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.
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.
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.
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:
Big Theory Goth Gf
Not applying theory
:josus-stalin:
um actually expertise is stalinist-tankiest authoritarianism and that's wrong :very-smart:
I don't understand the need to post about everything, if you aren't sure just don't comment?
Good point. People who act in that way get auto selected as more popular (and more significant) than those who don't.
f you aren’t sure just don’t comment?
That's why you never see me in struggle sessions :blob-no-thoughts:
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
Okay that does it, fuck all self doubt,I am more than qualified to have a podcast
the more qualified you are to have a podcast the less you should
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.
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.
His videos are also well researched and stuff, but he is also an insufferable person who constantly gets into needless shitfights online.
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.
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.
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
because scandinavia gets rich off the developing world like the rest of us. they're just less stupid about how they distribute that wealth.
and less obvious in their extractive practices. No need to go around guns blazing when you have Uncle Sam for that. Being a stable shipping partner has always been the raison d'etre of Scandinavia, and who cares if you participate in the triangle trade that was the economic underpinnings of the trans-atlantic slave trade , sell guns to Nazis and other anti-communist fascists around the world , held sugar plantations that we then SOLD to the US, not freed, just sold off like a bad investment.
look are they against brutal imperialism or are they not anti west
They are idealists about political freedoms as well as the power of ideas/agency of individuals, therefore they believe restriction of political enemies and foreign influence is a moral admission of failure and malice, as well as an indicator of illegitimacy.
Also racist a good bit of the time too.
You could make a lot of deep theoretical points about it, but for me its very simple. Cuba is poor and poverty is shameful for libs and many baby leftists, therefore Cuba is invalid and bad.
They want a world where people can be rich, they don't want to be seen as embracing poverty. Supporting Cuba means "supporting" poverty. It goes against their entire world view.
Scandinavia is rich, therefore there is no shame in supporting them even when some of their values goes straight up against American values.
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.
Maybe they don’t considered it a socialist state and thus don’t think it too important to spend time on it?
Yeah. Jamie (afaik) identified as an anarchist when she was on MR and her podcast, Antifada also had a left-com on it. I don’t listen to it or this pod, but it’s quite possible they don’t think USSR was socialist at all.
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.
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.
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
Yeah, I'm not too attached to them having the "correct" opinion of a Soviet leader who died before my parents were born.
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".
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.
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.
(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.
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"?
like I vaguely remember they had a border skirmish or something idk
Something something something Molotov-Ribentropp, something something something worst possible misinterpretation
