BREAKING: Chinese online left ruptures as Weimingzi launches broadside against Zuoyi23 and disciples in hourlong rant precipitated by denial of Hegel (Bilibili theory vloggers vs. Zhihu left-liberals)
I am an outsider.1 I know Weimingzi 未明子 for his frenetic, theory-heavy Bilibili presentations. He frantically doodles on a sketchpad while talking. He’s entertaining.2 He’s provocative. He is conversant with 18th and 19th century German philosophy, orthodox Marxist philosophy, Marxian economics, and has also clearly read deeply in contemporary theory. I took note of him after he was criticized for a video on the 996 working hour system. I believe his argument can be summarized like this: Since all workers are alienated and exploited in their jobs within capitalism, criticism of what appear to be unique excesses is a trap.3 This position says a lot about the philosophy and the style of Weimingzi.
The dispute here is with Zuoyi23 佐伊23, another figure of the social media left.4 Zuoyi23 makes video essays on Bilibili and posts on Zhihu. Zuoyi23’s content emphasizes political economy and grassroots organization.5 He is, in the social media leftist ecosystem and the larger online left sphere, closer to the center, with a perspective influenced by the kind of orthodox Marxism that is popular in Mainland reading groups.6
The inciting incident appears to be a note posted by Zuoyi23 to Zhihu a few days ago. The title of the thread is "What books are required for a comprehensive independent study of Marxism?" 全面自学马克思体系需要哪些书?7 The entry begins:
When Marxism comes up, there will be people coming out of the woodwork to say that you need to read not only Hegel but Hegel's predecessors in classical German philosophy. This is typical of those that neglect the essentials while busying themselves with secondary work. Marx established the ideas and methods of dialectical materialism on the basis of classical German philosophy,8 but that does not mean we need to read it, too. If you have the time, it is good to read, but don't fret if you don't. Capital was written as a response to Smith and Ricardo, but that doesn't mean we need to read The Wealth of Nations.
Zuoyi23 goes on to suggest for an an introduction reading lightly and unsystematically of Marx, as well as Stalin's History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks): Short Course. Once that is complete, the recommendation is to pick up a Xu He 徐禾 textbook on political economy,9 Outline of Dialectical Materialism 唯物辩证法大纲 by Li Da 李达,10 History of Western Thought 西方哲学史,11 and History of International Labor Movements 国际工人运动史.12 He ends by renewing his call to avoid Hegel and appears to make a direct criticism of Weimingzi:
Everyone must be on guard against a particular tendency that uses Marxism cosmetically. They fear the practical, but do not wish to cast aside the mask of Marxism. They will gatekeep the study of Marxism, saying that you must first go back to particular texts by Marx, or they will insist that any serious study must begin with Hegel or even Schelling. Another characteristic of these people is they turn philosophy into a trivial thing. They do this to flaunt their own pathetic education. This is the only way they can preserve their superiority and conceal their cowardice to take part in actual practice.
In a video entitled "Break completely with the suspicious organization" 和一个可疑的团体全面决裂, posted the same day as the Zuoyi23 Zhihu entry, Weimingzi railed against his foes. Branding them untrustworthy, he appealed to his supporters not to have any connection with an amorphous group with leftist portal Jiliuwang 激流网 at its center. He leveled some of the same accusations against them that Zuoyi23 had leveled at him, calling them incapable of actual action and fixated on academic work. They are consumed with the work of building a brand as online leftists.13 He almost smashes his keyboard when he gets to the subject of Hegel.
This brief, impassioned broadside was followed up with a more extensive hourlong video, which purported to expose the true face of Zuoyi23 and reveal connections to Jiliuwang.
This is the end of my report.
Writing about fringe online political activities, I am often contacted directly by the principals. That seems likely in this case. How wonderful that the internet remains a tool of global communication! If you are directly involved in this particular dispute, please don’t misunderstand my intentions here. My goal, writing to an audience of fellow outsiders, is merely to point out the ideological diversity on the Chinese-language internet. Here, I am a dispassionate observer. Whether or not I have opinions about the conclusions made by anyone in this dispute, I will keep them to myself. I enjoy the content. This is a superficial account. Forgive me for any errors.
I will admit to you that I sometimes have difficulty following Weimingzi’s lines of thought. This is down, I hope, not only to my linguistic deficiencies but also the complexity of the arguments. The sketchpad does not help me. He is engaging enough that I will usually persist. Building up some knowledge of his vocabulary and theoretical foundation is helpful.
The videos, by the way, are now crossposted to Youtube: @wujixuanshi.
Although the previous note says that I will keep my opinions to myself, I will say that this seems to me to be a correct position. The argument against it might be strategic. Perhaps ideological work and organizing around outstanding exploitation is a wise choice. I’m not convinced of that, either, though.
This is a term I have just come up with to separate them from the previous two generations of online leftist, who were occasionally on social media platforms, like Weibo, but not really on next generation sites, like Zhihu and Bilibili. Perhaps there is a better name, though. Although “otaku left” is occasionally thrown around, it is too specific. To say “Zhihu leftist” or “Bilibili leftist” would paper over the divisions between those two platforms. Perhaps “platform leftist” might work. But I will leave it as simply “social media left” for now.
Zuoyi23 has written a number of social surveys, investigating conditions of students and workers. This has a long history in leftist thought and political work.
This is my limited experience, at least, of the type of students that get involved in Marxist thought in China. The general orientation is to basic Marxist political economy, as well as a rejection or elision of Maoism, for example, as well as critical theory. You can see it in the list of books that Zuoyi23 recommends. In the end, the call is to labor organization.
This particular answer can be found here: 全面自学马克思体系需要哪些书? You can read through the rest of his Zhihu posts here: 佐伊23. Some major articles are collected on Utopia 乌有之乡: 作者为"佐伊23"的文章列表.
“Classical German philosophy” 德国古典哲学 refers here to not exclusively but mostly to German idealism.
This is called simply Introduction to Political Economy 政治经济学概论. Xu He, a professor at Beijing University, began to compile the work in the 1960s. It is one of several collaborative works on political economy that he published in the 1970s. Xu He went on to take part in key debates during Reform and Opening, and collaborated with Xue Muqiao 薛暮桥 on his major works on the market economy.
Li Da was among the earliest Chinese interpreters of Marxist philosophy. Beginning in the 1920s, he translated, disseminated, and commented on key texts, going on to produce work that formed the foundations of Chinese Marxism.
There are several books that bear this title in Chinese, and I don’t believe it’s meant to refer to any of them in particular… The suggestion is to find a work from before the 1990s, so perhaps it’s Bertrand Russel’s History of Western Philosophy.
This apparently refers to a multi-volume Soviet work. I am unfamiliar with it.
Helpfully, since I don’t need to translate it, he says in English: “They do nothing. They do nothing. They do absolutely nothing.” Both sides accuse each other of this. Perhaps they recognize the relative meaninglessness of platform organizing and social media ideological work. Leftist political thought can’t be separated from organization or activism. That must take place in away from the keyboard. And, given the dangers associated with real world agitation or organizing, the hesitancy to take part does suggest a lack of reliability. If you’re going to get on the internet and counsel young people to take part in political activities, please be prepared to take part.