 months of being with the project, and further believed him too unstable for such a position due to the combative behaviour he exhibited several times both on Lemmygrad and ProleWiki.<ref name=":3">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Topic:X5jt5fmceilpdixv On the blocking of Wisconcom] by ProleWiki administrator Forte (23 October 2022) ''ProleWiki''</ref> Following a few more lengthy discussions about the petition, the administration would proceed to ban Wisconcom from the project due to the total breakdown of any possible dialogue and his past behaviour towards other users.
ProleWiki would essentially abandon its orginal intention of being an ideological encyclopedia following these sweeping ideological purges. Its goals and focus has changed from the dissemination of Marxist theory and economics to generally misinformative "counter-propaganda" in favor of the actions of Russia and China, with little care for actual ideological content. The administration has taken the direct of extreme ideological pragmatism, with them starting to allow editors into the project based less upon their ideological stance and more upon the degree of their "support" for so-called "anti-imperialist" and "socialist" countries such as China, even allowing non-Marxist and right-wing nationalist elements into their project solely for being supportive of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite lacking any care or understanding for Marxist theory.<ref name=":4" />


The ProleWiki administration would, at around new year's eve in 2022-2023, organize several raids against external sites which criticized ProleWiki, although similarly claiming it was part of a greater ideological struggle, despite being purely careerist in motive.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/475280 InfraWiki is being raided] by @ledlecreeper27 [ProleWiki editor] (1 January 2023) ''Lemmygrad''</ref><ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/468504 RationalWiki made an article about us] by @Leninistkommus [ProleWiki editor] (23 December 2022) ''Lemmygrad''</ref>
Following this ban, Wisconcom would start harassing<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Topic:Xazpux7scndkgz6r Topic titled "More bullshit with Wisconcom", Comradeship:Forte, at ProleWiki]</ref><ref name="hexbear wisc 1">[https://www.hexbear.net/post/249519 Since November 2022, a very committed "anti-revisionist" has been trying to infiltrate and smear the name of Prolewiki online], by CriticalResist on Hexbear.</ref> the ProleWiki administrators and some individual editors, along with releasing articles<ref name="hexbear wisc 1" />{{Better source needed|date=September 2023}}<ref>[https://wisconcom.substack.com/p/on-prolewiki ''On ProleWiki''] (13 November 2022) ''wisconcom.substack.com''</ref> heavily criticizing the site and its community {{cns|with fabrications.}} This is the reason this individual and his subsequent ban are noteworthy in the history of ProleWiki.


On 26 January 2023, former and current anti-revisionist members of ProleWiki would form the Committee to Reconstitute ProleWiki, dedicated to combatting the revisionist line which ProleWiki maintains.<ref>[https://wisconcom.substack.com/p/announcement-on-the-creation-of-the/comments?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2 Announcement on the creation of the Committee to Reconstitute ProleWiki] (26 January 2023)</ref>
After being blocked from editing ProleWiki, Wisconcom began making motivated edits to Leftypedia in January 2023 under several sock-puppet accounts, including revisions and deletions of articles related to the People's Republic of China, ProleWiki, Lemmygrad, and InfraWiki.


== Ideology ==
== Ideology ==
 
ProleWiki officially adheres to [[Marxism–Leninism]]. The site maintains at least critical support of [[actually existing socialism|actually existing socialist]] countries, and views China, [[Laos]], [[Vietnam]], [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]], and the [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea|DPRK]] as [[dictatorships of the proletariat]].<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/ProleWiki:Principles Working Principles of ProleWiki]</ref>
=== Marxism-Leninism and support for "actually existing socialism" ===
ProleWiki, despite claiming to adhere to Marxism-Leninism, has commonly be described as [[Dengism|Dengist]] in most communist circles due to its militant, if not uncritical support for the People's Republic of China and its present economic system.<ref>[https://commiepedia.fandom.com/wiki/ProleWIki#cite_note-17 Commiepedia - ProleWiki]</ref><ref name=":4" /> Despite the common views shared by Dengists that the current state-capitalist system of China is only applicable to the conditions of that country and nowhere else, ProleWiki has taken on a more extreme view, claiming that (with minimal concern for Marxist theory) private property under socialism is only "half-abolished"<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Socialism ProleWiki - Socialism]</ref> (contrary to the views of nearly every Marxist theorist), that billionaires are a critical part of a socialist state and must retain a large degree of state power,<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:Deogeo/sandbox Comrade:Deogeo/Sandbox]</ref> and that "[[market socialism]]" (an oxymoron by the understanding of Marxian economics) is, in the words of the leading ProleWiki administrator, "a redundancy [in terms]. There's no socialism without markets".<ref name=":6" />
 
