HeW Te
eVERTHRE W
THE ILLJMINfiTI

111 S A\

By WiLL, CHINO, SAUDADE AND MAMOS

HTTP:/ / OVERTHROWINGLLUMINATLNORDPRESS.COM
OVERTHROWINGILLUMINATI@GMAIL.COM
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION..
1. WaeRe ILuusiNatt TaEORY CAME FROM..
2. How Trrominatt Treory Came To The Hoor
3. Way TeomiNart TaeEORY DOESN'T WORK.,
4. Whire OPPRESSION AND Exprorration Come Frowm
5. WiERE [LLUMINATI THEORISTS THINK OPPRESSION
anD Exprorration Come FROM..

6. LIBERATION BEYOND [LLUMINATI THEORY
CONCLUSION.

GLOSSARY..
FURTHER READING

“The tradition of all dead generations weighs
like a nightmare on the brains of the fiving.”

Karl Mar; The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 1852
How To Overthrow The llluminati

By WiLL, CHINO, SAUDADE AND MaMmos

Everyone talks about the lluminai. You may have heard Jay
are members of the Illuminati, and channel demons when they perform. You
may have heard Obama is a member of the Hluminati, and plans to implant
microchips in all US, citizens, to prepare for martial law:. You may have heard
the dollar bill contains secret symbols, which reveal the US. has been controlled
by the Hlluminati for hundseds of years

Illuminat theory helps oppressed people o explain our experi
hood. Society throws horrible stuff in our faces: our family members get locked
up for bullshit. Our friends kill each other over beefs, money or turf. Our future
is full of dead-end jobs that don't pay shit. We struggle to pay bills while others
live in lusury. On TV, we see people all over the world dying in poverty, even
though we live in the most materially abundant society in history. Most people
act like none of these terrible things are happening. Why does this occur? We
start looking for answers, and Hluminati theory provides one

We believe Hluminati theory is wrong, and we wrote this pamphlet to offer
a different answer. We wrote this pamphlet because we know people who think
about the Hluminati usually want to stop oppression and exploitation. They're
some of the smartest people in the hood today. Forty years ago, lluminati
theorists would've been in the Black Panther Party. Today most of them sit

ces in the

around and talk endlessly about conspiracies. This is a waste of talent. The world
is in a deep risis, and big protests, rebellions and revolutions are happening In
Egypt, South Africa, Turkey--and even in the US.--these movements are already
taking place. People who say we can't do anything because no one else s fighting

1
are simply refusing o join the fight themselves. With the right tools, we can
participate in these actions, and make history with millions of others.

This pamphlet is a ool to help you understand the world around you. It
offers a brief history of Hluminati theory: who invented ir, when and where.
It shows how Illuminati theory became popular in the hood afier the defeat
of the movements of the 1970s. It reveals that lluminati theory is unable to
explain how society works, or provide solutions for how to end oppression
and exploitation. It offers an alternative explanation of why exploitation and
‘oppression exists, and what we can do to change i. First, we have to unearth the
origin of Hluminai theory itself.

1.Where llluminati Theory Came From

Almost every Illuminati theory is made up of a few main picces, like the
different parts of an urban legend. The picces can be put together in different
combinations, o one piece can be emphasized more than another. But they
always combine to tell more or less the same story. You may have heard these
different picces mentioned: the Illuminati, the Masons, Satanists, the Bilderbergs
or the bankers. Each of these picces of luminati theory arose at different times
in history. In most cases, they were developed by rich and powerful people, who
were being kicked out of power by mass movements.

FirsT PIECE: THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATL...

The first picce of Illuminati theory is based on a real group called the
“Oder of Uluminists”. The Hluminists were founded in May 176 in Bavaria,
part of present-day Germany (but Germany didn't exist yet at the time). The
leader of the Illuminists, a Bavarian professor of religious law named Adam
‘Weishaupt, wanted to free the world “from all established religious and political
authority”. His Order aimed to get fid of the kings and the churches that had
ruled Europe since the Middle Ages, and make
£o0m for new forms of commerce, science, and
democratic government that were struggling to
emerge at the time. The luminists modeled
themselves pardy on the Jesuits, an order of
Catholic priests, and partly on the Freemasons.
They infiltrated Masonic lodges in order to gain
influence in society, and pursue their gols.

To understand any group or movement, you
have to understand the context it emerged from.
The time period when the luminists appeared
" was clled “The Enlightenment”. It was a

Aps Wessiier, 17461630 century of ongoing radical change in Europe,
2

stretching from the 1600s to the late 1700s. During the Enlightenment, the old
social system that people had lived in for centuries, dominated by kings and
pricsts on top with peasants at the bottom, began to break down. A class of
ich merchants arose in Europe, teading with far-flung parts of the globe. New.
technologies developed, and with them new kinds of skilled workers. These
new elasses started t0 wield more power than the kings and queens who were
supposed to be on top according 1o law and tradition. The American Revolution
demonstrated the power of these classes to the whole world, when they broke
free from the British crown.

As the social world began to change, people began to think differenly.
Before the Enlightenment, most people believed the physical world, and the
social order, were determined by Gods d

e law. As the Enlightenment
set in, experimenters like Isaac Newton, and philosophers like Hobbes and
Rousseau, developed modern science and politics. People started to believe
the physical world was shaped by natural laws—like the law of gravity—that
could be discovered by investigation. They described how governments could
be organized without kings, through a social contract among “citizens”

Soon hundreds of small groups of thinkers and activists caught the spirit of
the Enlightenment. The Order of Hluminists was just one such group, alongside
others like the Rosicrucians and the ltalian Carbonari. During the 1780s the
Illuminists grew to about 2,500 members in central Europe. But they weren't
very successful at overturning the medieval order, and soon began facing
repression from authorities. They disbanded around 1787. Like so many other
groups of its kind, the lluminists failed 10 bring about revolutionary changes.
But revolutionary change happened without them.

In the decade afier the collapse
of the Order of Nluminists, massive
protests rocked France, culminating
in the French Revolution. Rebellions
by angry peasants and urban workers
overturned the feudal order that

had existed for centuries, and sent
shockwaves across Europe. Slaves in
the French colony of Haid launched
their own revolution, demanding the
same freedoms French citizens were
winning on the streets of Paris. In
France the aristocrats were kicked out T Frineit REVOLUTION LASTED
of their palaces, and systematically
killed so that no king could ever claim the throne again. Churches were
burned to the ground, and Catholic priests driven from positions of power.
A parliamentary system was established with elections, representatives, and a
legislature. It was the first time anything like it had happened in history

Not everyone celebrated the changes sweeping through Europe, however.
People whose social status depended on the old aristocracy and the church
tended to resist the changes. Some of them wrote books, and this is how the first
Illuminati conspiracy theories were ereated. In 1798, an English scientist and
inventor named John Robinson wrote Profs of a Conspiracy against il the Religions
and Governments of Enrope, carried on in the secret mectings of Freemasons, Uluminati
and Reading Societcs. In 1803, Jesuit priest Abbe Agustin Barruel wrote Mesvoirs,
iusirating the History of Jacobinism. Both authors disliked the French Revolution,
and so they blamed it on 2 small group of conspirators: the “[lluminati”.

Robinson and Basruel argued that the Order of Hluminists didnt really
disband in 1787, but only went underground. They claimed this “Illuminati”
had secretly plotted and carried out the French Revolution, and were stil hiding
in Masonic lodges, planning to overthrow governments in Europe and America
Robinson and Barruel disliked revolution, and they didn't think it was possible
for millions of people to mobilize together and change the conditions of their
lives. To them, ordinary people weren' organized or smart enough to pull it off
They needed to be guided like sheep by an clite group. In this way, Robinson
and Barruels original lluminati theory was a kind of conservative myth, used
to make sense of a social reality ts authors found confusing and scary. Today's
Illuminati theory follows the same pattern. Even poor people who draw on
Illuminati theory, who might otherwise sympathize with protest movements,
often view movements as secret ploys by the lluminati to cause trouble.

