Isn’t that the point of the meme? Leftists can share 94% of views, but if they disagree on one thing they are treated as the worst enemy, rather than the people who share 0% of the same views.
Correct, if those differences are irreconcilable. I can ally with lefties that want slightly different things, but “America is evil therefore Stalin wasn’t that bad” is not someone grounded in reality.
Those things people disgree on are entire political axioms, so yes it is much bigger than a meme. Tankies think strong men are a good thing, which should be antithetical to anyone with the faintest hint of actual big boy anarchy in their politics. Worshiping leaders OR positions is literally and directly antithetical to MUCH of the left.
OFC there will be infighting when most people don’t even understand what the left stands for. IMO, we shouldn’t even dignify tankies and other strong-men liking idiots with a label anywhere close to “left”. They’re just idiot fascists wearing a different coat to try and fit in.
I don’t see many actual Tankies then, I guess. Most Marxists just want a Worker-State and explicitly reject “Great Man Theory.” I agree that worshipping strong men is antithetical to the left, but I also see this in a very fringe minority, and at that point the meme no longer applies as there is far more than 6% divergence.
MAGA Communists and PatSocs are clowns, I agree, but I don’t think they share a significant percentage of views with anyone on the Left, Marxist or Anarchist alike.
Most Marxists just want a Worker-State and explicitly reject “Great Man Theory.” I agree that worshipping strong men is antithetical to the left, but I also see this in a very fringe minority
A minimal state. Representative of the people/proletariat. Not a brutal mono party that tries to crush all dissent.
And if strong man worship is so fringe and antithetical to ML. Why has it been a defining feature of every system of governance based on it? Stalin, Mao or Xi today, Castro, Kim Il Sung. Fringe is supposed to imply it’s not a core component of every single implementation and yet it is.
I think it’s fair to say that Marxists agree with Marx, and so the best representation of Marx is Critique of the Gotha Programme. The state should be as minimal as can be based on the Material Conditions, ie a stronger state is necessary if you are constantly being attacked by Capitalist nations, and a weaker state is necessary if you aren’t. I don’t think people are advocating for a strong monoparty, but a unified front of Workers. At least, in my experience.
Stalin, Mao, Xi, Castro, Kim Il Sung, Ho Chi Minh, Lenin, Trotsky, Che, Sankara, Deng, whoever you want to pick, aren’t so much worshipped as they are studied, for their mistakes and the good things they did. Some are obviously more mistake than others, some were a net negative, some were a net positive, what’s important is to study what happened so we can learn from it.
Yes. External factors are one thing entirely. And completely unrelated to crushing dissent. Dissent is an internal thing. And if you automatically classify all the dissent as a product of external factors there by making it something to fight and crush. You may have just perfectly encapsulated the issues with your ideology.
Also while I agree capitalists are not really good friends. They used to be Allied with the Russians during World War II for example. It’s almost like something happened post World War II that was actually the problem. And not just that capitalists must be fought everywhere. Do you know what that might have been? It’s something China is currently dealing with and failing in their own way. And I’m not going to say that it’s not hypocritical for many Western countries to criticize this considering what they’ve done. But just because a criticism is hypocritical doesn’t mean it’s not valid.
I never said I was against dissent. I’d be in favor of trying to rehabilitate fascists and Capitalists, sure, but open discussion of ideas is important. You calling it “issues with my ideology” is a bit silly.
I am not sure I understand where you are going with your second paragraph.
When internal dissent was mentioned you automatically jumped to externalizing it and fighting it. Not addressing it. You say that you’re not against it. But you just said that you were against it.
You can play ignorant if you like. We aren’t obligated to believe such poor acting however. You know exactly what I’m referring to. They forceful annexation of much of Eastern Europe post World War II including the dividing up of germany. And more contemporary. China’s failure upon absorbing Hong kong. And saber a rattling regarding Taiwan.
I don’t believe fascists or Capitalists should be allowed to violently attack people and attempt to gain power, that’s silly.
