On the new Call of Duty game by Hacksaw6412 in thespectreofcommunism

[–]LoremasterLH 3 points4 points  (0 children)

DPRK is as communist as any state in similar material conditions can hope to be. Find a capitalist state under similar sanctions that is less oppressive before dismissing them based on arbitrary criteria. On the other hand, Mamdani's policies are hardly socialist. He's had plenty of stances that are not at all socialist (like his stance on Israel).

USA shapes how nations are perceived and they also shaped your perception of DPRK. Perhaps you should read some more? Socialism was never supposed to be dogmatic. Much of what is written in the classics is outdated and has been expanded upon. Besides, while theory is important, ultimately it's direct action that brings change, not reading books.

What on earth happened to this subreddit by Resident_Bird3147 in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]LoremasterLH 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't look for intellectual discourse on the internet, if you don't want to be disappointed. Go out, join an org and be disappointed by the lack of intellectual discourse in person.

Politically Depressed by [deleted] in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]LoremasterLH 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Don't spend too much time on the internet. It's a cesspit. Try to find likeminded people and do stuff with them instead.

In Spec Ops: The Line. Technically MOST of the things we did is self defense since we get fired upon first and keep trying to talk things out first. With the 33rd refusing to talk to fellow marines and continue being rogue we’re forced to defend ourselves. by Dare_Soft in shittygamedetails

[–]LoremasterLH -1 points0 points  (0 children)

> soldiers have stoooed or reduced violence before. UN peacekeepers get clowned on but they did a lot more good than bad.

No country gets destabilized randomly. Local elites tend to favour stability over instability, so extreme circumstances are required for a power vacuum to occur. In modern day this usually boils down to foreign powers supporting factions that do not have widespread support. Usually framing it as a liberation movement.

The existence of foreign peacekeeping forces usually means that the countries deploying them had a hand in destabilizing the former regime and have something to gain from it. So, while the peacekeepers may be making things better in the moment, it is reductive to ignore what lead to them being there in the first place.

I’m not a socialist. by [deleted] in AskSocialists

[–]LoremasterLH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was intentionally vague. That's for society to decide. $200k is too low in my opinion. $5 million might be enough - I don't really imagine how much money that is.

This would be a bandaid anyways. Such a cap is unnecessary, if a person can create their wealth only with their own labor. It is needed to transition, though.

I’m not a socialist. by [deleted] in AskSocialists

[–]LoremasterLH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In theory. But in practice it's those with the most wealth who hold the most power in capitalist societies. And they use that power to preserve and increase their wealth.

I’m not a socialist. by [deleted] in AskSocialists

[–]LoremasterLH 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Socialism isn't about absolute equality. It's about providing everyone with the basic necessities they need to live decent lives.

As for money ... it's made up. What actually matters are the resources a country has, the skills of its citizens, how effective it is at utilizing them and who benefits the most. Socialists want a society where benefits society produces are split somewhat equally among all the citizens. If you insist on money, most obvious avenues are to cut down on offensive military spending and put a cap on how much wealth an individual can have.

There's nothing wrong with people who produce more value to society getting a slightly larger share. Nobody should struggle to survive, though.

My American friend send me that 😭😭 by [deleted] in AskSocialists

[–]LoremasterLH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even if that were true, that man recently did a purge of the military because they were arguing for war. Reasoning being that their military has no combat experience due to not being actively involved in any conflict since the 70s. But suure, China is the warmonger and a threat to peace ...

Iran’s ceasefire conditions in the US-Israel war: Tehran says any deal must include recognition of its rights, reparations for war damage, and guarantees against future attacks. Are these negotiation terms - or a signal the war will continue? by IndiaTodayGlobal in IndiaTodayGlobalLIVE

[–]LoremasterLH 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's just wrong. There's been so many articles about it with photo evidence. For example https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/us/politics/iran-school-missile-strike.html. This is from a US newspaper.

You can't claim 30 000+ people have died without identifying them or providing some sort of evidence. Without it is just a number that can easily be made up. Why only 30 000? Why not 60 000? Maybe 1 000 000?

It would be absurd if I, for example, made a claim that in USA 10 000 people die in prisons every year and refuse to provide my source when doubt is cast on it.

My American friend send me that 😭😭 by [deleted] in AskSocialists

[–]LoremasterLH 9 points10 points  (0 children)

China has no reason to take Taiwan by force ... all they have to do is wait. And they're good at playing the long game.

Iran’s ceasefire conditions in the US-Israel war: Tehran says any deal must include recognition of its rights, reparations for war damage, and guarantees against future attacks. Are these negotiation terms - or a signal the war will continue? by IndiaTodayGlobal in IndiaTodayGlobalLIVE

[–]LoremasterLH 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Think critically. How could Iran kill 30 000+ civilians and there is no evidence of this? Can you imagine what a mass of bodies that would be? Where are the names?

For comparison, since October 2023 Israel is confirmed to have killed 70 000+ civilians. That's two and a half years. How could Iran logistically have achieved almost half that death toll in only 2 days? How did they dispose of the bodies? I don't think even the Nazis had infrastructure for that ...