.. AND THE FREEMASONS

Robinson and Baeruel’s original lluminati theory, and Nluminat theory
today, talks a lot about the Masons. The original Order of Uluminists established
itself in Freemasonry groups, called “lodges”. But Freemasonry had emerged a
few hundred years earlier. Originally, Freemasonry was just what it sounds like:
a group of people who worked with masonry and stone to build structures
Starting in the 13005, skilled workers, such as masons, weavers, and blacksmiths,
began (o osganize in groups called “guilds.” Guilds received permission to carry
out their trade in a given town, and policed who could do their line of work.
They were highly exclusive, and invented rituals and symbolism to distinguish
themselves from everybody elsc.

As capitalism developed, the guilds slowly broke down. New technologies
made their outdated tools and skill irrelevant, and most disappeared. But the
Masonic lodges were different. In the 17005 Masonic lodges began recruiing
sich or influential people, in order to maintain their funds and high social status.
They so0n lost their association with masoney work, and turned into a social
club.

Masonic lodges provided a venue for radical organizingas the Enlightenment
set in. The emerging class of rich merchants and intellectuals gathered in
Masonic lodges, discussed the changes taking place in society, and planned

4
activist actions. Many famous revolutionaries developed their radical ideas
while they were Freemasons. Because of this association with Enlightenment
eadicalism, people who opposed revolution tended to view Freemasons as the
enemy. This is a common pattern: the clite always think revolutions are planned
and directed by a small group of enlightencd people, instead of by masses of
people themselves.

In seality, Masonic lodges are elaborate social clubs for people who want to
feel elite. In some places, Masonic lodges have provided a place for intellectuals
0 discuss how to change society, but they're usually pretty boring If you go
into a Masonic temple today, you'll see groups of small business owners talking
about how o plant trees on Main Street, not a secret geoup plotiing to rule
the world. Nevertheless, their association with the original Bavarian Order of
Illuminists has meant they're always included in lluminati theory.

The Bavasian llluminati, and its association with Freemasonry, is the first
piece of the lluminati theory we hear today. But there are two other important
pieces to most llluminati theories: anti-Semitism and the antichrist

TuE SEcOND PrECE: ANTI-SEMITISM

Distrust, prejudice, and hatred toward Jews arose in Europe hundreds of
years ago. Furope was ruled by kingdoms allied with the Catholic Church after
the collapse of the Roman Empire. Jews were banned from playing a major
ol in the economy or gaining political power. Over time, different Jewish
communities found ways to survive at the edges of society, doing things that
mainstream society looked down upon, like lending money. Soon Jews as a
whole became associated with
this profession. At first this
profession wasn't very powerful
But as capialism developed,
money-lending (credit) beeame
more important.

As capitalism developed,
llions of people were driven
off the land, and forced to work
for poverty wages in the new
factories of industrial Europe.
Because Jews were already
identified with money and credit,
different groups began 1o view
Jews as a symbol of capitalism
itself. Many European workers believed Jews used their role as financiers to gain
power and exploit people. Jews also provided a convenient seapegoat for the
peit-bourgeaisie: small business owners trying to become big-time factory owners
This class resented the debes they had to take out in order to expand their

5

FACTORY WORK IX Tl INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
businesses. They viewed financiers as an obstacle to “fair” competition. In the
carly 20th century, Jewish communities regularly suffered attacks by mobs of
workers and petit-bourgeois business owners. Especially in Eastern Europe and
Russia, “pogroms” (lynch mobs against Jewish neighborhoods) were a common

Anti-Semitism united poor workers with small business owners, despite
their opposed interests. The poor workers were angry about their treatment
under capitalism, but saw Jews as a bigger enemy than their exploiting factory
bosses. The small business owners worked to become the big-time exploiters of
the poor workers, and felt Jews stood in the way of their goals. These two classes
were fundamentally opposed to each other, but temporasily joined together in a
papuist movement, because of their mutual, misguided anti-Semitism. Populist
movements join poor people with the peiit-bourgeisi, against imagined clite
enemies. They speak in the name of the “common man.” but they're guided
by middle class clements, and serew over poor and working participants in the
end. Contemporary examples of populism include the Tea Party, some parts
of Occupy Wall Streer, and the Nation of Islam. Illuminai theories are often
populist in character. Many populist theories draw on anti-Semitism to identify
an evil lite that runs the world.

Many lluminati theories make use of a document from the early 1900s
called the Profocs of the Elders of Zion. The Protacols claimed 1o be a seeret
document written by Jews, about their plans to take over the world. In fact, they
were written sometime between 1897 and 1903, most likely by members of the
Russian sceret police. At the dme, Russian nationalists were trying 1o prevent
the breakout of a Russian Revolution against the Emperor of Russia, called
the Tsar. Most nationalists were strongly anti-Semitic. They viewed the entire
mass movement 1o overthrow the “Tsar as a Jewish conspiracy. The Profocls
were written to help fuel the movement against Jews, in order (they thought) to
prevent the revolution.

Most of the Profacols was crudely copied from two other books: Dialgguc
in Hell Between Machiareli and Montesquis, witten by Mautice Joly in 1864, and
Biarrit, a German novel written in 1868 by Hermann Goedsche. Despite being
exposed as a fake, the document became widely read in Russia and Europe,
and eventually the US. to0. Because of this, lluminasi theories regulasly make
mention of Jewish banking groups like the Rothschilds and the Bilderbergs, and
portray Jews as a secret group intent on world domination. This s the second
major piece of the Illuminati theory. The third is the antichrist

The Trirp Piece: THE ANTICHRIST

Many Hluminati theorists also talk about the “end of days” and the “mark
of the beast”. These terms come from a religious movement called Proestant
Millenarianism, which arose in the mid 1800s. Millenarian movements believe
the end of the world is coming, and try to get ready for it. Millenarians in the

6
18005 developed a comples timeline describing the Second Coming of Cheist,
with a sequence of important signs. One of the signs was the coming of the
“antichrist.” In the Bible, the “antichrist” is sometimes described as a single
person, and sometimes as many individuals or groups. The “antichrist” is
supposed to gain dictatorial power over the world just before Christ's return.
Today, many US. evangelical Christians are constantly looking for signs that the
antichrist is appearing

In the early 20* century, World War One, the Great Depression, the rise
of Fascism, and World War Tiwo, gave Evangelicals many signs that the end
was drawing near. Based on their inerpreation of the Bible, evangelicals
looked for sigas of growing government power, and individuals with cult-like
status that might be the antichrist. In the 19205, US. evangelical leader Gerald
Winrod claimed that Mussolini, the Iralian

Fascist leader, was actually the antichrist. He
said the League of Nations was a sign of
his growing world power. “End of days”
predictions continued for years afterward. In
the 19505, some evangelicals predicted that
a new invention called the “computer” was
actually the antichrist. In the 1970s, others
argued that the microchip or laser barcodes
were the “mark of the beast,” destined o
brand individuals in the antichrist’s name.
During Obama’s election, many people
thought he was the antichrist.

