The Proles-Chapter 1- Origins

"If there is hope... it lies in the proles. " - George Orwell, 1984

The crisis of over-production. The first world with its ever rapidly advancing technology had run out of, or simply did not desire, the large stretches of obsolete technological garbage. The solution was to dump old computers, cybernetic parts, microchips, data storage, technical readouts, and a host of other once state of the art advancements now thrown away in massive quantities due to rapid obsolescence. This, as early as the 20th century created large piles of computerized equipment that stretched for miles. The advent of cybernetics turned these piles into hills, and these hills into mountains of cyber-
trash.

Then with the mass migration of third world peoples in the aftermath of Global Warming and the subsequent wars, tens of thousands were forced into these high-tech garbage heaps, scouring for anything that could be traded for food, water, medicine.

The first steps were basic, the poor and desperate learned to use the technology for securing basic necessities. Once repaired, large quantities of high-tech trash could be sold on the black market, saving these people from the otherwise inevitable process of skeletinization. A new political economy emerged. This started the ball rolling, the proletariat began to learn about the technology at their disposal.

Taking notice of the potential treasure, hackers and various other techno-junkies began to join the proles in the techno-wastes. These elites came out of the desire to find equipment for themselves, or out of sheer curiosity. Ever willing to preach their own sub-culture they left books, gave instructions, and showed proles how to engineer and program new machines from basic parts. How to pirate the net through wireless networks. How to turn multiple obsolete computers into powerful parallel processors. How to use thrown away wires and microchips to make analog robots. What these fanatics had not counted on however was the sheer quantity of proletariat in the wastes, and hence, the level of scale that could be achieved when they cooperated on these endeavors. With just these crumbs of information, the proles quickly learned how to collect more data, to further maximize the use of this technology.

The proles became interested in cybernetics, learning how to combine software, hardware and wetware so as to further augment their senses, collect more data, store more data, learn faster. Smarter minds, better senses, stronger limbs anything to help them survive. An underground economy for cybernetic upgrades and surgeries emerged- and it only took a few lessons for the proles to realize how to perform such surgeries in their own circles. It was at first basic, plugging some wires into the arm, using HAL suites, etc. And whereas the techno-elites would compete, the proles knew the value of cooperation. The proles moved with a collective purpose. They scoured the net tirelessly, acquiring, disseminating and exchanging data. They learned ever more sophisticated techniques for reverse engineering and cybernetic implantation. They learned how to install neuromorphic chips, first external, and then internal. They learned how to plug their mind directly into their computer processors by such chips, and thereby, plug their minds directly into the net.

Large hubs were set-up, with the outer-casings of computers stacked as walls, the interior aligned with various screens and processors, where hundreds of proles lived, reverse engineering technology, finding new uses for outdated-surplus machines, using the parts to invent new devices of their own, they did this as one large group, exchanging ideas and spreading new inventions and techniques at the speed of collective thought. They also specialized in the application of their labor. Technicians, engineers, hackers and researchers were established in the interior, examining and re-organizing the material brought in by the scavengers- who would bring in large loads of techno-junk, and then giving the technology to the runners- who sold the once junk on the market.

These Network communities developed in the various techno-wastes within the four nations, as pioneers went from one to the other, ever in search of technological resources, ever educating the local proletariat on the way to turn these landfills of computers and cybernetic parts into profitable enterprises. And so they grew, stealthily, nothing but technologically advanced homeless communities, high-tech bums, living like rats in the
cyber-garbage. Their minds ever on the net to find more data. Their labor ever specializing. Within the hubs emerged wet-techs who specialized in cybernetic enhancement, tech-analysts to take every piece of machinery apart down to the last chip and analyze how it all worked from multiple angles, tech-assemblers who put it back together, integrators who looked for patterns or opportunity in the analysis finding out what devices could be combined or an innovation in one area of research could brought to another and data miners, who spent every waking hour on the net, searching for any profitable software, hardware, trade opportunities or any useful political information and then spread the knowledge through the rest of the community. It was these last who first formed what can be considered a mass consciousness, directly plugging into the net via neuromorphic chips, communicating twenty-four hours a day, eventually getting to the point where they virtually shared their thoughts. And it was at this point that the evolution of the PRN was rapidly accelerated.


The equipment was outdated by first world standards, but the sheer quantity of it, coupled with the millions fleeing and living in the said areas created a feedback loop. The first group of “Proletariat Networks” began to inter-subjectively communicate, first within their “heaps” (as the reverse engineered landfills began to be known) and then with other proles in other heaps throughout the four nations (Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile). They developed their own networks, free from the bourgeoisie machinations of the past. And they then developed, with a combination of the vast amount of data now at their disposal and their enhanced inter-communications, a common cause based on collective economic interests. They became the PN- Proletariat Network. The entire development and evolution occurred, as it did in garbage wastes, mostly unnoticed, within a two year period. As more minds were connected, and more, as a consequence, learned to accept and benefit from collective thought and super-specialized labor, ever more of the desperate and oppressed turned to the PN for relief and guidance.