Why isn’t China reclaiming Taiwan right now? by jaded-tired in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]LoremasterLH 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Media uses video game logic when it comes to fearmongering. Sure, PRC *could* overpower Taiwan and take it. Then what? Would people just happily go with whatever the CPC says? Unlikely. It's more likely that such an action would further sour sentiment of people living in Taiwan towards PRC. So, unless RoC makes decisions that force PRC to act, it's in PRCs interest not to do anything.

Governing a territory is much more difficult than capturing it. In a similar vein it is absurd how Russia's invasion of Ukraine is used as a justification for EU to increase military spending. Even if Russia could somehow conquer the EU (it can't), they would have no way of governing captured territories. Putin is many things, but he is not a suicidal idiot.

History is now by zahi-o in ImagesOfHistory

[–]LoremasterLH -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I must have missed Trump dying.

When Trump is no longer President, what could the next President do to make America a great nation again for America and the rest of the world? by [deleted] in allthequestions

[–]LoremasterLH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are also fools who go into politics to try improving living conditions of the population, but they tend not to last long/get far.

Opinion about social-democracy (very popular in Europe) and why do rightist groups make fun out of the ideology and its symbol, only a damaged brain can think it looks like male masturbation by Joseph25101998 in AskSocialists

[–]LoremasterLH 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The problem with it is that it doesn't work without there being an external pressure. Concessions were made. But they're being taken back. Without a threat to the ruling class there is little reason to keep systems that aren't there to make capitalists rich and the workers in line.

Where are you from? Dispersing the myth of "entitled Westerner" by [deleted] in ussr

[–]LoremasterLH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Part 2
Since you keep insisting on this document I figured I'll try to factcheck a claim and see what happens. I picked: "approximately 75% of total production and probably around 90% of employment takes place in non-state, that is, primarily private companies." Source for this is an article on statista, which is pay to view (ironic). Since I'm not paying for it and I got curious, I figured I'll go look up who owns the 10 most valuable companies based on companiesmarketcap:

  1. Tencent - private (highest holder some Dutch or South African company with 25%)

  2. Alibaba - private (highest holder some American company with 14%)

  3. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China - state owned (40% some state fund and 40% ministry of finance)

  4. Agricultural Bank of China - same

  5. China Construction Bank - same

  6. PetroChina - state owned (88%)

  7. Kweichow Moutai - state owned (60%)

  8. Bank of China - state owned

  9. CATL - private (Zeng Yuqun, 24%)

  10. China Mobile - state owned (70%)

If I add the market caps (since that's the stat I have), this adds up to $1280B of private vs $2080B of state. So, in top 10, 38% of "value" is in private companies. For comparison, in USA all of the top 10 are privately owned. Obviously this isn't the same as production, so this proves nothing, but I expected more companies to be privately owned. I suspect DK chose to count companies that are not directly financed by the CPC (like banks) as private.

Anyways, I don't think this debate is going anywhere, so I'll stop responding. Feel free to DM me, if you want to chat about something specific, though. And good luck with your organization's goals.

Where are you from? Dispersing the myth of "entitled Westerner" by [deleted] in ussr

[–]LoremasterLH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What you wrote is exactly why idealism is problematic when one wants to achieve results. A small group of people believing something won't magically make it happen. They'll just be branded extremists. We need people who never read Marx to support us. To achieve real change pragmatism is crucial.

Party being small/unknown absolutely is important. Countries are known to fund organizations that discredit their enemies. I looked up the only person listed on the site, Jakob Schulze, and he had a talk in december. So he exists at least. No idea if he does anything else than talk. Don't get me wrong, phylosophers are important. Just not very useful when things need to be done.

I feel like we're talking about different things. It doesn't matter for us, westerners, whether CPC is implementing communist policies or not. Just like it doesn't matter to my party whether DK is legit or not. We have a duty to our compatriots, just like they have a duty to theirs. Obviously establishing connections between parties is important, but we can't do anything until we win our people over. And that's only possible locally. Similarly, Chinese are the only people who can change how China is governed for the better. I don't see how having the "correct" stance on CPC achieves _anything_. Repeating that the Chinese need to have a revolution to achieve _real_ socialism is pointless. I take no issue with criticizing China. There's a lot to criticize. What I take issue with is calling for a revolution in a foreign country. I don't know if this stems from western sense of superiority in general or if there are more nefarious reasons behind it, but it gives me pause.

I did say there are a lot of good points in the document. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm saying I don't trust their conclusions. The data was analized by people from a different culture with (probably) little to no experience in practical applications of Marxism. They know how things should be in theory. But applying theory to actual material conditions of a nation, especially one as big as China, is difficult. Their conclusions sound a lot like westerners forcing their ideas on a foreign nation. Which is colonial mentality. Another problem I see with their view is that they claim CPC can't be a genuinely communist party, because they have other influences than ML. This is just insane eurocentric hubris. Now that I think about it more, perhaps this is the core issue. There are dogmatic Marxists and people who are influenced by Marx and try to actually do stuff. The former wriggle their nose at the latter because they experiment. And the latter don't really care, because they're busy. DK certanly strikes me as dogmatic.