The figure of the antichrist and the “end nato Winton, 19001957
of days” has been a main piece of many Iluminai theories since the 1920s.
The story works like a game of bingo: believers have a list of signs of the end
of the world, and they sit around waiting for them to appear. Every popular
political figure, like Obama, can be scen as the antichrist. Every big political
organization, like the UN, can be seen as his growing power. Every development
in information technology, like implanted microchips, can be seen as a “mark of
the beast” Theories like these don't accurately describe realiy. Instead, they get
people to find evidence for a theory they already want to belicve.

T Trree Preces CompiNen = ILLummatt Treory As We Know It
All the picces we've talked about so far were combined in the 19205, a tme
of great untest. Before and afier World War I, there were huge working class
rebellions against capitalism. Massive workers' movements with millions of
members rocked Germany, Italy, France, England, and even the US. Workers
finally toppled the Tsar in the Russian Revolution of 1917, and they tried
0 establish a communist society. To many people, it seemed like a wave of
socialist revolution would overturn capitalism, just as capitalism had overturned
feudalism a century before.

Just like before, those who depended on the dominant order opposed the.
revolutionary movement. They felt the need to explain the growing unrest,
which they disliked and couldn’t undeestand. Just like the kings and queens in
the French Revolution who couldn't explain the uprisings against them, the
modern capitalsts turned to Nluminati theories. They didn't think workers were
smart enough to actually change the world. In 1926, Nesta Webster, an English
aristocrat, published Secre Succies and Subrersive Moements, The Need for Fasciom in
Great Britain. Lady Queenborough
(also known as Edith Stare Miller),
the daughter of a US. industrial
capitalist, published Ocarlt
Theoerasy in 1933, Both writers
argued that the revolutionary
fervor sweeping the globe was
caused by a sceret conspiracy
Both combined the old lluminati

theory with new
Webster and Queenborough
hyped up the Illuminati more

than before: now the Hluminati

REvOLUTION 1N BERLAN, Jax

were said 1o be descendants of
the ancient Knights Templar, and every seeret society that ever existed was
supposedly an Illuminati front group. They also linked Jewish financiers to the
Illuminati conspiracy: The Hluminati, they said, were paid by a secret group of
Jewish bankers in their quest for world domination. Webster and Queenborough's
conspiacy theories were preached in the US. by Gerald Winrod—the same
Winrod described above, who was on the lookout for the antichrist. Winrod
wrote a pamphlet in 1935 called Adun Weishaspt, a Human Deril, which drew
on Webster and Queenborough’s work. He argued that communism itself was
a Jewish conspiracy, and that the Illuminati conspiracy heralded the coming of
the antichrist

Webster, Queenborough and Winrod brought together the three pie
Illuminati theory under one big umbrella. Their writings established the main
core common to the lluminati theories we hear today: the Illuminati are a secret
society, financed by a Jewish banking syndicate, which goes way back to ancient
religious societies, and which aims to rule the world. In some cases, the lluminati
are portrayed as followers of Satan or the antichrist, aiming to bring about his
rule on carth. Almost every Hluminat theory today builds off this core story

Originally, Hluminati theories were used by elites 1o try to explain and
stop movements. But if these theories were first developed by elites and other
conservative forces, how did they end up being used by poor and oppressed
people in the hood?

cs of

8
2. How Illuminati Theory Came to the Hood

Elites invented Illuminati theory to explain challenges to their power, and
today poor and working class people in the hood use it to explain our own

oppression. We live in a society that blames individuals for failing to succe
But people in the hood aren't stupid: we know we aren't to blame, and that
there are outside forces preventing us from living with digity. For this reason,
conspiracy theories and urban legends have been a common feature of oppressed
communities in the US, especially black communities, for decades

In black neighborhoods, people say AIDS was invented by the government
0 Kill off black people. People say the government has secret plans o establish
martial law and open concenteation camps. They say Church’s Fried Chicken
is secretly owned by the Klan, which uses it to destroy black peoples health.
These small conspiracy theories and urban legends have floated around black
communities for years. It was only a matter of time uniil the huge conspiracy
theories invented in the 19205 put them together in one big lluminati theory
Without meaning o, the black liberation movement helped this 1o happen.
Illuminati theory came to the hood afier the defeat of the black liberation
movement of the 1970

Conspiracy TrroRIES DURING BLACK POWER, AND AFTER IT

At the height of the rebellions of the 1960s, millions of black people were
rebelling against US. capitalism. The revolts were huge: in the summers betw
1965 and 1968, every major city in the country experienced a rebellion. People

looted goods and distribured

them for free. They raided
National Guard armories and
battled the policein thestreets. As |
the struggle developed, millions
of people began o question
why black people experienced
oppression and exploitation, and
who the e

Black communists like the
Panthers identified the enemy as
‘white supremacist capitalism, and aimed to unite workers of all races against this
system. Others like Ron Karenga (the inventor of Kwanzas) fell back on wrong
explanations similar to Hluminati theory. They saw black people as a united
group, regardless of whether they were rich o poor, and they thought all black
people were in a war against all white people. The Nation of Islam invented
a myth of black superiority. It taught s followers that whites were created
thousands of years ago by a black scientist named Yakub, in a lab accident.

9
Now, with the help of the NOI, blacks were out to regain their rightful place as
the superior race on carth. This story had no basis in science or history, but it
provided one explanation for black oppression, and who the enemy was
Another part of the black power movement turned to ani-Semitism. Many
black people saw small business owners exploiting black customers, and banks
refusing 10 loan to blacks, and some of these people were Jews. In “Black Art,”
the most famous poem of the Black Arts movement, Amiri Baraka wrote that
blacks needed “dagger poems in the slimy bellies / of the owner-jews” Louis
Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam also embraced anti-Semitic rhetoric at this
These black artists and activists mistook the immediate appearance of
their oppression for the whole thing. Yes, black people were exploited by perit-
bourgeois business owners and bankers. Yes, many of these folks, (but not
all of them) were Jewish. But they exploited black people because they were
business owners, not because of their religion. Behind these individuals lay a
bigger global capitalist system, which exploited black people too. But black
militants couldn't put their finger on this, so instead they blamed the bankers
and small shop owners who were in front of their faces. Like in the 1800s, anti-
Semitism in the 1960s served as a populist myth, which hid class differences
within the black community. Poor and working class blacks could have united,
and collaborated with other poor people, to oppose the ruling class. They could
have fought the black business owners who who later became police chicfs and
mayors. Instead, they united wih black business owners and politicians, against
amade-up “Jew” encmy.

By the mid-1970s, the black
liberation - movement had been
mostly defeated. The rebellions
had been put down with armed
force, and the revolutionaries were
dead or imprisoned. US. capitalism
adopted reforms to take the steam
out of the movement. Black mayors
| were clected in cities across the
/ US. New carcers opened up for
black professionals. There had
always been black business owners

Brick Mavor Witsox GOobE: ovERs.w

s MOVE eosamons o 1085 and middle class people. But legal

segregation and white mob violence

Kkept them living with, and servicing, the black working class. Now many of the

legal and social bariers holding down the black bourgeoisic and middle class

were removed. They quickly rose socially and economically, and left the black
poor behind.

Like all capitalists, black capitalists sought profis over people, black or

10
otherwise. Like all politiians, black politicians looked afier their own interests,
and their constituencies came second. The black mayors elected in the 1970s
soon dirccted the crackdowns on the black movement itself. In Philadelphia,
black magor Wilson Goode oversaw the bombing of the MOVE organization, a
black radical group, in 1985. The actions of the black capitalists and policicians
confused the black movement, because they thought they had been fighting
alongside the black business owners, capitalists, and politicians.

