Excellent thread. Even suggesting Lenin has good ideas can get you immediate ire, because what he wrote is accurate and practicible.

For real, especially trying to get across Lenin’s analysis of Imperialism, or the necessity of Revolution, both of which are far touchier subjects than “Marx good” on the Fediverse.

Marx has been blunted and made tame and by those who haven’t read him.

Depends on the audience. It’s polarizing, hence the downvotes as well.

This meme isn’t saying Socialism will not prevail. Rather, it’s saying that even though Socialists can’t individually beat Capitalism right now, as Capitalism decays Socialists increase in number and Capitalists weaken in strength, making Socialist victory more probable over time.

Thanks for the insight!

Good to hear! I’m almost through Marxism and the National Question, so Mao’s texts are next before Org theory. Anything else you recommend adding to my reading list? I plan on reading Fanon, Feinberg, Losurdo, and other authors.

China is currently debt trapping most of Africa. They pretty much appointed the current dictator of Zimbawe for example.

Do you have evidence of this “debt-trapping?”

The way I look at good and bad is on a scale. Whenever a country makes the life for the average human better in terms of material well being, but also political freedom, that is a good thing. Whenever they make those things worse then it is bad.

Then China must be the best country in the world in your opinion, as it has largely eliminated poverty for the largest population on the planet.

A huge reason the US is the country doing so many bad things, is that nearly nobody else can. Any large scale war between two countries in recent times had the US being the agressor or the US intervening massivly. Iraq was done after invading Kuwait and Russia despute having nukes and a resilient economy is not liking it either.

Why do you believe the US does bad things? Like, what’s the driving factor?

So we have to look at what countries choose to do with the power they have and the US is not the worst in that metric.

The US is absolutely the worst in that metric, and it isn’t close. It’s the single greatest parasite on the Global South, they produce very little and expropriate the bulk of Value created by the Global South. It isn’t close.

The Communist Manifesto isn’t what I’m talking about. The CM is a worker pamphlet, not an explanation of Marxism. The Principles of Communism is a much better introductory work, and for Marx himself, Wage Labor and Capital as well as Value, Price and Profit are excellent texts describing Capitalism. I would also add Socialism: Utopian and Scientific for an introduction to Historical Materialism, and the failures of Utopian Socialists like the Owenites.

Lenin is absolutely worth reading, he was the leader of the first genuine Marxist state, and his contributions to Marxist theory are critical. Specifically, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism furthers Marx’s analysis into the modern era of Monopoly Capitalism, aka Imperialism, which Marx was only alive to see the very beginnings of before he passed away.

Yep! Still working my way through this reading list, and am org-shopping right now.

Those commenters have no idea what they are talking about. You are always stronger aligned with your fellow workers.

Gotcha. They seem to only have a Maoist lean though, they describe themselves as Marxist-Leninist, but adopt concepts like the Mass Line. Plus, they use Linux apparently, which is neat

Don’t unions really restrict your salary growth in fields where there’s actual potential for it?

Nope.

I’m in software engineering and I reckon a whole bunch of people would be unhappy if their salary was in a direct relationship with their years of experience.

Why would increasing your bargaining power lower your wages?

Syndicalism is nice, but without a solid analysis of Imperialism it risks taking on a Nationalist character if you’re in the Imperial Core. Additionally, if you’re in a de-industrialized nation like the United States, worker organization is more difficult along union lines, which is partially why Unions have historically struggled in the United States in recent years.

100% agree on reading theory and joining an org, just wanted to add some caveats.

Read Marx, especially if you don’t think you need to.

The point of the meme is that as Capitalism deteriorates, and it must deteriorate, more Workers become aligned with Leftists and at some point there will be a shift from quantitative to qualitative, ie at some level there will be a dramatic change, like the boiling point of water.

Where is a better place to discuss? Certainly not Lemmy.world, which has a right-wing bias. I’ve been better able to have discussions on Lemmy.ml than Lemmy.world, personally.

What’s your opinion on FRSO vs PSL?

What metric are you using to determine if a country is “better” or “worse?” Can you explain what you mean there? Additionally, how is China “already working hard on enslaving the poorest countries in the world?”

When I say the US Empire is the worlds worst and largest parasite, I say so with careful analysis of how it treats the Global South and where it does the bulk of its exploitation. It isn’t a simple “west bad, therefore east good” calculation.

23 pages? What are you referring to? Either way, what Marx analyzed is still relevant, even in his day overproduction led to crisis. Lenin took his analysis further once Monopoly Capitalism became the standard, but the same principles apply.

Read Marx, everyone, especially people that don’t think they need to.