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Cowbee [he/they]

@ Cowbee @lemmy.ml

Posts
40
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14018
Joined
2 yr. ago

Actually, this town has more than enough room for the two of us

He/him or they/them, doesn't matter too much

Marxist-Leninist ☭

Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don't know where to start? Check out my Read Theory, Darn it! introductory reading list!

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  • Socialism is when public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy and the working classes control the state, communism is when all production and distribution have been collectivized through socialism. Communism is therefore a post-socialist society, and socialism cannot last as a static system without advancing towards communism, because nothing is static.

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  • The CPRF is the largest and growing opposition to United Russia, as capitalism has been a failure.

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  • Public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy, and the working classes control the state in China, it's therefore socialist. Socialism isn't the absence of private property, it's the gradual transformation of capitalism into communism, and as such the growth of secondary and medium firms creates new billionaires in China. What happens over time though is that these firms, as they grow, are folded into the public sector.

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  • No? China alone has 100 million CPC members, Marxism-Leninism is still dominant as a leftist ideology globally. Are you referring purely to western leftists?

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  • The overwhelming majority of practicing communists are Marxist-Leninists, and genuinely carry out Marxist principles. When this runs counter to liberal narratives, liberals assume communists must be brainwashed.

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  • Marxism-Leninism was synthesized by Stalin, but like the name suggests, is over 90% Marx and Lenin. Stalinism is typically used coherently to describe the policies of the Stalin-Era of the USSR. Those calling Marxism-Leninism "Stalinism" typically are trying to use Stalin's name as a way to bash Marx and Lenin's theories and practice.

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  • The anarchist conception of communism is more like communalism, while the Marxist conception is more like collectivism. When I say “communalization,” I mean anarchists propose horizontalist, decentralized cells, similar to early humanity’s cooperative production but with more interconnection and modern tech. When I say collectivization, I mean the unification of all of humanity into one system, where production and distribution is planned collectively to satisfy the needs of everyone as best as possible.

    For anarchists, collectivized society still seems to retain the state, as some anarchists conflate administration with the state as it represents a hierarchy. For Marxists, this focus on communalism creates inter-cell class distinctions, as each cell only truly owns their own means of production, giving rise to class distinctions and thus states in the future.

    For Marxists, socialism must have a state, a state can only wither with respect to how far along it has come in collectivizing production and therefore eliminating class. All states are authoritarian, but we cannot get rid of the state without erasing the foundations of the state: class society, and to do so we must collectivize production and distribution globally. Socialist states, where the working class wields its authority against capitalists and fascists, are the means by which this collectivization can actually happen, and are fully in-line with Marx’s beliefs. Communism as a stateless, classless, moneyless society is only possible post-socialism.

    Abolishing the state overnight would not create the kind of society Marxists advocate for advancing towards, and if anything, would result in the resumption of competition and the resurgance of capitalism if Marx and Engels predictions are correct.

    None of this was specific to Marxism-Leninism, but Marxism in general. In this sense, Marxist communism does believe in using state authority to oppress the bourgeousie and reactionaries, just like capitalists use the state to oppress the working classes and revolutionaries. The major difference is that socialist states are working class authorities, not owning class, and as such the class interest points to negating class and therefore the basis of the state. This is why dialectical materialism is core to Marxism.

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  • MLs aren't "fans" of Russia or Iran, but value their geopolitical opposition to the west, the imperialist hegemony. MLs do tend to be fans of the PRC, as it's a socialist country. The idea that a country has to be 100% ideologically aligned in order to get even critical support from a communist just plays into the idea that communists are obsessed with purity testing, but that's not the case.

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  • Supporting communists is not the same as worship. The devs and mods are certainly ideologically committed, but not out of sheer blind religious adherance.

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  • Marxist-Leninists have a few takes that draw major friction between liberals who enjoy the idea of socialism/communism but haven't really engaged with the theory and history of Marxism, such as:

    1. MLs strongly oppose the west, including Europe, as the imperial hegemony. Liberals tend to not see Europe as imperialist even if it relies on imperialism, so when an ML calls for abolishing NATO this can cause friction.
    2. MLs advocate for completely rejecting the DNC and GOP in the US, and instead running a working class party and organizing outside of the electoral system. Liberals tend to believe in voting for the DNC as "harm reduction," but MLs look as the system itself and see the DNC as propping up the same imperialist system, necessitating working outside of this.
    3. Disagreements on Actually Existing Socialism. MLs tend to support existing socialist countries, and liberals tend not to. MLs typically take a non-western viewpoint on socialist countries, and tend to have studied Marxism more in-depth, while liberals tend to take the western viewpoint and not have studied Marxism very much. This causes more friction.

    This is why MLs and liberals tend to clash. If you want to learn more about Marxism-Leninism, I made an intro reading list you can check out.

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  • More like c/MeanwhileOnGrad, Nazi bar that it is

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  • Yep! The woman who made the documentary My Brothers and Sisters in the North, humanizing people in the DPRK, was stripped of her ROK citizenship despite popular critical approval of the documentary (from those who saw it).

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  • Europe is only a decent place to live because it's reliant on imperialism, and until now has been able to rely on the US Empire propping up NATO to lower Europe's millitary spending. Now that imperialism is drying up and the US Empire no longer wants to be the only one paying for NATO, European countries are enforcing austerity and sliding to the far-right.

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  • I know! It's pretty shocking, or would be.

  • New to reading

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  • No problem!!

  • DPRK rule

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  • Found in the wild

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  • Thank u mr captal

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  • Hopefully one comes! I just think Russia's closer to one at this point.

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  • Read up on local decolonial movements, and listen to what they have to say and are advocating for. Read up on settler-colonialism, Fanon is an excellent writer.