In the US, the big bourgeoisie is the scapegoat for capital. Criticisms are levied towards the "top 1%," reducing a criticism of unique social relations to a criticism of wealth distribution.
Interesting take that I'm too tired to elaborate on rn:
The petty bourgeoisie is a bigger roadblock for socialism in the US than the big bourgeoisie
Small businesses are often either
1. Ignored as irrelevant since they don't have as much wealth as big ones
2. Sympathized for in some cases when they're expropriated by big business
The big bourgeoisie may provide the biggest enforcement of capital in the physical sense, i.e., the state, but the petty-bourgeoisie enforces capital in the ideological sense by vulgarizing socialism to fit their class interests
The big bourgeoisie has proven to be no match for a dedicated, principled mass movement (all reactionaries are paper tigers)
Keeping liberalism out of a party has proven to be more difficult. This is why the petty-bourgeoisie is the biggest threat. Their liberalism dominates socialism
I keep saying "in the US" because I don't know how much influence the petty-bourgeoisie has on socialist movements in other places. If someone from another country has any input about what it's like, do share ^_^
Good thread. I've always thought of the petty bourgeoisie as a defensive wall around the big bourgeoisie. We're going to have to get through them to get to big capital, which will then fall like a house of cards.
Thank you! I envision them as a more elusive threat tbh. Infiltrating revolutionary movements and liberalizing them, even if they think they're contributing to revolution
Yes, you put that really well. They're dead weight for us, even if they adopt what they consider to be socialism. Marx put it perfectly in the Manifesto. They'll defend their social position until the final moment when the revolution achieves its goal and they can safely change sides.
Well perhaps you misinterpreted my point. So here it is more clearly: Larping online about revolution and regurgitating failed economic concepts is pretty funny.
As I recall, they went into production and were put in many home and car stereos, and paved the way for cassettes, which paved the way for CDs and mp3 players. Welcome to dialectics, I guess.
Concepts don't fail. People do. People come up with concepts and put them into action. If the concept is bad, it's not the concept's fault. It's the people who came up with it and put it into action.
You're just an idealist. You probably don't even know what that word really means.
If you take a potato and jam it into the exhaust of your car and drive away, that's a bad idea, and your an idiot. Just like if you say, take everything away from people and "evenly" distribute it....that also is a bad idea..a failed concept.
Whatever you say. Tomorrow you will wake up and go buy your coffee and contribute to the very system you decry. You will be contributing to a free market in a capitalist society. The reason you won't wake up in a communist utopia is because its a stupid concept that doesnt work.
I'd say I know more than someone who isn't very familiar with economics, and less than an expert in the field. Let me quess, you must be an expert right?
I said you would contribute to the very system you decry, and that that system is capitalism. Am I wrong? Or is the revolution happening tomorrow? Because I have a thing at 9.
Lol you're wrong. So confidently incorrect. Private property just means the means of production. The productive forces of the country. Your property is personal property. No one cares about that.
I realize how communists distinguish personal and private property. That doesn't mean its the only way to view property. And its not just the means of production. It's also the land and the resources of the nation.
You're just being an idiot who has to change the entire meaning of words to prove "communism bad" even though you don't have the first clue what it is.
It's not a very difficult concept. Marx said himself the idea can be summed up in one sentance. " The abolition of private property". You don't own your land. You don't own your house. The "people" do. Go tell that to a chinese farmer in the 50's or a starving soviet in the 60's. It's shit.
Omg the tangled mess of anticommunist propaganda in your head is too much. I don't even know where to begin. It's not about your personal home/property. It's about things that, with the help of labor, generate capital. Businesses, rental properties, etc. They should be controlled by the people.
The reason why every attemp at a widespread communist society fell into authoritarian and totalitarian shambles. In the perfect plan no one sets out what is considered private or personal. Lines fade and they take your house, your land. A classless society doesn't work. Absolute power will corrupt
It only works if everyone is onboard and everyone is never onboard. In order to achieve it you will need war. Even if said war is won what happens next? Study the history of the former soviet union for the answer to that question. A lot of death. A lot of hunger and desperation. A lot of theft.
How's capitalism going these days? How many ways is the US involved in that are purely for profit? Let me guess, you're still naive enough to think there's any other reason for war under capitalism?