ProleWiki maintains the commonly-held Dengist view of "actually existing socialism", and views China, [[Laos]], [[Vietnam]], [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]], and "[[Democratic People's Republic of Korea|People's Korea]]" as modern dictatorships of the proletariat. ProleWiki has expressed its uncritical support for China on many occasions,<ref name=":5" /> denying China's present [[Social-imperialism|social-imperialist]] and [[Neocolonialism|neocolonialist]] efforts as a mere "bourgeois propaganda effort" (despite the editors proceeding to utilize billionaire-owned Russian and Chinese propaganda outlets and references),<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Imperialism ProleWiki - Imperialism]</ref><ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Chinese_debt-trap_myth ProleWiki - Chinese debt-trap myth]</ref> that it is presently in the socialist mode of production and a full dictatorship of the proletariat (a stance which not even the Chinese government holds),<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_China ProleWiki - People's Republic of China]</ref><ref name=":22" /> and even a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-style [[planned economy]], with their sources being posts on pro-China subreddits which cite no sources whatsoever.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/index.php?title=Planned_economy&oldid=18328 ProleWiki - Planned economy]</ref> (despite over 75% percent of the Chinese economy being owned by private, mostly bourgeois, entities, and even the public sector being run with a lack of workplace democracy and on a for-profit basis<ref>[https://books.google.pt/books?id=X6gYDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA158&dq=%22according+to+the+1996+data,+between+1978%22&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiumbmy3cb7AhWGQaQEHUKCA88Q6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=%22according%20to%20the%201996%20data%2C%20between%201978%22&f=false ''Political Economy of East Asia: Regional and National Dimensions''], Kevin G. Cai, 2007</ref>).
 
ProleWiki administrator Forte has even asserted that all socialists who are unsupportive of the modern capitalist system of China, regardless of their ideological stance, are universally "without realizing it, praising the capitalist system!",<ref>[https://pt.prolewiki.org/wiki/Ensaio:O_esquerdismo_moderno <nowiki>Ensaio:O esquerdismo moderno [On modern leftism]</nowiki>] by ProleWiki administrator Forte ''ProleWiki''
 
''"Quando os maoistas, os trotskyistas, anarquistas, liberais, ou, enfim, os esquerdistas infantis chamam essas experiências socialistas de "capitalismo de estado", estão, sem perceber, elogiando o sistema capitalista!"''["When Maoists, Trotskyists, Anarchists, Liberals, and finally infantile leftists call these socialist experiences "state capitalism", they are, unconsciously, aggrandizing the capitalist system!"]</ref> indicating that ProleWiki, despite its claimed goals, values dogmatic support for "actually existing socialism" rather than actual revolutionary activities.
 
=== Sectarianism against anti-revisionists ===
ProleWiki, particularly since its purge of anti-revisionists in October 2022, has vilified anti-revisionist trends greatly. They have denounced [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albanian]] communist leader [[Enver Hoxha]] as degrading into "dogmatic and opportunistic thinking",<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/497001/comment/357281 Post by ProleWiki administration Forte]</ref> denounced the concept of social-imperialism as "idealist" and "nonexistant" (and proceeding to defend reactionary and imperialistic actions by the Khruschevite-Brezhnevite Soviet Union),<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Social-imperialism ProleWiki - Social-imperialism]</ref> and denounced Maoism as being "Gonzaloism".<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Gonzaloism_(disambiguation) ProleWiki - Gonzaloism]</ref> The site has even demonized and otherwise attacked followers of [[Irish Republicanism]], along with other modern revolutionary and anti-imperialist forces, calling them "petite-bourgeois" and "counter-revolutionary".<ref name=":7" />
 
=== Anti-science promotion ===
ProleWiki has taken a number of anti-science positions, particularly regarding psychiatry. The leading ProleWiki administrator and founder, Forte, himself is a self-declared supporter of the anti-psychiatry movement, and has even "invited" editors from anti-psychiatry communities on Reddit and Lemmygrad to promote their denialist views.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/index.php?title=Psychiatry&oldid=16349 ProleWiki - Psychiatry]</ref>
 
ProleWiki has openly endorsed the "big-pharma" conspiracy theory, claiming that nearly all psychiatric and pharmaceutical research and developments are ultimately part of a larger plot by "big-pharma" to drug the working class into submission, and that most professionals working in those fields are members of the bourgeoisie and "bribed" by this "big-pharma" plot. Many editors on ProleWiki have even claimed that conditions such as autism and ADHD were "scientism", "nonexistent", and "facts of culture".<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Talk:Psychiatry Talk:Psychiatry]</ref>


