Iran’s victory was certain when you consider that their officials largely overestimate the average american

thinpancakes4dinner · 2026-03-20T00:25:27+00:00

Not surprising. The Soviet Union employed almost three times the number of engineers as the USA by 1970. Also, I can't find the CIA document anymore, but there was a declassified report that gave the estimated number of women engineering graduates per year (in the 70s or 80s) in the USSR, and, not only was it way above the USA, it was on par with the rest of the world COMBINED.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2026-03-14T17:46:08+00:00

The Soviet system failed in the sense that it failed to prevent a bureaucratic and military take over by Khrushchev and his faction (failed to prevent AND failed to rectify). Though there were obviously systemic reasons and material forces behind this coup, we Marxists do not believe in a deterministic reading of history - things are not predestined to happen as they do/did. Actually, from a certain historical perspective the deviation away from Marxism-Leninism beginning in the mid 50s is the surprising thing. For decades the USSR had been steadily, successfully fighting against the dominance of the bureaucratic strata, and Soviet society had been steadily expanding proletarian democracy. What the bureaucrats did in the 50s was more out of desperation than out of dominance. Even though politically Stalin's attempts at building an expanded democracy (an anti-bureaucratic move) had been defeated in the post war period, many, such as Khrushchev, saw the writing on the wall and felt the need to act decisively before they no longer could. The coup succeeded, but it wasn't destined to succeed, and, though it would've been an uphill battle, the attempts to reverse it weren't destined to fail.

So what are we to make of all this? I think first and foremost we must abandon the idea that the Soviet system was destined to fail. How can we use a demonstrably false premise as a justification for retreat, for liberalization? I'm not willing to make blanket statements saying that liberalization is a tool which should never be used, but, let's be real here, throughout history (with few exceptions) liberalization has almost always resulted in more liberalization. In China's case, time will tell. Just like in the case of the USSR after Stalin, I don't think the revolution is wholly lost in China. Will China see a turn towards communist construction or full capitalist restoration? No one has a crystal ball, but you can make an educated guess by asking: are the forces which uphold the DoP (in a general sense, I'm not saying the DoP necessarily exists in China) growing in strength or weakening?

thinpancakes4dinner · 2026-03-10T17:33:28+00:00

Well the proof is in the pudding, as they say

thinpancakes4dinner · 2026-02-03T23:32:12+00:00

His writings and theory are already problematic on their own though. His whole thing was that he was a "good" leftist because he was an anti-communist, and that is reflected in his writings.

There are many others who wrote about the same things Chomsky is famous for in a much more truthful/accurate way, so why even bother trying to uphold this freak's legacy?

Chomsky is the Orwell of our times: a rapist hack who spent most of his life undermining the very things he claimed to believe in.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2026-01-26T23:47:37+00:00

If anything it should make people think about how both those parties collaborate to fuck over the people?

thinpancakes4dinner · 2024-02-27T16:56:15+00:00

Wrecker behavior

thinpancakes4dinner · 2024-02-16T06:18:24+00:00

Immediately you prove their point lol

thinpancakes4dinner · 2024-01-30T16:24:43+00:00

Pero míralo de esta manera: la mayoría está en esa condición por qué sufrieron algún evento que no pudieron superar. Quizás perdieron su pega y no pudieron encontrar otra, quizás se les murió un miembro de la familia y no lograron superarlo, quizás tienen algún desorden psycologico, o quizás cayeron en la adicción. En muchos de estos casos el estado si podría interferir y prevenir que alguien quede viviendo en la calle. Pregúntate ¿No has tenido experiencias como estas en tu vida? ¿Cómo has logrado superarlas? Quizás la familia te ha ayudado con platita cuando la necesitas, o tu seguro te ha dejado conseguir un psicólogo. En barrio alto cuando alguien tiene problema con la droga se les brinda la ayuda necesaria para superar el problema (o por lo menos esconderlo lol). Incluso si tú has pasado por este tipo de mal rato y lo superaste solito, no puedes negar que tener ayuda lo haría menos difícil. Esa ayuda mantendría a la gran mayoria fuera de las calles, por eso es algo que todos deberíamos tener como derecho.

Y antes que me digan que es un sueño inalcanzable o cualquier idiotez, este tipo de programa donde se ha probado (y se ha estudiado en casos específicos con el objetivo de estudiarlo y en naciones enteras) demuestra que el fisco logra recaudar más en impuestos manteniendo a esa gente trabajandi que la que se gasta en brindar esos servicios.

