You aren’t an absolutist if you have exceptions. I feel strongly that the capitalist state should have no right to kill, but if it was to be overthrown by communists then bust out the guillotine. States by virtue of being states have the monopoly on violence, we need to weaken the capitalist monopoly on violence but not so much that we lose it ourselves, we need to take control of that monopoly and if our ideology is purely anti-violence we lose a very valuable tool. So pacifism is not praxis imo. We need to assert that the left would be much better in control of the monopoly than the right is, not that we are going to abolish the monopoly entirely.
Well, my "exceptions" are based on practicality, not justice. I'm against retributive justice on principle. Generally speaking, once the revolution is secured I see no reason for the state to kill anyone.
This. Retributive justice is pure sadistic bloodthirst. It serves no legitimate purpose what so ever and there is no justification. Even setting aside principle, from a pragmatic stance it is counterproductive and makes things worse.
You aren’t an absolutist if you have exceptions. I feel strongly that the capitalist state should have no right to kill, but if it was to be overthrown by communists then bust out the guillotine. States by virtue of being states have the monopoly on violence, we need to weaken the capitalist monopoly on violence but not so much that we lose it ourselves, we need to take control of that monopoly and if our ideology is purely anti-violence we lose a very valuable tool. So pacifism is not praxis imo. We need to assert that the left would be much better in control of the monopoly than the right is, not that we are going to abolish the monopoly entirely.
Well, my "exceptions" are based on practicality, not justice. I'm against retributive justice on principle. Generally speaking, once the revolution is secured I see no reason for the state to kill anyone.
This. Retributive justice is pure sadistic bloodthirst. It serves no legitimate purpose what so ever and there is no justification. Even setting aside principle, from a pragmatic stance it is counterproductive and makes things worse.