Black revolutionaries like Fred Hampton, who might have opposed these
developments, were imprisoned or killed off. As a resulr, younger generations
weren't exposed to the idea of class war between black workers and the black
and white ruling class. Other black revolutionaries helped black politicians
fun for office, or became academics, and stopped talking about revolution.
Internationally the national liberation movements in Africa, Asia and Latin
America came to an end. The theories of revolution coming from these
steuggles lost popularity. All this left a political void in poor and working class
black communities. Black people had made it into positions of political and
economic power, but racist oppression and exploitation continued for poor and
working class black people. How could one explain this reality?

Illuminati theory flowed in to fllthis gap. It was similar to other conspiracy
theories that had been used before. It said the black elite had made it because
they were part of a seeret group of rulers, or had cut a deal with the devil. It said
poor and working class black people were sill oppressed, because these rulers
were super-powerful. And the trend deepened in the 1990s

TtLumNaTt THEORY 1N THE “NEW WORLD ORDER”

Illuminati theory resurged all over the US. in the early 1990s. Before
Russia collapsed and the Cold War ended, most people felt big events could be
explained by the conflict between US. capitalism and Russian state socialism.
Every national liberation struggle in the Third World had to pick between
these two sides. But everything changed with the end of the Cold War and the
growth of globalization. In 1990, George Bush Sr. called the fall of Russia and
victory of the US. “new world order”. This phrase was adopted by a variety of
conspiracy theorists, as an umbrella term to link conspiracy theories together.

<
tied every esisting conspiracy and urban legend to the Illuminati storyline. Some

nspiracy theorists began o publish “superconspiracy” theories, which

of these conspiracies involved UFOs, Satanists, or secret government plots to
colonize space. The most famous “superconspiracy” book is Bebold a Pale orse,
written by William Cooper in 1991 Bebold a Pale Horse brings together a huge
range of differcat conspiracy theories in one big web, including the Uluminad,
Jewish bankers, the Profocos of the Flders of Zion, UFOs, and more.

Many of these theories were used by poor and working class whites. Whites
were confused and angry about the impoverishment they experienced with
factory closings and globalization, and the growing starus of non-whites in US.
society. They said the government was coming with silent black helicopters
0 take away their guns. They said the government was planning to ualeash
murderous black gangs on the population. They said white gun-owning citizens
who were loyal to the US, Constitution would have to defend themselves. The:
theories became very popular in groups like the Michigan Milita that appeared
in the 19905

Some whites we

e clearly racist, and opposed to the changes of the 1960s
But others were experiencing increased oppression and exploitation as poor and
working class people, and were angey about i, Just as black people in the 1960s
blamed Jews for their oppression, poor white people in the 1990s blamed people
of color--and the Hluminati-for their situation. In both cases, the analysis of
these groups was incorrect, and it
led them to fight the wrong enemy,
instead of buiding solidarity with
other poor and oppressed people.
Despite their conservative flavor,

these new Hluminati ~ theories
became popular in the hood. They
spread through self-published
books, and with the growth of
the interne, through websites and
videos.

From the 19805 through the
20005, lluminati theory broke out
of its traditional audience. Instead
of appealing to clites threatened
by mass movements, lluminat
theory now appealed to the black
poor and working class, and others
in the hood. People in the hood
started to talk about the Illuminati,
the Bilderbergs, the antichrist, and

It may seem strange that the
same theory would appeal to both
* white ultra-conservatives and

poor biack people. But really, this
“strange bedfellows” situation
has a long history. At multiple points in history, white supremacist and black
nationalist movements have linked up. In the 19205, Mareus Garvey met with

11 D OF T1IE MAYAN CALEN

members of the Ku Klux Klan, to discuss to how to separate whites and blacks
through Garvey’s “back to Africa” scheme. In the 1960s, the Nation of Islam
held similas talks with the Klan. In South Africa in the 1980s, during the collapse

12
of apartbeid, Zulu nationalists met with the white supremacist AWB group, o
discuss how to split the couniry into separate white and black nations.

The overlap between these movements is based on their shared populist
logic. Both white supremacists and black nationalists believe whites are
fundamentally different from blacks. Both believe they need to separate from
each other, given certain conditions. (White supremacists think, if they can't
dominate blacks, they might as well ship them back to Africa. Black nationalists
think, if white people won't accep them, they might as well form their own
separate nation)

Illuminati theory s just one more example of this strange overlap. In
Illuminati theories, poor people in the hood see banks and the political clite
as their enemy, and they tend to embrace “black businesses” as a way to uplift
the community, just like the black power movement of the 1960s. White
conservaives use lluminati theory to target the same enemies (as well as people
of color), and embrace the US. constitution as a way to unite with white political
and economic elites. You can see this trend in conspiracy shows like Alex Jones’
Tnfomars.

Illuminati theory presents the same danger as white supremacist and black
nationalist theories. It will tend o support populist movements that unite poor
white people and poor black people with their respective ruling elites, instead of
building a movement for the destruction of white supremacy and the liberation
of all poor and working people. liluminati theory also presents a second danger:
it simply fails to provide an accurate explanation of oppression and resistance.

3. Why llluminati Theory Doesn’t Work

There are several logical shortcomings to Uluminati theory. Here are six
main reasons that Illuminati theory isn't a useful explanation of the world.

1. Uaminati theory ses everything as connected, and leaves no. room for wincidences
or mistakes. Uluminati theorists tie every major world event to the Illuminat
They believe every event in human history is carefully watched, planned, or
even controlled by conspiratorial groups. They leave no room for coincidence:
Illumina theorists believe everything happens for a reason, that everything is
willed.

“This view of history ignores thata gap always exists between what individuals
or groups try to do, and what ends up happening. This gap is a fact. It exists
for the rich and powerful just like everyone else. Even the US. government, the
most powerful government in the world, cannot stop dozens of major events
every year, from natural disasters to burcaucratic serewups. Of course some
great world events were led by important individuals or groups. There was the

13
Bolsheviks in the Russian revolution, and the Black Panther Party in the black
liberation movement. But serious study shows that none of these groups had an
all-powerful, controlling influence. There are always contingencies, coincidences,
chance events, and mistakes.

2. Uluminati theory matkes the enemy o 0 be all poweril, Because Uluminati theory
denies that history involves chance and mistakes, it makes the Illuminati seem
god-like. This is like when peasants used to say that kings were untouchable
gods, and could not be overthrown. The truth is, there is no social group so
powerful that humanity cannot overthrow it. When the French revolution came,
the king and queen were beheaded. In every period in history, myths arise that
make the rulers seem invincible. With every transition to a new period, these
myths are always shattered.

3. Ubuminali theory fail fo make basic loical or scentfc arguments. When people
talk about lluminati theories,they vaguely suggest there is a connection between
groups and events, rather than demonstrating exactly how they are connected.
For example, an Uluminati theorist might say “an carthquake happened the
same day Obama made a specch using earthquake metaphors. This was not a
coincidence.” The Illuminati theorist hints there s a connection, but doesn't
say what it is. Did Obama cause the earthquake? Why was he trying to drop
hints about who caused it? They leave it up to your imagination. This lets the
Illuminat theorist avoid having to demonstrate and prove the connection he or
she is hinting at. Most of the time, if the connection were described openly, it
would sem silly or implausible.

Other Hluminati theories offer explanations of events, but then leap to
saying their explanation is absolutely accurate. But just because an explanation
for something is passibe doesn’t mean its probabe. If your car overheats, and you
explain it by saying a bird built a nest in your radiator, your explanation could be
accurate. But that doesn't mean s the most likely esplanation. For your theory
o become generally accepted, you would have to show that other competing
theories are less likely or prove your theory true in practice, by opening up your
eadiator. llluminati theory never does these things, because it says we can never
get hard evidence of the actions of such a secret group.

