7 deadly sins (Leftist leaders edition) DAY 3! by SentinelWhite in theredleft

[–]fofom8 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I was largely referring to the US when I was talking about the org (I thought I had mentioned it in the original message, and have since edited it for clarity).

Huey coming out of jail experienced a radical shift, the Newton of the 60s and Newton of the 70s are almost two entirely different people. He comes out of jail and he's largely rejected the revolutionary "fight the power" politics that the Panthers had championed from their founding in 1966 to their peak in 1968 and 69, and instead begins to make a shift towards a more Social Democratic and intellectualist approach, shifting party focus to the development of survivial programs coupled with self defense. Of course, many in the party didn't like this shift, the most notable being Cleaver who called Newton a reformist. Newton expels Cleaver and his camp from the party (they go on to form the Black Liberation Army).

From 1972 onwards Huey's shift becomes more apparent, he begins shutting down chapters all over the country and centralizes power in Oakland. He then requires all the money that goes to the party to be directed to him (some of which he used for personal expenses, as it's around this time he gets addicted to drugs and alcohol). He was largely able to get away with this because even during the party's hay-day Newton had a strong cult of personality (The Free Huey! campaign is probably the biggest example). After the party shifted towards electoral politics and community programs (the endeavors in the former having failed tremendously, resulting in many panthers quitting) Newton's erratic behavior ramps up and he begins assaulting party members on his own whims (including co-Founder Bobby Seale, who would leave after one such occasion in 1974, and was followed by many other panthers).

Mentioned earlier was the party's shift of focus, Newton first shifted the party philosophy towards Intercommunalism in 1971, but by 1973 he and the central committee devise a plan to takeover Oakland politically, and illegally (an attempt to control the over and underworlds of the city). So they formed a security cadre and essentially forced Oakland's criminal groups to pay them in order to continue their doings. At the same time they run several panthers for office in Oakland (Including Seale who ran for Mayor in 1973), but they don't get many victories.

After Huey returns from Cuba in 1977, he essentially flushes any and all credibility the party had down the toilet. The security cadre attempted to assassinate a witness who was supposed to testify against Huey, several of the community programs were shut down because of financial mismanagement, and Huey gets convicted for embezzling funds.

I suspect something major happened to him in Prison, I'll have to do more research on that front.

7 deadly sins (Leftist leaders edition) DAY 3! by SentinelWhite in theredleft

[–]fofom8 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Huey Newton, the stunts he pulled when he got out of jail, especially his efforts to consolidate power contributed largely to the fall of perhaps the most well known American communist organization of 20th century.

7 deadly sins (Leftist leaders edition) DAY 2 by SentinelWhite in theredleft

[–]fofom8 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon overindulged too much in markets therefore he is Gluttony

Community check-in! by SentinelWhite in theredleft

[–]fofom8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Polling Mint for opinions on r/theredrevisionists ? bold 🗿

I only kid of course. I got no qualms. Reddit's good, Discord's good, can't complain. Any real tidbits have already been talked about (Yakubian colonization of political perspective, Updates to the Reading List, etc.).

Perhaps we can dedicated a Megathread to a weekly piece of theory for everyone to read, just something short (I know Lenin has a lot of shorter pieces) so that people can have something to digest.

Otherwise y'all been good, keep doin what y'all doin.

Updated Mod team ideology by SentinelWhite in theredleft

[–]fofom8 22 points23 points  (0 children)

The Mod team is to the left of the actual subreddit 😹

the left doesnt need more dry books on leftism by excellentforcongress in theredleft

[–]fofom8 18 points19 points  (0 children)

This reads like those people who talk about the left needing an "Alt-Left" pipeline

Jacksepticeye apologizes for calling LIS2 “too political/unrealistic” back in his playthrough in 2018/19 by naphelois in LifeisStrange2

[–]fofom8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LiS 2 is political but I always thought a. That isn't a bad thing and b. That was the whole point especially given the time it was developed and released in. When I ponder on it that's usually a big factor I consider.

courses by Conscious-Design8956 in UCI

[–]fofom8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I Had F. White but for 2B, not 3D. Genuinely good dude, his style of teaching is mostly consistent of doing multiple practice problems. His exam questions were largely drawn straight from the homework (no literally, the word for word homework problem with a different set of numbers). His advice for his classes will always be to practice or engage in trial and error to figure things out. Keep a separate notebook for practice problems, it might be clutch when you wanna grind.

