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Because gun control can not stop the pervasive rot of American society. Because the attacker could have used a god damn spear for all that it mattered when the cops sit outside for 40 minutes, the bunch of parasites. Because under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary. Gun ownership and training should be essential for every communist in my eyes, conditions permitting. I own a firearm and commit to that idea. And none of that adventurist nonsense, this isnt Hollywood or a LARP event. |
Also Jehol, I wanted to thank you for the question to engage regional discussion, this is one of those topics I feel passionately about. We can not let the right wing or the bourgeoisie state have a monopoly on arms or the ability to use them. Libertasnia and Jehol |
I think a couple different topics often get mixed together when discussing this in Anglophone leftist spaces. People are at the same time discussing guns in the context of existing bourgeois states, revolutionary scenarios, and to a lesser extent in current or hypothetical socialist states. Many here are likely already familiar with Reagan's Mulford Act which was unambiguously a response to the Black Panther Party. It should be clear that even in the absence of militancy on the part of oppressed nations and leftists any future gun control laws will not be enforced equally and functionally will be just another feather in the cap of law enforcement looking to further criminalize dissent. If one can acknowledge the basic reality that police in the US are institutionally racist, advocating any sort of comprehensive gun control is necessarily a Faustian bargain and one that looks increasingly unlikely to resolve the issues at hand when considering deeper factors contributing to the sick, violent society of the US - namely the nature of the polity itself. When speaking of revolutionary scenarios I often see comrades reference Marx's quote on the topic, which Comradeland has paraphrased here already. I by no means intend to present revolution as a simple meeting of military force, but frankly the small arms relevant to discussions on civilian ownership are not what we should be primarily focused on in this context. While enabling wider access to and training with guns has obvious benefits in this light, it has to be said that revolution will never be legal. As the Mulford Act demonstrates, protests that get the state scared are enough for banning of guns and other weapons to start; serious revolutionaries need to prepare for this to be organized at a level where it doesn't impact much. As for guns in a liberated, socialist society, I find perspectives that persist around individual ownership a bit lacking. Guns have undeniable utility for people in rural or sparsely populated areas (ex: farmers dealing with vermin) where individual ownership would still make sense but I'd like to see us move towards more collectivized ownership elsewhere. Guns could be held in common on the micro level through grassroots neighborhood organizations (like Cuba's CDRs), where this enables community self-policing and also serves as a check against guns being misused by individuals undergoing mental crises or intending to use in crimes. As time goes by and threat of counterrevolution subsides it would probably make sense to taper down on guns in circulation beyond those needed for aforementioned utilitarian functions. Marxist-feminists, Markevia, Comradeland, Libertasnia, and 2 othersThe Charter Commonwealth, and Diamatiya |
Does anyone here have good news sources for current affairs that aren't from the perspective of the imperial core? News about Russia/Ukraine, China, Cuba or North Korea? Comradeland and Diamatiya |
First I try to read my local communist organizations (as many as I can, not sure where you are located): Then if I am being entirely honest, I try to read what the foreign bourgeoisie are serving up: Then I take a peek at |
Many thanks on the advice. I appreciate it. |
For Cuba and other leftist Latin American governments/movements: |
NSLeft Game Night! Comrades, We welcome one and all to an NSLeft Game Night that will be hosted in the NSLeft Discord server (https://discord.gg/2CSY4ve) on Saturday, 11 June 2022. Starting at 5 PM UTC (1 PM EDT), we will gather in #nsleft-voice and decide what game will kick off the night from a list of usual suspects – and maybe some unusual ones! If anyone does feel fairly strongly about playing a specific game, or organizing a game around a specific time, make sure to let us know in #foyer 🙂 RSVP here to be notified when NSLeft Game Night begins: https://discord.com/events/224015715299098625/981016565204025375 Comradeland and Libertasnia |
Bikini bottom-squidward trap house Greetings North Korea, Posting here because I've been appointed the new ambassador from the Leftist Assembly to North Korea. It's an honor to continue building ties between the two regions. It is my sincere hope that North Korea-Leftist Assembly friendship flourish for a thousand years to come; and that the nations and peoples of our two regions will share a beautiful future together, in our struggle for a just world. Gracias amigx, Marxist-feminists, Comradeland, and Libertasnia |
