Comradeship // Freechat

RIP Comrade Parenti, my life changed forever when I accidental came across your lecture all those years ago. Now that I read your books I forever continue to learn from you.

He truly was one of the greats. Parenti managed to explain Marxism in a very accessible way, and he delivered a impassioned critique of capitalism and imperialism. It's impossible to listen to his lectures and not be moved by them. You will be missed comrade.

I remember that for much of the 2010s I was one of those snotty anarchists who thought that state-socialists supported the U.S.S.R. and whatnot out of sheer principle rather than because they benefitted the working masses. I still have comments on Fedbook where I said ‘tankies’ unjokingly, and I even disparaged one state-socialist who was trying to respectfully contribute to a conversation.

I believe that it was ‘On Russia, Today’s Liberal Luminaries Take Their Cues From Fascists’ that lead me to Parenti’s work Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media, and that was when my understanding of the people’s republics started maturing. It was clear reading the first several chapters that Parenti knew what he was bespeaking; his perception of the people’s republics was not based on ‘wishful thinking’ at all.

From pages 140–141 of the first edition:

Far from lacking in benefits and rights, Soviet workers have a guaranteed right to a job; relatively generous disability, maternity, retirement, and vacation benefits; an earlier retirement age than American workers (60 for men, 55 for women); free medical care; free education and job training; and subsidized housing and transportation.

If measured by the availability of durable-use consumer goods such as cars, telephones, lawnmowers, and dishwashers, the Soviet worker’s standard of living is lower than the American worker’s. If measured by the benefits and guarantees mentioned above, Soviet workers enjoy more humane and secure working and living conditions than their American counterparts. “In relation to national income,” notes the American Sovietologist Alex Nove, “the Soviet Union spends far more on health, education and so on, than highly industrialized Western countries do.”³²

[…]

In fact, while it cannot be claimed that Soviet citizens live under conditions of perfect equality, most of the millions of dachas are fairly modest abodes (except for a few of the more elaborate ones used to entertain foreign guests of state); and the living conditions and consumption levels of the Soviet political and managerial strata are not dramatically different from those of other Russians.

Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, as Time magazine reported, lived in a simple five-room apartment in the same housing project near the Kremlin that once accommodated Leonid Brezhnev. Soviet political leaders, managers, and intelligentsia cannot amass great wealth from the labor of others. They cannot own the means of production nor pass ownership on to their progeny. When they retire, it is to modest living quarters on modest pensions. This hardly constitutes a “new class.”

Other works such as Albert Szymański’s Human Rights in the Soviet Union (which Parenti cited) also contributed to my reevaluation of the people’s republics, but I have Inventing Reality to thank for getting it started. I might have disagreed with Parenti on certain subjects, but I would not have given him up for anything either. I only wish that I could have conversed with him before he gave up the ghost.

Rest in power, Michael Parenti. We’ll miss you.

RIP to one of the greatest.

He fearlessly taught audiences and readers, during the fiercely anti-communist Reagan era, that class struggle is very much alive.

His critiques on western media, revolutionary history and the events of his era, are invaluable.

He articulated Marxism in a clear and understandable way not for other professors, but for the general public, to awaken our class conciousness, and become fighters for a better world.

We'll miss you comrade.

He was unable to obtain a stable teaching job because of his unwavering criticism of capitalism and imperialism. Thank you for being so principled and a glowing example for us younger generations of Marxist–Leninists o7.

Rest in power Mr. Parenti!

Literally picked up Blackshirts and Reds last week. RIP

Thank you Michael Parenti for being a trail blazing lecturer for us American comrades especially to unlearn and deconstruct the layers of bourgeois propaganda.

Rest in power, our great comrade Parenti...

Also this is my favorite Parenti's quote:

What a terrible news to wake up to. RIP Parenti. He was a great teacher for plenty of us.

Millions of proletarians will repeat our words: “Long live the memory of Comrade Parenti. At his graveside we solemnly vow to fight still harder for the overthrow of capital and for the complete emancipation of the working people… .”

He didn't always have the right takes, but he was a great orator. Brought up a whole generation of communists.

And most of all, he showed us if there can be one Parenti, there can be many more. Our only limit is the one we put on ourselves.

Blackshirts and Reds was pivotal in helping me see AES states more realistically. Rest now, Parenti. Our struggle goes on and you can lay down your weary head. I wish you could have been here to see it through, but we will do what we can to carry it through to the end.

Damn that's sad news. RIP

rest in peace to one of the only prominent principled marxist leninists i've ever known from the USA and one of the most valuable scholars of our day

Rest in peace, comrade. It cannot be overstated what tremendous value you gave to the left in the west, in creating comrades out of liberals. May we carry on the torch!

"Yellow Parenti" Speech and Blackshirts and Reds | Audiobook

Thank you for opening me up to Marxism Leninism, without your works, I'd still be a damned liberal.

A big loss to the left, but we must build on more despite these difficult times.

Rest in power, Comrade Parenti.

spoiler

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RIP

I remember watching Yellow Parenti early in my class awareness and it just being one banger after another. swinging back and forth from "thats so obvious why didn't I see that" to "mind blown"

From what I understand he has been unwell for a while but it is still a very sad day.

Thank you comrade for your gifts to us all. You have helped a lot of us become better human beings. May those seeds help bear fruit to emancipate the world.

A great comrade and brilliant educator. He stood his ground when so many others defected to opportunism.

RIP, he will never be forgotten.

Rest in power, Comrade. Thank you for helping me understand US Imperialism, consent manufacturing, etc.

RIP comrade. Your yellow energy will make our red flag wave.

I need to watch The Yellow Lecture in his honor

Not gonna lie. I thought he was dead for like 20 years already.

RIP to a legend

In memoriam, give someone a copy of Redshirts & Blacks.

Broke my heart seeing the news this morning. Such an inspiring comrade and amazing historian. He is now in the Great Lecture Hall in the Sky.

There was him and Noam Chomsky, i don't see anyone replacing them.
« The free market mythology argues that the most ruthless, selfish, opportunistic, greedy, calculating plunderers, applying the most heartless measures in cold blooded pursuit of corporate interests and wealth accumulation, will produce the best results for all of us »

Rest in Power Mr Michael Parenti, history will remember you the most for what you wrote.

I cannot express my sorrow properly thru a simple text box.

This is bad

thanks for your lessons, mr. parenti. we'll treasure them and keep them alive

One of the best

oh shit, i thought he died a long time ago. sad :(

RIP O7