As a US citizen, the DNC and GOP ultimately serve the same donors and are aligned.
Cowbee
joined 8 months ago
You claimed the USSR was murdering jews and non-Russians en-masse, not hard to see that you were calling to Double Genocide Theory from that. If you want to correct your statements you can.
You cannot realistically do that when half the working class thinks that that are the beneficiaries of capitalism.
I mean, they are. The US Proletariat is among the Labor Aristocracy, they benefit from Imperialism dramatically. The fall of Imperialism will drive the US Proletariat to revolution.
The question of Reform vs Revolution is already answered, Marxists believe Revolution is the only way to bring about Socialism, which is correct.
It absolutely was propaganda because the capitalist class perpetuated the lie that progressive policies would hurt the country. Neoliberals, through the use of rhetoric in the media, helped popularize the idea of the infallible free market – that was propaganda.
It was propaganda, yes. It did not "brainwash" the masses, if the material conditions weren't fit it wouldn't have done anything.
Nation states don’t have to staunchly be strictly capitalist or communist; social democracies do work, with the caveat that citizens have to be well-informed and act as stewards to protect and exercise their electoral rights in shaping a nation.
Social Democracy doesn't work, the Nordics are seeing erosion of worker power and safety nets, and they depend on Imperialism to fund their safety nets.
I’m well aware of Historical Materialism. My contention to your larger point, in short, was that the way forward has to be meticulous and measured. Accelerating the downfall of the system in place will have a real, disastrous impact on the lives of the existing working class. We cannot destroy lives on the promise that it will get better. Class consciousness is step 1, but we’re not even there yet.
It will not get better without Revolution.
If you are a woman, POC or queer, it is usually really easy to choose a lesser evil here (or idk, a neo-nazi, as I framed this as why a non-voter might also help the democrats). Most people can choose a lesser evil, and they help the greater one by not voting/voting 3rd party. If you literally can't see a difference, that's fine, but this is the reason why most people are better of not voting 3rd party right now.
I'm queer, so is my partner. I'm also a Communist. Trump hates me openly, sure, and Kamala does nothing to stop it.
Yup, they can make that decision. Maybe they think appealing to the block of Republicans is easier, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do considering that's where their money is and how much they need to change to appeal to the left.
Then we know American electoralism doesn't matter anyways and we need a revolution.
So, you don't know how it would help. Either the Democrats stay in Power and won't change, or the Republicans gain power and nothing will change until 2028 (or later, depending how project 2025 comes along). Hoping that they may change on Palestine is foolish. You are correct about the support, it should never be unconditional.
I already told you, you're just ignoring it.
Since you said support shouldn't be unconditional, where's your line in the sand? Genocide apparently is fine for you.
Of course it was because of the material conditions at the time and because the capitalist class felt threatened by the rise of communism and felt a need to combat it. It was still propaganda though and it has irreparably damaged the American psyche.
Again, I encourage you to reject the "brainwashing" narrative. The conditions came before the ideas.
Btw, the material conditions at the time were not all hunk-dory either. There was massive wealth disparity between “white” Americans and African -Americans. Minorities were still fighting widespread discrimination which prevented them the enjoy the same freedoms and prosperity as the rest of America.
Absolutely correct, material conditions don't mean equal prosperity. How familiar are you with Historical Materialism?
Whomever they think is the bigger evil, they help by not voting for the lesser evil. For why, see my first comment.
The Democrats and Republicans are both 99% Hitler, ergo voting for either is voting for the greater evil.
Disagree
If the Democrats lose left wing voters by pushing rightward and lose, are they going to go even further right?
And voting for neither will also result in more death and destruction. You are refusing to explain how your choice would help, and I can make some damning assumptions why.
I am not refusing. By rejecting both genocidal parties, and showing support for anti-genocide parties, the Democrats may shift leftward to regain lost votes. Unconditionally supporting the Democrats only furthers their genocidal tendencies.
Additionally, increasing support for Third Parties shows voters an alternative to genocide.
Yea, the first link was just how people felt like a while ago when a lot of ex soviet countries were still struggling over a decade ago.
Communism and Socialism are still more preferred than Capitalism for the majority of ex-soviets.
That would make sense too, if an economic union collapses your country is fucked for a while. Like if the EU collapsed it would have even more severe consequences and any poll would give similar results for decades to come.
Depends, if the EU shifts to Socialism it will probably repeat polling in AES states with mass popular support, what you're describing would probably happen if it collapsed into fascism or barbarism.
I don't know why they would vote for socialism suddenly during the votes for independence.
During the independence votes, the only indicator was that the State would become independent, not that it would become Capitalist. Where are you getting the idea that Socialism was unpopular?
If Russia couldn't do that with 60 years of killing, imprisoning, slaving and deporting political dissidents, artists, scientists, gays, jews and people not ethnically russian than a referendum for independence ain't gonna make socialism happen either.
Killing and imprisoning fascists was a good thing. I don't know what you mean by "make Socialism happen," it was already Socialist. They wanted to keep Socialism. Additionally, Double Genocide Theory is Nazi apologia and ahistorical. Same with the idea that the USSR was "enslaving people."
An Anarchist carrying water for the Nazis, color me surprised.
I agree with your point about the material conditions in post war US and how they helped propagate the idea of American exceptionalism but the Red Scare was actually mass brainwashing/propaganda. This is a good look at the media of the time: Anti-communist politics of the red scare
https://daily.jstor.org/how-hollywood-thrived-through-the-red-scare/
I'm aware of what was pushed and why, but those ideas would not have taken hold had the Material Conditions not supported them. "Brainwashing" is a vibes-based answer, the truth is that the base and superstructure support each other.
While there was a true threat in terms of espionage, it was overblown by McCarthy for political gain. The US hegemony was being threatened by a rising communist bloc. The capitalists had seen the impact of progressive policies such as the New Deal and were scared of losing their influence. The establishment of the PRC in 1949 stoked the fears further. It go so bad that the Communist Control Act was passed in 1954. It prohibited members of the Communist party, who were otherwise American citizens, from holding office in labour unions. McCarthy had used anticommunist propaganda as a partisan tool and it is still being used by the right. What’s interesting to me though, is that American right-wing media had managed to push the Overton window so far to the right that they decry the policies of the Democratic Party as being communist.
I'm aware of hoe it happend and what it entailed. However, I maintain that it is due to the unique material conditions of America as the world's largest Empire in the context of a competing Communist superpower. The material conditions pushed the ideas, not the other way around.
I'm a Communist, I am performing Marxist material analysis on it.
Correct. You seem to know all about the voting system, I don't need to explain to you why that is.
You do. You said Dems are not entitled Leftist votes, but then said Leftists are helping Trump by voting for Cruz. By your logic, Libertarians and Non-Voters are also helping Trump. It's nonsense.
They will move in the direction they think they can get more votes. The past has shown that even when they lose, they prefer to move "center" rather than left.
Depends on where they lost their votes from.
Please explain how voting for your alternative 3rd party candidate, sitting at 0.3% at the polls if I'm not mistaken, will help.
Because refusing to support the genocidal system is a good thing. Kamala and Trump are united on Gaza, voting for either will only result in more death and destruction.
Voting 3rd party is not and will not lead to revolution.
Revolution will come regardless. An increase in votes for Socialist candidates shows the public the strength Socialists are building and presents an alternative.
The idea of a "Jewish Genocide" by the Soviets is Double Genocide Theory. That's why I said you're free to correct your statements. Yes, the Soviets did some bad things, but you're carrying water for fascists by defending them as "political prisoners" and claiming a Jewish genocide.