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Cowbee [he/they]
Cowbee [he/they] @ Cowbee @lemmy.ml
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2 yr. ago

  • I personally love reading articles on Red Sails and ProleWiki. There's always more to learn about Marxism-Leninism, and these sites are treasure troves.

    I also like meditation to clear my head.

  • In the sense of liberalism as the ideological superstructure of capitalism.

  • Labor unions are promoted and are permissible, just as long as they don't work against the socialist system. It isn't a moral failing to value unity, especially when disunity is what has been historically used by the west to topple governments it doesn't like. Further, again, over 90% of Chinese citizens approve of their system, and a similar quantity believe it to be genuinely democratic.

  • I agree that Mamdani is a positive candidate, and the fact that he beat Cuomo in the primary is a massive indicator of the real opinions held by the working class. I elaborated more elsewhere on why I support Mamdani. I don't really disagree with anything you've said here, my overall point is that Mamdani isn't a substitute for revolution and it's important to keep that in mind while we celebrate openly anti-Zionist, pro-socialist victories over establishment ghouls.

  • Democratic Centralism is the result of communist parties figuring out what works best through practice. It's at the core of the fast response times, stability, and popular support of socialist systems. Each point is developed and proven in importance through practice.

    Point 3 is just basic democracy. If a group comes to a vote, what's the point if the minority just refuses to follow? Unity in action is the strength of the working class, it's what turns the sheer numbers into a mighty sword to fight the bourgeoisie, without unity you have a directionless and mushy form. Further, you can have revotes on decisions if necessary down the line.

    Point 4 is not as scary as you think. Recall elections are a core aspect of the electoral system in demcent countries and parties if needed. The lower rungs get to elect the higher rungs, the top is only there because they have won elections, and if they lose the trust of the people they can be ousted.

    As for factionalism, it's a recipe for instability and this is where capitalism thrives. A competent, unified, democratic body is far superior than competing private interests at achieving the goals of the people. It's part of why China's government, as an example, has over 90% approval rates, while the US as a two-party system has less than 50% approval rates consistently. Having a single party is not anti-democratic, it means everyone is on the same team and is willing to work together.

    Overall, I think you need to actually see the success of demcent orgs like PSL vs how a party like the DSA functions. PSL, with fewer party members, gets pound for pound more done. The DSA is highly divided, its biggest strength is its size, but it can't weild it properly. Meanwhile, PSL is growing rapidly, and is at the forefront of the No Kings and pro-Palestinian protest movements in the US.

  • Honestly, I see a lot of overlap between Maoism and anarchism, so that's not that big of a stretch if you ask me. I also am not opposed to hierarchy or government, humanity's strengths lie in its ability to organize, and the progressive elements of capitalism like the socialization of production should be mastered so that we can have a more just, scientifically driven society based on common ownership and planning.

    As far as the here and now, I think the PRC is doing it best, and is charting that course at the forefront. It has a long way to go before we can reach communism, but the path forward already exists.

  • No problem, take care!

  • China is still here, and still socialist, and it isn't leaving. This is because of Democratic Centralism, a fast and cohesive way to adapt to changing conditions while retaining democratic input. For less urgent decisions, the PRC has slower, more comprehensive, bottom-up systems, while it focuses more on a top-down approach for system-wide changes and direction. It's kinda like "top down, from the bottom up."

    I agree with pragmatism over idealism, that's why I'm a communist and push for socialism. Socialism is immensely practical.

  • Gotcha, so some form of socialism at minimum. You should check out the link to how the PRC functions.

  • Wage labor itself is founded on unpaid surplus labor with the express purpose of valorizing capital. The increased intensity never works its way to your pockets.

  • Social Democracy is just capitalism with welfare, and as such either funds itself via imperialism like the Nordic Countries, or is ultimately going to see capital use its political power to erase the gains of workers. Markets can play a useful role in spurring development of small and medium firms, but the larger firms and key industries should be publicly owned and planned, as market mechanics begin to lose all benefit towards higher development.

    Really, it sounds like you just want Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

  • Not sure what you mean by "authoritarian," all governments are instruments of class oppression and socialist states oppress the bourgeoisie, but no socialist state has been imperialist before. Further, "state capitalism" refers to a system of heavily planned but ultimately dominated by private property, such as Singapore, South Korea, and Bismark's Germany, and as such I'm not sure what you're referencing here either.