Online ML discourse has become truly unbearable lately, in a way that it wasn't before. Some of you are probably aware of a tendency that's gained some traction recently, the "patriotic socialists" (in a specifically American context). They are self-proclaimed MLs who embrace tailism, and are very hostile to most discussion surrounding systemic racism so as not to "divide the working class". But a common theme about this group that strikes me strongly is an adamant denial that American workers (and presumably those of the imperial core more broadly) benefit even slightly from imperialism. They often sound like social democrats, making the deeply flawed argument that the American military budget somehow detracts from spending on what there is of the welfare state in this country. Yet there are moments where I almost sympathize with that crowd. Dogmatic Maoists/Gonzaloites have seized the opportunity to make names for themselves by inserting themselves at the forefront of those against the patsocs. I remember one persona with a sizable following talking about the DPRK allegedly supplying the Fujimori regime with arms, and comparing it to the SPD's crushing of the Spartacist uprising. It worries me that this poison is reaching novice MLs. Yes, most of this has no material impact for the time being. But it's been on my mind for some time, and has made me appreciate this space greatly. THE DEFENDER ALLIANCE, Comradeland, Libertasnia, and The Charter Commonwealth |
Oh boy, honestly this is one of those topics I feel like I am gonna stick my foot in when I start talking about it. Ive talked about this topic elsewhere before to some very mixed reactions. The truth is that I have some degree of sympathy for the patsoc crowd, especially as it relates to the ineffectiveness and damage that breadtube style leftism leads to. I find the breadtube community to be incredibly pedantic and disconnected from the actual practicals of being involved in struggles that impact peoples lives. Atleast when talking with patsoc members the usage of the Mass Line has come up. The liberal style cancel culture of breadtube is not an effective strategy. Additionally, I have seen the patsoc crowd take consistently correct (from my point of view) positions on matters of imperialism and its opposition. What I distinctly dislike the patsoc crowd for is their tailism, and refusal to discuss issues that relate to oppressed communities as they "distract from class struggle" mentality. Communists are meant to be involved in struggles of oppressed communities, we are meant to be an ally in the struggle against capitalism that oppressed communities can call on. Most recently their lack of spine about abortion rights, and the importance of defending womens rights has appalled me. I dont care if 40% of workers or whatever dont view abortion rights as important, women are not incubators, and forced birth has been a tool of the patriarchy which capitalism rests on for literal hundreds of years. That any communist can think this is disconnected from class struggle or is an issue that we should not take a firm position on is unacceptable to me. Unfortunately this basically means populist elements taking the place of proper anti-oppressive structures/theory. Theres plenty of "Lets not talk about how horrible the US is structurally and how we need to destroy the entire system, because working class whites just roll their eyes at you. Lets talk about the EVIL capitalists because everyone hates Bill Gates/Elon Musk/Whoever". Its the type of theory that would build an organization lacking in revolutionary luster. Ideas of anti-imperialism, anti-white superiority, the necessity of blowing up class relations rather than trying to dismantle them slowly, ARE important to the viability, health, and long term effectiveness of any revolutionary party and actions that go forward from here. Also, I am skeptical of the patsoc idea that the rural community in America can be a mobilize-able revolutionary base for a leftist cause. The patsocs want "Socialism with American Characteristics". But I dont personally believe such a thing is possible with America being the greatest enforcer of capitalist hegemony in the world. We're not trying to gather the disparate elements of "the left" into some big vague ideological soup until we get big enough to overthrow capitalism. We are trying to engage in mass work guided by clear policy and a materialist analysis of the conditions we find ourselves in. By doing so we form bases of power among the masses, and the party becomes embedded in the masses by serving them. In this way, we grow. Our goal is to serve the masses, not to bend over backwards to try to accommodate as many people as possible in "the left", be they anarchists, demsocs, patsocs, breadtubers, or whatever. Honestly it is a great comfort to me that the North Korea community exists and draws high caliber comrades to it. Libertasnia, The Charter Commonwealth, and Diamatiya |