== Structure ==
== Structure ==


=== Administration ===
=== Administration ===
Since its founding in 2020, ProleWiki has fuctioned as effectively the personal "playgroud" of its founder and current administrator, Felipe Forte. Forte has total control over every aspect of decision making within the project, and he will, at best, merely make purely aesthetical reforms to his administration when facing overwhelming criticism.<ref name=":4" /> Since 2021 however, he has delegated certain trivial fuctions to loyal editors, making them administrators. Forte prefers to organize his administration on the basis of a clique of three administrators at any given instance, (i.e. a "triumvirate", or "''troika''"<ref name=":8" />) where he can better ensure the other two administrators dedicate their time fighting amongst themselves for greater power and affirmation from him.
In its founding in 2020, ProleWiki functioned under the leadership of its founder and current administrator, Felipe Forte, but currently is also managed by CriticalResist. Since late 2022, the administrators represent an organ of decision making as well as of guidance towards the established goals of ProleWiki. The editors, once their account has been approved and as soon as they join the project, can request internal referenda and vote on them. Editors are often solicited to vote on new editor applications as well as get involved in the project.


Throughout the existance of ProleWiki, a number of these "''troikas''" have been formed by Forte.
For example, since February 2022 ProleWiki holds a book club that is entirely managed by an editor. This structure of "work groups" allows ProleWiki to rely on its 100% volunteer base (both in the editors and administrators) to help grow and maintain the project by letting them volunteer their time and effort in projects they enjoy. This eases the workload on the administration and lets it act more like a guide or auditor to make sure the principles of ProleWiki, as well as its mission statement, are still being followed.  


==== The administrative "troika" ====
=== Ties with external forums and communities ===
From 27 January to 27 September 2022, ProleWiki was largely under the control of three administrators:<ref name=":0" />
The ProleWiki administration has connections with ideologically aligned communities on the internet, which most prominently include Lemmygrad (from which both of the two ProleWiki administrators, Forte and CriticalResist, hold moderatorship on that site<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/ Lemmygrad]</ref>). ProleWiki also maintains some links with communist content creators on Twitter.


* [https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:Forte Forte]
== Criticism ==
* [https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:Jucheguevara Jucheguevara]  
===Stance towards Maoism and Hoxhaism===
* [https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Comrade:CriticalResist CriticalResist]
ProleWiki, as a pro-AES (Actually Existing Socialism) encyclopedia, rejects the concept of [[social-imperialism]],<ref name=":103">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Social-imperialism ProleWiki - Social-imperialism]</ref> and further claims that [[Marxism–Leninism–Maoism|Maoism]] and Hoxhaism are [[revisionist]] tendencies which they compare to [[Trotskyism]].<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/ProleWiki:Before_you_can_edit Before you can edit this page...] ''ProleWiki''</ref>
=== Disregard for the proletariat in AES countries ===
ProleWiki arguably neglects to document the exploitation of the [[working class]] in countries they consider to be AES states. While documenting the economic exploitation of the workers in [[Western]] countries, they seldom do so of the East Asian countries of, for example, China. ProleWiki explains this by applying the theory of a [[Second Cold War]] between the [[United States]] and China. Under this model and learning from the [[praxis]] of communists that lived through the first [[Cold War]], ProleWiki holds that when communists publicly criticise socialist countries, they are not giving a nuanced analysis but are adding arguments to the arsenal of [[anti-communist]]s.                   


This arrangement would last until the banning of Jucheguevara in September 2022 for his attempts at overcoming this "troika" and becoming the sole "leader" of ProleWiki, a position which Forte effectively holds.<ref name=":9" />
===Anti-psychiatry page===
In 2021, an editor by the name of AmicChan joined the project and wrote about many topics, with much of those edits going into a page about anti-psychiatry that they had made.<ref name=":1">[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Psychiatry ProleWiki - Psychiatry]</ref> This gave rise to a large debate between the editorship as well as the administration, as one side did not want ProleWiki to be seen as an anti-science outlet, while others were open to the idea that communists should question psychiatry as well as document its abuses under capitalism.


