Teach Me About Marxism, Socialism, and Communism

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Teach Me About Marxism, Socialism, and Communism

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

gently caress when did this thread go from thoughtful discussion about Marxism to arguing with people totally ignorant about what Marxism is

it had a good run for a while

# ¿ May 14, 2016 03:37

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 05:25

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

OwlFancier posted:

I mean maybe we could try a democratic revolution starting with social democracy and progressing from there, that'd be nice. Also possibly more practical given the issues with authoritarian socialism in an international setting.

Maybe we could also stop overthrowing non-authoritarian leftist leaderships, creating the apparent "tendency" toward authoritarian ones in the first place.

# ¿ May 14, 2016 03:46

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

Ormi posted:

I agree. Hence, the question of why such a huge portion of the American electorate continues to vote for xenophobic white straight male supremacists is important. Based on the surveys, we can guess that it isn't because they're all suffering from cognitive dissonance about their economic self-interest.

Many who might vote against this are systematically disenfranchised through a number of laws designed to keep the vote out of the hands of disproportionately poor/minority populations, and the remainder of the vote is tilted to support existing power structures through the design of the Senate, through House gerrymandering, and through enormous public relations campaigns. This is like basic poo poo, jesus

# ¿ May 16, 2016 04:27

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

Ormi posted:

2014 turnout was 36%; how much of the loss was apathy, and how much was suppression?

I mean, there are almost trivially easy policies like universal voter registration and online voting that could increase turnout to the 90% range at very little cost. That we've chosen not to accomplish this is a form of voter suppression (in the real world where policies reliably have effects in the actions people take and we don't blame individuals' lack of gumption).

# ¿ May 16, 2016 06:50

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

Disinterested posted:

And yet we feel like it's self-evidently the case that government is less intrusive. Perhaps there's more to it?

I wouldn't say that's self-evident, especially if you're black.

# ¿ May 16, 2016 07:03

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

Cerebral Bore posted:

This brings me to the second main point, successful revolutionary regimes centralize power out of goddamn necessity, much like any other nation does in a state of emergency. Furthermore, to pretend that something like a constitution and decentralization would somehow settle the situation of the country being in the poo poo is naive at best and delusional at worst. If you want an example of this in action, one Kerensky and his government comes to mind.

Or for that matter, the American revolution and the centralization of power (by the bourgeois) into a federal government after the decentralized post-revolution organization had failed.

# ¿ May 16, 2016 22:32

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

HorseLord posted:

Lenin died in 1924

Give up, you're not going to get the guy to budge

# ¿ May 17, 2016 01:37

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

Prism Mirror Lens posted:

Well, aside from the fact that kicking off your book with "Dedicated to the knowledge that anyone who aids the USA in its international terrorism is committing a crime against humanity" is bound to raise a few eyebrows even among communists,

I wouldn't call that a fact or even particularly controversial outside of the United States.

# ¿ May 18, 2016 00:01

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 05:25

386-SX 25Mhz VGA: Jan 14, 2003; (C) American Megatrends Inc.,

Prism Mirror Lens posted:

Implying that almost everyone in the world is committing a crime against humanity (by way of, like, paying taxes or producing food for America) is, while arguably not WRONG, pretty unhelpful and weird unless you're a 15 year old who's just discovered Chomsky. I could say "oh, well, I guess the author MEANT only people directly involved..." but that doesn't bode well for the rest of the book. As far as the 'US does atrocities' bit goes I'd tell people to read Killing Hope instead since its actually widely reviewed and critiqued

OK, I mean you're assuming silliest intentions from a small section and refusing to look at the book because of that.

# ¿ May 18, 2016 16:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Teach Me About Marxism, Socialism, and Communism