250 years ago life was brutal. You were lucky if you made it to forty. Your life consisted of nothing but toil for the most part. Most of the world was starving to death. Today? Assholes like me and you are bitching at each other on smart phones. Thats thanks to capitalism not communism my guy.
Do you know how many people die every year mining for materials to make phones and other tech? All of the stuff we have is so cheap because of other people's suffering. You just don't think about it, which is how the imperial core works.
Please, let me guess your posting from a fucking abacus? Don't villianize me because you don't like the truth. Whens the last time you ordered something from amazon? Capitalism has improved the world in innumerable ways. Spare me this wannabe elitist altruistic dogshit.
Dumbass, the world is on fire, and capitalism is the dominant political economy. Even Russia and China are capitalist economies. You only think it's great because of your privileged life in the imperial core. Life in the global south is nowhere near as rosy.
Oh wow! You're so fucking enlightened! You are exactly the same as me. You're just as privileged to be an American. Go cry and watch v for vendetta again.
The difference between you and me is that I don't really care about the fact that I'm privileged. It's a fact of life. Unlike you, I try to understand why I'm privileged, and how I can use it to help make the world a better place. You're clearly self-conscious about yours, and self-centered.
Do you actually understand the definitions of and relationship between the two, though? Because you’ve been referring to the USSR and China as “communist,” so I really don’t think you do.
I don't really think you have a leg to stand on making accusations of racism when you're a Stan for the most racist ideology in history, especially when I let your blatant transphobia slide. Liberalism is a white ideology, after all. It's why racism as we know it exists.
I hate class reductionism, and at the same time, economic ideology often has more to do with class than race (with notable exceptions). Middle class people (and workers who think they can attain ruling class status through magic) are likely to be anti-communist regardless of race, in my experience.
Ya, it was a bad joke. And I just meant that it came from white people, and it's the reasons racial minorities have had to fight for rights. Y'know, equality is only equality for those the ruling class considers inherently equal to them.
Buddy, what you said was blatantly racist towards me and you know it. Justify it anyway you want. I know it, anyone who is black knows it. So yeah...take it down a notch. Its just conversation.
Historically, liberals have been white and have had a thing for killing people of color. Sounds pretty corrosive to me. I don't know why anyone who isn't white would adopt the ideology.
Actually, I do, but I doubt you're capable of understanding how ideology develops.
Your racism showed through because you were angry. You know it. Just own it and cut the shit. You found out I was black and because you disagree with me you attacked my color.
Not playing that game. Just be honest. Disagree with me, insult me, thats fine. Just own your racism. Its the least you could do after 500 years of rape, theft and murder.
Typical. It's fine. You know what you said was an attack on my race. I'm not reporting it or anything childish. Just testing your integrity. Results? Low.
Its not an accusation its a fact. You implied I had lost my blackness because of how you perceive my political ideologies. Its a disparaging remark targeting my race. You being white, and me being black...tell me how thats nkt racist?
That's a pretty weird interpretation of what I said, but that's understandable coming from someone who clearly doesn't know the history of their own ideology.
Not really. You wouldnt really notice if someone was being racist because it doesnt affect you. When your black you notice all the subtle tropes that ooze out of the mouths of self righteous white kids like you.
JFC I was talking about colonialism you dumb shit. Stop trying to turn this around so you can play the victim. You're the one currently glorifying the system I was criticizing, the primary source of racism for hundreds of years. Liberals really love their identity politics 🙄
You were crying about me being transphobic to you like 20 minutes ago moron. Even though I havent mentioned anything about your bullshit at all. Its not identity politics dick head....you were being racist and you know it.
