materialanalysis1938

Mussolini saw himself and the Italians as the heir apparent to the Roman Empire and the great civilization that it was. Except the Roman Empire (Eastern) continued for another 1000 years after the collapse of the Western half. And this Eastern Roman Empire was pillaged and crushed during the crusades in part by Italians.

Amazing what cognitive dissonance a mythological and idealistic understanding of history can cause

It’s actually stunning how impactful the crusades were in setting the foundation for the modern global structure.

In addition to the points you’ve outlined, it also instilled current cultures of imperialism and Islamophobia all over the West.

As if the floodgates to massive fraud are currently closed

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

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.

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.

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