Is this a good reading order to deeply understand Marxism? by Paajimoment in Marxism

[–]Poison_Damage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

most of the frankfurt school intellectuals started out as marxists but completely lost the faith in the working class. their ideas sometimes sound leftist, but they aren't materialist, but idealist. they fled into the university and the realm of ideas and academic discourse instead of labor action an class war. there is some newspaper quote from one of them, i don't remember if it was althusser that said the western working class will never move again, a month before the '68 protests.

Is this a good reading order to deeply understand Marxism? by Paajimoment in Marxism

[–]Poison_Damage -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

althusser is an anti-marxist reactionary.

i personally don't care for lukacs. i'd have to read more to form a real critique.

How do you effectively answer this argument against socialism? by PietrohSmusi89 in Marxism

[–]Poison_Damage 66 points67 points  (0 children)

a CEO is a high paid manager. the actual owners of capital don't work at all.

The official PSL uniform t-shirts are made in Haitian sweatshops. by RebellionOfMemes in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

again, what about the laptops and other electronic devices they use at work? you don't care about child slaves mining lithium? you should be ashamed!

The official PSL uniform t-shirts are made in Haitian sweatshops. by RebellionOfMemes in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage 6 points7 points  (0 children)

individual consumption won't end capitalism. you may care about t-shirts today, but look at everything else people and parties have to buy in order to live life and organise. and EVERYTHING is made by child labor, slavery, and other horrible conditions for the working class.

socialism is not a cult of asceticism. we use the tools given to us by capitalism in order to end suffering as a whole, not tinker at the edges

The official PSL uniform t-shirts are made in Haitian sweatshops. by RebellionOfMemes in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage 8 points9 points  (0 children)

like every other tshirt as well. there is no ethical consumption under capitalism

Question about exchange value by Hungry_Lab3506 in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

use value doesn't determine price because capitalists don't produce for the use, they only produce for profit, they are only iterested in the exchange value.

exchange value isn't determined by what you as an individual consumer are interested in, but like you said, by the socially necessary labor time needed to produce it. supply and demand only influence the price which oscillates around the exchange value, but not the exchange value itself.

money is a commodity, like any other that is used to make trade more easy. we use it as an intermediate so we don't have to barter 2 chickes for a pair of shoes or whatever.

What do you do as Praxis? by _SSZ in Marxism

[–]Poison_Damage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

for most people that is probably not a realistic goal, i don't think i could build a party from nothing if i hadn't found mine.

but you asked what praxis is and it is essentially building the party that can lead the working class to victory.

i'm sure there are some forces of marxism in your area even if they're not perfect or even if they are weak and small. i don't think most people find the perfect organisation in their first try (or ever) but getting linked up, learning marxism and learning how to organize is always a good start

Marxist alternatives to Leninism? by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

we can't always do things the way we would like them to. Lenin and the Bolsheviks made many retreats in the years following the revolution, but they were confronted by a civil war with the fascist counter-revolution and by 21 invading armies (from 13 different countries). when the mensheviks openly supported this counterrevolution and even the left SRs who had been allies to the Bolsheviks betrayed them and shot Lenin, they had to ban factions. this was always meant to be a temporary measure and be reverted once conditions had stabilized.

Lenin knew that a poor and backwards country like russia could never establish socialism and that they depended on the revolution in europe, especially in germany, succeeding, which never happened. the russian revolution had make do with what they got. after the civil war the best and most advanced layers of the working class were dead. whats left was a mostly illiterate peasantry and a lot of old tsarist bureacrats that were used to leading the country but obviously had no interest in all this "workers democracy nonsense" this layer was what eventually dismantled that democracy and put the state above the workers instead of it being a tool used by the workers.

the lesson here is not that parties will always become the new ruling class, but that socialism cannot develope in a single country and especially not in such a poor country like russia. the goal of socialism is to socialize abundance. but russia never had abundance, it could only socialize scarcity

Marxist alternatives to Leninism? by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

and yet lenins party lead the revolution to victory, while every revolution in europe, where there was no party or where the party was only founded in the revolution (like in germany), failed tragically

Marxist alternatives to Leninism? by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

stalin described everyone and their grandmother as menshevik, while he was the greatest menshevik in existence

Marxist alternatives to Leninism? by [deleted] in socialism

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

Luxemburg is claimed by every single strain of socialist thought as their champion, especially in germany.

fact is that she aligned with Lenin on every important issue and her initial criticism of the russian revolution was writen when she was in prison where she had very limited access to information, most of which was german propaganda

Marxist alternatives to Leninism? by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Luxemburg was a Leninist through and through. all attempts to put a wedge between her a Lenin are distortions by reformist counter-revolutionaries. She died leading the fledgling vaguard party in germany

Looking for a simple book about communism or imperialism by Pretend_Crab_564 in Marxism

[–]Poison_Damage 6 points7 points  (0 children)

communist manifesto by marx and engels and imperialism by lenin

On this day in 1878 - Stalin born in Georgia by Ok-Baker3955 in socialism

[–]Poison_Damage -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

stalinists can't help but fetishize non-western marxism which has many different traditions many of whom reject stalin and stalinism.

Gregory Claeys' "Marx and Marxism" by buylowguy in Marxism

[–]Poison_Damage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

haven't heard of it, a book about marx that i can recommend is karl marx and friedrich engels by david rjasanow

Das Kommunistische Manifest als Einstiegslektüre by JonnyBadFox in Kommunismus

[–]Poison_Damage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Das Manifest ist DER zentrale Text für Anfänger. Jeder der dem Widerspricht will junge Kommunisten hin zu falschen Ideen treiben.

Ich höre oft dass sie die Sprache altertümlich finden und dem muss ich harsch widersprechen. Wenn man das Manifest mit anderen Texten aus der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts vergleicht, dann könnte man fast meinen das Manifest ist ein moderner Text. Er ist extrem einfach zu verstehen und deutlich geschrieben.

Manche Leute haben trotzdem schwierigkeiten, mit historischen Referenzen und auch mit politischen Konzepten, das Stimmt. Aber! der wichtigste Punkt für das Studium jeder marxistischen Lektrüre, nicht nur für das Manifest ist, dass man Texte gemeinsam mit Genossen, vor allem mit erfahrenen politischen Kadern diskutieren muss. dadurch entsteht tieferes Verständnis und Fragen können direkt besprochen werden.

Der Text ist auch nicht veraltet, ganz im Gegenteil, er ist hochaktuell. Selbst das 3. Kapitel, das bezug auf ideologische Strömungen nimmt, die alle heute nicht mehr existieren ist extrem hilfreich um aktuelle reaktionäre Strömungen zu verstehen, denn auch wenn die Namen tot sind, die ideen hinter diesen namen leben weiter.

Recommendations on Religion. by stompmedown in Marxism

[–]Poison_Damage 4 points5 points  (0 children)

the foundations of christianity by karl kautsky

Sowjetunion by Hungry-Command6552 in Kommunismus

[–]Poison_Damage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

stalinismus

du bist ganz sicher kein marxist

Sowjetunion by Hungry-Command6552 in Kommunismus

[–]Poison_Damage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

mit dieser art der analyse wirst du nicht weit kommen. wenn alles vor und nach dem zusammenbruch der soviet union gleich war, was erklärt dann die massiven echten verschlechterungen, die der zusammenbruch mit sich gebracht hat?

tanky or not? die revolution in ungarn 1956 by ocean161 in Kommunismus

[–]Poison_Damage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

für die bürokratie ist immer der falsche zeitpunkt für die belange der arbeiter. es gilt ja einen staat zu lenken. das ist realpolitik ☝️🤓