First, let’s define some basic terms

In Tuesday’s (April 6) Preface to the column, I described the long intellectual and moral journey that provides the foundation for my thinking, a journey through black nationalism, Catholic philosophy, Latin American anti-imperialism, Cuban socialism, and traditional American conservatism.  I believe that each of these schools of thought has important pieces to contribute to the formulation of the necessary road for humanity in the construction of a more just, democratic, and sustainable world.  I will be drawing upon each as we move forward.

In today’s column, I would like to provide definitions of the rich, complex, and polemical terms that I have used in presenting the column; with its title, “Knowledge, ideology, and real socialism in our times,” and its short description, “Commentaries on U.S. and world affairs, written from a Marxist-Leninist-Fidelist perspective, based in experience in Socialist Cuba.”

(1) Knowledge.  I stand in the classic tradition of both Western philosophy an…