My two cents on how to achieve left unity:

Anarchists: Stop using the word tankie. It pushes your fellow leftists away and pisses them off. Instead make specific criticisms of communist countries. ESPECIALLY stop calling MLs “red fash”. There is already enough misinformation going around about fascism.

Marxist-Leninists: Embrace critical support. Be willing to criticize and accept criticism of nations like China, the Soviet Union, and especially North Korea. Remember that being against US imperialism is not the only thing that makes a country good.

    • Baader [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      But if leftists know it's being done and that it works, how can leftist be willing to push it? I became more and more of a tankie, the more I read. All while seeing all these gotcha posts on rcompleteanarchy with the uhygur train prisoners.

      Whenever I argue for China I start with: there is no perfect government. There probably never will be. But what China /USSR accomplished, based on their material conditions, are/we're great.

      When a leftist doesn't want to see that, fine. But please, don't criticize from your Trevor Noah libbrain pov.

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
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        4 years ago

        Anarchists, especially Western ones, are incredibly idealist. They always approach criticism from the lense of "how things should be" instead of "how they were then, and how they are now". Socialism is a process and you can't just dissolve a state because some people think it should be dissolved. You need to apply a huge amount of organized violence to the state for it to be crushed or even just taken over.

        • constantly_dabbing [none/use name]
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          4 years ago

          noooooo!!!!!! you can't just dissolve a state because some people think it should be dissolved!

          You need to apply a huge amount of organized violence to the state for it to be crushed or even just taken over

          lmao whose the idealist one now? Everyone knows the point of communism is to organize the working class so that when capitalism's acceleration of its crises reaches a breaking point, the people can take the reins.

          • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
            ·
            4 years ago

            You seem to have missed the part about material analysis and a look at the past and present. Show me a revolution that succeed without applying violence to the state.