Linked the thread because the comments deserve to be dunked on.
A lot of the same people (wrongly) claiming Corbyn was going to do a purge any minute are of course strongly backing this.
Linked the thread because the comments deserve to be dunked on.
A lot of the same people (wrongly) claiming Corbyn was going to do a purge any minute are of course strongly backing this.
yep
you would think we would have learned by now
The downfall of Indonesian communist is definitely something more lefties should learn about, it was basically a solid proof that trying to play with the system when that system also hosts reactionaries is absolutely foolish.
Even after the multiple CIA backed rebellions, the PKI keeps trying to work their goal through the political system, all of their strength wasted on supporting Soekarno, and their supposed revolutionary action like smuggling weapons from China turns out to be just Orba propaganda.
When leftist orgs are in a position of enough strength to start an armed struggle, they should pick that choice every time. Like some sort of a prisoner's dilemma, in which the other choice always results in White Terror.
One should watch "The Act of Killing", which goes into the 1965-66 purge of suspected "communists", resulting in a million deaths. Even though Suharto is gone and Indonesia is now a "democracy", the legacy of the killings is still strong, the perpetrators are celebrated as heroes and the country is pretty right on the Overton window. It was sobering and definitely made me reexamine my own thoughts on "Authoritarianism". The enemy won't give a damn if you play by their rules.
On a side note, look up Iran's Tudeh, which has a history of casting their lot through electoralism/aligning with reactionaries and getting screwed over twice respectively (in 1953 and throughout the 80s). China is one of the rare exceptions where the Communist Party was able to bounce back after getting stabbed in the back by liberals and reactionaries.
This isn't to say Leftists shouldn't form united fronts with non-Leftists when its practical to do so, mind you.