Ooh yeah that’s a good point. He’s great. And she’s probably heard less propaganda about him than other theory writers. Thanks!!
It's pretty standard to not like people who executed dissidents, even if those dissidents were enemies of socialism. Tbh convincing someone Stalin was good is pointless; convincing someone the US was the constant aggressor during the Cold War and the USSR (or Communist nations in general) almost always acted out of self defense, sometimes in repressive ways, is more effective
Oh yeah, I didn’t necessarily mean convincing her to like them, moreso as an example of her being anti-tankie like lol. She’s American too so she’s heard probably so much about all those figures too so I get why and all that. Thanks for the idea at the end!!
if you want her to get into your great man fandom, ask her to read some of those books you guys like so much. surely that's most of the appeal?
I’ve recommended her some of my fav readings. I said in another comment just now that my point wasn’t making her like all the men I listed lol, just as an example of where her thoughts are at the moment. Mostly just want to convince her that someone like Bernie and that ideology isn’t a be-all-end-all.
For me a big part was learning history from a left perspective. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein is a good starting point. If she likes podcasts, the Revolutions podcast is currently doing a great series on the Russian revolutions, and The Dollop has several episodes about labor struggles. Edit: Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber is also good
I second The Shock Doctrine as a starting point. I enjoyed how it had examples from all over the world across decades.
for me it’s a two-step process. the first step is fomenting anti-americanism - recognizing that the US is consistently the aggressor and engages constantly in imperialism and coups and sanctions and wars for profit. talk to her about whatever war crime of the week the Biden administration ends up doing in Iran or Venezuela.
the second step is recognizing that establishing a successful socialist project in such a hostile environment necessarily requires a workers state that oppresses the bourgeoisie.
i’d recommend Blackshirts and Reds or Parenti’s yellow video as easily digestible theory that drills those two key points
one last thing, i think the “class reductionism” you mentioned is arguably just as big of a problem. like a lot of people, she seems to have internalized a lot of racist US propaganda, about other countries and her own. help her address that too or she’s not a fucking comrade
Thank you, these are all great ideas!!
As for the last part, it sucks too cause she's not White, but still is leaning towards the idea that class always overrides other things like race, sexuality, gender, etc or that people overrely on identifying with those other labels. It's something that I have found hard to debate with her cause to me it seems so innate that those things do matter, but it makes it hard to word why I think that way when it's just cause it's what... makes sense to me.
They're intertwined. Assuming you're American, our race relations are part and parcel interlocked with race - white settlers slaughtered indigenous because it let the settlers become petty-bourgeois landowners, and suppressed black people because it meant they didn't have to be capitalism's biggest losers. But one must remember that the superstructure also feeds the base - if we transition into socialism without addressing these issues, they will reemerge there and we will fail because we will create a racial underclass again.
She might just need exposure to the ideas. I was an anti-communist “socialist” for a while, just hadn’t learned enough. Hakim is good.
I don't think I've heard of Hakim before, is that like a Youtuber or writer?
ComradeLenin
Lmao I love it. Thanks I'll check him out and share some with her!
She doesn't anymore but she used to yeah. No clue how she even heard about it.
Read about new caledonia or belgian congo (I mean modern, Patrice Lumumba shit, glencore shadiness and so on) or france/africa relationship in general, with simple underlying thought: who is materially benefitting from this shit.
For communist leaders, starting with Castro’s Cuba is a good move. Cuba is just a nice place to live, and has managed to stay nice despite US sanctions crushing the economy.
Red pill her on that, and soon the dominos will start to fall...
Ironically that's the one she dislikes the most from what I can tell. I think she's talked to a lot of gusano types before in her life. But I'm trying my best too cause Cuba is one of the first dominos of mine too
I had good result with not arguing whether Stalin is bad or good and such, but to talk about how real existing history looks like.
Show how states work, how the US tortures and bombs, how Indonesia killed tens of thousands or even hundred of thousands of communists, how hundred thousands of people were murdered by the capitalist-nationalist side in Vietnam.
Then talk isn't about tankieness, but historical reality. From there on one can argue about how capitalists always try to crush rebellions, e.g. Haiti and how France, UK, Netherlands, etc. tried to crush the revolution in Haiti.
How after 1917 the Germans, French, UK, etc. tried to crush the Soviets and how a lot of decisions are made with incomplete information and out of material reasons.
The Covid pandemic shows how capitalist nations suck at acting rational (if you think their rationality is securing the people's health). This can be compared.
At last show that one of the best socialist rulers Sankara was murdered cause he wasn't Tankie enough.