You realize 70+% of the people didn't want the USSR dissolved, right? Meaning it was illegally dissolved because it needed 2/3 support. It didn't fail. You should look into how things went after capitalists took over. Are you a big Russia fan now that they're capitalist?
the bourgeois are the subject of history so whatever they say is the popular will
liberals will literally tell you communism was voted away or something
Wait. It doesnt exist but it didnt fail? Wow, what a concept. The ridiculous beuracreacy of communism made it so that the country was completely crippled with corruption.
yes, it's possible for socialist systems to exist and then be dismantled by rich fucks, like social democracy also was in many countries
therefore making them not exist
do you need help with further philosophical concepts
the dissolution of the Soviet Union is not a mystery, many historians have written about it
I'll help you out further: the explanation that it was destroyed due to inefficient economic outcomes is false and rejected by people with a brain
Socialism attempts to increase the wealth of the lower class thus simply cooperating with capitalism. Communism seeks to abolish private property and class in general. They are different.
can I get a citation for that
socialism and communism are literally the same movement, they were historically separated after WW1 when Lenin and the Bolsheviks separated themselves from the european parties that betrayed revolutionary marxism and supported the mass slaughter between nations
people who use the term socialism and apply it to a mixed capitalist economy with social welfare are simply opportunists playing with words, they betray the central tenet of a movement which has existed for centuries
there was no confusion that socialism is the abolition of private property in 1900
I mean, your wrong. Communism may be similar to socialism but it just isnt the same. You can't use them interchangeably when it suits your argument and then cry when its pointed out. I bet the only movement you've actually contributed too happend in your toilet.
Well….Not if you read Marx and the events of the Industrial Revolution of the time.
I mean, sure, the events of today, the economy, workers, owners etc are different in a myriad of ways, but the underlying theory of Marx and fingers exist as a template for the Marxists of today.
Well, not if you read Marx & the events of the Industrial Revolution of the time.
I mean, sure, the events of today, the economy, workers, owners etc are different in a myriad of ways, but the underlying theory of Marx & Engels exist as a template for Marxists on material dialectics of today.
I read the communist manifesto in highschool and some more marx in college. Not much. Its interesting but the dicks online are so toxic they honestly push people away rather then provoke thought.
Socialism is the transitional stage between capitalism and communism dumbass. Communists are also socialists. Socialists aren't necessarily communists, though.
It was dissolved. It's not like it just fell apart. It was intentionally dismantled with the help of the US. The US is the main reason communism hasn't developed globally yet. But all empires fall, as this one currently is. And *that* will be a failure of capitalism.
Sure. Russias economy is nosediving, chinas economy is lower then its been in what? 20 years? The eu is a fucking joke as usual and Indias economy is completely reliant on ours. Pull your head out of your racist white ass.
Wtf are you talking about? China's economy has been growing at a rate above 5%. Not to mention that their economy doesn't work like ours. Wait to see what the US economy is about to do, though. I suggest you invest all your life savings now. It's the perfect time. Trust me. Capitalism is great.
According to the world bank it was 5.2% last year. This might confuse you because you're a fucking idiot, but sometimes planned economies also slow intentionally in transitional periods, which China says they're entering. I don't think they're worried.
Which is why it's puzzling you don't understand neither why communism was desired or why a different reason led to totalitarianism. European history split apart between the 14th and 15th centuries.
In the USSR communism was a means to an end as is the current Orthodox Christianity nationalism Combo serving Putin. A massive lack of civil rights does that to any country.
You're the one who knows nothing about communism, and refuses to learn from people who do. You filter everything through your liberal worldview instead of allowing new information to reshape it. In education, we call that assimilation, and it's typical of people who never learn. Idiots. You.
Sure. I know enough about communism to know this: you are a terrible ambassador for its ethos. I also just fundomentally disagree with the ideology. People should be free to choose. Not forced to comply with a government disguised as "the people". The current system is far from perfect. But...
JFC you don't even understand how revolution works. The end of capitalism is inevitable just like feudalism and slavery. That's just how the world works. The ruling class and empires don't last forever. This ruling class and empire are dying. You're an idiot who doesn't realize that yet.
You're the idiot who thinks a failed ideology will replace it. The roman empire lasted over a thousand years, the umayids, the ottomans. You actually thing the current system is going to change in your lifetime? You're stupid as stupid can be.
No, actually, I think I'll be lucky to see state capitalism take root in my lifetime. That's one of the most annoying of your misunderstands. We know it's going to take more experimentation and multiple generations to get through socialism and achieve communism. But that's where we're headed.
Now you're just projecting. It's ok. There are a lot of men with insecurities like yours. I'm sure you can find a support group. Here's one you might feel comfortable with
You truly seem dense. Care to know why there weren't mass revolutions against the Soviet occupation? Like fascism before and during WWII removing the former ruling class and undesired people, communists removed different profiteers.