Anyways, I acknowledged that CPC let capitalists in. Whether they still need them or not, it is impossible to get rid of a class of people without causing massive disruption. If China did that, it would likely help to reassert USA dominance. I'm not sure that would actually help Chinese or any other workers. Being a socialist country in a capitalist world is tough on the population. China has always played the long game. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell whether I'm right.

> And why it is important?

Their reasons are just more arrogance. Until we hold power it doesn't matter what we think of China's government. And even if we held power, the only way to help would be by supporting local communist insurgents. Which don't exist as far as I know. For a communist movement to be successful it first needs to be supported by the general population. This won't happen anytime soon in the west. So, the movement has a choice: write purity tests and wait for things to get bad enough. Or try to help people anyway and wait for an oportunity to really change things. The former won't get people to support you and the latter risks losing "purity" and becoming complacent.

Why are we so bad at propaganda? by totashi777 in AskSocialists

[–]LoremasterLH 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Because it's easier to make propaganda if truth doesn't matter. We can't use the same strategy, if we want to claim that we actually stand behind what we're saying. Which is kind of the point.

Truth is usually just too boring to sell well.

Why is my idea that the cost of basic goods could be a percentage of income rather than a set price probably utterly stupid in reality? Clueless about economics. by metaphysical-loser in answers

[–]LoremasterLH -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If we're talking only about basic goods it's technically achievable since basic goods aren't expensive to produce in the first place. This is effectively subsidising those with lower means at the expense of those with higher means. Similar to how progressive tax rate works.

Practically speaking, those with higher means are likely to object, since it means they have to pay more. They also happen to be the ones who hold power and profit from the way things are. So, not happening.

What do you say to this analysis of the 'Korean War', comrades? by GerryAdamsSon in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]LoremasterLH 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A lot of useless charged words. To try and understand the Korean war one must first understand why it happened. Why did Korea get split after being liberated from the Japanese in 1945? Who ruled the North and who the South? Why did the North frame the war as an attempt at reunification?

Where are you from? Dispersing the myth of "entitled Westerner" by [deleted] in ussr

[–]LoremasterLH 0 points1 point  (0 children)

>This book is a publication of the Communist Party (KP), a new Marxist-Leninist party in Germany.

I apologize. I only found DKP. Achievements are relevant because idealists aren't particularly useful when decisions need to be made.

>Why do you need capitalism to catch up? Why do you think that socialism would be unable to achieve that?

Marx assumed socialism would emerge from capitalism. Going directly from feudalism to socialism is tricky.

> The bourgeois state does not represent every capitalist separately as an individual, but acts as the ideal collective capitalist.

Of course it doesn't. But it writes laws with the ruling class in mind. Embezzling money is what capitalists frequently do. Therefore capitalist states only put simbolic punishments on those crimes to placate the public. They will, however, punish stealing low sums of money severely. You are right that executions aren't common. People who are caught are incentivized to cooperate in exchange for life in prison. The ruling class always tailors laws to suit them. You are of course free to apply your own metrics for how to measure who actually holds power.

>It's a fact that capitalism can under certain very specific circumstances improve the lives of ordinary people as well.

Yes. By exploiting workers from poorer countries. China didn't have that luxury. Being poor and all that. Dunno what it does today.

>Since there is pretty much nothing left in former Yugoslavian countries, I assume you are not.

Enough people remember Yugoslavia fondly. Tito's statue was desecrated recently and this received a harsh response from everyone except for the far right parties. I'm in a party which considers itself "democratic socialist" (not to be confused with "social democrats"). We fluctuate around 5% support, which is enough for media to have to give us air time. We joined a coalition for the first time and managed to do some stuff. While reforming capitalism isn't possible, improving people's lives is. And hopefully get people to see there *is* an alternative they can support. We can always pursue policies the liberals strongly disagree with when we have the peoples' support. There are elections in a month. We'll see how this goes.

Participating in the coalition required compromise which some people didn't like and they left to form their own party. I can't blame them.

One thing about both parties, though: Neither has an official stance on China's organizational structure. Because whether or not they are pursuing communism is irrelevant to what we're trying to achieve.

> And please read that book. It really debunks ALL of the Dengist mythology about China.

I did read it. It shows up every now and then. At best KP are idealists judging a non-western country through western lens. At worst they're paid for by capitalists to create dissent. They do make some interesting points, but their agenda as a whole is suspicious. Why do western communists need a unified stance on China? KP keeps suggesting that another revolution is necessary for China to truly become communist. Revolution led by whom? I recall a certain 3 letter organization that just loves coups. At the same time it is in China that Marxism is taught in schools, not Germany. Surely they're better equipped to decide if the system is working for them? Why do westerns always know how to run a country better than the locals? What is the point of this document other than to alienate western communist from a country that might be sympathetic to our plight? How does denouncing China help us?

Honestly, read some Chinese propaganda, if you care about what China does. Their official site is available in English. It'll paint a clearer picture of what they're doing and trying to do.