You've got to take baby steps if you want to move people left. I try to argue for communization of the mop ala Venezuela, prison abolition, deliberate attempts to limit violence, the importance of dreaming grand dreams, of acting for today, for prefiguration. If they want to hold on to China as something to believe in, let them.
Yeah I have no real issue with China in general. I originally commented in here to make the point that it's 100% legitimate to be a genuine Marxist scholar who takes serious issue with major AES examples, and frankly, most of them in the 20th century did.
There's a tendency in newish (meaning within the past decade or so, basically after the left went dormant) to rally behind mythical figures and narratives, whether it be Marx himself, or countries like China. They cling to them as the position from which they fight their battles to the right.
But the 20th century WAS rich with people who viewed Marx's political project not as Foundation style psychohistory, but as another step in a political and philosophical tradition, and one which we need to mold to our conditions. Part of that meant, for them, accepting the truth when revolutions did not produce the kind of society they wished for. This was a REALLY hard step for Sartre in particular, and it cost him his friendship with Camus.
As we all know, the second you press the communism button all capitalists cease to exist and stop doing porky activities instantaneously.
Given the original revolution + a cultural revolution booster shot + nearly century, "the second" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
Im recovering from surgery and don't have the energy to argue with liberals about dengism today so im checking out of this thread
bye
You've got to take baby steps if you want to move people left. I try to argue for communization of the mop ala Venezuela, prison abolition, deliberate attempts to limit violence, the importance of dreaming grand dreams, of acting for today, for prefiguration. If they want to hold on to China as something to believe in, let them.
Yeah I have no real issue with China in general. I originally commented in here to make the point that it's 100% legitimate to be a genuine Marxist scholar who takes serious issue with major AES examples, and frankly, most of them in the 20th century did.
There's a tendency in newish (meaning within the past decade or so, basically after the left went dormant) to rally behind mythical figures and narratives, whether it be Marx himself, or countries like China. They cling to them as the position from which they fight their battles to the right.
But the 20th century WAS rich with people who viewed Marx's political project not as Foundation style psychohistory, but as another step in a political and philosophical tradition, and one which we need to mold to our conditions. Part of that meant, for them, accepting the truth when revolutions did not produce the kind of society they wished for. This was a REALLY hard step for Sartre in particular, and it cost him his friendship with Camus.