https://twitter.com/eshaLegal/status/1620522264835002368

"stalin this stalin that" the guy died in the 50s while their favorite "socialist" country is a white cracker country that exploits the global south and does eugenics.

  • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I'll often see these same western leftists bring up Cuba as a defense of socialism, which seems to make them stumble less often. Cuba's a very clear case of socialism defending itself against external hegemony.

    I'd like to see that more often. Seems like even the most confused leftists aren't so harsh on Cuba, but that could be the lack of propaganda talking. The usual enemies are Stalin, China, DPRK. Cuba's not a threat to anyone.

    Although what I'd really prefer is western leftists to focus on local issues that impact working class people. Talking about other countries (outside the context of American imperialism) and historical figures from 70 years ago just doesn't do it. There's enough capitalism here at home to fight against, we don't need to relitigate revolutions that happened thousands of miles away.

    • RamrodBaguette [comrade/them, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I’ll often see these same western leftists bring up Cuba as a defense of socialism, which seems to make them stumble less often. Cuba’s a very clear case of socialism defending itself against external hegemony.

      It's also a case of how strong American propaganda is, despite the obvious truth just south of them. Sure, most leftists might be at least ambivalent on Cuba, but you will always have the Gusano Defense brigade talking about what an evil dictatorship it is and every political talking head center and right nodding their heads. Even "progressive" Liberals who are against America's blatant imperialism accept the premise that it's a dictatorship.

    • Dolores [love/loves]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Seems like even the most confused leftists aren’t so harsh on Cuba

      i seriously think this is in no small part due to fidel being cool & on TV. like young stalin has a bit of cool cred but he was actually mostly a nerd/bureaucrat after becoming important. fidel? exuded cool, never stopped being cool, and got loads of free cool from yankee writers wanting to use him as a cool character. also he visited the US & spoke a bitta english (nevermind spanish being the second language of the US)

      this is why i advocate for a cult of personality but NOT foisted on the most diligent or important members of the government----it must be the coolest :fidel-cool:

  • Alaskaball [comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    If you don't think Stalin would've made a great sexy librarian with a thicc dumpy that can seduce you by educating you in another life, then you haven't read enough on Stalin to formulate an accurate opinion

  • Abraxiel
    ·
    2 years ago

    I never take anything Esha says at face value. She's entirely too motivated to caricature her opponents to care about anything else than the spiciest rhetoric. It takes more than a few steps to go from "I don't know enough yet to really argue with people about it" to "explicitly arguing a hitlerian point" on your podcast. The podcast, for its part, has never discussed Stalin at any length. Probably the most significant thing the podcast has is a long series discussing each part of State and Revolution with digressions to discuss the Paris Commune and revolution of 1848. I'm not even particularly a fan of the podcast or Jamie, but this is just a gross exaggeration.

    • stinky [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      You say Esha is bad, others say she is good.

      I don’t know what to think.

      • Abraxiel
        ·
        2 years ago

        I didn't say she's bad, she just has a sustained tendency to get into kind of ridiculous fights. I like when she posts excerpts from texts and primary sources, because I can actually read those myself.

          • Abraxiel
            ·
            2 years ago

            I don't keep up with him, so maybe?

            • stinky [any]
              ·
              2 years ago

              His videos are also well researched and stuff, but he is also an insufferable person who constantly gets into needless shitfights online.

      • PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Esha isn't malicious, but she suffers from that syndrome people get when being genuinely correct most of the time transitions into combating people at the slightest difference of opinion.

  • HoChiMaxh [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    IDK saying "I think so but I haven't learned enough to say for sure" isn't a "Hitlerian" position, it's not really a position at all. Maybe give a comrade some room to breathe - we'd all be better off being comfortable saying we don't know enough about something to stake out a position.

    • cricbuzz [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      That's fair, but I think the point being made here is if you're going to have a podcast talking about the positive aspects of communism, you should have a better understanding of Stalin and his positive influences on the movement.

      You're right though in pointing out that many of us are also on journeys of understanding and I'm glad you bring it up

  • mittens [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    i dunno, i'm willing to concede some space to someone who is clearly saying they're not informed enough to have a strong opinion on the matter before questioning their commie credentials, even if they have "big theory" on their username and does podcasts.

      • mittens [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        can't stop you, really.

        admittedly i did hesitate to make the point because, indeed, she's supposedly educating others on left theory, but then i realized that podcasts are not taken super seriously as a medium to communicate theory on left spaces, i mean everyone annoys each other by asking to read books, i don't even know how to click one.

  • Bnova [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Yeah, defeating fascism is real monstrous.

  • MolotovHalfEmpty [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I couldn't give less of a shit about podcasters sniping at each other on twitter, but anyone who uses the term 'Hitlerian' over some milqtoast social media post needs to shut the fuck up and sit down.

  • HornyOnMain
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    I listened to one episode of that like two days ago because they were doing a reading snd analysis of a mark fisher essay (mark fisher has recently become a love/hate obsession of mine since I finished capitalist realism), it seems pretty ok. They’ve done a series about reading State and Revolution but one of the members is in DSA so :shrug-outta-hecks: . I’d say it’s probably more good than it is bad

    • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah, I'm not too attached to them having the "correct" opinion of a Soviet leader who died before my parents were born.

      • RamrodBaguette [comrade/them, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Frankly, I find Trots and LeftComs, who at least agree Lenin and the pre-Stalin USSR were cool and good, preferable to radlibs who denounce "Soviet-style socialism".

        • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I think Jamie and antifada Sean would fit in that the former here, but it's been a while since I've listened to anything either has said. Not that I find them particularly bad, there's just a lot of slop out there and I got shit to do.

      • Catradora__Stalinism [comrade/them,she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I think its really about the theory involved. If you denounce Stalin, you're trying to also denounce all of Marxism Leninism, its people, and its projects. There is critique, and then there is just throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

    • Ziege_Bock [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      (mark fisher has recently become a love/hate obsession of mine since I finished capitalist realism)

      Do you know about Trash Future? they're weird and English, but one of them used to do book club episodes. this one is an examination and commentary on Mark Fisher and "K-Punk", a book of some of Fisher's unfinished works.

  • StellarTabi [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    a very Hitlerian point

    I seem to remember Hitler hating Stalin, (correct me if I'm wrong), so wouldn't defending Stalin be the opposite of "Hitlerian"?

    • SaniFlush [any, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Something something something Molotov-Ribentropp, something something something worst possible misinterpretation