Very well said! Far better than I did, haha. I comment a lot on the Lemmy.ml side of things, and have gotten lurkers thanking me in DMs from time to time so I can absolutely back uo what you’re saying. I also just like using Hex to relax, when I don’t want to argue, haha.

That’s just a stance, the arguments are in the comments.

Yep, but the reason it happens is as Yogthos said, if company A knows it’s a trap but doesn’t do it while company B does, A goes under. Capitalism will always seek higher profits, even to its own demise.

This isn’t the political compass, though. The ML take is in the upper right, it has nothing to do with the liberal political compass.

Yep!

All good points, but my point is also that the presense of the USSR bolstered socialist revolution globally as well. We can do it, with or without a socialist Russia, but bringing back socialism will dramatically improve our chances.

Russia going socialist again would certainly strengthen the anti-imperialist movement dramatically, and would give quite a lot of momentum on the western left. The fall of the USSR dramatically raised global disparity, as socialism wasn’t seen as a major threat:

Same. I know that trends are on our side, but it’s so tragic that the USSR isn’t still here. I do have hope of it returning, though, the KPRF has 63000 new members over the last few years and socialism is increasingly popular in Russia.

Decades, nothing, weeks, decades, etc. etc. The contradictions within the Empire are piling up, while the global south is building upward!

It’s always funny to me that the CPC outright told everyone what they were going to do when inviting in foreign capital, ie maintaining socialism and tightly controlling foreign penetration, and yet the US Empire took the bait hook, line, and sinker and hollowed out all of their industry. As the US Empire dies, all the PRC needs to do is keep up with developing and building multilateral relationships with the global south. Anyone could have seen this coming, but now that the consequences are coming up people are acting surprised.

Communists asserting our stances and sharing memes? Straight to jail.

I’d love to do so, at least for a bit, but that’s not something I have the time to do at the moment. I’m passionate about upholding AES, and I don’t really understand why you’re acting cagey and smug after posting a wall of gish-gallop and refusing to respond to any of the points raised. It just seems like you’re avoiding responding and trying to hide behind more vague consescension.

Gotcha! Makes sense. As I have it right now, I have a mix of articles and books, but with an intended reading order, and reading times to help give a preview of how long it will take. I might include a “further reading” section for each that’s outside the critical path, so to speak. As an example, Economics would have Capital and Scientific Socialism would have Anti-Dühring, keeping the spirit of a condensed list but including areas to revisit after finishing the list.

I do agree about the single list, I’ll probably use this as a base and flesh it out with the “extended cut” as addendums for each section. Thanks for the feedback!

In what way is this funny?

They’re good for cravings, and absolutely help keep cultural foods alive even when going vegan. However, these days I’m very tofu-pilled (and tempeh-pilled), and don’t really rely on imitation meat.

The large firms and key industries are overwhelmingly publicly owned, and the working class is in charge of the state. It’s been socialist since the CPC beat the Kuomintang. The presence of private property in a system doesn’t mean the system is capitalist, this was already understood in Marx’s time.

The DPRK is being heavily sanctioned, they aren’t isolationist by choice. They do a good amount of trade with China, Russia, etc, and have embassies around the world. That’s kinda like asking why Cuba locked themselves up. As for starvation, that was largely during the Arduous March a couple decades ago from weather disasters combined with the dissolution of the USSR, the DPRK is currently fairly food secure.

Then nowhere has freedom of speech. True freedom of speech only exists for the ruling class of society, and the speech of those other classes oppressed by them that agree with the ruling class. In the US Empire, freedom of speech only truly exists for capitalists. In the PRC, it’s the opposite, it only exists for the working class, and those who do not oppose the working class.

What do you mean by “brute-forcing” propaganda? Agitprop is one of the main ways communists recruit new members.

First of all, you have a very liberal-minded understanding of democracy. A lot of these values are really only “valid” in as much as they apply to capitalists in the west. For example:

1. Freedom of Speech
2. Freedom of Press

Both of these only exist in the west as far as they can be abused by those with enough money to buy the media narrative. In China, speech of capitalists and misinformation is cracked down on, but the working class is largely left to speak what they want.

Freedom of reunion (I take to mean freedom of assembly) is partially valid. As China is a socialist country, and the class struggle is very much still alive, creating groups opposed to socialism is cracked down on more. However, there exist many specialty groups, in fact there are 8 political parties other than the CPC that work cooperatively with the CPC when it comes to governing.

Freedom of protest is fine. Protests and public backlash are what caused the CPC to back off on COVID restrictions, even though the CPC was correct. You can’t really aim to overthrow socialism or anything, but protests for example are often supported by the CPC against capitalists.

Education is kept extremely cheap in China. Schools are extremely competitive as well, partially because of how many people there are competing for the top universities, but overall education is extremely affordable. It isn’t free as far as I’m aware, but it isn’t a block for the working class.

Regarding political plurality, there’s a saying in China: “let a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend.” I recommend this article on Roland Boer’s trip to China.

As for universal suffrage:

>All citizens of the People’s Republic of China who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote and stand for election, regardless of ethnic background, race, sex, occupation, family background, religious belief, education level, property status or length of residence. People who have been deprived of their political rights according to law do not have the right to vote and stand for election. One voter has only one vote in each election.

As for universal respect of human rights, China does quite well, and unlike the countries you listed, it isn’t imperialist. France, Germany, Norway, the west in general, all depend on vast looting and plundering of the global south. China doesn’t, it runs on largely its own production, which is why countries in the global south are flocking to China for construction contracts and to join the Belt and Road Initiative.

Imperialist countries in the west use vast exports of capital to super-exploit international labor for super-profits, that’s where western safety nets come from. Essentially, you can think of the west as capitalists in country form, exploiting those under their domination, while China is aligned with the global south and doesn’t have that private domination of finance capital that enables imperialism in the first place.

I’m not moving to China anytime soon. I can’t speak Mandarin, and I have friends and family where I live. I do organize with communists, though, and would love to bring about socialism in my country.

Edit for your edit:

Religion is protected.

As for “separation of powers,” this circles back to you having a thoroughly liberal understanding of politics. Government should cooperate in a functional society, not work against itself. Capitalist countries rely on this instability of government in order to keep capital on top, but there’s no actual reasoning for it. The churn, the competition, it’s all by design to keep society turned against itself instead of cooperating.