=== Administrative abuses of power ===
Eventually, a productive dialogue was established and the page was split into two, with one documenting Psychiatry<ref name=":1" /> and another documenting the movement of anti-psychiatry.<ref>[https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Anti-psychiatry ProleWiki - Anti-psychiatry]</ref> Furthermore, a notice was added on the Psychiatry page to explain that the article was undergoing "an ideological dispute over its content" and one should "establish a consensus with comrades before making edits". After these two resolutions, neutrality was brought back to the page and after which ProleWiki has not received any more criticism on this page.
The ProleWiki has consistently spied on users' activities, banned them with no vaild reason (other than their ideological stance), and otherwise acted in a highly cliqush manner.<ref name=":4" />
 
==== Harassment of former editors ====
The administration of ProleWiki has even resorted to bullying and harassment against former editors, particularly those who speak out against the site and its revisionist line.<ref name=":4" />


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Lemmygrad]]
*[[Lemmygrad]]
*[[Friends of Socialist China]]
*[[Friends of Socialist China]]
== External links ==
* [https://discord.gg/pcjPHAh7 Discord server link for the Committee to Reconstitute ProleWiki]
==Notes==
<references group="note" />
==References==
==References==
<references />
<references />
=== Notes ===
<references group="note"/>
[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:Revisionist organizations]]
[[Category:Marxist websites]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Genocide denialists]]
[[Category:Anti-science promoters]]
[[Category:Online left]]

Latest revision as of 13:18, 15 January 2024

ProleWiki
"The proletarian encyclopedia"
ProleWiki logo 2022 english.png
Logo of English ProleWiki since 2022
ProleWiki frontpage 2023.png
Type Collaborative online encyclopedia, wiki
Available in 7[note 1] languages
Founded 30 September 2020
Founder Felipe Forte
Users >200 (total)
~20 (active editors)
Espoused ideology Marxism-Leninism
Support for AES
URL prolewiki.org

ProleWiki is a Marxist–Leninist collaborative encyclopedia founded in September 2020. It is based on the MediaWiki software.[1]

ProleWiki spans several subjects, including information on history, current events, communist parties worldwide, and countries, as well as hosting a library of texts related to Marxism. The site is closely connected to the Lemmygrad community. ProleWiki is available in several languages, but is most active in English.

History

The following is a timeline of major events and developments which have taken place on ProleWiki.

Founding and early development (30 September 2020 – 24 November 2021)

ProleWiki was founded on 30 September 2022 by a user who went by the name of Felipe Forte, as well as other users of the internet forum Lemmygrad. The initial concept for ProleWiki originated as a reaction to the liberal bias found on Wikipedia. The then-sole administrator of ProleWiki, Forte would firstly attempt to attract editors via promoting the project on Lemmygrad as well as various Telegram groups and Discord server. The website faced several spam bot attacks and eventually established an "account request" system.[2]

The site was able to enjoy a spike of editors and general activity in the first few weeks of its existence, which prompted then sole administrator Forte to invite most editors into an administrative group.[3] However, this strategy did not work out because of absenteeism and eventual lack of interest in the project from most of this first wave of editors. Eventually, the administration shrunk down to just those who continued to work in the project – CriticalResist, Jucheguevara and Andassol. This action was done in order to ensure ProleWiki would have a stable and effective administration. Andassol eventually left the administration in 2021 due to a busy schedule.

Ideological conflicts on patriotic socialism (1 August 2022 – 27 September 2022)

The internal condition of ProleWiki would remain relatively stable for most of early-to-mid 2022, with few notable conflicts within the editorship or administration, This status quo would be upset in August 2022 when the inevitable creation of the page on Patriotic Socialism happened. The page noted Patriotic Socialism (with regards to the pseudo-socialist chauvinist ideology found in the United States of America) as being opportunist and revisionist. However, a few members of ProleWiki were Patriotic Socialist, including then-administrator Jucheguevara, and a conflict would start between the (very few) Patriotic Socialist and non-Patriotic Socialist elements within ProleWiki.

This conflict would result in the non-Patriotic Socialists attaining ideological victory over the Patriotic Socialist elements, with the anti-Patriotic Socialist viewpoint of the article persisting and relative peace would remain in regards to that article. A month after the initial conflict, in September, the administration was contacted anonymously with a tip that Jucheguevara conspired with the Infrared collective to make accounts on ProleWiki under false pretences so as to push a patriotic socialist agenda on the wiki.

Following this revelation (and confirmation of the claim), Jucheguevara was banned on 27 September 2022. He was stripped of his powers as an administrator and his account banned from the project.[4]

Banning of Wisconcom (28 September 2022 – 23 October 2022)

Wisc screenshot thermonuclear.png

In June 2022, a user by the name of Wisconcom, who self-identified as a Hoxhaist, would join ProleWiki and began to protest the encyclopedia's stance on China and market socialism in August of that year.[5] After weeks of an incessant ideological conflict within the editorship, the administrators first gave Wisconcom a moratorium to essentially stop discussing or editing topics related to China. Wisconcom was sometimes insulting or being disrespectful to other comrades in the editorship.

