Ask Lemmygrad

Don't wanna wade through thousands of disclaimers about how "cultural revolution was actually bad", just want a dissection or discussion over that particular part of it as I haven't found much on my usual reading.

К счастью, мне и моим друзьям удалось сбежать до начала войны, но со всеми этими антигеевскими и транс законами, которые действуют сейчас, мы все боимся возвращаться, даже если бои прекратятся. Мы хотели бы увидеть свои семьи, но никто не хочет рисковать и сесть в тюрьму — единственные друзья, которые у нас остались дома, снова затаились, и это кажется ужасным способом жить. Какой у тебя план? Спасибо 🙏

Hello comrades, anyone have any good podcast/book/resources on the history of nazism in Ukraine?

Is the pro-China M-L position that the CPC leadership is merely an independent vanguard class benevolently working for the good of the proletariat to transition the state to a socialist mode of production, or is it that the CPC themselves form a dictatorship of the proletariat?

• If the former, what material motivation does the CPC have to side with the proletariat when classes come into conflict? Does their socialist movement ultimately just hinge on the good will of those selected by the party to lead the party? Is this system simply benevolent class collaboration with a disempowered bourgeoisie, thus distinguishing it from past class collaboration failures?

• Otherwise, if the latter, what makes the CPC's dictatorship 'of the proletariat'?

  • Does this imply the CPC must be a democratic organization? In most provinces, direct voting by the masses exists only at the local level, but only between candidates pre-approved by the CPC. The proletariat is therefore not in control of these local candidates, and therefore not in control of the subsequent levels of elections. Surely, this would make it as much of a democracy of the proletariat as a liberal democracy is.
  • What power does the proletariat itself hold over the party's rule? If the proletariat truly does not approve of their representation, do they have the power to reject it?

The results speak for themselves, but is the PRC at this point in time ultimately a victory over capitalism, without the proletarian dictatorship that Marx assumed necessary, instead forming a stable non-bourgeois state?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/26888238

Did lemmygrad defederate or something? Missing my hexbear camrades

In the West communist parties are tiny compared to the rest of the population and have been antagonized for almost a century.

I literally don’t know one American irl that knows what communism and socialism actually are and all of them just think that both of those are bad

Kind of like this

https://www.vxtiktok.com/t/ZT2C7LsHj/

I am not so sure that westerners will listen to communist even when they are doing a Revolution. I think that probably a París Commune 2.0 will happen.

Hey I remember seeing something about how the CPC had specific goals to reach by 2050 but I can't find anything about it.

I promise I'm not a wrecker, I just have trouble finding Marxist sources for these things that aren't big books on top of what I'm already reading. I think I understand that it says the exchange value of a product is proportionate to the labor time used to create it. Am I getting that correct? More labor-intensive commodities, or products requiring more specialized tools to make would cost more. And I know I've heard the criticism before. Heard it pretty much all my life. "Is a cookie still worth its labor if it's burnt? Is a pie worth the labor if it's a shit pie?" I have heard people say that Marx addresses such criticisms in Capital, but I haven't gotten around to those tomes yet. Could someone explain to me how they are addressed and maybe straighten out other things I may have gotten wrong?

Living in the States has me genuinely frightened. I'm not so naive as to suppose it's not always been rough, but it's clear we've entered a qualitatively different era. The moderate wing of fascism has died, and barbarism is all that remains.

I want to fight back in a substantive way, even if it's small. I want to participate in institutions which protect the vulnerable, myself included. I don't want to lock my doors and peek out the windows, but I know better than to engage in adventurist, individual "resistance." I also don't want to be in a social club where we sit and congratulate each other on having the right opinions. I'm past wanting to be on the "right side of history," where I content myself with personally disagreeing with the nightmare we live in. Something needs to be done; the window for taking action is swinging shut.

I have almost no experience in organizing. I've attended a handful of protests which mostly felt like a venting of frustrations for everyone there. I've associated with a few comrades who had good intentions, but never accomplished much. That's about it.

How do I actually go about being a part of something effective?

I often find non-marxist political science frustrating in ways I can't describe. It always seems focuses on the wrong things yet I don't have the foundation to even begin to critique it.

So far it seems it really didn't have the much of an impact, does anyone know?

So, to start, a lot of HS students with aspirations of going to a university of some sort have to spend a decent amount of their last year or 2 trying to court different colleges for scholarships (most of which are colleges you’ve never heard of offering like $400 off or something) and free ride scholarships are (and this is admittedly anecdotal) unheard of in my area (suburb near major city). Should more socialist minded youth without the means to go to college find jobs? I don’t say this out of an anti-education perspective or some sort of belief that colleges are too liberal of institutions or anything, if it was free for families to send their children to school, I’d be all for it. What do yall think? And feel free to give me book suggestions or quotes from Leftists if you have any that may apply to this, specifically on the topic of the US where college costs more annually on average than any other nation.

Back in the day there were big infrastructure projects, the interstate highway system, nuclear fission reactors, USA was once a leader in rail, but now it seems USA can't build any infrastructure at all, HDI is lowering, life expectancy is not as high as most other OECD countries. Anyone know what happened to cause this?

Khrushchev, Beria, Yezhov, etc. It really feels like they didn't do much quality control, if at all. I know Stalin was, contrary to popular belief, quite trusting. Especially in regards to Bukharin and the likes. But it's not like he had the power to really kill anyone he wanted, again contrary to popular belief, even if he wanted to (at least any politburo members), so his personal views of his colleagues don't matter.

Hello everyone, I know this topic is a bit heavy and more recent in our memories but I'm having some trouble actually finding decent resources about what is actually going on and most sources I could find expect you to have some knowledge on the subject already. I've heard contradictory things and there is a lot of disinformation out there so now I will just ask directly. What happened? How did we get here?

Videos and books are also welcome!

Hey I'm a USA citizen right now and am worried that I'm going to be deported, so I'm wondering if I can study in another country? Does anyone know? Thank you