Do you think the solution to what is described in the article is a solution proposed more than a century ago still valid for today’s illnesses? How people fell in 1910s, same as today?
Knowing how the world ended in two mayor wards and one hundred million violently killed, wouldn’t a solution less incendiary be better? Our weapons today are infinitely more powerful than in 1910s and truly, I see politicians far more willing to use them than in 1960s.
Not who you asked, but I’ll respond too, as another Marxist-Leninist.
Absolutely. The underlying analysis of capitalism and its evolution into imperialism rings true today, just at a more heightened stage. Central planning continues to be more effective at higher stages of development than market forces, and capitalism continues to centralize and pave the way for this. The working class’s strongest weapon, its mass, is still best utilized in unity of direction and action.
The world wars were caused by capitalist imperialism, not socialism. Plus, one thing that’s nice, is that the US has hollowed out its own production, it can’t support a sustained war. It’s a paper tiger, and a unified working class is a force so strong the state can’t simply win by bombing us.
It is militarily paper tiger, it has been for a while, but it has effectively incapacitated the masses for action (info overload). While in the 1960s they took reign by suppressing news, now the technique is news saturation that paralyses the masses. Also, I see politicians far more trigger-easy with using nuclear weapons if need be than ever since 1950s (ironically not Trump!). It is very worrisome.
On the contrary, the decay in material conditions has led to increasing radicalization. One only need to look at the unified support for Luigi Mangione to see that people are increasingly jaded with the system.
I am going to disagree here… we are very “radicalized” with words on social media, but, but a few outliers, with more composure in real life. In the past people I perceive (maybe unfounded) were far more spoken when felt disfranchised. Now, I give you that this situation will probably not endure for a decade longer.
It’s all about rate of change, not absolute values. Nothing is static, and the tides move in favor of radicalization as the conditions for radicalization expand.
I don’t think human society has fundamentally changed in a century. I think the problems the Bolsheviks dealt with stem from the exact same material relations as the problems we face today. Nobody has proposed a better solution that’s been demonstrated to work in the past century that I’m aware of.
Both world wars wore a direct result of capitalism, and had the Europeans not shat the bed after the Soviet revolution, we may have moved past the capitalist stage of development by now. The longer capitalist regimes are allowed to continue to exist the more likely the scenario you fear will come to pass.
Thanks, I have no read anything from those times so I don’t know nor I want to speculate.
Now, my fear from what I have observed in the last decade is real. However, living in Asia I did not have that feeling… are they blind there or is just that in the West that we sense the worse is coming.
I really can’t recommend reading The State and Revolution enough. It is the most lucid explanation of what’s currently happening and why. It’s a short read and you’re going to be surprised how relevant it feels to the current moment. https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/
The dynamics in Asia are indeed different, and China acts as a stabilizing force there. The economies there are hedging against the west, and they’re increasingly focusing on trade amongst themselves and the developing world.
Just got that in Audiobook… I have to confess no much into reading non-fictional staff from that long ago but I recognize it may be relevant. I have this and Tepora’s The Finnish Civil War for this weekend.
I found this particular book was incredibly eye opening because it clarified a lot of the mechanics of how our system works for me. What I found most shocking was how it’s pretty clear exact same types of debates that we’re having today regarding reforming the system were happening a century ago. And that goes back to your original question of how relevant this stuff is. If we’re still having these same discussions about the same kinds of problems, then we have to inform ourselves on the history of these debates. There is a huge wealth of knowledge and experince that’s been built up that’s being ignored today.
Completely agree… yet with a saturation of information available today, it is so hard to dedicate time to events a century old to apply the learning to today’s world. Our filters are saturated and clogged and unable to process data efficiently anylonger.
I have an introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list if you want a more structured course, and you find State and Revolution to be too advanced for starting out! But S&R is a banger text, it’s included in the course.