It is hardly surprising that the rapid growth of the movement was, at this point, almost instantaneous from a socio-political vantage point. Not unlike when man first evolved from the apes, displacing 80% of other large mammals or the first spark of life spread throughout the globe in the geological blink of an eye, displacing other forms of catalystic chemistry, this was an inevitable step of transformation, changes that had been merely quantitative had created a phenomenon qualitatively distinct from what had existed in previous epochs. And like the gulf between replicating molecules and non-replicating molecules, between intelligent life and unconscious beasts, this phenomenon was so great it raced quickly across the very globe like an unstoppable wild fire. It was as though the PN were an elemental force more then a collection of human beings. Before the megacorporations and reactionary nationalist governments could organize traditional means of suppression the PN had already evolved into the PRN, and it was already prepared and organized for the recognized nature of the inevitable conflict that lay before it. The capitalists, were, by contrast, refusing to prepare at all, believing as they did in the absolute inferiority of the proletariat. Dysphemisms were used to dismiss- ants, zombies, proles. The idea that these bums, that these mere scavengers who dug around all day in the trash and used garbage as their bread and butter enterprises could ever pose a threat, was not only unthinkable, it was offensive.

But the blatant fact of the matter was that all power always slumbered within the multitude of the proles. Their vast numbers, as scientifically described by Karl Marx, made all other stratum of society ever dependent, hopelessly outnumbered by these people cast out as so much garbage by the modern modes of production. The proles had merely lacked the consciousness to recognize this power. But to any objective observer, anyone half way ready to put aside their arrogance and ego long enough to look reality square in the face, it was an undeniable fact that if the proles ever recognize their own strength, and ever organized collectively for sake of their collective interests, that the entire bourgeoisie edifice would be swept away like so much dust before a hurricane.

And after so many centuries of exploitation, after so much slumbering, the tormented giant was ready to strike back- with intra-net, cybernetics, nanotechnology and robotics to augment their already vast arsenal of numbers, indignation and the millions of alienated minds. This was not just rebellion, it was a hyper-rebellion, a technologically induced rebellion that grew in leaps and bounds as if to make up for lost time—lost time-- and the collective pain. The single, most powerful force the world had ever seen- completely self-conscious social labor with revolutionary aims and purposes was emerging.

It should thus be unsurprising that the bourgeoisie denied the existence of any threat. If one lives right underneath a dam, what is one to do when he or she finds out this dam is ready to burst? The first course of action will be to panic. The mind simply cannot handle the immensity of the problem, and the helplessness of one used to a sense of invincibility, now suddenly facing imminent demise, creates a sense of psychological paralysis. For those whom capital has blessed with privileged lives and the political power that would be the envy of medieval kings, there was simply no way for them to accept the fact that the modern version of Plague was coming.

Just bums. That was the thinking. Poor, desperate, uneducated, unwashed, diseased creatures who owned nothing, earned nothing, lacked the cultural sophistication and technological resources and did not know how to accomplish anything with a hard day’s work. Why else would they be bums?

To deny this, to affirm the strength of the proles, was to deny the very logic of the market. It was to deny the fairness, meritocracy and rationality of the chance based economic system. It was to say the customer is usually wrong. And if such admittance was allowed, it was to say the bourgeoisie lives of power and privilege were nothing but charade- worse then that- it meant it was a waste of resources. It meant they didn’t deserve it. And that was a fact they could not face, less the whole bourgeoisie psyche be induced into a shattering neurosis.

So as the PRN began to further grow and develop; solidifying, planning, organizing, preparing- creating new lines of thought, new strategies, and new technologies, at the pace of thousands of minds working together almost every waking hour of the day. As the tentacles of their networks extended, to normal communities, where others were inter-linked. Where hubs could be established. Where police agents and private security could be bought, inter-linked, and made completely loyal to the cause. In the face of this the bourgeoisie police forces took routine steps. Living in the techno-heaps was declared illegal. Police were sent in with their dogs, their pistols and their buttons. They reported that the numbers were too large and suggested that riot squads be sent. So went the riot squads. Again they emerged declaring the enemy numbers too large, and that the militia should be sent in. And so went the local militias.