In reality, there is plenty of evidence of what the capitlist class does on
a daily basis. Most capitalist plans for cconomic and foreign policy are prined
openly in the pages of the Eaononist and the IVallStret Journa. We can see them
disagreeing publicly, and we can se that sometimes their plans dost work out.
Sure, there are some secrets, but as Wikileaks and Ed Snowden show even these
can be exposed by courageous people willing to take action. And most of their
secrets are actually “open secets” information is available in public libraries
and websites, but people are so overwhelmed by the volume of information
available that we don't have time or energy to sort out what’s important

14
4. Ubuminati thory s imposs
of attacking anyone who argues against them: they say “thats just what they want
you o think” OF course, lluminati theorists never ask how they've avoided
being tricked themselves. This argument is a teap, because it never considers
any evidence trustworthy, and so it doesn't allow you to weigh the accuracy
or usefulness of any theory. How do we know that all the conspiracy theories
on YouTube aren't actually produced by the lluminatiz How do we know that
Illuminati theory itself isn't a government hoas, designed to convince people

o disprare. Uluminati theorists have a clever way

that its impossible to fight back? PO TS
O that Bebold a Pale Horse isn't an

Illuminati hoas? The logical traps
are endless. Once you go down
this xoad, you throw out any effort
ly understand the world, or
wweigh theories and evidence about
how it works

5. Uminati theory kads 1o
lition. Most Illuminati theorists
claim o want democracy and
transparency. But there is nothing NPLEX, BUT EXPLAIN VERY LITTLE

in their theory or behavior that shows they are serious about cither. Like the
people who invented Hluminati theory in the carly 180s, luminati theorists
today believe that the majority of society are blind sheep, who are incapable of
doing anything without being controlled by an clite. When the public doesn't
react to their theories by rising up in rebellion, they blame the public for being
stupid, instead of examining their own theories. Very often, Illuminati theorists
think of themselves as the only “ . and think everyone else

lightened” peopl
is below them. Many Illuminati theorists are just s clitst as the groups they
constandly theorize about

6. Whaminati theory offrs o viable solutions 1o the problems it fies 1o explain.
Uliimately Iluminati theorists have no strategy, no game plan, no way out for
billions of oppressed people on this planer. If the enemy is all-powerful and
most people are duped, then there’s nothing that can be done. All they can do
is constantly talk about conspiracies, and complain that people are brainwashed
and will never wake up.

For example, look at the revolutionary strategy off
that Hijacked the Warld by Henry Makow: In the conclusion to this book, Makow
offers tips for how to “survive the New World Order” He tells us to “direet our
sex drive by confining it to 2 monogamous relationship.” What does this have to
do with fighting oppression and exploitation? He tells us to “escape the money

d by Uluminati: The Cult

‘compulsion by living within our means” Should we just accept the poverty that's
imposed on us? He tells us to “defend your own soul” by engaging in spiritual
walks and meditation outside of institutional religion. These things are great
0 do, but they're not going 1o end police brutality, poverty, or environmental
collapse. And he tells us to “ignore the crowd, which is manipulated by the
Illuminati”* Dor't sleep around, be frugal, pray alone and ignore everyone. This
strategy will never build a mass movement to change anything.

The logical shortcomings of Hluminat theory are very convenient for many
of its theorists. When it comes to fighting oppression, they can talk about it but
they don't have to be about it. What would these conspiracy theorists have said
0 US. slaves 150 years ago? That the white slavemaster was all-powerful? That
he had duped the slaves into submission? That the slaves should stop having
sex, be frugal, pray, and ignore the other slaves? They would have been the most
conservative and cowardly people. That is what many Hluminati theorists are
today, sad as itis to say

When Hluminati theorists do take action, they often end up becoming
violent, “lone wolf” types like Timothy MeVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.
They think the enemy is super-powerful, and so extreme measures are needed.
But they also think the masses of people are stupid, and so the “enlightened”
person can only act alone. This strategy never inspires masses of people. The
lone wolf is not something most people look up to or imitate, even if they
sympathize with his or her motivations. Ultimately, “lone wolf” actions are like
eries of impotence.

The truth is, masses of ordinary people have the ability to change society
History has shown it over and over again. lluminati theorists are searching for
answers about why society is fucked up. If masses of people aren't asking the
same question, it not because they're stupid: it’s because they don't think it
possible to change things, and so don't bother looking any deeper. Theories only
move people to action when they provide an accurate explanation of the things
they are expericncing, and offer viable ways for them to act o change things
Illuminai theory offers neither.

Illuminat theory is inherently elitst, conservative, inacurate and illogical
Ultimately,it is unable t0 explain oppression and exploitation, or help us figure
out how to stop it. To truly stop oppression and exploitation, we need an
accurate analysis of where they come from.

The best way to explain oppression and exploitation is through a theory of
the capitalist system as a whole, not Hluminati theory. A theory of capitalism
explains how oppression and exploitation happen due to the everyday

16
functioning of a whole sacial psiem. The activities and interactions of millions
of people keep society running, day afier day, and also create oppression and
exploitation in the process. By explaining how this system works, we can figure
out how to stop it and create something new: We can also see how Iluminati
theory fails to recognize how our capitalst social system works, and instead
blames the bad shit we esperience through on a single group of people, like
Masons, Jews o bankers.

In our social system, the vast majority of people experience alienation.
“Alienation” means the act of separating something from oneself. When you go
0 work fora boss, you alienate your abiliies to that person for the length of your
shift. Your ability to lift boxes,
do mental math, o coordinate
an office, are all properies of
your body and mind. But for a
few hours, they become a tool
for someone else, who orders
them around for their benefit
Your qualities are alienated
t serve someone else. This
relationship may seem simple,
but it has huge consequences
when it happens to millions of
people every day.

In our capitalist society, people are divided into two main classes. The

THE WORLD SUPPLY OF APPLES 1PADS ARE
MANURACTURED IN FACTORY COMPLEXES 1 CHINA

vast majority alienate their labor, their time, their whole lives in order to get a
wage and survive. This class is called the profariat. The proletariat includes the
workers who have to alienate theis labor, and everyone who depends on them:
unemploged people, children, the disabled, and more. A different class takes
control over the alienated skills of the workers, and the alienated products they
make. This class is called the iwurgoisie, or the capitalist class. The bourgeoisic
uses the skills and products of workers to their own benefit, uldmately in order
0 keep both classes in their respective positions.

As long as these class relations of exploitation keep running, day afier day,
the bourgeoisie will keep gaining more wealth and power by using the alienated
labor of the proletariar, and keep strengthening the system that keeps this
relacionship in place. To end this situation, we will have to do more than attack
individual members of the bourgeoisie. We will have to artack the system of
capitalist social relations as a whole.

AueNaTion: Our Lasor Taxen Frow Us

Capitalism is a society built on alienated labor. At work, we put our skills
to work for someone clse. We manufacture products on assembly lines, but
when they come out of the factory they don't belong to us. We transport stacks
of goods in trucks and warehouses that don't belong 1o us. We prepare and
sell products that aren't ours in restaurants and retail shops. Even when we're
unemploged, we're surrounded by buildings, clothes, and food that don't belong,
0 us, which were alienated from people just like us when they were made. We
struggle to survive, because we can't take food, clothing and shelrer if we nced
them, or share them if we make them. Everything belongs to somebody else;
usually to a corporation. Capitalism is a society divided into one class of people,
who control others’ labor in order to make a profit, and another class-—most
of us--who can only sell our ability to work in order to get food, clothing and
sheler.

