Cowbee

@Cowbee@lemmy.ml

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The highlighted division and factions of Lemmy.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  You’re wrong about the Marxist-Leninist position, though, and that’s exactly why the compass makes no sense. Marxists all agree on using the state as the collective means by which planning is accomplished. All the compass does is make things more confusing.

  Overall, it is much better to abandon trying to measure things on a non-existent spectrum than it is to try to force them into one.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The highlighted division and factions of Lemmy.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Left vs right is broadly okay if framed as collectivized ownership as principle vs privatized ownership as principle, but economies in the real world aren’t “pure,” and trying to gauge how left or right a country is by proportion of the economy that is public vs private can be misleading. The next part, “libertarian vs authoritarian,” is a false binary. The state is thoroughly linked to the mode of production, you don’t just pick something on a board and create it in real life. There’s no such thing as “libertarian capitalism,” as an example. Centralization vs decentralization may make more sense, but that can also be misleading, as centralized systems can be more democratic than decentralized systems.

  This is a pretty good, if long, video on the subject. The creator of the compass is also politically biased.

  As a fun little side-note, I can answer the standard political compass quiz and get right around the bottom-left while being a Marxist-Leninist that approves of full collevtivization of production and central planning. Yet, at the same time, the quiz will put socialist states in the top left, seemingly based on how the creator wants to represent things. It’s deeply flawed. Add on the fact that it’s more of an idealist interpretation of political economy than a materialist one, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The highlighted division and factions of Lemmy.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh shit 🫠

  Guess I have an alternate personality that actually knows tech and can host awesome wesites like ComLib? News to me! Or, this personality of me?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The highlighted division and factions of Lemmy.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  There are actually a few active anarchists on Lemmy.ml, for the reasons Diva is stating. It’s broadly federated and doesn’t crack down on leftists, even if it’s majority Marxist.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The highlighted division and factions of Lemmy.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  To be fair, some of us Marxist-Leninists used to be anarchists. That’s how I came to Marxism-Leninism, actually, so it isn’t that I misunderstand the anarchist viewpoint, I’ve just come to agree more with Marxists over time and after reading more theory from both.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The highlighted division and factions of Lemmy.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  They’ve previously claimed other users are alts of me, which is especially funny considering I only use accounts with the same name for the sake of transparency.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is communist idea of base & superstructural bullshit?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Don’t know what you mean by the concept of base and superstructure being “insane.” It’s a general observation that the way we produce shapes our culture, which reinforces the way we produce.

  You’re also fundamentally entirely wrong about communism. Communism isn’t when you have a bunch of tools in a pile and everyone can walk up to it and use it, then throw it back into the pile, or anything, it’s a fully collectively owned and planned industrial economy. The tragedy of the commons doesn’t apply to, say, the post office, as an example.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is communist idea of base & superstructural bullshit?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  The 1930s famine in the Soviet Union wasn’t anything intentional, but was the result of adverse weather conditions combined with kulaks destroying grain and livestock rather than let their property be collectivized and benefit the workers they exploited for centuries. Tragic, yes, evil? No, if anything the kulaks have a better claim to that.

  I don’t know if you know this, but the USSR dissolved 3 decades ago. Putin isn’t a communist, nor is the Russo-Ukrainian War a genocide, but a war. The extermination of Palestine at the hands of Israel is a genocide. Really confused why you’re bringing up Putin unless your point is that Russians are intrinsically evil, when we are specifically talking about the Soviet Union.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is communist idea of base & superstructural bullshit?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Thr Nazis murdered KPD members and other union organizers, that was how they came into power. They also massacred Jewish people, disabled people, queer people, etc. They came into power as an answer to “Judeo-Bolshevism,” they didn’t simply want power for the sake of power, but to protect private capital.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is communist idea of base & superstructural bullshit?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You’re equating famines that were a combination of mismanagement and weather disasters in undeveloped countries with the deliberate and intentional industrialized mass murder machine that was the Holocaust. Clear false equivalence. Further, famine was common in Russia, China, etc pre-socialism, and were eradicated once the communists successfully developed industrialized agriculture. The Nazis on the other hand had extermination as their goal.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is communist idea of base & superstructural bullshit?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Just to clarify, are you calling me a fascist/14 yo/etc? I’m a communist, I organize in real life, I’ve read more than wikipedia, and I’m a working adult. None of what I said that OP is quoting is particularly out of the norm for the Marxist understanding of base and superstructure, and it was all in good faith that I responded, I even clarified more over here. OP seems to be anti-union, anti-safety net, etc and came into a months old comment chain, and I still gave them a clear and coherent overview without copying and pasting dozens of Marx and Engels quotes to make my point.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is communist idea of base & superstructural bullshit?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  No, this is just Double Genocide Theory, and is a form of Holocaust trivialization. The Nazis brutally oppressed the working class and created a system of industrialized mass murder, the communists oppressed the capitalists and doubled life expectancies, tripled literacy rates, provided free and high quality eduaction and healthcare, and far more.