All the bourgeoisie were doing was arming their enemies. Not realizing, while dispatching these various forces that they were not just arresting a few bums, but facing a large army composed of tens of thousands, cybernetically augmented, perfectly organized, well armed, connected to violent revolutionary groups, and setting traps. These bourgeoisie suppression forces would be captured, inter-linked and sent back to their bases, only to bring back more of their peers to further swell the PRN ranks. By the time the bourgeoisie governments suspected anything even close to the truth, the second phase of the plan was well under way.

It was only towards the end that the bourgeoisie considered a standing military strike option- and even then- a few squads at most were deemed sufficient. For the PRN had made no overt moves to their intended targets. Ever patient, they were content to infiltrate the masses until the key moment when all would unite behind them. When the masses would act on their own, and the PRN would first follow, and then lead.

And then, as expected, came the seasonal droughts.

When these droughts occurred, the corporations, as predicted, raised their prices. Angry citizens took to the street. The PRN had engineered it so that this time, the civil disorder, the riots, the revolutionary groups, would be larger, more agitated, better organized and more well armed then anything the bourgeoisie had seen since the privatization of water. The bourgeoisie failed to make the connection between the PRN’s existence and these larger then normal riots and guerilla attacks. Any thoughts of suppressing the high-tech bums took a back seat.

By this time the PRN was mobilized in all corners of the four nations, in all cities, rural areas, and towns. It had spread propaganda and knowledge, it used advanced techniques of social sciences and group dynamics which it had attained online, and by which to take full advantage of mass action by systemically, scientifically, and mathematically planning collective violence. It had agents in all areas of the bourgeoisie police and militia establishments. It had civilians planted in key areas of the political economy. And it was with this that, all at once, in the quiet of night, a well-organized continent wide rebellion began. Dozens of major cities simultaneously faced large numbers of well coordinated attacks from armed mobs and rebel groups. Key security systems were hacked. Even military outposts were overrun by groups of tens of thousands, desperate for weapons, so they could take the water plants.

Before the under funded corporate security and mercenary forces could respond they were smashed. Within six hours time, the PRN had secured water-plants, urban centers, and military outposts; they expropriated data, weapons, food, water, medicine and other resources.

Knowledge of enemy locations and organization was quickly disseminated to nearly all eighty-thousand members of the PRN, both inter-linked and unlinked. With this large scale acquisition of resources the PRN then spread in all directions, recruiting any they encountered to common cause.


Inter-linking any who sought to escape from the severe poverty and exploitation, using old recruits to gain new recruits, setting up new hubs in captured buildings, and overwhelming any police or military forces in their way, the PRN’s territory and numbers swelled from the tens of thousands, to the millions, within a week’s time.

Even now the bourgeoisie were refusing to recognize the level of threat, declaring the movement nothing but a standard riot. A growing rabble. They dispatched platoons and battalions of soldiers to the country-side and cities where the “uprisings” were to be squelched. These soldiers went in expecting a large number of rampaging mobs with no direction, what they found was well organized traps planned well in advance, with the assistance of spies, and hacks, detailing the entirety of enemy operations to the interconnected minds of the PRN, now over two million strong.

It was only when reports emerged by panicky soldiers, not a one of which escaped from the perfectly organized traps, it was only then, that the bourgeoisie high ranking military commanders in the four nations began to suspect some kind of more serious threat.

But these suspicions were quickly reversed. For the commanders of the squads called back. They were still alive!

Apparently they over-estimated the threat of the rabble due to the fact that a few in the front had a little more firepower then expected. All was now proceeding smoothly. The enemy was in retreat. They would however need more back-up, maybe some heavier equipment- jets, vehicles and more powerful guns.

The bourgeoisie commanders, breathing a sigh of relief, were more then happy to give the soldiers everything they requested.


Two days later their forces returned to their bases. Within the day these bases were subverted. While this occurred the PRN, now with the cooperation of the military, began to take ever more territory, recruit ever more citizenry. However the information of their activities could no longer be hidden, even with the network hacks which had done so well previous.

The bourgeoisie, and their military dogs, began to realize the true nature of the PRN. That this was not mere rabble, but an inter-linked network of minds the likes of which the world had never before seen.

But by this point the conflict within the four nations had already escalated to the point of civil war. The PRN was taking ground- military bases, cities, towns, and most importantly, major means of production- on an hourly basis

But the bourgeoisie would not just sit back and watch their wealth and power go to the people! They’d rather it go to the animals! So the governments of the four nations convened-- and then-- the PRN saw what they had already projected- how far the local bourgeoisie would go to protect the foreign bourgeoisie interests.

The bourgeoisie military ordered massive bombings of their own people. Cities were fire bombed. Chemical weapons were dropped. Crops were poisoned. Water-plants were destroyed in artillery barrages.

