Cowbee [he/they]

We do not exist in a world with technology sufficient to entirely eliminate labor. Even highly automated industry like in the PRC, labor-power is still paramount for production. A transition to socialism can allow us to better direct production consciously, rather than letting the eldritch god capital decide everything based on profitability, but we will not be able to eliminate labor, only center it, rather than capital.

You’re extremely confused, I’m not blaming “low information voters” of any sort. Electoralism is not a valid path for leftism. I’m not using a money excuse, either, though your erasure of money’s influence on media is also oversimplified. You haven’t taken any steps back, you’ve invented a caricature of “the left” in your head and are acting like you’re the only one to see things as they really are. It’s very silly.

There have never been left presidents in the US. Mamdani is not the leader of the revolution. You’re very confused about what’s going on, and you’re out of touch with why Trump won. It wasn’t “memes,” it isn’t some masterful play, nor are liberals left wing.

You need to take a step back and familiarize yourself more with what’s going on. Try to take a materialist outlook, not an idealist outlook.

No, lol. The Left is fine on the internet. You can touch grass and organize, and do online agitprop. Mamdani won because people are being radicalized. Even then, Mamdani doesn’t eliminate the need for revolution, not even close.

The Left is fighting an uphill battle. Capitalism is the status quo, and the US relies on imperialism using its vast financial capital and massive number of millitary bases to keep goods relatively cheap, but this is crumbling. Change works as quantitative buildup until significant, qualitative change. Orgs like PSL are growing rapidly. They are still small, but the rate of growth is large. Time is on the Left’s side.

Just look at Palestine, as an example. 5 years ago, the vast majority of the US was Zionist. Now, the majority oppose the genocide. Mamdani winning the primary in NYC shows that more overtly left-leaning individuals are valued over right-wingers like Cuomo. Change works on trends. History doesn’t reset every day, eventually water droplets bore through stone. The left has never been in the White House, it has always been a toss between the right amd the far-right, this isn’t a new struggle, but it’s one that is changing every day thanks to historical work.

The Left does both. The purpose of real life stikes and protests is because its proof that Leftist organizations have the logistical capacity to plan, demonstrate, and act in a cohesive and unified manner. Organizing is more important than meme sharing. Memes, agitprop, etc are very useful recruitment tools, so they should not be ignored, but it’s more important to actually put in the work of organizing effectively once recruited.

Sharing memes without actually organizing is just an outlet for people to express frustration, but organizing is an actual necessary and important step in toppling the existing system and replacing it with a better one, as the hard work on organizing has already been laid out.

1. The devs are communists.

2. Using Lemmy over Reddit is already an ideological choice for many of us, ergo you will find people with a stronger ideological backbone here.

3. Conditions in the English-Speaking world are getting more dire. The US Empire is struggling to prop itself up, billionaires control more and more of the wealth while working class folks control less and less, and more people are getting involved in reading theory and organizing.

4. Many leftist subreddits were shut down and fled to Lemmy, the same has not happened to the same degree for right-wing subreddits.

It’s as simple as that, really. I suggest you start reading some leftist theory, I made a Marxism-Leninism Beginner Reading List to help people who want to start doing that (comes with audiobook versions, too).

Also, your insinuation that those of us more politically active must be young and not worldly is infantilizing bullshit.

And yes, I know what community this is in, this is more for others to see if they genuinely have the same questions.

You don’t have to respond, but if you’re going to disengage after making a bunch of claims and insulting me, I think it’s only fair that I respond for others that read this thread.

Workers in China do have meaningful power over their workplaces, and the majority of the economy is publicly owned. There are worker councils in workplaces, the agricultural sector is largely cooperative based, and even many firms like Huawei are cooperatives.

Secondly, Marxists did not “redefine Socialism.” Marxism is a part of the broader Socialist tradition, trying to redefine Socialism so as to exclude Marxism is odd, considering it has had by far the largest impact on Socialism historically and in modern times.