Mark Twain wrote a nonfiction memoir about him visiting Russia meeting the tsar and the ottoman empire and visiting the harem. It was a trip into the past while being in the present.
I literally don't care why you have a compulsion that an economic system and not social desires were responsible for oppressing people. Especially because until the 1930s in the USSR the people removed were little liked.
Like the original inhabitants of crimea? Like jews? You spew this communist propoganda with literally no acknowledgement of the harm the ideology did. You can't pass the buck every time. Communist have been saying its a matter of time for over a hundred years. Clocks still ticking, doesnt look good
It has to be ironic when you can't tell the difference between an anticommunist and a communist. You attribute atrocities to regimes without examining context and decide it happened because of communism. Definitely not imperialistic russification by Stalin
It's ironic when self proclaimed communists comoletely ignore that the communist system was the catalyst for several of these atrocities and regimes in the first place. If someone is examining whether or not communism is practical, you only have to look at the result of its implementation.
Except no. Hungary's current president had a father about whom he said for years was very sympathetic to Jews and later he had to hide due to trumped up charges. Reality is quite different.
First he was a willing Nazi collaborator then a voluntary snitch for the communists. The communists are culpable for dragging civilians into the USSR for forced labor.
They are culpable for forced resettlements and starvations. Only, and even anticommunists understand this, they did not come from ideology but imperialistic Russian superiority. White emigres became fascists in the 1930s for the same reason
You just made an argument that's so tired Engles wrote about it 150 years ago. It's short. You should read it.
Also, no one has ever even achieved socialism. You're forgetting that the USSR and China were backwards countries, and in very short periods became industrialized world powers.
Already read it.
You must be forgetting about the tens of millions of people who had to die for forced industrialization. Communism was born in Russia and pretty much died there. China was a shitshow until they adopted their current form of government which can hardly be called communism.
Please go read something about the USSR and China that isn't straight up anticommunist propaganda. Capitalism kills an estimated 10M people a year globally. That's 100M since 2014. Comparing body counts is a stupid way to compare economic systems anyway.
The people who are dead wouldnt think that. And I could say the same to you. Do I think 50 million people died in the cultural revolution? No. But millions did and the ccp destroyed most of one of the oldest and most accomplished society's on earth. You going to champion for Joseph Stalin?
How many of those "50 million" were Nazis? Prisoners who died of natural causes? Do a little research and you'll find it's not so simple at "communism killed 100M people!" That's just propaganda, and you're a fool. And, again, we've killed that many people since 2014 without even trying.
Complete shit. And the cultural revolution was in china. Not too many Nazis there buddy. Lets see the sources for the ten million dead a year from capitalism.
Sorry, all your bullshit gets confusing. It wasn't the cultural revolution that caused those deaths (inflated numbers anyway). It was famine, bad agricultural practices. People, not communism. How many famines were there in capitalist countries in the 20th century? How many people did they kill?
Communism has never been achieved. The best any country can really do without a communist world power is state capitalism. If you knew anything about communism, you'd know about Stalin's socialism in one country problem. (Please tell me you're not confused by the word "socialism" here)
Eminent Indian economist Professor Utsa Patnaik (Jawaharlal Nehru University) has estimated that Britain robbed India of $45 trillion between 1765 and 1938, however it is estimated that if India had r...
Turns out, it’s because you ended up on Kairi’s transphobes list. I’m on it too… for arguing with her about her constant scolding people for posting “too much” about Palestine. She’s a really toxic liar with a massive following. People think they’re blocking transphobes but it’s anyone to her left.
Actually, I think it was someone else's list, now that I think about it. The same thing happened twice. I couldn't figure it out because I thought I had already solved the problem and then it happened again because of another list, which I just unsubbed from. Lists are such garbage.
That is why I don't block using those lists but hide or just label. Seen far too many erroneous cases of people hit with labels that don't apply, eg a tendency for some to report any Palestinian account as antisemitic.
i do nerd out. heavily.
i think it’s cuz i fear that I’m getting old and I’m tryin to reach out to my younger self for tid bits of life. lol. 😆 true story though.