  • This is wrong on several accounts.

    1. "Communism" the economic system has not been realized. Communist parties have led socialist countries, but communism as a mode of production is a product of the future.
    2. Socialism works, the largest economy on the planet is the PRC, which is seeing rapid and comprehensive improvements in the living standards of its people. Even the USSR, now no longer here, achieved impressive economic growth, provided free healthcare and education, and much more.
    3. Capitalism, by definition, requires that the capitalists be in charge and the workers exploited. It isn't just the US.
  • The part that has been pointed out over and over is that you are misreading my stating that all capitalist nations trend towards imperialism as all capitalist nations will become imperialist. The imperialized countries cannot develop to this end, and neither can the nationalist countries, though the impetus to search for more profits that drives imperialism is still to be found in the imperialized and nationalist countries.

    What keeps them distinct is the finite quantity of capital, resulting in a division of the world amongst the greater capitalist powers. If all of the imperialist countries in the world fell overnight, the most developed of the nationalist countries would be first in line, and the imperialized countries would race to become the new imperialists, if they didn't already pivot to socialism.

    This driving trend is universal to all capitalist nations, whether or not that trend can even be expressed in the first place, however, depends on the availability of capital to exploit. Capitalism necessarily works towards centralization and monopoly, and this drives towards internationalism, but just like a sea turtle with a plastic ring around its neck, it cannot outgrow the ring, it will choke and die, if it cannot expand and imperialize.

    If you still don't understand the point after this, then you're deliberately ignorant, only in it for the masochistic desire to embarass yourself in online debate for an audience of a whopping 4ish people.

  • The argument you were making was based on a position you invented in your head and has never once been held hy me. You misread the original point, and when it has been explained to you over and over why you misread it, you double down. Is it impossible for you to admit that you're mistaken, or is argument for the sake of argument your point? Neither is good, of course. You're deeply unserious. Put the phone down and touch grass.

  • It's penance for my sins as a libbed up "Marxist" on Reddit years ago, before I actually started taking theory seriously. The pain is the price.

  • Socialism is not "decrease wealth inequality." Socialism is not "equalitarianism." Marxist socialism is a scientific outlook on the course of development, and how to best use that knowledge to uplift the great majority of people. Socialism in China has been by far the most successful in this regard, and it is thanks to the methodical approach to socialism founded in Marxist economics, relying on central planning and public ownership of the large and key industries. If it "seems like" they are abandoning socialism to you, it is because you don't actually know what socialists support, and why.

    The US is not abandoning liberalism, lmao. The drives of private property are the dominant aspect of the economy and that won't change until the contradictions get too severe to continue.

    The working class in China owns the large majority of the media through the state, which itself is proletarian in character. Simple.

    "Kiddo" coming from a debatelord trying to "liberal-splain" socialism to me is comedy gold. There's no hypocrisy or uncomfortable facts I need to reconcile, you need to put the phone or keyboard down, take a breather, maybe touch some grass, and then try to understand what others have been telling you.

  • No, you're wrong about socialism. Marxism is precisely against the idea that you can eliminate all private property immediately. It is a gradual process of sublimation, as firms get large enough they become economically compelled to become centrally planned. Investors in the PRC is not a failure. Investors running the CPC and PRC would be, but that's not the case. Your understanding of socialism is incredibly off-base, and as such you're in no position to argue. Leftists aren't "ignoring reality," you're just making up claims to argue with.

    And, again, I stated that the development of capitalism necessarily means those developed countries become imperialist. Those in the global south cannot become developed unless they become nationalist, and even then they don't become developed, they stay constrained, and those that are socialist do not have the same mechanisms at play that drive imperialism. The lack of available capital to imperialize for nationalist countries in the global south prevents them from reaching the same levels of development of the global north.

    You are utterly incapable of making a coherent argument, you have to invent the positions of not just me, but other socialists, in order to maintain your fragile debatelord worldview.

  • When people speak of Democratic Socialism, they usually are referring to the ideological position, not just the USian party, for what it's worth. That's my point, I'm aware of Red Star caucus and whatnot.