Finally, all states are authoritarian, in that all are used by one class to oppress others. It is best that the class in power is the Proletariat and it uses that state power to oppress the bourgeoisie, as is happening in China, Cuba, Vietnam, etc.

Again, you don’t have to respond, but if you’re going to disengage after insulting me and making a number of claims, I’m allowed to address them as well. Have a good one.

The overwhelming majority of the large firms and key industries are publicly owned and planned, so yes, the workers do own the means of production for the majority of the economy. Further, managers are workers too, not owners. I think you have a very specific view of Socialism that’s exclusionary towards Marxism, for Marxists cooperatives aren’t truly “Socialist” as they are petite bourgeois cells that retain private property and exclusive ownership within, when the goal of Marxist Communisn is the eventual abolition of Private Property, which can only be accomplished by folding all property into the hands of all, through public ownership.

I understand the Wikipedia entry, I read Marx, Engels, Lenin, and countless other Marxists. I even read anarchists like Kropotkin and so forth. You are confusing public ownership in general with Socialism as a Mode of Production, which the Wikipedia entry hints at, but you lack the context to understand that, which is why I am telling you.

China is a Socialist country run by a Communist party, which is why the overwhelming majority of major Communist orgs recognize it as such. The economy is dominated by the public sector, which controls the large majority of key industries and large firms. They aren’t fully developed post-scarcity Communist yet, but they are developing through Socialism.

Further, Chinese infrastructure is good. The rails are safe and the trains aren’t held together with duct tape, and they aren’t made with slave labor. This is just chauvanism.

You’re conflating public ownership in general with Socialism, though, which is wrong, and leads to wrong conclusions like thinking the US Postal Service is a “socialist part of a Capitalist economy.” All systems are mixed, what determines if a system is Capitalist or Socialist is which aspect is primary in the economy.

Public Ownership is not Socialism itself, but a component of a Socialist economy. An economy where public ownership controls the large firms and key industries, ie has genuine political control, is Socialist.

No system is purely public or private, hence the line of demarcation between Socialist countries and Capitalist countries is where political power is vested.

Social programs are not Socialism. The government doing stuff is not Socialism. You cannot take aspects of a society out of their context and analyze them discretely. The United States does not have a “Socialist” millitary. Socialism is a mode of production determined by public ownership being the principle aspect of the economy, ie large firms and key industries being firmly public, as opposed to Capitalism where private ownership is the principle aspect.

Almost true, being Communists has certainly influenced the reasons for Lemmy as a federated, anticapitalist alternative to Reddit to begin with.

No worries!

And as for Blowback, sounds like you’ll love it, and probably hate it as well for how fucking sad it can be. It’s really painful sometimes, I legitimately tear up at it.

I recommend listening to it in release order, and not skipping any of the bonus episodes, as they often contain interviews with experts and people who actually lived through these events.

To be fair, I wasn’t expecting you to read either, just to throw them onto your TBR if they sound interesting, as you expressed interest in the general idea. I’m not assigning you homework.

As for putting in the effort to understand Marxism, and Marxism-Leninism, no, I don’t expect everyone to put the same amount of effort in. That’s one of the benefits of having a Vanguard, or party organization, as long as the people are represented you don’t have to expect everyone to be some grandmaster Marxist.

Anyway, it isn’t specifically a racial analysis (though it touches on it frequently), I love Blowback. It’s about various wars and conquests the US has been involved in throughout the latter 20th and 21st century, understanding the modern US Empire.

And as for Marx, he was a big fan of Lincoln freeing the slaves, and frequently wrote class analysis. His notes are often disorganized and in letter forms, though, so a lot is collected posthumously by Engels or others.

He kinda does, he just doesn’t make it a focus. If you want a Marxist analysis of the US’s racist history that continues to today, you might want to read Settlers, or if Colonialism in general is more your interest, Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth.

It’s designed to be satire, but is posted because it makes Marx look cool as fuck

It’s designed to be satire, but is posted because it makes Marx look cool as fuck