A byproduct of all this alienation s that relations between people become
hidden behind our relations with things. Everything in your apartment was
manufactured, transported, assembled, and sold by other people living a lot like
you: you fellow proletarians. Those people rely on the things you make, transport
or sellwith your alienated Iabor, too. But under capitalism, we don't provide each
other the things we make dircctly. Everything we make (or transport, assemble,
cook) is given t0 a corporation, which ultimately sells it back to other alienated
workers like us. Instead of relating to other peple by frecly sharing the fruits of

our labor, we relate to #bings we have to buy, and don't see the working people
behind them. We become alienated from each other, too,

REtFicATION: OUR Lasor TURNED INTo A THING

Afier a while, we come to view this situation as normal. We come to think
of ourselves as isolated individuals. Soon it starts to seem like products impose
their conditions on 5. We are foreed t0 go to
work, because otherwise we can't get things
like food, clothing and shelter. We are forced
to choose careers, homes, and even spouses
based on their dollar values. We aen't forced
t do these things at gunpoint, but our
options are limited because we don't have free

access to the resources, land, tools, and skills
fecessary to sustain ourselves. These things

were stolen from our ancestors, and today, if
@ we don't work, we starve. If we don't make
{ smart cconomic decisions, we end up poor.
We end up justifying these relationships
] 25 naural and justified, when they arent. The
stuff made by millions of alienated workers

OFULATION, BT LANDLORDS 40 themselves. This process is called rejfation
F7Y OFFICALS DENS PEORE ACCESS Reification happens when a relation between

people starts 1o scem like a separate force,

18
imposing itself on the people taking part in the relation in the first place. We've
all experienced reification at some point. When we've bowed down to our boss
50 often that all bosses scem to have some innate Authority, that’s reification.
When we've been stuck in an unhealthy relationship for so long that The
Relationship shapes all of our choices, that’ reification.

The side-effects of alienation don't stop with reification. In capitalst society,
the process of alienation also gives fise to ever greater oppression. Every time

workers manufacture somerhing, transport and and sell ir, they make money
for the bosses. The workers who do the alienated labor along the way get a
fraction of the money back in the form of a paycheck. But the vast majority
of the money goes to the bosses, who then use it 1o hire more workers, ©
manufacture, transport and sell more products, to make more money, and so on.
Money that is used to make more money is called aspital, Capital s our everyday
labor, alienated from us, and reified into a thing that dominates us.

Caprrat: Our Lasor TurseD AGAmst Us

The more alienated labor we perform, the more capital we generate. And
the more eapital is produced, the more power the people who wicld capital have
to dominate us. Capital takes different forms. Sometimes bosses invest in big
office towers and factories, and capital takes the form of physical buildings
Sometimes bosses use their capital to hire people to make sure the process of
making capital continues smoothly--for example, managers or cops. In this case,
capital is personified in other human beings and human behaviors. But capital
itself is bigger than any individual cop, manager or boss. A corporation can
change its CEO or board of directors, or reshuffle its entire workforce, and
the capital flowing through it can continue to grow: Individual corporations can
merge with each other, or go out of business, and capital on a national scale will
continue growing, I¢s like the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy says: rulers are like
bullets in a clip. As s00n as you shoot one, another pops up to take its place.

Capital is not just the capitalists who run the corporations. It is the whole
system, the “game” with its own rules that everyone has to follow: So long as
labor is alienated from one class to another, the day-do-day operation of society
creates capital, and with if, a ruling class that takes control of alienated labor
and products. Capital only grows by sucking our labor, which it can do in many
ways. It can push us o work harder and faster. It can force us to work longer
hours or accept lower wages and benefits. Capital is nothing but our zombicfied
labor, half living and half dead. It is nothing but our bodies and minds turned
into objects for use.

We produce and reproduce the capitalist system every day. Television and
toxic waste, pornography and plantations, silicon and slums, nurseries and nukes

are all things it creates and recreates through our daily activity. Capital lives off
our energy: it is vampire-like, parasitic, an alien force that dominates us from
inside of ourselves. It reproduces itself through us, turning our creative powers

19
against us, using our own bodies against ourselves.

Capital is not a conspiracy of aliens. It an alien we create. Itk not just Jay
7 or George W. Bush
Butitis a devil we create with our own hands. It can do nothing without us: our

we have all sold our souls and our bodies to the devil

bodies are its arms, its legs, its reproductive organs, and its brains. Therefore,
we have the power to end it. Throughout history, poor and working people have
steuggled to limit how much labor capital sucks from them. They've tried to
change the rules of the game or stop playing it altogether

No Way Out But 70 DESTROY THE SYSTEM

Many people think they can escape the cycle of alienation, reification,
exploitation and oppression without overthrowing the system. Like “enlightened”
Illuminati theorists, they think they can find an individual way out, apart from
everyone else. But it never works. We can try to hustle on our own, but we end
up working just as hard as for a boss, and we risk getring locked up. Whether
we sell weed or bottled water, we siill have to compete with other hustlers, or
make money for the suppliers above us. We can start our own business, but we
still have to overwork ourselves to compete with other businesses. We can try to
get signed t0 a record label, but we still make more profits for our bosses than
for ourselves.

Even when we work “for ourselves,” our labor is alienated. We'e siil
wasting our talent, creativity, and time in order to survive, and keeping the system
running. Sure, one in a million may become the next Jay Z who runs their own
‘company. But this s only possible by exploiting thousands of other people who
want to be Jay Z 0o, and making sure they don¥ make it. All these strategies
are failed routes out of exploitation and oppression. The only way out s to
overthrow the system. This is possible because we create capitl, the very force
that dominates us. But Iluminati theory doesn't recognize this fact. Instead of
viewing the system of capitalist social relations as the enemy, lluminati takes
aim at particular groups of people.

5. Where Illuminati Theorists Think
Oppression and Exploitation Come From

Capitalism is an elusive process. It esists in the billons of social relations
between workers and capitalists, and in millions of physical abjects, but it can't
be pinpointed in any one of them. It a lotlke gra
and touched, but it can be felt in the relation between planets. Similarly, you

. Gravity can't be identified

can't put your finger on capital in any one place, but it s present in the relations
between people, and asserts a powerful force on them. Iluminati theorists feel
this force at work in society, but identify it incorrectly

2
TtLumiNaTt THEORY MisTAKES BAD PrEOPLE FOR CAPITAL

Illuminati theorists look around, and accurately perceive aspects of the
capitalist system. But their explanation is wrong Instead of seeing capital as the
dominating force in society, llluminati theorists replace this with other forces
using their imagination. Sometimes Illuminati theosists project the power of

capital onto particular groups of people. As we've seen, capital isn't reducible
0 any one individual boss, manager, or cop. But Hluminati theory projects this
huge power onto individuals, who come to be seen as having all the power of
capital itself. Often Illuminati theorists mistake real people, who serve important
oles in government or corporations, for the force driving capitalism as a whole.

They view rulers as evil individuals who control everything, instead of powerful

figures who are stll only players in “the game”.

Illuminat theorists imagine that the evil rulers are secretly planning how to
run the world. There is no doubt that many of the places important decisions
happen--corporate boardrooms, the Fed Reserve, or the Pentagon--are not
democratic and transpasent institutions. Illuminati theorists are sight to want
everyone w0 have a say in
the decisions that affect
their lives. But they don't see
that, as long as the capitalist
system is creating powerful
people and corporations,
democracy will never really
exist. The vast majority of us
can't participate in running

society every day, because we
have to work for someone else to survive. Instead of running society ourselves,
we vote someone else into power to do it for us. This wor't end uniil capitalism
ends.

