Love to consume and exploit, but do it ethical like unlike certain other places so I don’t have to examine my behavior or the system. :smuglord:
Honestly the amount of western leftists (even self-labeled Marxists) who want socialism because the extent of their thinking and desires is that it will give them treats including healthcare, women (problematic), drugs, etc, is shockingly high. Treat socialists we might call these people, only one of these treats is not like the others. It really depresses me and sometimes for a moment makes me feel all Maoist third worldist and that the imperial core should just be nuked. Because if these people get power, if they stage a revolution and it succeeds, it will be a failed revolution, it will not bring liberation but the illusion of it, it will fall to internal rot, lack of discipline, and liberal reformism crashing down like the USSR but a whole lot quicker and with more suffering. Any revolution that fails to take the concerns of women and their liberation seriously is a reactionary one.
“Treat socialists” is a good way to describe these people. They heard the right-wing canard that socialism is about an easy life and free stuff, and decided “hey, I like that.” In fact socialism is about fulfillment, not ease; by taking care of basic necessities, it frees one to work for the nation and society, and thus to live a fully human life. Socialism is not just freedom to work, but an obligation to work. The continual advancement of the productive forces requires all hands at the grindstone.
I get your fear about first world socialists collapsing the revolution almost as soon as the build it, but the good and bad news is that these people are never going to form a vanguard. They are completely tied to the liberal hegemony, and will turn fascist to protect it if they haven’t already. Most genuine working-class people in the first world aren’t like this, and a big reason they reject socialism is that it’s so widely promoted to them as being all about “treats.” This they rightly see as undignified – “I work with my hands, and I’ll provide for myself that way, or die trying.” Their worldview is reactionary in many other ways, but here at least they are correct. They need, thus, to be shown that Marxism-Leninism (i.e., genuine or non-loser socialism) is about giving them the results of their labor – and that the capitalist system is predicated on stealing that labor from them; hence Mao’s slogan of “land to the tiller” and all that.
Love to consume and exploit, but do it ethical like unlike certain other places so I don’t have to examine my behavior or the system. :smuglord:
Honestly the amount of western leftists (even self-labeled Marxists) who want socialism because the extent of their thinking and desires is that it will give them treats including healthcare, women (problematic), drugs, etc, is shockingly high. Treat socialists we might call these people, only one of these treats is not like the others. It really depresses me and sometimes for a moment makes me feel all Maoist third worldist and that the imperial core should just be nuked. Because if these people get power, if they stage a revolution and it succeeds, it will be a failed revolution, it will not bring liberation but the illusion of it, it will fall to internal rot, lack of discipline, and liberal reformism crashing down like the USSR but a whole lot quicker and with more suffering. Any revolution that fails to take the concerns of women and their liberation seriously is a reactionary one.
“Treat socialists” is a good way to describe these people. They heard the right-wing canard that socialism is about an easy life and free stuff, and decided “hey, I like that.” In fact socialism is about fulfillment, not ease; by taking care of basic necessities, it frees one to work for the nation and society, and thus to live a fully human life. Socialism is not just freedom to work, but an obligation to work. The continual advancement of the productive forces requires all hands at the grindstone.
I get your fear about first world socialists collapsing the revolution almost as soon as the build it, but the good and bad news is that these people are never going to form a vanguard. They are completely tied to the liberal hegemony, and will turn fascist to protect it if they haven’t already. Most genuine working-class people in the first world aren’t like this, and a big reason they reject socialism is that it’s so widely promoted to them as being all about “treats.” This they rightly see as undignified – “I work with my hands, and I’ll provide for myself that way, or die trying.” Their worldview is reactionary in many other ways, but here at least they are correct. They need, thus, to be shown that Marxism-Leninism (i.e., genuine or non-loser socialism) is about giving them the results of their labor – and that the capitalist system is predicated on stealing that labor from them; hence Mao’s slogan of “land to the tiller” and all that.