It’s a spot on article, but I wish they offered some ideas for solutions.
https://redsails.org/witbd-rs-abridged/
Genuine questions, no malice here:
Do you think the solution to what is described in the article is a solution proposed more than a century ago still valid for today’s illnesses? How people fell in 1910s, same as today?
Knowing how the world ended in two mayor wards and one hundred million violently killed, wouldn’t a solution less incendiary be better? Our weapons today are infinitely more powerful than in 1910s and truly, I see politicians far more willing to use them than in 1960s.
Not who you asked, but I’ll respond too, as another Marxist-Leninist.
Absolutely. The underlying analysis of capitalism and its evolution into imperialism rings true today, just at a more heightened stage. Central planning continues to be more effective at higher stages of development than market forces, and capitalism continues to centralize and pave the way for this. The working class’s strongest weapon, its mass, is still best utilized in unity of direction and action.
The world wars were caused by capitalist imperialism, not socialism. Plus, one thing that’s nice, is that the US has hollowed out its own production, it can’t support a sustained war. It’s a paper tiger, and a unified working class is a force so strong the state can’t simply win by bombing us.
It is militarily paper tiger, it has been for a while, but it has effectively incapacitated the masses for action (info overload). While in the 1960s they took reign by suppressing news, now the technique is news saturation that paralyses the masses. Also, I see politicians far more trigger-easy with using nuclear weapons if need be than ever since 1950s (ironically not Trump!). It is very worrisome.
On the contrary, the decay in material conditions has led to increasing radicalization. One only need to look at the unified support for Luigi Mangione to see that people are increasingly jaded with the system.
I am going to disagree here… we are very “radicalized” with words on social media, but, but a few outliers, with more composure in real life. In the past people I perceive (maybe unfounded) were far more spoken when felt disfranchised. Now, I give you that this situation will probably not endure for a decade longer.
It’s all about rate of change, not absolute values. Nothing is static, and the tides move in favor of radicalization as the conditions for radicalization expand.
I don’t think human society has fundamentally changed in a century. I think the problems the Bolsheviks dealt with stem from the exact same material relations as the problems we face today. Nobody has proposed a better solution that’s been demonstrated to work in the past century that I’m aware of.
Both world wars wore a direct result of capitalism, and had the Europeans not shat the bed after the Soviet revolution, we may have moved past the capitalist stage of development by now. The longer capitalist regimes are allowed to continue to exist the more likely the scenario you fear will come to pass.
Thanks, I have no read anything from those times so I don’t know nor I want to speculate. Now, my fear from what I have observed in the last decade is real. However, living in Asia I did not have that feeling… are they blind there or is just that in the West that we sense the worse is coming.
I really can’t recommend reading The State and Revolution enough. It is the most lucid explanation of what’s currently happening and why. It’s a short read and you’re going to be surprised how relevant it feels to the current moment. https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/
The dynamics in Asia are indeed different, and China acts as a stabilizing force there. The economies there are hedging against the west, and they’re increasingly focusing on trade amongst themselves and the developing world.
Just got that in Audiobook… I have to confess no much into reading non-fictional staff from that long ago but I recognize it may be relevant. I have this and Tepora’s The Finnish Civil War for this weekend.
I found this particular book was incredibly eye opening because it clarified a lot of the mechanics of how our system works for me. What I found most shocking was how it’s pretty clear exact same types of debates that we’re having today regarding reforming the system were happening a century ago. And that goes back to your original question of how relevant this stuff is. If we’re still having these same discussions about the same kinds of problems, then we have to inform ourselves on the history of these debates. There is a huge wealth of knowledge and experince that’s been built up that’s being ignored today.
Completely agree… yet with a saturation of information available today, it is so hard to dedicate time to events a century old to apply the learning to today’s world. Our filters are saturated and clogged and unable to process data efficiently anylonger.
I have an introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list if you want a more structured course, and you find State and Revolution to be too advanced for starting out! But S&R is a banger text, it’s included in the course.
Thanks Cowbee! The audiobooks format is welcome too.