I hate how “anti-war” has been hijacked by these people to mean, let imperialist countries invade whoever they want with no consequences. (in the case of tankies, any imperialist country that isn’t in NATO).
I hate how “anti-war” has been hijacked by these people to mean, let imperialist countries invade whoever they want with no consequences. (in the case of tankies, any imperialist country that isn’t in NATO).
Are you referring to “What is to be Done?”
Haven’t read it yet, but picked it up a week or two ago and plan on reading it. Stocking up on those kinds of books now while I can still get them.
I learned quite a bit about Marxism-Leninism back in college, but its been years so I don’t recall all the ins and outs and what differentiates them from Stalinism and straight up Marxism.
I will say that I do not consider myself a communist.
That said, Russia’s actions are textbook imperialism. I think the onus is on you to explain to me how it isn’t imperialist.
No, i refer to “Imperialism, highest stage of capitalism” (im translating from the title in my language so maybe its a bit different)
Id suggest you dont take anything from academia about marxism as true. Academics love to cite marx but seldom do follow any marxism. They take the bits they like and forget about the parts they dont. If you want to learn about marxism, read the books of your interest from Marx, Engels and Lenin. Stalinism is revisionism that served to betray the russian revolution.
Russia’s actions regarding Ukraine are beligerant, but thats not what characterize imperialism in the sense that marxists understand the term. Lenin gives us 5 (if im not mistaken) points that make a country imperialist. People tend to understand imperialism in the Roman Empire sense (that is, being an agressive beligerant), but history has evolved quite a lot since then. If you use the Roman rule, sure, russia is imperialist; if you use the marxist rule, its not. Id suggest you read the book, its quite understandable, and you dont have to agree with him, but its good to know how he thinks anyway.
I had a “History of Socialism” class taught by a Georgian Muslim (I believe; at the very least he was very knowledgeable about Islam) professor who clearly had a pro-socialist bias so I wouldn’t worry about that lol
So you’re just arguing about what the word means at that point I guess… I am against what Russia is doing whether you want to call it imperialism or not.
I dont agree with you that its just a discussion about words. How you characterize a situation will determine how you act/position yourself. But thats not the point of this discussion.
You dont have to agree we me, but i salute your atitude of trying to understand what im saying even when you disagree. For communists, the most important thing is the fight against imperialism. As you said, you are not a communist, so its understandable that you dont agree with that position (or with our defition of imperialism).
Ill give you an example. Say that some group is trying to get rid of the imperialist domination over Haiti in order to sell crack to everyone. Still, we side against imperialism (if you want to know why i can explain). Do we support Russia, putin or anything like that? No. But we support their struggle against imperialism.
The thing is, in politics you need a clear understanding of whats important. For us, the most important point is the fight against imperialism. Everything else comes after. Sometimes people get confused because it means that we will side with “bad” things, like siding with Taliban against the USA. As most people dont have a clear priority list of problems in politics, they tend to side with whatever “feels right” im every situation (and that without counting with the weight the press throws in what the population feels is right). You see russia invading ukraine, it feels right to side with ukraine, the media tells you putin is evil, etc. But when you dont have a clear understanding of things, you soon end up with lots of contradictions, like supporting ukraine (vs Russia) and palestine (vs “Israel”), when one is with and the other is against imperialism, to give a common example of our days.
You don’t think that there are things that take precedent over “stopping imperialism”? Does stopping imperialism take precedence over stopping genocide?
No. As i said, thats the number one political goal for marxists.
Thats a good question. If this situation ever happen, it will open a debate for us. All i can answer you now is that usually genocide is commited by imperialism.
The Holomodor?
I don’t know if it fits the academic definition of “genocide,” but millions died under Mao unnecessarily in the CCP’s pursuit of communism.
I dont know about the Holodomor enought to tell if it was a huge mistake or a deliberated thing. But anyway, it doesnt look like a fight against imperialism (as i said, i dont know much about this), so what would it be the case to “support” it?
About Mao, it was not a genocide, it was a war. War is war. A lot of people die, mostly without necessity, and he was fighting against imperialism (represented by Chiang Kai-shek). Do we like the fact that a lot of people died? No. Was there any other way to fight imperialism? Also no. So, yes, we support the fight Mao fought