I know the situation is dire, but we mustn't fall into doomerism. We need to use these dire times to build ourselves up, to get more informed and more class conscious, to become better Marxists, to help each other and our communities, and to propagate our ideals and grow our movements. Think of all the work done by socialists in the 20 years leading up to the Russian revolution, without it, there wouldn't have been an October revolution.
The fear is that we aren't in a pre-soviet Russian era in the west, but instead a pre-nazi German one and not 20 years out from the "big event" either (rise of Bolsheviks /rise of fascist power respectively).
It would be nice to think we are in the position of those early socialists in Russia. But it's hard not to have that doubt, that we are closer to the position of the German socialists who were too late and/or too disorganized and powerless.
I choose to believe that we are somewhere in the middle. We don't have time to dally, and even if we do the work we may not have time to get where we would like to be before the situation changes and demands more action, but we aren't hopeless either.
It would be nice to think we are in the position of those early socialists in Russia
Would it, though? Tsarism was very harsh against socialists. Pioneer socialists like Babushka Breshko-Breshkovskaya spent decades in exile or prison, and most Bolshevik leaders were in exile for the most part too. Maybe we'll see similar things in the near future with the rise of the far right, but fortunately we're not there yet.
In fact, we're seeing the stagnation of the capitalist west, and the boom of (arguably) communist China. This is not to say that I wholeheartedly believe that China will bring forth communist revolutions all over the place, but at least I wouldn't think they'd be as bad as the US or as Western Europe. The material conditions for the past 30 years have been really bad for the growth of communism, as we've seen by the lack of growth of most communist movements. Maybe we should be more optimistic about the following 20-30 years, the world is going to change a lot thanks to the loss of hegemony of the west, and that brings great possibilities for us commies in my opinion
As opposed to the other more pessimistic option of pre-nazi Germany? Absolutely. The first victims of the Holocaust were communists and socialists.
Tsarism was very harsh against socialists.
Maybe we'll see similar things in the near future with the rise of the far right, but fortunately we're not there yet.
I can only speak as an American because I don't know the specifics of other countries (though I would imagine it's decently similar for most western countries), but we already had early socialist movements and leaders who were arrested/ assassinated.
The reason we don't currently have socialists being arrested (outside of standard arrest for direct protest/disruption obviously) and killed is purely because we don't have socialists with enough power to make it worth it to target them, not because of some principled stance which places us in a better context than the past.
We will see these harsh oppressions with the rise of the left, the right already has the power and just needs something to react to. it's important to recognize this imo.
In fact, we're seeing the stagnation of the capitalist west, and the boom of (arguably) communist China.
Yes, this is why I specified in the west. Fascism is capitalism in decay, western capitalism is decaying, therefore it's easy to believe we are closer to facsism and potentially a death cry (desperately initiating a WW3) in the west than many are willing to recognize.
Obviously it's great that China is in such a position of power for the global south, but they aren't gonna start exporting revolution to the west any time soon.
the world is going to change a lot thanks to the loss of hegemony of the west, and that brings great possibilities for us commies in my opinion
I agree that the global change with be great for the international communist movement. Just as the time period around WW2 was ripe for revolution.
The Soviets building strength and beating the Nazis didn't change history and bring the KPD and all its members back.
But it's equally important to remember, the KPD didn't stop fighting due to pessimistic fear either.
We don't need a radical optimism or to be filled with pessimism imo. We just need to recognize the reality of the situationand what needs to be done. Then take the proper precautions and be willing to do it, despite whatever we believe the outcome may be, because it needs to be done.
I know the situation is dire, but we mustn't fall into doomerism. We need to use these dire times to build ourselves up, to get more informed and more class conscious, to become better Marxists, to help each other and our communities, and to propagate our ideals and grow our movements. Think of all the work done by socialists in the 20 years leading up to the Russian revolution, without it, there wouldn't have been an October revolution.
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The fear is that we aren't in a pre-soviet Russian era in the west, but instead a pre-nazi German one and not 20 years out from the "big event" either (rise of Bolsheviks /rise of fascist power respectively).
It would be nice to think we are in the position of those early socialists in Russia. But it's hard not to have that doubt, that we are closer to the position of the German socialists who were too late and/or too disorganized and powerless.
I choose to believe that we are somewhere in the middle. We don't have time to dally, and even if we do the work we may not have time to get where we would like to be before the situation changes and demands more action, but we aren't hopeless either.
Would it, though? Tsarism was very harsh against socialists. Pioneer socialists like Babushka Breshko-Breshkovskaya spent decades in exile or prison, and most Bolshevik leaders were in exile for the most part too. Maybe we'll see similar things in the near future with the rise of the far right, but fortunately we're not there yet.
In fact, we're seeing the stagnation of the capitalist west, and the boom of (arguably) communist China. This is not to say that I wholeheartedly believe that China will bring forth communist revolutions all over the place, but at least I wouldn't think they'd be as bad as the US or as Western Europe. The material conditions for the past 30 years have been really bad for the growth of communism, as we've seen by the lack of growth of most communist movements. Maybe we should be more optimistic about the following 20-30 years, the world is going to change a lot thanks to the loss of hegemony of the west, and that brings great possibilities for us commies in my opinion
As opposed to the other more pessimistic option of pre-nazi Germany? Absolutely. The first victims of the Holocaust were communists and socialists.
I can only speak as an American because I don't know the specifics of other countries (though I would imagine it's decently similar for most western countries), but we already had early socialist movements and leaders who were arrested/ assassinated.
The reason we don't currently have socialists being arrested (outside of standard arrest for direct protest/disruption obviously) and killed is purely because we don't have socialists with enough power to make it worth it to target them, not because of some principled stance which places us in a better context than the past.
We will see these harsh oppressions with the rise of the left, the right already has the power and just needs something to react to. it's important to recognize this imo.
Yes, this is why I specified in the west. Fascism is capitalism in decay, western capitalism is decaying, therefore it's easy to believe we are closer to facsism and potentially a death cry (desperately initiating a WW3) in the west than many are willing to recognize.
Obviously it's great that China is in such a position of power for the global south, but they aren't gonna start exporting revolution to the west any time soon.
I agree that the global change with be great for the international communist movement. Just as the time period around WW2 was ripe for revolution.
The Soviets building strength and beating the Nazis didn't change history and bring the KPD and all its members back.
But it's equally important to remember, the KPD didn't stop fighting due to pessimistic fear either.
We don't need a radical optimism or to be filled with pessimism imo. We just need to recognize the reality of the situationand what needs to be done. Then take the proper precautions and be willing to do it, despite whatever we believe the outcome may be, because it needs to be done.