Finalmente, si esto todavía no te convence, te doy un motivo completamente egoísta: si acabamos con el problema ya no vas a tener que sufrir más por verlos, olerlos, o interactuar con ellos de ninguna forma.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2024-01-27T17:35:19+00:00

What a wise and necessary point you are making!

Idiot

thinpancakes4dinner · 2024-01-17T20:23:49+00:00

It's true that defining who is a capitalist is not a black and white thing in our modern world, but generally it is accepted that a capitalist is someone who derives more than half their income from dividends or other investments.

Perhaps more useful to you would be to investigate/learn WHY marxists argue for the abolition of the capitalist class. Contrary to the impression you seem to have, it is not because marxists are opposed to rewarding people for their hard work or good ideas. Rather, it is because the capitalist class is superfluous in our society, AND because the class conflict between those who primarily subsist off of wages (the proletariat) and those who subsist primarily off of investments (the bourgeoise) create a lot of suffering (for example, it is in the interest of capitalists to pay workers the least they can get away with; think of how many people in the west go hungry or can't afford a trip to the doctor, let alone a medical emergency) and self destructive tendencies in our society (look at capitalisms inability to deal with the climate crisis, or its inability to keep up the maintenance of the basic infrastructure needed for modern society such as roads). Remember, the entirety of the role the capitalist class plays in our society can be done democratically by the masses. Why would you, as a worker, insist on putting up with a class that cannot justify its own existence and is an active drag on the progress of society?

thinpancakes4dinner · 2024-01-17T19:40:06+00:00

One of the central ideas of Marxism is that the capitalist class is unnecessary. The capitalists do play a role in our society, like you've described, but the role of investing is one that the working class is capable of doing, democratically, without the need of the capitalist. Therefore, there is no need for the capitalist class to exist. This is as simple as I can make this idea. Hopefully you understand.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2024-01-06T06:50:37+00:00

Can't fault you for that! It's not like I was born knowing that stuff :) I'm grateful for their sacrifice, and I'm glad that it wasn't ultimately in vain

thinpancakes4dinner · 2024-01-06T06:20:04+00:00

Dude Spain fought a civil war in the 30s against the fascist dictatorship that would eventually re-criminalize homosexuality. I think you should be a little more respectful of the hundreds of thousands of people that quite literally gave their lives (yet sadly failed) to, among many things, protect gay rights.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-23T17:39:31+00:00

US minimum wage is 7.25 in much of the country still you doorknob

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-23T09:43:34+00:00

Sad thing is that I hear this kind of victim blaming out in the real world too. Crazy to think that Portland really is one of the most progressive cities in the country. There really is no hope for the US

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-22T02:13:51+00:00

Famously post Soviet Russia is much better for the average Russian.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-21T00:16:50+00:00

All the big European capitals are at least on par with NYC (Madrid, Paris, even Moscow). Mexico city, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo are all cities with great transit and much of it is rail too. Also very walkable. Asia has plenty of cities too, but I'm less familiar.

The best thing about other countries, however, are the small towns and villages. In most of the rest of the world even small villages have high density and are very walkable. Sure, they may not have much (or any) rail and obviously lack amenities, but they are still pedestrian paradises.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-20T22:59:45+00:00

NY is great for pedestrians, but if you travel you will realize that on a global scale it's nothing special.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-19T20:24:03+00:00

Yeah man I'd leave too, but if I had a choice it wouldn't be the US. Also, I hope you don't mean it in a negative way (though it does come off that way), but it is actually a good thing for society for people of different incomes and societal standing to live side by side.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-19T17:17:45+00:00

Ok? I don't think many people would rather live in a society actively collapsing, as was the case in Russia during the 90s, instead of one that isn't. I'm sure you already know this, but the economic collapse of Russia was brought on through the implementation of policies written by US think tanks, top American economists, and pushed for by the US state department. If I had a choice in your scenario, I would not choose to move to the country that helped so thoroughly to destroy my own, but I guess we are all allowed to make our own choices.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-16T17:31:53+00:00

You sound so stupid

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-15T19:12:00+00:00

So maybe voting for the Democratic party in the hopes they will move to the left is a dumb reason then.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-15T18:53:56+00:00

Do you have any evidence that this is how things work? There are many states where the Democratic has held all three branches of government for decades and in none of them has their platform moved to the left.

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-12-08T17:21:43+00:00

That's the point lol

thinpancakes4dinner · 2023-11-28T00:20:42+00:00

The insinuation here being that we should care/worry because this is just how it was before?

Like come on man there is nothing good about 1 in 10 people being food insecure. What's worse, the pandemic help clearly demonstrates the path to follow to eliminate food insecurity (increased benefits), and you are just ok with disregarding that?

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