Welcome again to everybody, and happy anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam . Make yourself at home and pay your respects to Ho Chi Minh. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
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I’m starting to think Trump’s main strategic goal is to personally give me anxiety by always making it seem like we’ll finally get to see XXI century weaponry live-tested against aircraft carriers, but never following through.
Anyways, some OSINT chatter has been indicating materiel transfers directly from China to Iran, so China seems to be holding to their word on mutual defense. Some Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles have been launched at Ukraine today and CENTCOM deployment remains at full readiness. But eh, nothing ever happens.
I just can’t imagine what is so important to hide that they released these files and are also trying to start a war with Iran. Is it just to distract people from the Gaza genocide, the crashing american economy, or is there something else we are all missing?
I’ll have refresh my knowledge on it, this is a good reminder.
Have a great week comrades!
Yay
So Tallinn was great despite the relentless cold. It was so cold that the sea froze for up to like 400 m off the coast so I got to walk across a frozen sea, which was dope. I visited a museum that had portraits of Lenin and Stalin to my surprise and it was 't overly negative of the Soviet Union.
I did notice that I got a lot of pro EU ads on my social media feed while being here so I wonder if the EU has got a campaign going over here. Lots of Ukraine flags everywhere too. The Russian embassy here was plastered with it. There was also a poster of the socialist heads with Putin next to it saying something like ‘no more communism again’ which was just hilariously shitty. I started to wonder if their support for Ukraine only comes from a deep hatred of Russians. Which is weird because like 1 in 4 people in Tallinn is Russian. Never heard this much Russian spoken anywhere.
Russian-speakers in Estonia? And in such a large quantity too… That’s quite interesting.
Did you see where ZA/UM is based or their headquarters anywhere (before they inevitably turned shitty by firing their head writers)?
Yeah there are like 200k+ Russian (speaking) people in Estonia. The total population is 1.3 million so it’s a sizeable amount of people as well. Half of them live in Tallinn.
Didn’t see such thing really.
Ah, got it.
Have a good week, everyone! Remember that we live in an era of imperialist decline, where the international dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the US Empire, is on its last legs.
As always, communism will win. We will win.
I think we are in an era of imperialist decline, but look, the Soviet Union said the same thing 40 years or so ago and everyone thought the defeat of the United States was inevitable. Seriously, people thought that back then; I read about it and it’s astonishing. They were making a few similar arguments to today’s arguments too.
We must NOT let our guard down for one second and press the attack forward while also not expecting China to swoop in and save us.
To add to this, decline isn’t something that is guaranteed to happen swiftly. The decline and subsequent fall of Rome took centuries. I know that’s a cliche example, but it’s still useful to think of imperialist decline in this way. Considering the scale of its hegemony, the US nation-state is likely to follow a similar path of withering over time.
Furthermore I’d like to add that an Empire built upon, formed by, beneficial of and propagated on Violence, will most definitely express violence on the development of its decline, as we can see it currently and historically
Yeah
We should not let our guard down, no, but we do need to maintain revolutionary optimism.
Yes, that’s true indeed.
Have faith that that’s the case but also tie down your camel 🐪 - Hakim, probably
I have been very loosely keeping up with the news these days, and have been skimming through the new Epstein stuff. It’s got me wondering, has anyone here elaborated on why these files are being released to begin with?
If they have to release something, just to keep some sort of legitimacy, what is the benefit of releasing so many files?
I read that some of the files got taken down at some point, but why were they published in the first place?If someone wrote a comment or post on this before, I’d appreciate a link.
I think it’s a fluke, but it also shows the United States is still technically a democracy albeit with a strong fascist movement and base. If you think about it, America wasn’t even supposed to be a democracy and the lower classes had to fight for the right to vote (which is still tenuous today).
Honestly, what you see is also just good ole’ bourgeois infighting as well… so what else is new? We’ve seen this before.
I think para-politics can only go so far in explaining things and often leads to conspiracism in ML circles (with many justifying it with phrases like "Well, conspiracies DO happen, " which is true, but ultimately reductive in explaining things), but infighting among various factions in the bourgeois class is an explanation that makes sense, is verifiably true, and has happened throughout history.
So, honestly, what you ask is not a bad question, but it does have an answer that’s likely true.
I think para-politics can only go so far in explaining things and often leads to conspiracism in ML circles […] but infighting among various factions in the bourgeois class is an explanation that makes sense, is verifiably true, and has happened throughout history.
I’m not implying that there’s some sort of conspiracy or that it’s unexplainable. There was an active decision to release these documents, I’m just trying to understand to whose benefit it is, and why was the decision made to release them.
The released documents implicate a lot of powerful people from across the spectrum in the U.S.
I know you are not.
I think Trump is such a sadist that he wants people to know the stuff he has done. He gets off on people squirming hearing the horrific stories and knowing there is nothing the can do to stop him. He wants the spirit of Ayn Rand to praise him like she did William Edward Hickman.
