Rootin’ Tootin’ Astroturfin’

Oliver Anthony’s guitar-accompanied wailing, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” took the internet by storm in early August, garnering praise from a wide range of viewers, most notably a gaggle of fascist ghouls and Hitlerites pretending to be socialists. Anthony’s song was praised by both Fox News and the online media group Midwestern Marx as an “American Anthem for the working class.” Is it not strange that the U.S. Empire-wide mouthpiece for fascism, which never grows tired in its slander against the oppressed, and a group of alleged communists would find common ground in working-class propaganda? And how did the song become so popular so quickly?

“Rich Men North of Richmond” went viral — but not based on mass appeal and the average worker’s connection to the message. It was astroturfed. Astroturfing — the opposite of a grassroots campaign — is a propaganda technique that gives the illusion of coming from the masses. Like the fake grass that gives astroturfing its name, astroturfed phenomena are propagated by the wealthy. They are launched into existence on fountains of money. How was a brand-new Twitter account, with posts in the single digits, able to reach millions of people in such a short time? How did all these conservative media outlets have the video ready to post? Money, and influencers lined up beforehand to promote them.

Twitch live-streamer, iDanSimpson, compiled screenshots in a Twitter post proving that a company, REACH Digital, was behind Anthony’s success. Dan Bongino — whose dubious past includes stints with the NYPD and Secret Service, three failed runs for Senate, and owner of the fascist social media platform, Parler — confirmed that his friend and colleague, Jason Howerton, CEO of REACH Digital, contacted Anthony to finance his project. A post Howerton made on LinkedIn, telling how he came to work with Anthony, corroborates Bongino’s claim. Additionally, Howerton’s LinkedIn “About” section claims his success in helping “media companies and political influencers grow their social media footprint exponentially” (emphasis added). The capitalists behind these projects are in no way hiding their aims. Astroturfing is clearly a lucrative venture; otherwise, why would REACH Digital be able to front the cost for Anthony to professionally record an album? The company expects a return on their investment.

So why are there people claiming to be communists championing this song as an “American Anthem”? Stealing legitimate working-class rhetoric and warping legitimate working-class grievances is a fascist tactic that goes back to Mussolini. Fascists preach a false-solidarity; they focus on “culture wars,” distorting and dismembering the real grievances working people have against the ruling class and transforming them into a kind of reactionary whining, pining for the “old days.” To better understand what we’re up against, let’s take a look at the lyrics:

Anthony goes on to condemn the titular rich men north of Richmond, referencing the current politicians in Washington D.C., claiming that they want “total control” and that your dollar “ain’t worth shit and it’s taxed to no end.” To this claim, I would agree! The surveillance state’s existence is a crime against humanity, inflation has severely hurt working people, and our tax dollars disproportionately fund the local occupying army, the police department, instead of programs and services that actually help the people. But I fear this is not what Anthony is referencing. In the second verse, Anthony tells the listener that the reason we are inordinately taxed is because fat poor people — whom these “rich men” apparently favor over poor miners — are “milking welfare.” Ah! The reason, apparently, that these young men, whose money “ain’t worth shit,” are killing themselves is because of other poor people!

If we were only suspicious before, we can be certain now. In the second verse, Anthony perpetuates the age-old lie that welfare recipients are fat, lazy, and abusing the system. If his people were in charge, instead of the song’s titular men, they could look out for the right people.  The fascist rhetoric has been exposed,  giving all the context we need to understand what the lyrics truly mean. Anthony does not blame rich people for our economic and social woes; he only blames the particular group of rich people in power today. Furthermore, he divides the poor, “us” — those who listen to and agree with the message of his song — and “them” — the undefined and nebulous other. There is nothing “Left” about this song, precisely because of his piss-poor class analysis. Anthony construes miners, “folks on the street,” and “the obese milkin’ welfare” as different, but in reality, all three share the same class enemies and many of the same oppressions. Indeed, only through becoming fully conscious of our shared socioeconomic class and uniting for our collective class interests in overthrowing our capitalist oppressors can we achieve the freedom, justice, and liberty we so deserve and yearn for.

So there’s another reactionary country song, so what? Why bother talking about this one? The problem lies in those claiming to be a part of our movement trying to claim the song for the Left. “Rich Men,” however, is not something we can co-opt and bring into our movement because the song comes with its own politics. American patriotism and vaguely complaining about rich people and then turning around to blame fat people on welfare for our economic woes is categorically antithetical to our movement. In The German Ideology, Marx calls communism “the real movement which abolishes the present state of things.” This text is concerned with how humanity can drive history forward, and emancipate itself from the old world’s constraints of metaphysics, nationalism, classes, and alienation. Yet it’s exactly this old world that Anthony’s song wants to return to. Considering the old world never left, and remains “the present state of things,” it’s clear that “Rich Men North of Richmond” advocates for historical regression.

What Anthony is attempting to do with “Rich Men North of Richmond” is implant false consciousness within the people, and make us susceptible to fascist ideas. We must guard ourselves against those who would try to instill a false consciousness within us. What do we mean by “false consciousness?” To be “conscious,” in a Marxist sense, means to be cognizant of one’s class and economic interests as a member of that class. The capitalist class, the bourgeoisie, is class conscious. They know the power that they wield; they know what politics serve their interests. Thus, to have “false consciousness” is to have some understanding of one’s economic position, but an incorrect understanding of class that has been led astray through bourgeois propaganda. Many workers in the U.S. are not class conscious, unwittingly serving the exploiting capitalist class, because of the false consciousness that has been imposed on us. Racism, sexism, xenophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, fatphobia, ableism, etc.; all are tools that the capitalists employ to divide the workers amongst ourselves, and they are wielded against the masses through media and culture. “Rich Men North of Richmond” is a classic example of such a tool. It would claim to be against rich men, in which case it could instill class consciousness, but it is a screed against our fellow workers via an overweight strawman, which makes its consciousness false.

Divided, we are weak. Without class consciousness, we are ignorant. With a false consciousness, we remain divided and unable to break free from our chains, and the CEOs and billionaires know that if enough of us were able to become class conscious it would spell the end of their tyrannical reign.

As we are, without a unified movement guided by international solidarity, we will continue to be exploited. The wealth that we, the workers, create is stolen and hoarded away by the capitalists, our bosses. Like a vampire, the capitalist leeches off of the blood of the worker. This is what the “Rich Men North of Richmond” actually do. They divide and set us upon each other while they steal from us. This is what Anthony would be railing against if he wasn’t being bribed and socially boosted by those very men to encourage it. 

In our efforts to guard ourselves against astroturfed campaigns and false consciousness, we must be able to identify the fascist propaganda that would keep us divided. The fascist is a snake and will try to disguise itself; in the case of “Rich Men,” the lyrics’’s fatphobia and pining for the non-existent past gives Anthony away. Generally speaking, fascists will try to divide our class through the use of their many tools, but no matter how many tools they may have, our greatest weapon is also our greatest defense: solidarity. Anything that attempts to divide the working class rather than unite it around the complete and total liberation from exploitation must be met with extreme caution.

As we labor to repair and build our movement, we must be cautious of, and well educated on the elements we include. These astroturfing campaigns are designed to disrupt and corrupt. The only way we can effectively resist right-wing reaction is through organization and education. As we collectively develop our politics, we are better able to resist and reject the propaganda that would otherwise divide us.