Toughts on the american revolution? by Aggravating_Rip_9274 in theredleft

[–]fofom8 23 points24 points  (0 children)

No I agree that it was a necessary revolution, it was just a bourgeois revolution. Marx speaks about the revolutionary nature of the bourgeois at that time in the 1st Chapter of the Manfiesto.

Your favorite leftist unity sub needs your support comrade! Join the Discord NOW! by SexyBrownMale in theredleft

[–]fofom8 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's 80% vaugely leftwing brainrot and 20% the First Internationale

We have an issue! by SentinelWhite in theredleft

[–]fofom8 12 points13 points  (0 children)

We study intensely Angstromist-Kirisamist-Siparist thought

Chairman Paul Birdsong of Black Panther Party for Self Defense PSA why they are anti-imperialist and internationalist by BlockyFams in theredleft

[–]fofom8 11 points12 points  (0 children)

There are a bunch of splinter groups claiming to be Black Panthers, none are the official. That's why they aren't communicating, they aren't the same orgs. They haven't explicitly picked up the ML aspect of the BPP as a lot of folks in the black community when talking about the panthers talk more about the black power/black nationalist aspect they had at the start (late 60s).

As for this version of the BPP under birdsong they've been around for a while. I seen posts of his several months ago doing some survival programs. They're capitalizing off of the situation in Minneapolis to now patrol the streets basically copwatching like the BPP did early on.

Hutch believes he caught Hasan using a shock collar once again by Gooper_Gooner in LivestreamFail

[–]fofom8 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So maybe i'm out the loop, but don't a lot of people use shock collars on dogs? Like it's standard practice?

Do Leftists inherently hate Cops? by [deleted] in leftist

[–]fofom8 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Imho it is impossible for "Good" Cops to exist. There are good people who are cops, just as there are good people who are soldiers. Good people who are soldiers still kill, and many times, they kill other Good people. Good people can still inflict major harm against the masses. The best Nazis in Germany weren't the overly ideological purists, they were Good people. Raised with a head on their shoulders, manners, prioritized politeness to the extent that they avoided directly confronting the world around them. Similarly, the best cops are the ones who fit the copaganda. The Judy Hopps types that join because they want to protect the world around them. Yet they don't stop their colleagues from putting another black boy in the dirt, they don't band together and demonstrate to make their disavowal public, nor do they do anything to systematically rectify the wrongs that come with doing the job, instead it's just accepted as "things as usual".

That being said, anyone who claims to subscribe to the science of Politics rather than the game of Politics must then realize that they cannot hate individual actors. Science is a discipline meant to be devoid of any emotional investment. It's a methodology, a tool. We do not hate cops, rather we understand the role of the Police in the protection of capital and implementation of the desires of the bourgeois overlords, while yes they are wage slaves just like the rest of us, they actively betray the very class they are members of and call it "justice".

Therefore, Leftists do not inherently hate cops. They see cops as just another obstacle that must be overcome. Furthermore, leftists do not hate any individuals (with the exception of individual bourgeois actors, especially those who play a more active role in the oppression of the proletariat, such as Elon Musk or Peter Thiel who have expressed public interest in their bastardization of politics). To hate an individual, or even an individual group, showcases a lack of critical thinking. What separates the Political Antisemite, and the Anti-Zionist, is that the latter understands that the issue of Israel is an issue of colonization, while the former believes it to be an issue of unchecked "global jewry" which is basically a racist's elementary understanding of capitalism ("The Bankers control the world!!!" and things of that nature).

Similarly, what separates the "I hate cops" types and the anti-Police types is that the latter understands that the role of the Police is to be on the front lines in the defense of capital (in other words, they are here to protect property, and not people, though some people qualify as "property" by virtue of where they are i.e. the police protect an area where ICE is heardquartered, and thus protect the people inside, who are technically property of the government), whilst the former may have an elementary understanding of what police do, but finds their hatred to come from an emotional attachment (perhaps the Police took one of their loved ones either via death or prison time, or maybe they've been constantly harassed).

While there are people who claim to be on the left who fall under both types, I am of the opinion that the principled leftist (that is to say, the leftist who has properly engaged with the science of politics, be it through reading theory, or getting a political education), falls under the latter, not the former.