  The idea that the Soviets were anywhere close to as evil as the Nazis requires erasing the Holocaust, and equating the suffering of the small portion of society as the capitalists and Tsarists to the large working class in Germany, both groups were victims in their respective countries but clearly the brutality of the Tsarists and capitalists against the working class is what earned the revolution in the first place.

  I recommend reading Blackshirts and Reds.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is communist idea of base & superstructural bullshit?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The base is the mode of production and the relations to it, and the superstructure arises from it and reinforces it. This doesn’t mean the superstructure doesn’t exist, or that you can have a base without a superstructure, what it means is that the superstructure is secondary to the base and comes from it.

  As an example, feudalism as the base, and monarchist divine right to rule as superstructure, as well as the church. Agrarian production with large lords to be paid rent to was the form of the base, while the superstructure arose from that base and formed kingdoms and justifications for said base. They could not exist without each other, but the base was the driving factor.

  As another, we can see capitalism and liberalism. The ideas of private property rights, bootstraps mentality, and the idea that everyone has an equal chance at success are the ways the system justifies itself, even though that isn’t how it works in practice.

  This is a very old concept, not one I invented. There’s even a page on Wikipedia for it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Socialism has a better track record than capitalism, but either way, my point is that necessary systemic changes need socialism for them to happen. Socialism isn’t a promise, it’s a mode of production. Further, countries like the PRC are rapdily electrifying, at the top of solar panel production and infrastructure initiatives, and combatting desertification, that’s the power of a publicly driven economy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I really don’t think we are. You propose we push for change within the system, as it’s better to have a tweaked current system than a non-tweaked current system. My point is that the reason the current system lacks those popular and necessary tweaks is because its built to resist anything that risks lowering profits, so our strategy should focus on changing to a system that allows us to make those tweaks in the first place.

  You may not agree with me, but I don’t think we are having different discussions.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m focusing on capitalism because we can’t let the progress we can imagine be the enemy of the progress we can actually achieve in the real world. Just like going up to Elon Musk and asking him nicely to not be a Nazi isn’t a viable solution to systemic issues, so too is trying to use regulations against the system they are meant to solidify and protect. Socialism is necessary because without it, we can’t get these well thought-through taxes and regulations to begin with, we are utterly at the mercy of profits.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s more that under capitalism, regulations and taxes only serve the bourgeoisie. It isn’t that the concept is being undermined, it’s that those are sold to the working class as a viable solution to avoid actually solving the problem.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yep, but for systemic changes socialism is necessary. We should do what we can right now, but we can’t cause systemic change without socialism.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  DSA is the Democratic Socialists of America, it’s a reformist socialist party. PSL is a Marxist-Leninist (technically Marcyist but the vast majority of members are ML) party with roots as a split from the IWW, and is thus more based on party building, revolution, and practices democratic centralism. The DSA gets a lot less done per member due to its lack of democratic centralism and big-tent methodology, but it isn’t the worst org in existence if there’s no other options.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Sure, I can see that hypothetical, but we can’t get to that hypothetical in capitalism. Profit drives and steers the system, not humans.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well-regulated markets, under capitalism, just means comfortable monopoly. You can’t work against the system of voracious demand for profit within said system. You can’t just pray for taxes abd regulations, the only ones that get passed are ones in the interests of the largest capitalists.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Sure, it wouldn’t be easy, but it’s nearly impossible under capitalism. What would realistically happen is the state would heavily subsidize plant based food and develop economies of scale, and increase requirements on animal products for more “humane” treatment, until gradually animal products are phased out culturally. A top-down command for animal liberation would be commandist if the masses don’t want it, so raising political consiousness would be a key part of that struggle.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Socialism will not automatically create vegan world, it hasn’t done so anywhere socialism exists. However, it does swap from profits as the end-all, be-all of how society is organized, to one where humanity can better plan production and meet people’s needs. If capital is in the driver’s seat, then the meat industry will continue to perpetuate said brutality and environmental destruction unimpeded. If humanity is in the driver’s seat, then we can actually work against what would be assured in a profit driven model.

  The swap to veganism will never be instant, but it will be largely impossible without human supremacy over capital.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The DSA is okay if there’s nothing else around you, but PSL has a much better party platform and is growing rapidly.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that apart from not having a car, the single greatest thing you can do for the climate is simply eating less red meat⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Veganism is good, necessary even, but more than voting we need to actually overthrow capitalism and replace it with socialism. Profit will destroy the planet unless we take control of the reigns from capital.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Self starter⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  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.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  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.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  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.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  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.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  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.