Individualism under capitalism is brutal competition with everyone else within the class. It always will be. There is no separation of selfishness from individualism under capitalism.
I'm not getting this at all from that excerpt, and I don't think it's accurate. I don't see how that excerpt is using "individuals" as any sort of term of art -- with a specific, non-standard definition -- either.
Yes, capitalism forces people into brutal competition. And sure, while engaging in that competition people act selfishly. But that doesn't mean that in modern America individualism and selfishness are synonyms. If you took a poll asking people if they think each word is positive, individualism would score quite a bit higher than selfishness. If you tell someone "you're very individualistic" vs. "you're very selfish" you're going to get a very different reaction. I see no reason to insist on a ~170-year-old definition of individualism (that isn't even clear, if it's a distinct definition at all) when we already have a word that describes the problems capitalism creates on a personal level (selfishness), and when the entire country uses a different, more modern definition of individualism.
The labels don't really matter, after all -- it's the concepts that are important. If someone wants to copy/paste Medicare for All into something called "FreedomCare," I'm not going to fight them on terminology if they have something that'll pass.
But the individualism of capitalist society must be countered in order for community and socialism to rise.
You've mentioned community a few times. Every single community I've ever encountered or even read about has involved individualism, in the sense that it means personal identity. What distinguishes real communities from groups of people who live near one another is how selfish the occupants are, or how willing they are to help one another out.
This is revisionism to justify opportunism because you want to avoid the longer and more difficult task of cutting through the distortions present in a population that has been propagandised against collectivism and in favour of individualism for a century. I understand why you would desperately want to avoid addressing that problem, it's a daunting prospect and the level of obsession with individualism present in the American psyche is terrifying.
The problem however is that if you do not cut through that propagandised population and create collectivisation the result of your revisionist revolution is far more likely to result in fascism, not socialism, and thus it would be better to have not engaged in revolution at all. Attempting to take shortcuts to reach the goal sooner is exceptionally dangerous, especially in the American landscape.
you want to avoid the longer and more difficult task
We don't have time for a longer solution. We're in a climate crisis, a pandemic, and an enormous economic collapse right now. We can't let perfect be the enemy of good.
the result of your revisionist revolution is far more likely to result in fascism, not socialism
I don't see how "selfishness is bad, but go ahead, have your own individual identity while we help each other out" will lead to fascism.
Attempting to take shortcuts to reach the goal
Shortcuts? We don't know what the road to socialism will look like -- existing or past socialist countries got there in different ways, and trying to directly copy/paste the experiences of poor developing nations onto the imperial core is just begging for failure. History and Marxist theory are a useful map, but a map doesn't prepare you for all the potential issues along the way. It gives you some things to watch out for and some good advice, but ultimately you have to get from Point A to Point B on your own. And again, there's nothing in Marxist literature that says even non-selfish personal identities are incompatible with socialism. There's not even a theoretical map telling us not to do that even if you believe such a map can take you step by step to socialism.
I'm not getting this at all from that excerpt, and I don't think it's accurate. I don't see how that excerpt is using "individuals" as any sort of term of art -- with a specific, non-standard definition -- either.
Yes, capitalism forces people into brutal competition. And sure, while engaging in that competition people act selfishly. But that doesn't mean that in modern America individualism and selfishness are synonyms. If you took a poll asking people if they think each word is positive, individualism would score quite a bit higher than selfishness. If you tell someone "you're very individualistic" vs. "you're very selfish" you're going to get a very different reaction. I see no reason to insist on a ~170-year-old definition of individualism (that isn't even clear, if it's a distinct definition at all) when we already have a word that describes the problems capitalism creates on a personal level (selfishness), and when the entire country uses a different, more modern definition of individualism.
The labels don't really matter, after all -- it's the concepts that are important. If someone wants to copy/paste Medicare for All into something called "FreedomCare," I'm not going to fight them on terminology if they have something that'll pass.
You've mentioned community a few times. Every single community I've ever encountered or even read about has involved individualism, in the sense that it means personal identity. What distinguishes real communities from groups of people who live near one another is how selfish the occupants are, or how willing they are to help one another out.
This is revisionism to justify opportunism because you want to avoid the longer and more difficult task of cutting through the distortions present in a population that has been propagandised against collectivism and in favour of individualism for a century. I understand why you would desperately want to avoid addressing that problem, it's a daunting prospect and the level of obsession with individualism present in the American psyche is terrifying.
The problem however is that if you do not cut through that propagandised population and create collectivisation the result of your revisionist revolution is far more likely to result in fascism, not socialism, and thus it would be better to have not engaged in revolution at all. Attempting to take shortcuts to reach the goal sooner is exceptionally dangerous, especially in the American landscape.
We don't have time for a longer solution. We're in a climate crisis, a pandemic, and an enormous economic collapse right now. We can't let perfect be the enemy of good.
I don't see how "selfishness is bad, but go ahead, have your own individual identity while we help each other out" will lead to fascism.
Shortcuts? We don't know what the road to socialism will look like -- existing or past socialist countries got there in different ways, and trying to directly copy/paste the experiences of poor developing nations onto the imperial core is just begging for failure. History and Marxist theory are a useful map, but a map doesn't prepare you for all the potential issues along the way. It gives you some things to watch out for and some good advice, but ultimately you have to get from Point A to Point B on your own. And again, there's nothing in Marxist literature that says even non-selfish personal identities are incompatible with socialism. There's not even a theoretical map telling us not to do that even if you believe such a map can take you step by step to socialism.