my lib friend condemns existing socialist states because of their state repression of counter-revolutionaries:
he complains about the lack of civil liberties. when I pressed him on whether the emancipation of the poor is more important, he said that he refuses to compromise on giving everyone full civil liberties and due process.
I personally think civil liberties are good, but are a secondary concern to emancipating the poor. and due process can be implemented in time, I'm not against it. Finally, fascists do not deserve civil liberties and I fully condone repression against them.
Civil liberties are worth no more than the paper they're written on. These motherfuckers snap their fingers, deem an assembly "unlawful," and beat the shit out of the public all the time.
Civil liberties mean nothing unless you make enough money to keep a lawyer's family fed and their dock fees paid. And at that point, you're really only exercising the power inherent in wealth itself. You only win when you have enough resources at your disposal to make prosecution prohibitively burdensome. The civil liberties schtick is just window dressing.