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Cowbee [he/they]

@ Cowbee @lemmy.ml

Posts
1
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1188
Joined
3 yr. ago

Actually, this town has more than enough room for the two of us

He/him or they/them, doesn't matter too much

Marxist-Leninist ☭

Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don't know where to start? Check out my Marxist-Leninist study guides, both basic and advanced!

  • Why do we live to work rather than work to live?

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  • The driving distinction between capitalism and socialism are the following:

    1. Which class controls the state?
    2. Which form of social ownership forms the principal, ie rising and dominant, aspect of the economy?

    The socialist market economy of China has, as I already demonstrated above, a working-class state with public ownership as the principal aspect. It thus falls squarely into how Marxists understand socialism. This is reflected by how the working classes are the ones seeing the primary focus on development and upliftment in China:

    State capitalism, on the other hand, may have strong public ownership, but ultimately will be a capitalist dominated state. This is reflected in how state-owned industry ultimately is run in a manner that supports the capitalist class. Famous historical examples include Nazi Germany, as well as modern Singapore and the Republic of Korea (for at least the first few decades).

    This is why Marxist analysis is enormously clarifying. Without understanding Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, it can be difficult to understand China's social structure, as well as why the majority of communists support China. If your understanding of socialism looks like a fully collectivized, horizontalist system, then anything that exists in real life gets measured against such a model. However, socialism is enormously dynamic, as it is a transition between capitalism and communism, and thus there is no "one" socialism, not even within a single socialist state!

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    What subs so you wish this site had?

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  • Scaled sorting is an option for Lemmy, and it prioritizes less active communities in your feed.

  • Why do we live to work rather than work to live?

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  • All countries have censorship, none have freedom of speech. The class that controls speech is the class that controls the state. In capitalist countries, capitalists use dominance of the state and private media to disseminate ruling-class ideology. The same happens in socialist countries, only this time it's the working classes with domination over speech. "Freedom of speech" is generally a euphamism for allowing capital and money to dominate the speech of society. This is also why the Chinese population feels very positive about their own system of democracy:

    The reason China has billionaires is because China does have private property, and a rapidly growing economy. What's important about China is that it is consistently the lower portion of society that's actually seeing the greatest gains:

    This simply does not happen in capitalist countries, especially not in the last few years where private capital has been astronomically expanding. China's people-centric development has resulted in the strongest and most rapid rise in living conditions for working people in the modern world.

    Jack Ma is an example of worker-rule in China. Jack Ma began undermining the socialist system and publicly advocating for reforms that would strengthen the autonomy of private capital. The CPC ruthlessly punished him for trying to undermine worker power, and stripped him of his speech. The same happens in reverse in capitalist countries, the state regularly strips working people of their right to protest and speak against capitalism. There is therefore no true free speech, and therefore it's important that the working classes control speech.

  • Why do we live to work rather than work to live?

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  • The USSR certainly is no more, but the PRC, Cuba, DPRK, Vietnam, and Laos are all socialist countries to this day, and countries like Venezuela are undergoing revolutionary change to establish socialism, such as the growing commune movement within Venezuela. Countries like Nicaragua and those in the Alliance of Sahel States aren't socialist, but they are generally more pro-social due to their anti-imperialist stance.

    I disagree pretty firmly with your designation of China as "state capitalist." Markets and private property exist in China, of this there is certainly no doubt, but capitalism is not the mere existence of markets but the dominance of private property and the capitalist class. In China, the commanding heights of the economy are all publicly owned, and medium firms are largely publicly owned. Private property exists largely in secondary, rapidly developing industries as a means to harness the ability of markets to build up the productive forces.

    Cheng Enfu, one of China's top economists and head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, made this helpful diagram explaining the process of developing along the socialist road:

    Moreover, the working classes are the ones that dominate the state in China, which was settled in 1949 via revolution. After succeeding in establishing socialism via revolution, the task is "reform revolution" according to many Chinese Marxists, gradually reforming socialism into higher and higher stages of development. Looking at the changes to China's systems in recent years under Xi Jinping, it appears fairly clear that China's long-stated plans are in fact being dutifully carried about by the CPC.

    The rise of China is happening alongside the fall of the US. This is no coincidence, but in fact is interconnected. China presents a far more equitable alternative to US imperialism, and as such the global south has gradually been decoupling from the thumb of the US empire. In turn, south-south trade has developed enornously, resulting in a viable way to bypass unequal exchange, retaining the wealth of the global south within the global south, rather than siphoning it to imperialists. This undercuts the US, which is why it is more nakedly aggressive today.

    All in all, socialism is rising, and capitalism is moribund.