Illuminati theorists try to fight the encmies they imagine. They set out to
battl the Illuminat, the Jews, the United Nations, or aliens. Butall these are just
individual personifications of capital, or a projection of capital onto made-up
groups. People who try to change the world using lluminati theory are boxing
with shadows. The shadow is the shadow of capital, the real alien created by
all of us, through the social relationships we participate in every day. lluminati
theorists blame a secret conspiracy that runs the world, when they should blame
the system that recreates capital, power, exploitation and oppression.

TLLUMINATE THEORY MISTAKES BAD IDEAS FOR CAPITAL

Conspiracy theorists often emphasize how brainwashed people are. This
shapes how they think liberation can be won, or if they think its possible at all.
We have a different take on people’ ideas. We believe people develop new ideas
yday experiences that clash with

21

through a comples process. Arguments,

what we've been ught--and most importantly, learning through struggle--allow
us to change our perspective.

There’s no doub the power of the media, Fox News, or Glenn Beck are
immense. But no one is ever a passive recipient of ideas. Take the example
of “rights”. Our society teaches that everyone has equal rights. Everyone is
smart enough to know its a lie: But sil,the idea seeps into their consciousness,
and becomes part of their common sense. This helps uphold the system. But
people can also use the same idea to challenge the system. They might demand
“rights’” that the system wants to deny them, like the Civil Rights movement
in the 1950s. Sometimes, these struggles reach such a height that people
question the idea of “rights” at all. This happened in the 19605, when many
people who had participated in the Civil Rights movement stopped thinking
about winning rights from the government, and started thinking about how to
overthrow the government. As you can see from this example, the ideas people
are “brainwashed” with do limit their thinking, but people aren' entirely passive.
They also actively employ their ideas 10 understand their lives. And sometimes,
their experiences in struggle change their ideas altogether.

According to most llluminati theorists,
people will only fight for liberation if their
ideas change. The most effective way to
change people’s ideas, they say, is by talking
to them, or getting them o read or watch
something that will “enlighten” them. These
methods can make a difference on a small
scale. But this doesn’t happen so easily on a
larger seale, involving thousands or millions
of people. Yes, we have access to the internet,
blogs, and YouTube, and this helps us reach
‘more people. But a revolution is not going to
be made one YouTube video at a time.

Tiar “Niw NRGRO” NOVENENT AROSE Hjseorically, peoples’ ideas have
e Won Wi L WHIN BACK changed in periods of immense crisis, due
ST UG 8 T g g variety of factors, and not just because

importantly, they've changed as people have
learned through the heat of struggle. People change through our expericnces
of struggle, not simply by listening o what others have to say. As more and
more people start to fight, from Tahrir Square, o Oceupy, to the Flatbush
Rebellion, we begin to realize we have collecrive strength that n0 one has dared
0 tell us about. Then we become open to new ideas when we weren't before.
Consciousness is changed by great historical events such as World War 1 and I1,
the Vietnam War, the Russian revolution of 1917, the economic crisis of 2008,

2
or the musder of Trayvon Martin. Consciousness is changed when poor and
working people struggle for their own freedom, and in the process clear their
heads and develop new ideas. There is no magie trick to changing consciousness,
R0 perfect conversation techique that will finally “enlighten” everyone at once.
The study of how consciousness changes is ultimately the study of history, class
struggle, and the ideas that are boen in them.

Only by ending the forms of oppression found in real life can we finally
get rid of all the stories about aliens, the Illuminati, and other conspiracies. It
is the exploitation we endure every day as workers and unemployed people that
generates llluminati theory. It is our alienation from each other, and from our
most fundamental human capacity to create food, clothing, shelter, art, cities
(etc), which requires Hlluminati theory as an explanation.

To destroy this imaginary world of conspiracies, we must destroy the real
world of capital. The only way to stop this oppression and esploitation is to
0 attack the way society is organized, and destroy the social relation between
elasses. To do this, we will have to abolish classes entirely. We will have to kick the
bourgeoisie out of power, and create a new society where labor isn't alienated,
where workers control their work, and where ordinary people control their own
lives and communities.

165 possible to do this, because capital needs us: human labor s required to
keep the system going. Therefore, we have the power to end capitalism. But to
do it, we'll have to do more than aitack particular individuals who prop up the
system. We'll have o attack the relations of exploitation and oppression that
recreate capitalism. We'll have to atiack the system of alienated labor and the
existence of classes itself. The end of conspiracy theories will come with the
end of capitalism.

6. Liberation Beyond llluminati Theory

Capitalism isat eternal, it wasn't decreed by god, and it isn't run by a seeret
Illuminai, Like any social system, it can be created and destroyed. As we've seen,
capitalism depends upon our everyday activity to be sustained and reproduced
Therefore, we can destroy capitalism: by organizing with each other to stop
the process of exploitation and oppression. By defeating the forces that stand
. By creating new ways of running society, and living together with
digaity; peace and with all of our needs met.

In a truly free society, everyone will lsbor for the common good, without
being forced to work for a ruling class, or pay for the goods produced by their
fellow human beings. Throughout the history of capitalism, the struggle for this
free society has been called anarchism or communism.

23
COMMUNIS: JAILBREAK OUT OF CAPITALISM

Communism is the movement of the working class and the oppressed, which
aims to overthrow the capitalist system and create a free society. For hundreds
of years, poor and working class people have been trying to end capitalism,
capital, white supremacy, patriarchy, nationalism, homophobia, and imperialism.
This history has produced a long list of organizations, movements, and ideas
that we can learn from. Communism is the theory drawn from the struggles
of the oppressed to break their own chains. It can help us reach a better kind
of society. Itis continually growing and changing with every new struggle that

\L\‘nlnn\mmd}, ‘many who called themselves communists throughout history,
like those who call themselves Christians, Muslims or Jews, ended up practicing
something very different from what they preached. Instead of fighting for a
free society where everyone makes what they can and shares what they need,
many communists ereated dictatorships run by elites, with the same alienation
and exploitation as under capitalism. After the twentieth century, the names
Lenin, Stalin and Mao are more associated with mass murder and oppression
than anything clse. We agre
communism isn't defined by these tragedies. Many anarchists and communists
throughout history fought against top-down state socialism, and tried to find
a different path to liberation. Like them, we believe we can learn from the
experience of the 20th century, and create a genuinely free society
Communismis born from

with this assessment. At the same time, we know

the movement of everyday
people for freedom. At many
points throughout history,
movements went beyond
winning small reforms, higher
wages, or new presidents.
They grew so powerful that
the entire capitalist system
PLimve s iy Mauions, Sovi Amicy Was thiown into.question.

STk roR e A 1y 2012, st roucr Millions of people felt a
REPRESSION AND SPARKING A NATIONAL R free, communist society was
possible, and tried to create it
1791, 1848, 1871, 1905, 1917, 1921, 1956, 1968 (and 20143) were ll examples
of such pivotal moments. So far, cach time mass movements almost took down
capitalism, the system transformed itself and capital emerged stronger. But the
outcome of the nest battle is sill undecided. We can also emerge stronger, by
learning from these past successes and falures.
Every time capitalism teansforms, it creates new conditions for its own
destruction. The reason is because capitalism needs workers to cooperate doing
alienated labor in order to keep growing But cooperation among workers

2

also lays the seeds for movements against capitalism. In this way, capitalism
creates “its own gravediggers” as Karl Mars said in 1845, Exven now, there
are movements going on in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Spain, in US. prisons
and on the streets of poor neighborhoods, where the poor and oppressed
people exploited by capitalism are learning they can struggle together and win.
In the course of revolutionary struggles, ordinary people dramatically change
their personali
think that people in
the Brons, Hatlem or
Brooklyn can cooperate
© run New York
City. One of the great
victories of capitalism
has been to make people
distrust cach other, to
be alicnated from cach g
other, to think everyone
is stupid. A communist

es and ways of interacting, It might seem impossible today to

society will involve everyone taking part in running society, and exercising
control over their own lives. When we fight in the “school of struggle,” our
consciousness changes, and makes this kind of world possible

Communism is the destruction of capital, white supremacy, women's
oppression, lesbian/gay/bisexual /transgender oppression, imperialism,
environmental destruction, and much more. Billions of poor and working class
people will accomplish it through strikes, riots, armed battles, and mass meetings
against the system. It will not be done by a small group of “enlightened” people.
16 will happen-like every revolution in the past-through a mass movement
against oppression.

