The left’s main vulnerability is splitting and infighting. We are terrible at it. This is known.

To build revolutionary change, a revolutionary party is needed. It must do its work and carry on its work. In the military, they taught me that the number one priority is preserving your ability to fight. It’s ok if you have setbacks, lose equipment or men or tactical position or advantage; but it’s a catastrophe if you lose the capacity to fight.

Leftist infighting is what robs the movement of its ability to fight on. It kills the movements. (The Buddhists know this, and consider ‘creating a schism in the sangha’ the supreme sin. That’s a tangent, but the Buddhists have maintained an ideological movement for 26 centuries so they’re doing something right.)

We need to mock people who shame other leftists for impurity, who insult them for making mistakes. Liu Shaoqi said: “The attitude of some Party members towards these shortcomings and mistakes and towards those comrades who have incorrect ideas is one of “bitter hatred and gall”. They lightly sever all relations with comrades who have committed some mistake and whom they attempt to expel from the Party outright.

It is ok for comrades to make mistakes in action, and to have mistaken beliefs. That’s the completely normal, inevitable part of having a movement. In fact, that’s all a movement is: listening to people’s beliefs, listening to their wrong beliefs, correcting them, unifying the thought of the party, unity makes strength. It is not ok to have incorrect ideas of “bitter hatred and gall”, and lightly sever all relations with comrades who have committed some mistake.

MAO MADE 30% MISTAKES, INCLUDING CAUSING THE BIGGEST FAMINE IN HUMAN HISTORY!!! If you can forgive that, you can forgive someone who made an off-colour tweet when they were a teenager.

People who try to cancel comrades for stuff they did/said in the distant past, or for non-core differences of opinion, are dong the imperialists work for them: dismantling the socialist movement.

PS: the aim is always to have a cohesive, united, strong movement with the correct views. Anything that serves the aim is good. Anything that wrecks the aim is bad.

  • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    The Chinese Famine of 1906 - 07 was probably larger from a mortality standpoint, though it didn’t last as long. The so-called Great Chinese Famine is only the greatest if you take maximalist anticommunist numbers, and recent scholarship is generally in the direction of it being significantly overestimated. Both that death toll and Mao’s “30%” (while he did make serious mistakes, let me be clear) are things that were basically encouraged to be exaggerated even in China itself because of the Dengist revolt and new orthodoxy needing to discourage support for Mao-era policy.

    What I’m saying is that your anti-wrecking post contains wrecking.

  • bumpusoot [any]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    Hear me out hexbears, we have an infighting problem, therefore we should infight the infighters.

    I agree we should forgive comrades more for making mistakes. I disagree that a philosophy of ‘bully the bullies’ is a sustainable approach to maintaining a community.

  • sub_ubi
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    2 months ago

    Shaming wreckers is infighting, op.

  • electric_nan
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    2 months ago

    I like your post, but there’s hella different sects of Buddhism.

  • AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    Alphabet infiltration of leftist movements has been incredibly successful historically speaking.

    If you wanna know what kind of behavior to be on the lookout for, or what kind of behavior to watch yourself for (it’s easier than you think to accidentally help your enemies) check out the sabateurs guide hosted by our alphabetic friends themselves.

    Infighting, spurred by capitalists, has historically weakened and destroyed leftist movements very successfully. In order to have any chance cohesion is paramount.

  • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I love how leftists will agree on 99% of things, but become sworn enemies with other leftists over AI or the ideal brand of masks or outdoor cats or some shit. I love purity testing and infighting so much, and COINTELPRO has been great.

    • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      Knew a guy who wouldn’t volunteer at a soup kitchen because it was run by trots and he was an anarchist. Such a weird hangup. Like, okay dude they think society should be structured this way after the revolution and you think it should be that way? Okay, what does that have to do with making soup for the houseless?

    • Vampire [any]@hexbear.netOP
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      2 months ago

      This comrade gets it.

      It’s about the economic base. If you believe in worker-control, you are a comrade.

  • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I do not care if someone is “good” or even a socialist. I care if their actions will contribute to our aid socialism. I don’t care if Norman Finkelstein is transphobic. I don’t care what George Galloway said about this, that, or the other thing. I don’t care what any historical figure said about gay people. If they work to contribute to socialism, they are a comrade.

    • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      I love how leftists will agree on 99% of things but become sworn enemies with other leftists over AI or masks or outdoor cats or some shit.

      I don’t care if Norman Finkelstein is transphobic.

      What the fuck are you talking about, your other comment is about outdoor cats, now you talk about transphobia as if both are remotely the same thing. You have zero credibility if that is how you see the world.

      Building socialism by supporting opinions that directly harm the people you want to help. The most generous take here is you’re completely lost.

      • [Y]our other comment is about outdoor cats, now you talk about transphobia as if both are remotely the same thing.

        They aren’t. That’s why they are two different comments. If I wanted to compare them, they would be one comment instead of two.

        • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          2 months ago

          You must be joking,seriously there is no way this is your argument lol.

          Imagine one comment

          “I wish global leftists would focus on material issues since we tend to agree 99% of the time”

          and another comment

          “You know I don’t think nazism, white supremacy, xenophobia or transphobia are not particularly relevant issues, so long as they’re helping to build communism I’m fine with any of that”.

          Would you see that user as a clown or not? You literaly undermine the premise of the first one, what exactly is the 1% if not any of these things? Jesus take your head of your ass lol.

          • bumpusoot [any]@hexbear.net
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            2 months ago

            My assumption, and I’m sure I’ll be corrected if not. Is that she’s saying specific opinions and soundbites aren’t as relevant as actions.

            If a person’s actions are actively building a better world for minorities (eg gommunism), then I’d argue you’re fairly justified in working with them as a comrade, despite any stupid wrong beliefs about minorities they may have. The focus on material issues is about building a better world, without first necessitating everyone has 100% correct beliefs.

      • Norman’s use is his academic work and knowledge about the history of Palestine. Once his other beliefs start to become more known or overshadow his usefulness, that becomes a problem. However, as it stands, his most know and most widely published content is on Palestine and is helpful. For someone who serves as a knowledge base on Palestine, the line where he becomes counterproductive would be Zionism.

    • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      The PRC did embrace Lysenkoism after the USSR had abandoned it, possibly out of fervor or possibly out of contrarianism, and along with other factors this was one of the causes of the famines in the 60s. By that time the PRC was by far the most populous country in history, and a few % dying puts it in the highest of absolute numbers.

  • heggs_bayer [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    What makes someone a wrecker in the context of a forum/shitposting space like Hexbear? We’re not a party or org, so I’m not even sure what the equivalent to splitting the party would be here.

  • REgon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I still think it’s bad that wrecker-jacketing is now no longer allowed. There’s so many obvious wreckers that just get away with shit because people don’t think about it anymore.
    Can’t even post fedposting anymore. Because of woke >:(