  • Why do we live to work rather than work to live?

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  • There are several socialist countries already. The US's time as the unipolar hegemon are quickly fading, the US cannot even win against Iran. As the global south develops economically and gains its own footing, and the US gradually decays, we see more openings for additional socialist countries. No system is ever static, no empire lasts forever.

  • Why do we live to work rather than work to live?

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  • To sum up hegemony, the latent ideas of society, or "common sense," is ruling class ideology. Ideology is presented and maintained through bourgeois intellectuals, such as the education system, media, etc. Gramsci's counter is the development of a proletarian party, which creates proletarian intellectuals that can disseminate proletarian ideology, Marxism-Leninism (Gramsci was ML).

    To expand, the greater idea is that we are all philosophers, whether we understand our own philosophy, or world outlook, or not. Common sense is a world outlook, and living in capitalism without consciously understanding that how we live in it shapes what we actually believe leads to upholding capitalism. This is the importance of dialectical materialism, it eliminates the bourgeois-friendly idealism and mechanical materialism that plague modern thought, and logically leads to proletarian emancipation.

  • Why do we live to work rather than work to live?

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  • The daily systemic violence of capitalism and imperialism is far worse than the revolutionary means to end it.

  • Why do we live to work rather than work to live?

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  • Because production is increasingly socialized while appropriation is increasingly private. This is the law of capitalist expansion.

  • Why do we live to work rather than work to live?

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  • There are existing socialist countries, don't discount the efforts of the global working classes. We can learn from their examples.

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    Do you think lemmy will surpass reddit?

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  • Not nearly as frequently as on Reddit, largely because there's little to no advertising on Lemmy.

  • Four House Democrats Put Forward Their Own Resolution Condemning the DSA

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  • This is also a good example of how reform itself isn’t strong enough to overcome the capitalist class itself. Both the DNC and GOP serve capital, and are united against even social democracy like the DSA. To establish socialism, to actually do it, we need revolutionary means.

  • Are you staunch in your convictions? If so, do you wish you weren't?

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  • If I wasn't staunch in my views, organizing as a socialist would be far more difficult to outright impossible. Revolutionary optimism is necessary, as is the flexibility to adapt views and seek truth from facts, but conviction is key to that. Having a framework for understanding the world, in my case dialectical and historical materialism, means that I am able to flexibly adapt my views as conditions change and I learn and grow.

    Solid base, flexibility with action and growth.

  • What's stopping you from registering for a socialist/dem-socialist political party?

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  • Organizing is the only way to effect change, workers should build their own political party.

  • What's stopping you from registering for a socialist/dem-socialist political party?

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  • I'm a member of a socialist party, so nothing.

  • Is it just me being unaware or is it generally true that there are no academic people in Right Wing?

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  • Liberalism is right, that's my point.

  • Is it just me being unaware or is it generally true that there are no academic people in Right Wing?

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  • Liberalism itself is right-wing, as it supports capitalism. In English speaking, western academia, the dominant opinions are supportive of liberalism and neoliberalism, both right wing. Left academia is usually more common in socialist countries like China.

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    What thing would be nice to have but can't have it because we can't trust people?

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  • Socialism has always worked. Power is not a supernatural corrupting force, nor is socialism especially weak to corruption as compared to capitalism. Socialism has been a tremendous advancement everywhere it has been established, even in the face of foreign siege. The idea that all systems are the same in effect is an abstraction that is entirely unrelated to the material reality of socialism as compared to capitalism.

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    What should be bannable offenses online?

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  • What better solution is there? Why should the daily violence of capitalist exploitation and imperialism, and the fascist paramilitary body ICE, be thought of as a problem to be solved through the systems that prop up and enable them in the first place?

  • Block lemmy.ml if lemmy feels tirening.

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  • I really don't think you can respond to any of my comments. It's abundantly clear that I do in fact rely on logic and reasoning, the assertion that I do not seems to more be an attempt to paint me in a certain way so as to legitimize your own lack of effort in countering strong, logically backed Marxist positions.

  • Block lemmy.ml if lemmy feels tirening.

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  • The CPC does not redact all mentions of what is known in China as the "June 4th incident." It's true that the total death count is disputed, but you'll find that much of the dispute comes from western or western friendly organizations. We know the west already lies about their enemies, from Palestinians to the claims of Iraqi WMD. The total death count appears to be, from the most credible sources, in the hundreds, not thousands.

  • Privacy @lemmy.ml
    Cowbee [he/they] @lemmy.ml

    Piped? Invidious? Anything else? Which frontend should I link for YouTube content that respects privacy, like XCancel for Twitter links?