Hello everynyan, we’re studying Marxism-Leninism. Here is a link to the list

This week we’re reading:

  1. Why Socialism? - A. Einstein (1949)
    Webpage | Audiobook [~10 min / 22 min]

  2. Why Marxism? - R. Day (2020)
    Webpage | Audiobook [~15 min / 21 min]

  3. Why do we Have to Study Theory? - Ho Chi Minh (1957)
    Webpage | Audio book [~10 min / 11 min]

  4. General Rules for Independent Study - N. Krupskaya (1934)
    Webpage [~5 min]

  5. “Tankies” - N. Frome (2020)
    Webpage | Audiobook [~5 min / 11 min]

Next week we will be watching 6. US Interventionism, the Third World, and the USSR - M. Parenti (1986)

Webpage Transcription of Speech | Original Speech [~1 hr / 1 hr 33 min]

  • CommunistCuddlefish [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    6 days ago

    Reading now, will post questions as I think of them.

    From Roderic Day’s Why Marxism?

    What we see during COVID-19 is stark operational differences between nations where politicians are the top authorities, and nations where Capital is the top authority. We are endlessly told that nations with activist governments are unfree, and that any support for these governments must come from either a pathological culture of obedience or the threat of state violence. And yet socialist nations plainly outperformed capitalist ones in terms of fighting the virus.

    Did this age well? A common doomerist sentiment I’ve seen in zero covid communities , especially when I was on reddit, was that even China abandoned covid precaution as a national policy and had to walk back from zero covid.

    Now I think the critique of “therefore even China bad” is ridiculous. At the same time: widespread masking is the most effective intervention against the ongoing mass-disabling event that is the Covid pandemic, and all nations I know of have relegated that to individual “choice”.

    • Cowbee [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netMEnglish
      10·
      6 days ago

      The central point is that the socialist countries and the countries nearby handled COVID far better than the capitalist countries. There are limits to this, and weaknesses that we can analyze much better in retrospect, but on the whole comparing China to the US it’s clear which one was more correct. That’s the point, and to borrow from Parenti who was borrowed by Day, they handled it differently.