Moving towards hard power is simply an objectively wrong move and this is doubly true from the perspective of an American populace that has no interest in joining the military let alone fighting and dying.
A good point and especially within what I hear is a recruiting crisis with no end in sight for the US military.
They are all either crypto-fascists or ignorant comrades
I think it’s important to keep this bit in mind. As insufferable as they can be, they’ve been fed a steady diet of anticommunism since infancy, and may have the right values but the wrong information. Of course others are just crypto-fascists, and that sucks, but if you can find the ignorant comrades, and even just like, plant a seed of doubt in the western narrative, that’s a win.
There’s a podcast called “We’re Not So Different” that has covered many aspects of everyday life for working people in (mostly) medieval Europe. It’s super informal and insightful, both co-hosts are Marxists and one is a history professor. I know they’ve specifically talked about the “peasants had more days off” point, but I can’t remember when. But for anyone who’s interested in getting deeper into the subject (but maybe, like me, sucks at reading) I’d give it a big recommend.
Here’s the Spotify link, but you can probably find it on your preferred platform too: https://open.spotify.com/show/5dd2yPjrJJA48s1QXyENZN