People who understand this can become revlufionarics. They can find places
where poor and working class people are cooperating and struggling They can
participate i these struggles, and learn from them. Then they can help people to.
struggle more effectively, and help them understand the road ahead more clearly
They can help people to set themselves free. Revolutionary confrontations don't
come very often, but when they do, they requie millions of people to break

their own chains. Those of us who want a free society need to prepare.

25
In this pamphlet, we've traced the origin of luminati theory: It emerged in
the carly 18005 as a reaction to the revolutionary spirit of the Enlightenment.
It was refined in the 19205 in reaction to another revolutionary wave that
threatened capitalism itself. We've traced how these theories spread into poor
black and brown communities afier the 19705, when the defeat of the black
liberation movement left a political void in its wake.

We've offered a critique of lluminati theory. We've demonstrated that it
leaves no room for chance or error, and so views the enemy as unbeatable. It
relies on circular logic and innuendo, rather than logical scientific argument.
And it provides no clear strategy 0 end oppression and liberate humankind.

We've offered an alternative explanation of capitalism, which also explains
why Illuminati theory is so popular. Capitalism is an economic and social system
where one class of people engages in alienated labor for the benefit of another.
This everyday activity alienates us from each other, and creates a reified power
that seems to impose itself upon us. This power is called capital. It is bigger
than any one individual or institution who wields it. It is regenerated every day
by the activity of millions of people. lluminati theorists sense this dynamic at
work, but inaccurately project it onto individuals, groups, or made-up figures.

We've argued that its possible to overthrow capialism, and bring about
a free communist society. Communism is possible because capitalism relies
on workers, and must continually bring them together in cooperation in order
to continue sucking their labor. This cooperation creates the possibility for
revolutionary movements to change society. Communism is the movement of
people to overthrow capitalism throughout history: It is also the organizations,
experiences, and theory that have been developed out of al these historical
experiences.

We want to bring together talented thinkers and fighters who yearn for
liberation. We want to start a communist movement that eventually grows to
every city in the US, If you agree with what we have written, lets sit down and
figure out what we can do to end the oppression we see around us.

2
PYRAMID or CAPITALIST SYS'
Glossary

AARTHEID: a system of institutionalized white supremacy, created by European
colonial settlers in southern Africa, which lasted from 1948 to 1994, Apartheid
means “separateness.” It involved segregation of whites and blacks in all areas
of public ife, similar to the Jim Crow system in the US. South. Under apartheid,
a minority of whites ruled over a black majority. Whites got the best jobs,
housing, education, cte. Black people were brutally controlled by violent police
forces. Apartheid was destroyed by a mass movement of revolutionary blacks
and whites.

Buack Lipemanion Movewene: The struggle of the Black community
for freedom and equality. The history of the modern Black Liberation
Movement begins with the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and ends
with the defear of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, the
Black Panther Party, and the Congress of African Peoples in the 1970s

CaprTALSM: An economic system where a new group of people (workers)
have only their labor to sell to another group of people (the capitalists /
bourgeoisie) who own all the factories, land, transportation, buildings, etc.

sses: Feonomic and political groups. Classes in capitalism are defined by
which group has to sell its labor power (the workers) and which group owns
and controls the wealth of society, especially the wealth which employs
workers (capitalists). Other classes include those who are permanently
unemploged, and small business owners who work in their own enterprises
But the two most powerful classes are the workers and the wealthy (capitalits).

Coln Wa: From 1947 to 1991, Russia and the United States were the
two main players in a struggle to dominate the world. For many smaller
countries, this meant choosing sides, and the US. and Russia had proxy
wars in these countries. Both sides made it scem like the barde was
communism versus capitalism, but Russia was never truly communist,
and merely used the label as a way to win over other countries o it side.

Counuissi A societyin which broad masses of people control the conditions of
their lives and work. Under communism, every person produces goods, services
and ideas according to their abiltis, and takes resources from the wealth of
society according to thei needs.

ESPLOIATION: Taking advantage of someone else’s labor. Capitalists exploit the
labor of workers because they do not pay us the full value of what we produce

2
through our labor. They only pay us enough to reproduce our ability to work. (In
other words, our wages just barely cover the food, clothing, shelter, education,
ete. that we need in order to go back to work the next day). Meanwhile, our
work actually produces a lor more value than what we're paid. The capitalists
keep the difference between the amount of wealth we create and the amount
we receive in our paychecks; they call this “profic”. This process of unequal
exchange between employers and workers is a the main form of exploitation
under capitalism.

Exscisw Fascism is a movement of mostly the petit-bourgeois and the
bourgeois groups, against the working class. The point of fascism s to crush
powerful working class movements. Fascist movements kill workers and destroy
their organizations. Fascist movements are racist, anti-semitic, homophobic, and
highly nationalist. Some fascists rally petit-bourgeois and unemployed folks to
sise up against one section of the capitalist class, taking advantage of people’s
frustrations with the system. But once the fascists make their “revolution” and
take power, they end up building a new, more powerful capitalist dictatorship.
Hitler and the Nazis are the most well-known example of fascism.

Gromuzanox: Globalization s a nice name given to capitalism. Capitalism
is a system of exploitative social relations, which must constantly gro.
“Globalization” refers to the spread of capitalism across the planet, which
connects workers in a big interconnceted system. Today, miners work to death
in South Africa, to produce metals for the iPods that are assembled by factory
workers in China, so they can be sold by underpaid Wal-Mart employees in the
US. Capitalists don't see globalization as a bad thing: they describe it as the
spread of freedom and democracy

WoRKING CLass: The class in capitalist society that owns nothing that can be
used to make money. As working class people, all we have is our labor power--
our ability t0 work. We sell this to the capitalist class (bourgeoisic) in return for
awage. The working class includes unemployed people who have to go back to
work eventually, or survive off of wages from fellow workers or state assistance.
The working class also includes people who do unpaid housework, taking care
of relatives or spouses, and who work or raise kids. By doing this, they are still
“working for” the capitalist system, because they ensure the people they take
care of can work in the future, when the bosses will profit from their labor.

2
Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalptic Visions in Contemporary
Anerica

Murray Bookehin, The Third Renolution: Popular Movements in the Revolutionary
Fr vol 1 &2

£ Hobsbawm, Prinitive Rebels: Studis in Archaic Forms of Sacial Movements in
the Nineteeth and Tuentieth Centaries

Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightennent: Pantbeist, Freemasons and

Republcans
Masgaret C. Jacob, The Origns of Freemasonry: Fucts and Fictions
Alexander Piatigorsky, Frecnasonry: A Study of the Phenomenon

David Smith and Phil Evans, Capitalfor Beginners
Karl Mars, Communist Mandfesto

Karl Mars, Economic and Philosopbical Manseipts
Karl Mars, Gernan Ideology

Karl Mars, Grundbisse

Georg Lukacs, History and Class Conscionsness

30
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