Poor EJ, i dont know how he endured having to listen to all this incredibly dumb shit, i can barely stand listening to just those clips that are in the video
Poor EJ, i dont know how he endured having to listen to all this incredibly dumb shit, i can barely stand listening to just those clips that are in the video
For us, is there value in them removing the terror of the word "communist"? As it stands, the average American is indoctrinated against anything claiming to be communist. I understand that all of magacommunism is meant to pull people who would otherwise go left to the right, by diverting their energy and attention and misconstruing leftism (ie the barista debate) but does it not benefit us by removing the immediate dismissal of all "communism"?
It is well documented that most working class people agree with communist policies, but often are horrified by the word itself. Is there not an opportunity for us to leverage the immense theoretical and scientific knowledge at our disposal to bring people to the real left? As we know the challenges posed against communism have been debated time and time again, and are thoroughly elaborated and explained by some of the brightest minds of history. Certainly if the word no longer spawns immediate rejection we can utilize this to our advantage? After all we must explain, and explain again our position. As we advocate not for the minority but for the vast majority of humanity. In many ways we fight a battle of explanation and understanding. There is no reason to let the proletariat all become lumpen and slip to the forces of reaction. This is our battle to lose.
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I agree that they, obviously, seek to detract from any real leftist movements. Magacommunism makes as much sense as the "National Socialist German Workers' Party", however 1930s Germany and 2020s America have extremely different interpretations of the words utilized. In Germany it was a common phrase and a call for workers solidarity, while in America it represents totalitarianism and "evil". This view cannot be reconciled with actual communist theory and the diactical materialist analysis of history. If they remove the demonization of the word, can we not counter with it's real meaning?
As opposed to it, and it's pro worker message, being co-opted by the right, can we not counter with it's truth? Instead of allowing the right to use communist speech for their benefit, and to mislead the workers, as has happened so many times before, we must prevail. Our analysis is the real truth, and we owe it to the world to explain it.
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We must combat the view that "workers" are all white men hitting steel bars with hammers. Throughout history this has been a prevailing misconception, most work occurs within the household or for the satisfication of everyday needs. This continues into the modern world, were most work either eases the burden of being alive, or otherwise satisfies basic needs.
I agree, of course they are, I'm not saying that they are not. Their use of the word is sick and twisted, but they are still utilizing it in a "positive" (to their base) manner. It is similar to how Hitler used socialist to his base. Obviously there would be another "night of the long knives" if they gained any real power. A normalization of "communism" in America is a response to the obvious and real contradictions of capitalism. We must not let the right dictate this response. It is easy with 20/20 hindsight to see how the left failed in 1930s Germany, we have a responsibility to the world to not repeat those failures.
No, there isn't.
This is the second time i've seen this take today. It makes no sense. I struggle to understand how even one person thought it was reasonable. This isn't just a situation where some people are doing communism wrong but they're still advancing some vaguely left line. This isn't like Bernie calling himself a socialist because he wants to pass Medicare for All. These are our enemies. There is not positive strategic value to allowing the enemy to control, pollute, and confuse the symbolic terrain. Those who are repulsed by the word "communism" will not be brought closer to class consciousness because someone who agrees with them in every respect calls themself a communist.
To give an illustration, in the United States there is a well-funded and organized political movement, with an associated party, called "libertarianism." It is essentially a kind of rightwing ultra-neoliberalism. During the Bush administration, with the political left almost entirely absent, proletarian antipathy to state and corporate abuses of power were captured by libertarianism and funneled into support for GOP economic policies. They were very, very successful in this task. The anarchist left, which ostensibly has the historical claim on the label "libertarian," saw very little development during that same period. This continued until the open class warfare of 2008, leading to the Occupy demonstrations, during which the left failed to push a nascent mass movement in an active, organized direction against power, in part because it couldn't overturn the idea that the goal must be to return the markets to their natural state of purity as the right-libertarians claimed.
I agree with your overall point, but just a little pushback on a particular detail that bugged me (implied, comes up from time to time):
I've seen people blaming Bernie for the misunderstandings of what socialism actually is, but tbh the mainstream conservative media line has been that anything left of Reagan is socialism and has been for a long time, and I think that's done way more than Bernie for muddying the waters.
Yeah totally, I meant to bring up Bernie as a counterexample. He would fit comfortably in the socialist parties of Western Europe. Even if that's not saying much, I think he has been obviously beneficial to the messaging of the radical left by advancing a positive vision of a socialism that reorients the economy towards human interests and wellbeing. It doesn't solve our basic problem of the left having no influence or platform outside of Twitter and college campuses, but it opened the field for advancement.