communism will not be a thing until the maintenance automation problem is solved
So long as the technology frontier continues to advance, it will never be solved. But communism isn't a workless society, it's prefaced on a classless society. In that sense, what really matters is the political control of capital. Is capital democratized or is it under the thumb of an oligarchy?
As we advance our understanding and implementation of security technology, the latter becomes more and more easy to realize. By contrast, a security state is difficult to democratize, as there are an increasing number of choke points through which any opportunistic individual can disenfranchise folks on the wrong side of the gate. Once you give someone a push-button system for maintaining food or potable water or traffic, it becomes that much easier to collect rents in exchange for access and deny service to your political opponents. That's not even considering a push-button flying army of kill-bots.
and yes, automation will necessarily create terrible living conditions, but that in itself will make a socialist society more likely, or at least a society in which the capitalist class is more managed.
Concentration camps and refugee camps are about as miserable a state of living as you can create. And yet, these are not historically places from which socialist resistance movements emerge. The tighter the security, the less capable people are to resist. Just look at Palestine (or neighboring Jordan and Egypt, for that matter). Incredibly tight security allows for more and more deplorable standards of living. And if you want to see the relative success of an insurgency, consider Yemen. Not exactly on the path to glorious revolution, given the struggles they continue to have with even an incompetently implemented first generation military.
i mean i already pointed these options out. eventually they will run out of opponents with such a large security apparatus, and then there will be de facto no classes, just in the bloodiest way imaginable.
the movements in the middle east are pretty complex, a lot of them did used to be socialist or left adjacent but some of it was due to material backing from socialist countries. their material conditions have changed since then and that changes the character of the movements.
eventually they will run out of opponents with such a large security apparatus
You'll always have a younger generation of people to extract labor-value from, and that younger generation will always begin as dissatisfied with their lot. This is the "Perpetual Revolution" leftists say they pine for. But, in truth, it is simply a cycle through which the bourgeoise children inherit and improve the security apparatuses of their parents.
Look to France for this cycle on full display. The people are always rebelling and the Bourbons are always coming back in again to quell and subjugate their lessers.
the movements in the middle east are pretty complex, a lot of them did used to be socialist or left adjacent but some of it was due to material backing from socialist countries.
The Middle East is a... ahem land of contrasts. And while they're certainly not unfamiliar with socialist or leftist revolts, they also play host to significantly sized counter-revolutionary institutions and enclaves, from which the next generation of security state enforcement is sourced.
So long as the technology frontier continues to advance, it will never be solved. But communism isn't a workless society, it's prefaced on a classless society. In that sense, what really matters is the political control of capital. Is capital democratized or is it under the thumb of an oligarchy?
As we advance our understanding and implementation of security technology, the latter becomes more and more easy to realize. By contrast, a security state is difficult to democratize, as there are an increasing number of choke points through which any opportunistic individual can disenfranchise folks on the wrong side of the gate. Once you give someone a push-button system for maintaining food or potable water or traffic, it becomes that much easier to collect rents in exchange for access and deny service to your political opponents. That's not even considering a push-button flying army of kill-bots.
Concentration camps and refugee camps are about as miserable a state of living as you can create. And yet, these are not historically places from which socialist resistance movements emerge. The tighter the security, the less capable people are to resist. Just look at Palestine (or neighboring Jordan and Egypt, for that matter). Incredibly tight security allows for more and more deplorable standards of living. And if you want to see the relative success of an insurgency, consider Yemen. Not exactly on the path to glorious revolution, given the struggles they continue to have with even an incompetently implemented first generation military.
i mean i already pointed these options out. eventually they will run out of opponents with such a large security apparatus, and then there will be de facto no classes, just in the bloodiest way imaginable.
the movements in the middle east are pretty complex, a lot of them did used to be socialist or left adjacent but some of it was due to material backing from socialist countries. their material conditions have changed since then and that changes the character of the movements.
id have a longer convo about this but gotta jet
You'll always have a younger generation of people to extract labor-value from, and that younger generation will always begin as dissatisfied with their lot. This is the "Perpetual Revolution" leftists say they pine for. But, in truth, it is simply a cycle through which the bourgeoise children inherit and improve the security apparatuses of their parents.
Look to France for this cycle on full display. The people are always rebelling and the Bourbons are always coming back in again to quell and subjugate their lessers.
The Middle East is a... ahem land of contrasts. And while they're certainly not unfamiliar with socialist or leftist revolts, they also play host to significantly sized counter-revolutionary institutions and enclaves, from which the next generation of security state enforcement is sourced.
Adios.