As for expansionism, I am not sure why you are expecting me to defend that or apologize for it, I am not in control of the 20th century USSR or modern PRC.
Isn’t that the point of the meme? Leftists can share 94% of views, but if they disagree on one thing they are treated as the worst enemy, rather than the people who share 0% of the same views.
Correct, if those differences are irreconcilable. I can ally with lefties that want slightly different things, but “America is evil therefore Stalin wasn’t that bad” is not someone grounded in reality.
Those things people disgree on are entire political axioms, so yes it is much bigger than a meme. Tankies think strong men are a good thing, which should be antithetical to anyone with the faintest hint of actual big boy anarchy in their politics. Worshiping leaders OR positions is literally and directly antithetical to MUCH of the left.
OFC there will be infighting when most people don’t even understand what the left stands for. IMO, we shouldn’t even dignify tankies and other strong-men liking idiots with a label anywhere close to “left”. They’re just idiot fascists wearing a different coat to try and fit in.
I don’t see many actual Tankies then, I guess. Most Marxists just want a Worker-State and explicitly reject “Great Man Theory.” I agree that worshipping strong men is antithetical to the left, but I also see this in a very fringe minority, and at that point the meme no longer applies as there is far more than 6% divergence.
MAGA Communists and PatSocs are clowns, I agree, but I don’t think they share a significant percentage of views with anyone on the Left, Marxist or Anarchist alike.
A minimal state. Representative of the people/proletariat. Not a brutal mono party that tries to crush all dissent.
And if strong man worship is so fringe and antithetical to ML. Why has it been a defining feature of every system of governance based on it? Stalin, Mao or Xi today, Castro, Kim Il Sung. Fringe is supposed to imply it’s not a core component of every single implementation and yet it is.
I think it’s fair to say that Marxists agree with Marx, and so the best representation of Marx is Critique of the Gotha Programme. The state should be as minimal as can be based on the Material Conditions, ie a stronger state is necessary if you are constantly being attacked by Capitalist nations, and a weaker state is necessary if you aren’t. I don’t think people are advocating for a strong monoparty, but a unified front of Workers. At least, in my experience.
Stalin, Mao, Xi, Castro, Kim Il Sung, Ho Chi Minh, Lenin, Trotsky, Che, Sankara, Deng, whoever you want to pick, aren’t so much worshipped as they are studied, for their mistakes and the good things they did. Some are obviously more mistake than others, some were a net negative, some were a net positive, what’s important is to study what happened so we can learn from it.
Is anything I said wrong?
Yes. External factors are one thing entirely. And completely unrelated to crushing dissent. Dissent is an internal thing. And if you automatically classify all the dissent as a product of external factors there by making it something to fight and crush. You may have just perfectly encapsulated the issues with your ideology.
Also while I agree capitalists are not really good friends. They used to be Allied with the Russians during World War II for example. It’s almost like something happened post World War II that was actually the problem. And not just that capitalists must be fought everywhere. Do you know what that might have been? It’s something China is currently dealing with and failing in their own way. And I’m not going to say that it’s not hypocritical for many Western countries to criticize this considering what they’ve done. But just because a criticism is hypocritical doesn’t mean it’s not valid.
I never said I was against dissent. I’d be in favor of trying to rehabilitate fascists and Capitalists, sure, but open discussion of ideas is important. You calling it “issues with my ideology” is a bit silly.
I am not sure I understand where you are going with your second paragraph.
When internal dissent was mentioned you automatically jumped to externalizing it and fighting it. Not addressing it. You say that you’re not against it. But you just said that you were against it.
You can play ignorant if you like. We aren’t obligated to believe such poor acting however. You know exactly what I’m referring to. They forceful annexation of much of Eastern Europe post World War II including the dividing up of germany. And more contemporary. China’s failure upon absorbing Hong kong. And saber a rattling regarding Taiwan.
I don’t believe fascists or Capitalists should be allowed to violently attack people and attempt to gain power, that’s silly.
As for expansionism, I am not sure why you are expecting me to defend that or apologize for it, I am not in control of the 20th century USSR or modern PRC.