I'd argue the influence of Maupinites/"patsocs" is overstated but the discussions around them raise important issues for our movement. As they often present themselves as MLs, it's important to address their flaws and draw a distinction between us. I'm surprised we haven't really addressed this topic before - I appreciate comrade I group the Maupinites and DSA together against the grain of common left social media narratives because they both are marked with a tailism that Diamatiya mentions and completely missing the main thing to focus on in the US, a flaw that impacts their politics on a fundamental level. They fail to address the national question here correctly and thus stumble on "the first condition of their own social emancipation" as Marx would say. Maupinites, given their professed love for CPUSA during their peak - which coincided with explicit support for black self-determination - should know better. And while there are some in the DSA advancing perspectives on the US as a settler-colonial regime, these perspectives don't demonstrably impact how the DSA organizes; national liberation remains "a question of abstract justice or humanitarian sentiment." I don't think Maupinites should be praised for their stance on imperialism. They aren't coming from a rigorous, data-driven analysis where we can confidently say that Liechtenstein benefits more from imperialist structures than Russia. Such perspectives informed by theory on unequal exchange when applied to the US completely dismantle what makes Maupinites distinct as a group. Maupinites' views on this topic are in practice more of a vicarious nationalism, the sort of "campism" we are often wrongly accused of, and something we should condemn just as harshly as the DSA's cowardly acquiescence to Western liberal narratives of the conflict in Ukraine. Comradeland, Libertasnia, and Diamatiya |
It's absolutely disgusting the US can issue arrest warrants for non-US nationals like this. Suggesting that Cao de Benos or Emms represent an extraordinary threat to the US for their support of the DPRK is laughable. These two made a mistake in trying to "introduce" cryptocurrency to the DPRK (as if the DPRK wasn't aware of it) and are now they're probably going to be used to prop up nonsense about the DPRK as some rogue hacker state. I hope the Korean Friendship Associations will survive this. Comradeland and Libertasnia |
I second this. Comrade Zulanka is well aware of my own issues surrounding these modern social-chauvinists disguising themselves as Marxist-Leninists, and the loss of certain comrades to their "trend". Their love for the historical CPUSA (and its contemporary until the party endorsed a line opposing them around a year ago now) is such that it glorifies figures such as William Z. Foster (certainly an able Marxist in his peak, opposing the Browderist line) while being completely unable to actually understand or criticize their failings. In fact, as Comrade Zulanka points out given their support for this historic idea, their glorification of Foster goes so far as to support the erroneous lines taken by the CPUSA under his leadership that completely sidelined principled Marxists like Harry Haywood (and, in fact, pushed made up rumours about him being a spy!) and marginalized groups within the CPUSA itself (with the dissolution of the Southern wing as the Party decided to go "underground" upon the adoption of the Smith Act). Their understanding of the national question is absurd and contradictory, as grifters like Maupin quote Haywood and Bill Epton and Huey P. Newton in the cases where they appealed to alliance with white workers without any genuine desire to implement their programs on the national question. The "patsoc" understanding of the revolutionary potential of predominantly-white rural communities here in the States is a line I used to believe, and perhaps still have some unfortunate nostalgia for given my own residence in a rural area with a particularly "radical" family, but I think historical circumstances have proved that this is no longer the case. I won't say that rural communities have no revolutionary potential whatsoever, but these people seem to have never stepped foot in a rural community in their lives. They think miners are still unionized and ready to take up arms at the drop of a hat to reenact the Battle of Blair Mountain when the truth is precisely the opposite: the lofty benefits gained for miners by unionized labour throughout the Keynesian era of the imperialist government has given many of these folks a petty-bourgeois consciousness, and they have quickly and decisively turned to proto-fascist and far-right political movements as mining jobs have dried up and shut down (something that has been greatly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, I fear). Comradeland and Diamatiya |
