I saw a post that talked about racism towards people and when I talked about it the response I got was very heated and a person even called lemmy.world a community of ‘hitlerites’
I have been around for a week or so and this is my first time seeing such explicit vulgar reaction towards another community, is this a one-off or should I block hexbear?
Several things in there I dislike:
Raising hands does not seem like an accurate way vote. Peasants who employed labor couldn’t vote. People could vote even if they weren’t citizens. No mention of being able to vote for non-communists. There are trade-unions and other candidates but it doesn’t mention their political alignment
To defend non-citizens voting, the Soviets valued labor over nationalism and anyone could vote despite not being citizens if they worked there. Kinda like if the US allowed immigrants to vote who weren’t yet citizens.
Trade Unions were often independent as well. Really, the book itself is fascinating.
I support immigration but allowing non-citizens to vote seems like an easy way for foreign governments to swing elections in their favor.
Yes, I get that the trade unions were their own thing but that doesn’t mean they can’t also be communist.
Again, the Soviets valued labor and the working class over all else. Chalk that up to them being naiive or whatnot, but that was the reasoning. Foreign governments were anti-Communist, not supporting the Socialist system, so if anything that points towards legitimacy.
As for the Trade Unions, I’m not sure what your point is. Are you saying you want them to not be allowed to be Communist? Genuinely confused here, I don’t know what your point is.
I think Lumelore is starting of at anti-communism, and working her way from there. It leads to some weird stuff like this.
Generally yes, though she doesn’t seem to be one of the endlessly bad-faith types, just a bit stuck with Red Scare notions.
So I’m cool with socialism, and I consider myself to be socialist, but I don’t think communism and socialism are the same thing. I believe that communist countries have a communist system, not a socialist system. If they did have a socialist system, then they’d be socialists, not communists.
And what I’m saying about the trade unions is that I’m not against the existence of communist trade unions but I’d like there to be trade unions of other political ideologies as well, such as socialist ones, anarchist ones, etc.
I’d like to exist in a world where borders don’t matter and there aren’t any foreign governments trying to sabotage each other, but that’s not the state of reality today and idk if it will ever be, but I base my position on non-citizens being unable to vote based on the reality of what the world is today and if the world changes, then I’ll probably change my position as well, but I don’t see change like that happening in my lifetime.
Okay, I’m going to clarify some things here. For reference, I am a Marxist, particularly a Marxist-Leninist. I used to consder myself more of an Anarchist, but reading more Marxist theory and history books generally led me towards Marxism-Leninism. As such, the explanations I am going to give in a second are from that perspective, a Marxist that at one point considered themselves to be an Anarchist.
All Communists are, first and foremost, Socialists. Socialism is categorized by an economic system where public ownership and planning is primary and thus dominant over markets. Communism refers to a post-Socialist economic system where all property has been collectivized in a world Socialist republic, the famous “Stateless, Classless, Moneyless Society.” When I reference the ideology of AES states, I reference Marxism or Communism or a specific strain of Marxism, but when I reference the economic model of an AES state, it changes.
For example, the PRC is Marxist-Leninist, but practices “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,” which appears as a form of a “Socialist Market Economy.” This economic model looks different from, say, Cuba, even though both are guided by Marxism-Leninism and working towards Communism.
There are other forms of Socialism, however in the grand historical and theoretical context the overwhelming majority fall into the broad categories of Marxism and Anarchism.
Does this all make sense so far? If you’re interested, I wrote an introductory Marxist reading list, the first section in particular is short and very helpful for just being familiar with general terminology and goals.
I’ve read a bit about Marxism-Leninism before because I like to be knowledgeable about different people’s viewpoints and ideologies. I agree that the workers should have ownership of what they produce and that products should be produced based on need and not profits. I also believe that we should flatten society’s hierarchical structure as much as possible since positions of power lead to abuse, however I don’t think it’s feasible to fully flatten it, because criminals still exist and I can’t think of a way prosecution would work without hierarchy. However, I do not believe that all property should be collectively owned and that is a turn off for me. Now that’s not the only thing that turns me off, but it is one of many.
I understand that we share several viewpoints but we also have several views we disagree on and I think that’s okay. I am extremely dubious of Marxism-Leninism because I have seen Marxist-Leninists support authoritarianism and deny genocide, but as long as you don’t, I’m chill. People are allowed to have their own opinions and as long as they aren’t harming anyone, again I’m chill with their existence. Generally I don’t talk about this, but I am Pagan, and with that comes the belief of pluralism which I apply not only to religious beliefs but also politics as well.
When you say you don’t think all property should be collectively owned, what about it specifically turns you away from that? What does that look like in your eyes? I think more than anything you sound like a Marxist-Leninist that just hasn’t read much theory, because other than that sticking point you seem to be saying the same things Marxist-Leninists say.
Just food for thought, my reading list is there if you want it or not.
I think people should be able to have personal property. They should own their house and their yard. If they have a cabin up north, vacation home down south, or acres of wilderness that they hunt on, they should be able to own that too. I understand that the housing market is shit rn but I think that’s caused by flippers and the wealthy treating houses like stocks, and not by your neighbor Bob having a cabin or whatever.
Really I prefer the label of being a left leaning pluralist instead since it makes it clear that I am tolerant of varying ideologies but intolerant of extremism and political violence.
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It says that anyone could propose a candidate, and that the person elected in that specific election wasn’t part of the [Communist] Party, making it somewhat likely they weren’t a communist.
But a better question, is why is it important that they can vote for non-communists? What else should they vote for? Fascists? Liberals that wish to destroy the Soviet system and institute capitalism, thereby making the lives of the vast majority of people worse? Chapter XVII goes over this to some extent, but I of course do recommend reading the entire book.