He is using the remaining undisclosed files to keep the faction who have shame in line and using some other files that would hurt his faction as bait. “If you let me release this one you can have the one where I said this.” In reality he want all the files out. He wants for everyone to think he is a monster and either revile him or worship him for his complete abandonment of humanity. His aspiration is to go to the grave as the most sadistic man in history.
the libs are trying to say the “you met me in a very chinese time of my life” phrase is very evil racist it’s time to purge my youtube search history and start anew
bc i know if i open it its just gonna be faux anticapitalist breadtuber whinging about how we havent considered uyghur genocide god i need to sleep
Get some slepp
I recommend just using YouTube anonymously anyways.
Lately I got back into a video game, which did have one upside: I made some friends there.
The downside is it’s a live service video game under late stage capitalism and that means it gets shittier with each update, but marketing presents it as an improvement (to be more specific, the updates are kind of like genie wish fulfillment, where like the players ask for a million bucks and they get crushed by a mass of deer). It’s an (admittedly fucking tiresome) reminder that there is no real “escape” under capitalism. It is all an interconnected system. Can’t just go off and chill for a while in an isolated part.
This is why I basically only play single player and stray towards indie to medium sized titles for the most part. Obviously you don’t make as many friends but the games are usually designed to be fun. [Like no really, live service games are designed to never actually be fun. Just to be on the cusp of fun so you keep playing]
which game
Billie Eilish dropping the US is a settler genocidal state on thr grammys was not on my bingo card but it is pleasant surprise.
I don’t watch the Grammies…what happened sorry?
She said you can’t be illegal on stolen land in her speech
@ conservatices got DESTROYED with this one from the # extreme left! /j, s
long live breadtubist-rachelist thought with eilish characteristics
Marxism-Eilishism strikes again
Took up sketching again. I liked to draw when I was a kid and figured it could be a creative outlet for now. Went to Reddit to look up inspo or tips but ten seconds in the sketching sub I found Harry Potter shit and bounced. If anyone has some useful tips or cool people to follow, let me know.
Pro-Elon Conservatives have officially lost their fucking mind. They’re going all in on the “He’s just autistic, he didn’t know any better” excuse. As if he’s not a grown man with over 10 children and mutiple wives.
I had a dream where Zelenski, frustrated with waning western support, went full mask off and did a nazi salute. It was only when I saw an article about him a few days later I realized this didn’t actually happen.
whats w u and very cogent and coherent dreams? i had one recently of erika kirk youtube shorts where she was eulogizing her husband explaining that he had a certain particularity for law that made him misogynistic, as well as being turkish (i am not turkish and havent thought of turkey in a month, no clue why it appeared and ashamed that i was slandering it subconsciously via association with kirky), but i knew it was absurd dream when i realized her tone was very loving and sincere. in comparison yours seem like divine knowledge being imparted
you know what i’m just going to keep repeating “it’s the cpv’s birthweek” to myself until the anger abates. i doom and gloom too much on here, but i’m a hopeful fellow who just happens to be constantly driven insane. it’s the cpv’s birthday. the boy in that picture of the DHS agent with a gun is back home in cuba and has been for a while. china exists. what else is lovely? the sky and the sunlight and my friends, no matter what hardships torment me. a future whose arc bends to justice and a science that argues for that conclusion
i have a fat jar of kimchi and i’ve been fucking it up
i’m jealous of your kimchi
this is the community ive been hoping for. kimchi is one of the greatest concoctions in this whole wide world
i’m a big fan of all ferments, but kimchi takes a special place in both my heart and stomach
pre menstrual syndrome is certainly an experience
100 million views in 9 days. For comparison Japan’s population is around 120 million
I think sometimes I get the rageful revenge feeling that people can have at times about injustices. It’s not something that tends to linger, but there are moments. I suspect it comes from wanting justice to be done, for consequences to be brought upon a wrongdoer and the like. The issue is, revengeful punishment is more or less in line with the colonizer’s idea of justice, so I don’t really trust it in myself. It is precisely the colonizer in my head that I need to put an end to, in order to be equipped to help transition to something else. But it gets confusing sometimes, all the misleading pathways. What does justice really look like under liberation forces? I guess I don’t know enough about its history. The paths I’m most familiar with are the openly barbaric conservative and the cunning liberal pacifist, and these are both in opposition to liberation, whether those who embody them are always really aware of it or not. I know some about ML, but embodying it is its own challenge.
Don’t be so quick to denounce your rage. There will be plenty of time for calmly measured justice after the revolution but we won’t get there without our anger. “when our time comes we will make no excuses for the terror”
I’m not sure I agree, but maybe you mean something different by anger and rage than I do. In my experience, they are usually volatile feelings that get in the way of clear-headed strategy, planning, and cooperation, and can cause great harm when people deal with it a chronic basis. I don’t dismiss them entirely, as rage toward injustice has its place. But also, rage toward injustice without strategy and planning is just riot, not revolution, and can easily fizzle out and be stamped out. Somehow, the righteous anger has to be channeled and that is the part that I’m getting at when I talk about the two kind of deceiving paths of openly barbaric conservative and cunning liberal pacifist. The conservative says, blindly use your anger. The liberal says, anger bad. It is clear to me that from a liberation perspective, neither of these are effective. So then the question becomes, what is the alternative, the liberation perspective on it. I think it is something to do with channeling the energy that arises from anger rather than dismissing it or blindly leaning into it.
