I don’t know much about Althusser, but according to materialist dialectics, repressive can also be understood as violence. The state is the product and manifestation of irreconcilable class contradictions, and a violent tool for one class to rule another. The state apparatus is an organization that can guarantee the continued operation of this kind of rule, and it must protect national sovereignty externally, such as the military. To maintain the orderly development of the country internally, such as the government, public prosecutors, police, etc. The so-called “repressive” means that these machines have coercive power authorized by national laws.

What I understand as ideological state apparatuses is actually the reaction of the superstructure on the economic base. Unlike repressive state apparatuses, ideological state apparatuses do not rely on violence. The ideological state apparatus is a social institution that transmits ideology in schools, education, families, political systems, and mass media. It is a frequently used means of state control and a key point for maintaining state power.

Many people, even university professors, when they hear “ideological indoctrination”, exclaim that this is “animal farm”, which is very naive. Ideology is everywhere and is often imposed on most people without people knowing it. Contrary to the perception of most people, American society and education are full of ideological indoctrination. Many people discuss politics all day long, but they neither know “what is politics” or how to solve political problems. Many of the reasons why they accept a certain point of view come from schools and the media. This is a manifestation of ideological state apparatuses. As Althusser said, if a country wants to maintain the stability of its own political power, it will inevitably control the country’s mainstream ideology, and the ideological state machine that occupies a dominant position in a mature capitalist society is education. A typical example should be the American middle school social science curriculum. The main point of the curriculum is not to solve the core and cultivate independent thinking ability, but to create stereotypes. For example, when it comes to communism, it instills the impression of terror and dictatorship in students. This behavior is well understood. The vast majority of people in society do not have the ability to take independent self-examination. As the final stage of their complete education, middle school is the best time to instill ideology. Rather than allowing other various viewpoints to cause chaos in the ideological field, it is better to directly construct a unified ideology that is conducive to national stability and government management. The most superb indoctrination of American ideology is that it allows the educated to naturally define the views of other ideologies as evil or not having the ability to think independently. This behavior or impression is difficult to change and will be considered reasonable. For example, I heard about Hong Kong’s one country, two systems. They often think that the two systems are democracy and dictatorship. But in fact, the two systems are capitalism and communism, and British colonial residents do not have the right to vote. The daily infusion of ideology makes people without independent thinking feel that the information that people who hold different opinions from them is false and not capable of independent thinking. The ultimate of Ideological State Apparatuses is not 1984 but “Brave New World”. Although prisoners have no personal freedom, they have free will because they know they are imprisoned. People living in a prison built by the glass will think that the prison is outside the glass. Although they think they are free, they will forever lose their free will.

4. I think everyone is no stranger to this song composed during the Paris Commune Movement.

“Workers of the world, unite!” (The Communist Manifesto) “The Internationale unites the human race.” (The International)

The core of ideology is the ability to mobilize the people. The proletariat may not know what surplus value is, and may not have studied the theory of exploitation. But as long as they combine their own situation when they hear these two sentences, they can quickly mobilize.