materialanalysis1938

joined 4 days ago

How many times now have western economists predicted some major collapse in China? It’s getting silly at this point

We’re taught to ignore/fear the homeless. It’s not unlike the old Indian Caste System in that way. We look down upon them as if they are homeless because they’re addicted to drugs or because they’re lazy.

I’m an American and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase “Don’t give money to the homeless, they’ll just use it to buy drugs”

My fear of death is mostly because I’m scared of leaving my wife and child in a desolate world where I can’t be there to support them, but at the same time, they are my biggest motivation for changing this world.

I don’t think you’re a coward, comrade. This is a very natural fear that we all carry with us at some point in our lives.

What helped me accept death is asking the question: “Would I really want to live forever?” Imagine immortality really. Watching everyone you know and care about die while you remain. Sounds like an awful existence to me.

Communism can only exist globally in a world without scarcity. So while I wholeheartedly accept socialism in one country, I think we have to acknowledge that China isn’t going to reach communism alone.

I do however think that Marxism is nothing if not constantly adapting or “reforming” to changing material conditions. So if the dictatorship of the proletariat remains, I think this is the only path towards developing socialism

[–] materialanalysis1938@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well Zhou meant that as an insult Khrushchev because Khrushchev was born a Russian peasant while Zhou was born into the Mandarin Chinese class which had considerably more social privilege than other Chinese ethnicities.

But I agree nonetheless! One cannot engage in material analysis and revolutionary politics without first coming to grips with material reality. What’s very important is that we remember the circumstances of our birth do not diminish our value as human beings (that notion is fundamentally idealistic and liberal). But it does change what our role is in revolutionary organization.

[–] materialanalysis1938@lemmygrad.ml 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Gaddafi pulled Libya out of debt and had a plan to help all of Africa do the same. But the Imperial Core made sure that couldn’t happen.

[–] materialanalysis1938@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Thank you for articulating this point, comrade. I am certainly a part of the labor aristocracy myself and that white fragility has been very tough to overcome because no sensible person wants to think of themselves as an oppressor.

But finally I realized that no sensible person should want to be oppressed either. So how about I just do my part to bring down systems of oppression and use the privileges I have in the process to do so.

If Engels can do it, us western white folks can too.

I’m right there with you on Das Kapital. It’s basically an economics textbook and economic analysis on that level is really tough for me. I am resigned to the fact that it’s going to take awhile

To be fair, we have a “union” but our union president is compromised completely

[–] materialanalysis1938@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

This story in particular hits home so hard because I was very much plugged into the alt-right as a teenager and I grew up in such a conservative area that it wasn’t seen as such a big deal at the time.

It became obvious pretty quickly that the jokes were a cover for actual racism and hatred. Then I began the very long journey towards being a Marxist-Leninist. I can’t help but look back and shudder at what I could’ve been if I stayed in that horrible pipeline.

Democrats are so ridiculously out of touch that you have to stand in awe of how they cling to Obama era lingo while the Republican Party has morphed into a literal white nationalist movement.

Yeah she was a ML poli sci professor and I interviewed her for an assignment in a different class. I was a Bernie Bro at the time (lol). But I was already disillusioned by him because he kept referring to Joe Biden as “his friend”

She had a pictures of Lenin hung up all over her office. She recommended Stalin to me and I was a changed man after that

 

I grew up in a conservative American family and was indoctrinated with chauvinistic beliefs from the beginning. It took me years of studying political science and economics just to warm up to leftist ideas, let alone embrace them.

Finally, I decided to read “Dialectical and Historical Materialism” by Stalin off a recommendation from one of my professors and it really changed my entire interpretation of the world. That started me down a path of reading any Marxist literature I could find.

I’m curious about the path that the rest of you took to get here!

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