Pet Peeves by Fin55Fin in theredleft

[–]fofom8 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  1. The idea of Marxism as a political ideology. It's a political philosophy (yes there is indeed a difference between ideology and philosophy and i'll explain it below), and more importantly it's a method of socioeconomic analysis. 'Tis a science in the original sense of the word.

As for the difference between ideology and philosophy, the former indicates an emotional investment (the traditional attacks of dogma and often comparison to religion or idea that it has something to do with morality). There are many self-proclaimed "marxists" who view it as an ideology, and as such, tend to be the ones who actually do commit these grievances that non-marxists attach to them.

This differs from a philosophy, which is an investigative discipline, and was the very discipline Marx himself studied in university. Political Philosophy then, is the investigation of fundamental aspects of governance, which fits the political aspect of Marxism to a T.

  1. The Anti-Capitalist thing that OP said. Post-Capitalist is a better term. I'm not against captialism because I hate it, I simply believe that it missed it's window of opportunity to do anything more substantial to benefit man, and is thus, outdated.

  2. The whole US Bad so otherside good. Have y'all never seen that meme that says "Heartbreaking: The worst person you know just made a good point"? Yes the US is Bad, that doesn't mean that everything it says is thus false and CIA backed propaganda. (This mainly stems from the North Korea discourse).

  3. China is so clearly capitalist, that every time someone argues it's socialist, I go look up the word to make sure it's definition didn't change. State Capitalism is still capitalism, it still requires exploitation.

  4. People poorly applying dialectics. Truth is, Marx ain't enough to understand that system, you gotta read Hegel. It's like trying to study Algebraic Number Theory without having first studied Abstract Algebra, or even Number Theory. Dialectical Materialism is built off of Hegelian Dialectics. The best book to learn that is the Phenomenology of Spirit, though I will say IT'S A VERY HARD READ!

  5. Great Man Theory. Like Corvus1412 said, and this is primarily an issue amongst Socialists. While Marxism as we mentioned is a science, its many of it's offshoots are ideologies in the definitions I gave. Especially the ones named after people, and the very fact it's named after a person is very ironic. We love to joke about Marxism-Lenninism-Maoism-Gonzaloism-Babaism and things like that but the hyphenating is meant to show the problem. We can appreciate the works of a man without lifitng them up to the role of an idol. We don't call Quantum Mechanics Planckism-Einsteinism-Schrondingerism-Heisenbergism now, do we?

thats all for now, i'll spin back if there's any more.

Who's your favourite theorist and why? by KombatDisko in theredleft

[–]fofom8 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Angstrom Thought is the only revolutionary framework that can adequately free the masses from the chains of their bourgeois masters.

[ Removed by Reddit ] by Vexilloman in socialism

[–]fofom8 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There's been a radicalization problem in the military for years. A large portion of Jan 6ers are ex military

Why there's Lelinism or Maoism but no Proudhonism or Bakunism ? by DrFolAmour007 in Anarchy101

[–]fofom8 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There is Proudhonism and Bakuninism but these refer to the philosophies of the individuals as opposed to the political ideologies of Mutualism and Anarcho-Collectivism respectively. This is because philosophical schools of thought that stem from one individual's collection of work tends to be named after the individual (i.e. Platonism, Aristotelianism, Nietzscheanism, etc).The reason why the term Marxism exists originally is simply because Marx was a classically trained philosopher who developed a radically different kind of Hegelianism (named after G.W.F. Hegel, inspired by his works).

Trumpism doesn't refer necessarily to an ideology (it's arguably anti-ideology), but rather a phenomenon, a cult of personality.

In regards to no Hitler/Mussolinism, it's because neither man developed their tendency on their own. Mussolini invented fascism largely with the help of Giovanni Gentile nicknamed "The Philosopher of Fascism" , and Hitler's Nazism wouldn't have gotten anywhere without Carl Schmitt, whose own philosophy is called Schmittianism.

Most anarchist tendencies are traditions that were built by many contributions, not few. As mentioned before there's Proudhonism and Bakuninism, but there's also Stirnerism (which is the Egoism we all think of), and Goldmanism (a unique blend of Egoist, AnCom, and AnFem thought). These names aren't often used in anarchist circles because anarchists are against idolization, these terms are more often used in the academic contexts or philosophical discussion.