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
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
Das Kapital is such a dense text. I too haven’t been able to get through it. I remember being told as a child that Muslims hated me and wanted me dead and then I found out a good friend of mine in middle school was a Muslim which was one of my earliest awakenings.
Personally, I’ve been devouring Stalin’s books. Something about his writing style clicks so nicely for me. I will check out that book my Malcolm Harris! I’m fascinated by the history of labor organizing in the US that has been scrubbed from our history lessons.
I can relate to the autism, and political theory is definitely a special interest of mine. Neurodivergency alone was enough to make me feel completely alienated from my family and broader social group.
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.