While this would permit some internal peace to develop within ProleWiki, ideological disputes would soon develop. After being warned multiple times about his behavior, Wisconcom claimed he "retired" and left the project of his own accord, but returned three days later along with a petition demanding extended user rights over ProleWiki. The administration rejected this petition as they deemed Wisconcom had not earned such privileges through his mere 5 months of being with the project, and further believed him too unstable for such a position due to the combative behaviour he exhibited several times both on Lemmygrad and ProleWiki.[6] Following a few more lengthy discussions about the petition, the administration would proceed to ban Wisconcom from the project due to the total breakdown of any possible dialogue and his past behaviour towards other users.

Following this ban, Wisconcom would start harassing[7][8] the ProleWiki administrators and some individual editors, along with releasing articles[8][better source needed][9] heavily criticizing the site and its community with fabrications.[citation needed] This is the reason this individual and his subsequent ban are noteworthy in the history of ProleWiki.

After being blocked from editing ProleWiki, Wisconcom began making motivated edits to Leftypedia in January 2023 under several sock-puppet accounts, including revisions and deletions of articles related to the People's Republic of China, ProleWiki, Lemmygrad, and InfraWiki.

Ideology

ProleWiki officially adheres to Marxism–Leninism. The site maintains at least critical support of actually existing socialist countries, and views China, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, and the DPRK as dictatorships of the proletariat.[10]

Structure

Administration

In its founding in 2020, ProleWiki functioned under the leadership of its founder and current administrator, Felipe Forte, but currently is also managed by CriticalResist. Since late 2022, the administrators represent an organ of decision making as well as of guidance towards the established goals of ProleWiki. The editors, once their account has been approved and as soon as they join the project, can request internal referenda and vote on them. Editors are often solicited to vote on new editor applications as well as get involved in the project.

For example, since February 2022 ProleWiki holds a book club that is entirely managed by an editor. This structure of "work groups" allows ProleWiki to rely on its 100% volunteer base (both in the editors and administrators) to help grow and maintain the project by letting them volunteer their time and effort in projects they enjoy. This eases the workload on the administration and lets it act more like a guide or auditor to make sure the principles of ProleWiki, as well as its mission statement, are still being followed.

Ties with external forums and communities

The ProleWiki administration has connections with ideologically aligned communities on the internet, which most prominently include Lemmygrad (from which both of the two ProleWiki administrators, Forte and CriticalResist, hold moderatorship on that site[11]). ProleWiki also maintains some links with communist content creators on Twitter.

Criticism

Stance towards Maoism and Hoxhaism

ProleWiki, as a pro-AES (Actually Existing Socialism) encyclopedia, rejects the concept of social-imperialism,[12] and further claims that Maoism and Hoxhaism are revisionist tendencies which they compare to Trotskyism.[13]

Disregard for the proletariat in AES countries

ProleWiki arguably neglects to document the exploitation of the working class in countries they consider to be AES states. While documenting the economic exploitation of the workers in Western countries, they seldom do so of the East Asian countries of, for example, China. ProleWiki explains this by applying the theory of a Second Cold War between the United States and China. Under this model and learning from the praxis of communists that lived through the first Cold War, ProleWiki holds that when communists publicly criticise socialist countries, they are not giving a nuanced analysis but are adding arguments to the arsenal of anti-communists.

Anti-psychiatry page

In 2021, an editor by the name of AmicChan joined the project and wrote about many topics, with much of those edits going into a page about anti-psychiatry that they had made.[14] This gave rise to a large debate between the editorship as well as the administration, as one side did not want ProleWiki to be seen as an anti-science outlet, while others were open to the idea that communists should question psychiatry as well as document its abuses under capitalism.

Eventually, a productive dialogue was established and the page was split into two, with one documenting Psychiatry[14] and another documenting the movement of anti-psychiatry.[15] Furthermore, a notice was added on the Psychiatry page to explain that the article was undergoing "an ideological dispute over its content" and one should "establish a consensus with comrades before making edits". After these two resolutions, neutrality was brought back to the page and after which ProleWiki has not received any more criticism on this page.

See also

References

Notes

  1. However, most of the site is available in English, with the other language versions scarcely receiving any edits or updates. Some versions of ProleWiki in different languages, such as the Chinese ProleWiki, have not been edited in over half-a-year.