by Gregory Lebens-Higgins

[This essay was originally published in the April 2025 issue of Rochester Red Star – the monthly newsletter of the Rochester Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America.]

Did Donald Trump stage an attempted assassination to score political points? Did McDonald’s help track down Luigi Mangione using AI-powered facial recognition technology? What if nobody shot JFK, his head just did that?

The Use of Conspiracy:

Spend any time online, and you’re bound to run into conspiracy theories. With the rise of social media, they are as prevalent as ever—and seeping offline through the holes in our social fabric. Agreement on the fundamental principles of our shared reality has completely unravelled, and they are now up for individual interpretation; a choose-your-own adventure guided by self-delusion.

Conspiracy theories obscure the engine of capitalism driving the problems of our time. Rather than an economy premised on competition and endless expansion, conspiracies place the blame on shadowy cabals in control of world events and intent upon our destruction.

The crimes of these alleged groups are framed as an aberration from the norm. Their acts are unconstitutional. They are motivated by evil intent. And they operate outside of established power structures.

If only these conspiracies were revealed, the conspiracist thinks, there would be an “aha!” moment, and the populace would rise up to restore the balance. “Admitting the feds are running real-time facial recognition surveillance across the country would spark outrage,” claims the promoter of the Luigi Mangione facial recognition theory. But meaningful change will not come from sudden revelation. Only class-conscious organizing, powered by a unified vision of our shared humanity, will avert our current crises.

Capitalism is the Conspiracy:

The horrors we confront are not an aberration, but are inherent to a system driven by profit. They are the externalities of capitalism; the accumulation of waste from the production process. Our march toward destruction occurs in the open—those pulling the strings are behind no curtain.

Capitalism relies on limitless extraction and combustion, manifesting in rising global temperatures and pollution. Its coercive laws of competition incentivize cost-cutting, resulting in dangerous or low quality products, increased automation, and reduced wages. The reduction of our relations to exchange value—not CIA mind control—drives anti-social violence. Social breakdown is the natural endpoint of a society where the only social responsibility is shareholder value.

This is not to say those holding capital act entirely above board. “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” said Adam Smith, “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” However, to the extent it does not threaten class power, such behavior is metabolized.

To discipline labor and secure markets, capital frequently resorts to “illegal” state violence. Evidence of conspiracy in third world repression abounds. At home, challenges to power are dismantled by murder, infiltration, deportation, and censorship.

This history should undoubtedly give pause, forcing us to be critical of our surroundings. But we must also be hesitant to accept stories that provide a convenient narrative. The basis for an effective working class movement will not be founded in speculative fiction.

The Point is to Change it:Instead of ideological supposition, we must focus on material solutions; only these are something we can affect. Delivering upon material needs with guaranteed housing, reliable healthcare, food security, and education, demonstrates the foundations for a new society not only in theory, but in practice. In the words of Matt Christman, “we have the same task whether [conspiracy theories are] true or not. … It is to build new institutions that can reflect organized power.”