But the PRN had prepared for this eventuality well in advance. They had built shelters. They had hidden themselves away in caves. They had even formed hubs inside the very sewers and subway stations and developed cybernetic filters to block the toxins.

And all the while they did not stop, but instead re-doubled their efforts at expansion. No sooner would one city be bombed to ruin then another was integrated. Every military base taken by undercover Insurgents would then send out false evacuees in every direction, each of which would land only to begin inter-linking the forces at the next base.

In desperation, the South American governments of the four nations ordered a quarantine of any “infected” territory. They called for reinforcements from their imperialist backers overseas, and they ordered any military units fleeing to a new base be denied access, that their aerial transports be shot down.

These measures backfired. Soldiers, unwilling to shoot their own, were themselves put under the gun. The officers began to execute anyone who would not shoot their fleeing comrades. But this only sparked rebellion among the men, who turned their guns against their masters.

In a panic, the big bourgeoisie fled the countries, demanding that their puppet governments deal with the situation in a timely manner. But by then the situation was already impossible, almost half the land mass of the four nations had been taken, and the rate of growth of the PRN was accelerating.

Before the local bourgeoisie governments could take even more extreme measures, the PRN began their own bombing campaign, knowing about every detail of the enemy, they launched a series of rapid fire decapitation strikes. The high government officialdom and military leadership were inter-linked or annihilated within a three day period. With the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie effectively eliminated, the remaining bourgeoisie forces fell into confusion, and the PRN took the rest of the four nations with the swiftness of whirlwind


Overseas, and in the other countries of South America, the bourgeoisie governments were contemplating how to deal with the PRN “menace”. All four nations were to be “contained”, large numbers of soldiers sent to the borders with orders given not to allow a single man or woman to pass. Even children were to be shot if they got within a mile of the neighboring countries. The PRN was declared a disease, a crisis produced by technological experimentation. Saturation bombings were ordered. Sanctions were put in place. Naval blockades established. Crops were destroyed, and water contaminated.

The hope was to starve the PRN into extinction. But again the PRN, now with tens of millions of strategic minds, were prepared for this eventuality.

The Chemical Digestive Apparatus, a cybernetic device that could allow a person to survive for days off a spoonful of food was developed and distributed throughout the entirety of the PRN. The crops thus poisoned were edible. The water, though contaminated, could be consumed with a minimum of filtering. Every potential resource at their disposal that could be used to satisfy the nutrient needs of the populace- insects, yeast, plant matter- could be utilized effectively. And these CDA’s were constantly improved in efficiency and durability. Soon the CDA was replaced by the CBA- Chemical Battery Apparatus, which was prefueled with nutrients, water, minerals and enough chemical energy to keep an individual soldier or worker going for weeks with a single battery that could easily be replaced

With their survival thus secured the PRN prepared a massive counter-offensive.


The countryside of the four nations was barren. The cities were depopulated.

This is exactly as the PRN had planned. Slowly but surely, all the tens of millions, linked into a single Neural Network, by which they shared thoughts, and could coordinate plans on an unprecedented scale, had moved their workers and soldiers underground. They lived within the sewers, tunnels and stayed completely in the buildings of the urban areas. They lived in shelters and caves within the countryside. They used jamming machines to block x-ray and infrared scanning from orbital satellites. They established hydroponics farms for growing edible yeast, and insect farms for protein. They learned how to clone meat directly, developed drugs for the purposes of specialized thought, and they gave strict orders to only venture out at night, and then, only in few numbers.

Bodies of those who died from battle were tossed liberally around the country side, and city streets in large visible locations. And they made sure that the population transfer was gradual. The goal was to slowly throw more bodies out as people were moved in. This was to create the illusion that they were slowly dying out from illness, dehydration and starvation; that only a few stragglers survived.

The bourgeoisie, believing that their plan had succeeded, sent in scouts and reclamation squads. As they crossed the borders into PRN territory their communication networks were quickly infiltrated. Any cry for help could thus be distorted. And as they landed, the PRN’s tens of millions awaited to greet them. They let the enemy exit their vehicles, and only when they could be caught out of sight, they recruited their members one by one. Those who returned to their landing posts inter-linked the rest. And then, after all was prepared, the scouts began the return trip to their masters, broadcasting the good news of the PRN’s demise, save for a few captured stragglers. And the reclamation squads declared the area secured, requesting back-up for mop-up operations. However, they would need some heavier equipment, just in case there were “hidden pockets of resistance”, since “it’s better to be careful. We don’t want to be get caught out here with our pants down.”

Again the bourgeoisie breathed a sigh of relief. Again they were more then happy to give their dogs the weapons and reinforcements requested. And as the scouts returned to their home bases, the bourgeoisie military leadership went out to greet them personally, overjoyed by the good news of class genocide.