JucheBot1988

Another brave redditor, speaking from the front lines

Capitalist dad

JUCHE DAD

Now you get into some very difficult historical territory. The collapse of socialism in the USSR and Europe is a complicated phenomena, and probably no one fully understands it yet.

But yes, I agree it’s generally better to educate people in tandem with raising their living standards. All I want is to point out that there’s nuance, and sometimes ugly things have to be done. The situation that Swinging6917 described is not one of those times.

Honestly, they’re not totally wrong. The revolution does need to be protected. As I argued above, it’s more a matter of emphasis.

Like I said, I don’t think you’re wrong in principle, more so in application. The maximalist statement “snitching is wrong” is certainly to be condemned, as one can see from the fact that nobody, whatever their ideology, really holds it. There will always be some crime which people think the authorities should be apprised of. And I appreciate you calling out the anarchist/shitlib mentality that “all cops are bastards” and everywhere to be condemned, regardless of whether they serve capital or (in a socialist society) protect the people.

There does, however, have to be a balance struck between going after counterrevolutionaries, wherever they appear, and a sense of social trust. This is because, as history shows, too great a penetration into society of the security apparatus – and yes, security agencies are a good thing – also tends to undermine social cohesion, almost as much as too little penetration. The great purges in the USSR were necessary. They are also remembered by average Russians, even those who admire (as a whole lot of them do) Stalin as Russia’s greatest leader, as a particularly bad time in Soviet history. You and I and most people on this site are deeply interested in politics, and passionate about fighting injustice, and we like the idea of continued purges, and no counterrevolutionary sentiment being too small to report. Most people, and that includes most workers, are not like that; their interest is mainly in providing for their families, working a fulfilling job, feeling a sense of pride in their country, and having a sense of security in the future. Security agencies not doing their job obviously undermines that sense of security, but so does a situation where everyone feels they can be reported on at any minute. The latter situation does not generally exist in socialist countries, except in times of great crisis (and it is generally better at such times to crack down hard and at once, rather than extending the situation indefinitely as capitalist nations often do); but we always need to beware the ultra-leftist sentiment that could lead us there.

And speaking of avoiding ultra-leftism: national matters should generally stay national. Assume the MSS knows about this person if she is a threat, and that they will take the appropriate action. To say the a westerner should be involved in the situation to the same degree Chinese citizens are is to fall, in a minor way, into the trap of Trotskyism which states that the proletarian revolution is international in both content and form. As we know from Stalin, the revolution is socialist (therefore international) in content, but national in form.

Yeah, I saw that. The sad thing is, the sentiment expressed isn’t wrong – state power does at times need to be deployed against counterrevolutionaries – it just has no bearing on the present case. Thinking we need to freak out and call the authorities over every single instance of anticommunism is the mentality which produced the worst excesses of the Cultural Revolution. And those excesses helped create by reaction some of the liberalism which unfortunately exists in China today.

Or to put it more succinctly: McCarthyism, but in reverse, is Not A Good Idea.

I wouldn’t. If she really is that prominent and dangerous within China, the MSS likely already knows about her. If she isn’t, you’re just wasting their time. (And possibly, if the story breaks in the liberal media, creating a martyr).

Plus, you’re gonna have it on your record that you were in contact with a foreign security service. Don’t think that won’t come back to bite you later on – the US government has sent communists to jail for less.

I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time feudal Tibet ended up featuring in Nazi propaganda.

The Biden Administration’s strategy is now to sustain Ukrainian defense until after the U.S. presidential elections

An interesting admission here. I think this is true, though the real reason has nothing to do with helping Ukraine – it’s about avoiding a political disaster for the Democrats.

Yeah, no. I’m from the states, and these Ukronazi losers can fuck off and pay their own bills. The same goes for Taiwan, Israel, and whatever other meme countries our government and ruling class – the real traitors – are supporting. Americans have their own bills to pay.

Sounds like something a fascist loser, whose country has no production of its own, would say.

Yes, I remember people talking about how Ukraine was “systematically destroying” the Russian army at Bakhmut, and how it was a meatgrinder from which Russia would never recover – in fact the opposite was true. Then (because Prigozhin) everyone was talking about corruption in the Russian military, how Putin’s hold on power was extremely fragile, etc. etc., and saying with utmost confidence that the Summer Counteroffensive (lol) would absolutely collapse that whole house of cards; Ukraine would reconquer Crimea, there would be regime change in Russia, President Navalny would oversee the “total decolonization” of Siberia (also lol). None of that happened either. Plus throughout it all, we were consistently told that if we would just give Ukraine Leopards, Abrams, F-16s, HIMARS, Javelins, Patriot systems, Challengers, cluster bombs, horcruxes, baatleths, sticks and stones, and of course more of that sweet, sweet US taxpayer money, those plucky Ukrainian would beat the Russians in no time whatsoever. Western governments absolutely thought Ukraine could win, and some of the (particularly Britain) are still clinging to that illusion.

I got “Marxist-Leninist:”

• Very revolutionary
• Very scientific
• Very centralist
• Neutral on international vs. national, leaning more international
• Very productivist (yay Deng!)
• Neutral on conservative vs. progressive (not sure what that was about – maybe because I was in the middle on abortion, to allow for Stalin and modern Nicaragua?)

I’d certainly call myself a Marxist-Leninist, but there are some weird things about this quiz.

This is not quite the insult you think it is.

Exactly, losers hate winners.

Because le epic former redditors are mad that Russian firepower made the invincible Leopard tank look like this almost as soon as it reached the battlefield.

Also because Beijing and Detroit look like this and this, respectively.

I’ve probably gotten further into Das Capital than you have

Apparently not far enough to be able to spell the German title correctly.

Congratulations, comrade! Keep it up!

(Also, based username)

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