What can we do to change this? I don't think chapo.chat will ever be huge, but it would be nice for it to be consistently active.

  • FUCKTHEPAINTUP [any]
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    4 years ago

    If you start listening to Lenin maybe other people will listen to you about materialism

    Socialists have much higher standards for invoking the “materialist argument” - insisting that you can solve a new problem without modifying the old solution isn’t a consistent position and isn’t socialist

    • Mardoniush [she/her]
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      4 years ago

      No one is saying tone down Lenin. We're saying file the serial numbers off. There's a hostile superstructure and yes openly confronting it is important. But in terms of recruitment we need to get people on board with material substance without associating that substance immediatelt with uncritical support of someone who's been demonised by 100 years of propaganda.

      It's not Communism. It's "economic democracy"

      It's not revolutionary politics. It's "direct action"

      Once they're on board with the basics, you make them look at Cuba and Vietnam, and then slide them into how the USSR was good.

      Like, there's a reason it's easier to radicalise with Bread Book than State and Revolution, even if I think the latter is more useful overall.

      • FUCKTHEPAINTUP [any]
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        4 years ago

        Yes, perfect!

        But let’s be honest: those people are much more mad at Comrade Stalin, revolutionary tyrant, than they are Comrade Lenin, revolutionary founder.

        That’s why I was surprised at “Lenin”. Yes. Absolutely re-aestheticize socialism. The USSR is not appealing thanks to propaganda, there’s too much history to explain, and we don’t have the time. It’s not suitable imagery for mass work just yet