Just out of curiosity, what do you guys think about Vice's North Korea documentaries? Are they accurate? Do they have any truth to them? |
Lying, the US actively suppresses any good info on the DPRK, why would a neolib s*itsshow like Vice be any different? |
I'd like to see one corroborated by the DPRK government and not full of "we snuck out to talk to these people and they said everything we saw was a lie" |
It looks like Russia and China are done allowing UNSC resolutions targeting the DPRK to pass. |
Lakota Human Remains Stolen from US Army Massacre Hoarded by Private Museum For over 100 years, human remains and sacred artifacts stolen from the bodies at the Wounded Knee Massacre have been locked away, held by a private library in the small town of Barre, Massachusetts. Descendants of the victims are fighting to retrieve them, but the library Board of Directors refuses to cooperate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KODQMVjL2I Libertasnia, Diamatiya, and Northfell |
https://twitter.com/BTnewsroom/status/1534718895411515392 It's fantastic to see Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Bolivia boycott Biden's summit in solidarity with Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Belize and Argentina's statements in solidarity were great too. Comradeland, Libertasnia, Diamatiya, and Northfell |
Welcome to the region! This is an excellent question. The US left and labor movement is growing, but not fast enough to counter the right's increased extremism. There's many angles one can look at when asking why this is. What we can do about it is another topic worth discussion as well. Obviously as Marxists we need to first examine the class and economic relations involved. There's the perspective Libertasnia touches on in their post above, that workers here have been molded towards petit-bourgeois outlooks amenable to fascism through material incentives provided by the settler regime. These I'd argue go further back than Keynesian policies, like Hoover's programs around home ownership explicitly meant as a counter to leftist movements. Then one can look at the international level and discuss Americans across all classes as beneficiaries of imperialism. As the US decays and the flows of imperialism are interrupted they will begin to lose privileges their position as dominant world hegemon previously gave that entail much more than just social safety nets. Some attracted to fascism are aware of this on some level and in fascism find a means to try to maintain or expand these privileges. Some Marxists emphasize the superstructural aspects, that the US has one of the most intensely anticommunist cultures in the world, generations who were taught to fear the USSR, that we never had a mass labor party, etc. The history of popular movements' engagements with various institutions here demonstrates more often their co-option and corruption by these forces than any sustained success, while rightists haven't had the same issue wielding existing institutions towards their goals, which relates to the nature of the US as a state. I don't see these rightists going fash as somehow "corrupting" these institutions but rather finding in fascism the purest expression of American liberty - the freedom to enslave and plunder. The US left itself reproduces anticommunist tropes often with wide-ranging negative effects. Part of our susceptibility to anticommunist propaganda has to do with our lack of strong, independent institutions. Declining sharply with the end of the CPUSA as a national force and collapsing by the end of the New Left, we've been building up from almost nothing since the 90s. We still lack media apparatuses comparable to the right and what we have built in recent years is too deeply intertwined with platforms completely opposed to our goals. While I don't like the patronizing view most Anglophone leftists seem to have towards fascist working class people, that they're simply stupid or misled, there are a section of fascists who likely ended up there because they were never exposed to real leftism due to our failure to organize more effectively and left wanting for an alternative to our two flavors of neoliberalism on offer in mainstream politics. Comradeland, Libertasnia, The Charter Commonwealth, and Diamatiya |
Maduro hails Iran's fight against imperialism after historic deal He stated that Caracas and Tehran both have revolutionary backgrounds and have always helped one another in difficult times. Venezuela welcomes and invites investment from Iran, with Maduro stating that a delegation presently following him intends to discover methods to deepen relations and that Venezuela and Iran would usher in a new era in mutual relations. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/maduro-hails-irans-fight-against-imperialism-after-historic Comradeland, Libertasnia, Northfell, and Jacobinist france |
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