I honestly had no idea I had you blocked. I think you must have been added to the list after I subscribed to it. I dunno. Lists are dumb. Anyway. We're back!
Oohhhh. That makes sense.
Ffs. I just wanted the trans community online to post more BECAUSE I respect their opinions. Jesus fck.
Two of my friends were KILLED by the IDF.
I don’t understand how they made me a villain in all that. Tbh.
Oh, if this was Kairi’s list, she’s absolutely full of shit. She literally puts anyone she doesn’t like for ANY reason on that list. I’m on it *entirely* because I told her to stop scolding people for posting “too much” about Palestine. No one should EVER trust her.
Eh, I'm blocked by over 700 people, and I'm on tons of lists. That was by design, but I lost a lot of followers and got blocked by a lot of people I'd probably be friends with otherwise. I just went too hard when I created this account.
You obviously havent been to China😂. The income inequality there makes the U.S look like utopia.
The means do not always justify the ends. Mao wrestling complete and utter power from anyone who would disagree with him doesnt sound like Marxism....it was a totalitarian regime.
I have been to China twice. Your assertion is false -
Lmao. That's not what communism is. And also, of course any attempt at socialism would turn into a right wing fascist state when the US is literally couping countries to install fascist leaders so they can secure the resources for themselves. Learn some history ffs
IMO, and this is the big one, Jews in the diaspora are being blamed on the actions of the Israeli government. Most of us as a society have decided that collective guilt is wrong. 1/
1- Visa restrictions are a big deal since both governments set up an agreement to allow easier visa access to Israelis. As for Qatar it’s one of the biggest US allies in the region. Literally has US CENTCOM CC in Doha. The Qatari government also has ok relations with-
The 1st match of the nite is for a chance 2 perform @ #WrestleMania#DIY face off against the #CreedBros for a place in the #6PackLadderMatch set 4 one of the big days. It's a tough match cuz #DIY are forced 2 show us why they have 2 work twice as hard. The Bros are big cornfed & don't mind...
I think the biggest issue is the distribution of that prosperity. The top 1% owns half of the wealth. Capital begets capital, even passively. So the 99% of us are trying to build stability on survival money. There’s no cash to spare.
Researchers built database of distribution of wealth for most European countries
“brought the data in line with the available US financial figures”
“allowed them to compare the change in both total household wealth & wealth inequality in Europe & US” www.imperial.ac.uk/news/242756/...
And the hardest part is that even if the rest of us could somehow all agree to protect journalism and coordinate everything we have in the effort…the 1% have as much wealth as all the rest of us put together, and they don’t need any of it to survive
The Sinclair TV owner bought the Baltimore Sun for the same reason Elon Musk bought Twitter and Phil Anschutz bought DC Examiner and Paul Singer created DC Free Beacon and Adelson bought the Vegas R-J and Murdoch bought the WSJ and NY Post…
Yes, most of us did. I was a big supporter of how NZ handled the pandemic in the early years (less so when protections were completely abandoned even for the most vulnerable because businesses gotta business). No criticism of the Covid response here!
Series 1 (Season 1) is largely Lost Media; however, some episodes did survive and, I THINK, are included on Prime as just part of Series 2 to mirror the 2009* DVD release. Some of the lost episodes of Series 1 was remade as Audio Plays back in the mid 20-teens by Big Finish.
1) you don't get to be a billionaire in the first place without being a bastard, and some charity can't wash that away. There are some exceptions but they're rare. 2) Judging people for their actions - accumulating obscene wealth - is the opposite of prejudging someone by something they're born as.
I'm looking for a table or graph of the distribution of US >equity< wealth. Specifically, I wanna know what share of US equity is owned by the top 10, 5 and 1 percent. Any pointers?
Some things I keep to myself and realizing it’s for two reasons.
1) Some things I think are no big deal are sometimes a deal for others. 2) Impostor syndrome conceals the failures as much as the wins
I wonder if 1 is a result of 2 but even as a kid my priorities have usually been different.
I wish but I think the US is stuck in a vicious cycle where the Northeast wield control of the federal government as a whole for the gains of capital wealth. They know the US is too powerful of a machine for them to give up. This happens every time balkanization is attempted. The gains are absorbed.