ProleWiki
| ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 greatly connected to another community on the online left, Lemmygrad. 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 Brazilian user called Felipe Forte and 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. He also attempt to promote his site on Wikipedia shortly. The website faced several spam bot attacks and eventually established an "account request" system.[1]
The site was able to enjoy a spike of editors and general activity for the first few weeks of its existence, which prompted then-sole adminstrator Forte to delegate sysop roles to several other people.[2] 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 was restricted to those who continued to work in the project – CriticalResist and Jucheguevara. However, these administrators were greatly committed to their positions, and this action was done in order to ensure ProleWiki would have a stable administration.
Ideological conflicts and administrative disunity (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 state of internal coherence would all rapidly disintegrate in August of 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, certain members within ProleWiki were Patriotic Socialist, including then-administrator Jucheguevara, and a conflict would start between Patriotic Socialist and non-Patriotic Socialist 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 and relative peace would remain in the ProleWiki community. A month after the initial conflict, in September, the aforementioned 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 collective 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 mentioned articles. Jucheguevara, would be banned on 27 September 2022 upon the discovery of his conspiracy by the other ProleWiki administrators. Jucheguevara was stripped of his powers as an administrator and his account banned from the project.[3]
Banning of Wisconcom (28 September 2022 – 23 October 2022)
Self-proclaimed Hoxhaist user Wisconcom would join Prolewiki in August 2022 and began to protest the encyclopedia's stance on China that same month.[4] After weeks of this incessant ideological conflict that evolved to personal conflicts within the editorship, the administrators first warned Wisconcom of a ban from the project, as he was insulting others and being disrespectful to his comrades.
While this would permit some internal peace to develop within the ideological groupings of ProleWiki, ideological disputes would soon develop. After being warned multiple times about his behavior, user Wisconcom claimed he was "retired" and left the project of his own accord, but returned three days later along with a petition demanding administrative power over ProleWiki. The administration would reject this petition, claiming that it was purely a "careerist", "factionalist", and "sectarian" move.[5] Immediately following this, the ProleWiki administrators would proceed to ban editor Wisconcom from the project for his further insulting behavior and intimidation tactics when he learned that his petition was rejected.
Ideology
ProleWiki claims to adhere to Marxism-Leninism. The site maintains at least a critical support of "actually existing socialism", and views China, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, and DPRK as modern dictatorships of the proletariat.
Structure
Administration
In its founding in 2020, ProleWiki has functioned under the leadership of its founder and current administrator, Felipe Forte, but currently is also managed by CriticalResist.
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[6]). The ProleWiki administration works closely with Lemmygrad, regularly engaging in correspondence between their respective administrations. ProleWiki also maintains some links with communist content creators on Twitter.
Criticism
ProleWiki has been heavily criticized by some sects of the online left and is generally hated by them for its support of China, Vietnam, Cuba, DPRK and Laos as socialist states.
Disregard for the proletariat in "AES" countries
ProleWiki largely doesn't document the exploitation of the working class in the countries they deem as actually existing socialism. 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 the Second Cold War, which believes that the USA is waging a second Cold War against China (as opposed to the USSR in the time of the first Cold War). 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.
Lack of internal democracy and transparency
The administration of ProleWiki has commonly been criticized for its lack of a functional system of democratic centralism and transparency. Critics note that, unlike similar projects, ProleWiki is still largely dependent on its founder, Felipe Forte. Within the ProleWiki administration, it is commonly noted that bans are issued by the administrators (mostly by Forte personally) without any consultation by the community, and based largely on their own "initiative" exclusively.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 ProleWiki - ProleWiki
- ↑ User rights log ProleWiki
- ↑ "Jucheguevara has been removed from administrative positions", by ProleWiki administrator Forte (27 September 2022) Lemmygrad
- ↑ Topic on Talk:Market "Socialism" is Capitalism by Wisconcom (15 August 2022) ProleWiki
- ↑ On the blocking of Wisconcom by ProleWiki administrator Forte (23 October 2022) ProleWiki
- ↑ Lemmygrad