I also mean to distinguish between righteous justice and desire for revenge. Along the lines of what the rizzler emphasized, I think righteous justice in the liberation context is more about doing what is needed to liberate and then retain that power against the reaction, which obviously can include violence against the oppressor but isn’t about, like, “eye for an eye” or something, so much as it is about resolving lingering disputes and contradictions. Whereas desire for revenge may lead in a more adventurist direction, expending resources in an “eye for an eye” mentality rather than focusing on protecting and building a base of power. It is the revengeful side of things that I am most dismissive of in myself and don’t trust.
(don’t mistake my tone as preaching its just coming out that way. I’m not 100% wedded to this line of thinking but its where I am at.)
Rage needs to be kept in check so you don’t do anything tactically stupid that ruins the overall strategy. But complete repression of our justified rage is in the interest of the ruling class and it is the hallmark of the “Compatible Left.”
Rage is a good motivator and planning tool provided your longing for revenge/justice is based in your solidarity with the working class. (your suffering is the suffering of the working class, if they did it to you as a worker they would have done it to any other worker.) When you are class conscious, revenge and justice overlap because what makes you fill with rage is exploitation of the Working class.
I think Revenge, Justice, Anger, and Planning can coexist. Say you keep a plan for operations on specific reactionary petite bourgeoisie, or uniformed regime thugs who have done you wrong, with the goal to secure supplies and weapons, and you know they will be counter revolutionaries till their last breath so getting them to that point is a part of the plan.
I totally understand the fear of getting lost in the anger but if you are grounded in class consciousness and looking to the vanguard party you’ll know when the time of rage is over. Chances are you wont even get to indulge in revenge because there are way more angry workers than there are bourgeoisie. The chaos period of revolutions doesn’t last very long. The Russian revolution was a couple weeks of chaos. After that it becomes time to build class consciousness and prepare to resist counter revolution.
This is a class war and when we counter attack we need to blitz and hit as many tactically important points as fast as we can before they know what is going on. If your list of targets is based on their acts against you as a member of the Working Class that is a good enough target. As you go, you will meet people with a similar list of grievances and coordinating with those revenge seekers is how you build a Peoples Army.
So you use rage as a guide for planning. When the conditions are right let your rage drive you to action as it will drive the masses. When you meet others on a similar path it is time to sober up and direct the rage filled mob to strategic ends. Directing the mob by having a good long list of targets (formed while holding rage in check) provides intellectual clout and having performed front line actions (letting your rage loose) give the emotional appeal to increase your position in the mob allowing you to promote Class consciousness and Marxist Thought amongst the mob converting it into a Peoples Army.
“Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder with some interpretation by me in brackets:
The first questions to arise are: how is the discipline of the proletariat’s revolutionary party maintained? How is it tested? How is it reinforced?
First, by the class-consciousness of the proletarian vanguard and by its devotion to the revolution, by its tenacity, self-sacrifice and heroism. (This sounds like a nice way of describing angry MFs with class consciousness.)
Second, by its ability to link up, maintain the closest contact, and—if you wish—merge, in certain measure, with the broadest masses of the working people—primarily with the proletariat, but also with the non-proletarian masses of working people. (appeal to the masses emotionally through actions)
Third, by the correctness of the political leadership exercised by this vanguard, by the correctness of its political strategy and tactics, provided the broad masses have seen, from their own experience, that they are correct. (appeal to them intellectually with good targets that serve the strategic goal of the permanent overthrow of the ruling class)
i would think the way the communists handled emperor puyi is a great example of what you’re looking for. it’s not always feasible to do that, as with tzar nicholas. at the end of the day i think the difference between justice and revenge is that justice centers the best interests of the oppressed, and revenge centers punishment of the oppressor. that’s why i would consider both the treatment of puyi and nicholas “just”. whatever was done, it was done to further the interests of the proletariat and the peasantry, not to enact some secular-calvinist notion of karmic retribution.
Thanks for weighing in, that makes sense to me. And I agree with you and have had similar thoughts about those events in the past, that both are valid responses to conditions because the conditions were not the same, essentially. In the moment, the revolution had to determine what would be most effective for gaining and securing power, and that can produce different outcomes for handling the oppressor, depending. So yeah, well said: focus on what is in the best interests of the oppressed.
I had a dream (literally) that I was talking to someone and saying how the financialization of the US is correlated with the rise in “influencers” who don’t really do anything other than market product and opinions (or words to that effect). As dreams go, it may be one of the most coherent dream thoughts I’ve had and I’m like… “was I onto something??” Like I guess the general idea was this type of influencer role exemplifies the hollowness resulting from financialization.
