Stalin in particular is just such a departure from what Marx and even from what many of the “old bolsheviks” believed.

https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv4n2/5convers.htm

pg 233 molotov remembers

Question: Do you believe that with the further progress of the Soviet Union towards Communism the possibilities of peaceful co-operation with the outside world will not decrease as far as the Soviet Union is concerned? Is “Communism in one country” possible?

Answer: I do not doubt that the possibilities of peaceful co-operation, far from decreasing, may even grow. “Communism in one country” is perfectly possible, especially in a country like the Soviet Union.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1946/09/24.htm

Howard: Do you view as compatible the coincidental development of American democracy and the Soviet system?

Stalin: American democracy and the Soviet system may peacefully exist side by side and compete with each other. But one cannot evolve into the other. The Soviet system will not evolve into American democracy, or vice versa. We can peacefully exist side by side if we do not find fault with each other over every trifling matter.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1936/03/01.htm

Easy access to guns, lack of access to mental healthcare.

I’m not really opinionated on what is the bigger issue, I just know those things need addressed instead of pretending to care about them, then forgetting in 2 weeks when everyone moves onto the next thing.

Run for office and do what exactly? Okay, I guess i could potentially win something at a county or city level. Great. Then I propose things, and shucks all my proposals get turned down because more bureaucracy. “We can’t do that, what with the state laws and such” I’ve literally watched this song and dance at many a city council meeting, often involving someone that I personally campaigned for!

What an absolute fucking waste of time it was for me to have even tried. I did everything the way I was supposed to, but I’m now almost 10 years into this, and I’ve got exactly nothing to show for it. Some of you might be happy doing this charade until you’re 80 years old, but not me. Take your pragmatism, utilitarianism, whatever word of the day you decide to use to justify opportunism and shove it where the sun don’t shine.

Hopefully not by voting. I absolutely loath peoples misplaced trust in bureaucratic mechanisms. If you want something done you do it, I’m not going to vote for someone in one of the pre-approved parties, just for them to give 40 reasons why it’s unreasonable. You are never allowed to vote when it could actually create change, remember that.

This. I’m not a cyclist but I am someone who walks frequently. People can’t even wait to take a right turn while you’re crossing the street at a stop light, they’ll inch right up next to me to the point I can feel the heat from their radiator. If people are that inconsiderate to me at a fucking crosswalk, I don’t trust them not to plow through a cyclist in a bike lane.

If you’re going to reply with ai the least you could do is remove the dashes so it’s less obvious

I do hate the democrats more than the republicans, because they actually fool people into believing the system can be reformed, that it works, that there can be progress, that we can “build back better!”. They insist we must use the system to reform the system, but will endlessly use the system as an excuse to do nothing or even hinder progress (re: rigging the primary against Bernie, no, I will never forget that). That’s the democrats platform. Our glorious bureaucracy, which can never be shaken.

The republicans demonstrate how easy it is to create change. They just do it, regardless of this or that rule or regulation (albeit mostly in the wrong direction). They do it so effectively that people have ran to the democrats in fear of things getting worse. Even many self proclaimed communists vote democrat out of this fear.

You have to ask yourself, what good are the democrats in fighting them off if the republicans simply enforce their political will no matter what? The answer is simple, they are no good, they are worthless. They will continue the spectacle of democracy, of order, of good table manners, they will wave their finger over the vulgar and uncivil behavior of the republicans and will do absolutely nothing else. This is what the democrats fight for. Politics as performance, as empty gestures.

Wake up.

$0.05 yearly raise and an employee pizza party, take it or leave it.

Gee, we’re so sorry, but we’d have to draft up a new bill and then vote on it and then in 1+ years when that bill doesn’t pass we will have to draft up a shittier one that still won’t pass

All the bureaucracy is suddenly smooth sailing when they want to bomb the fuck out of kids in the middle east, but all these weird rules and regulations are in the way of anything remotely challenging their interests.

Weird how democracy works that way. Almost like that’s the point!

Very well put, even if the babylon5 reference went over my head. Now I know what to watch on my day off!

And yeah, I don’t agree with any of the choices here, just, this feels like the Internet drama of the old net, and has a very genuine feeling to it, if that makes sense?

I’ve met people like this, I genuinely do think they were trying to #savelemmy and carve out a little space of their own. Through somewhat malicious ends admittedly, but I know they saw their initial actions as righteous. (Which, I disagree with heavily ofc)

I wonder what they are feeling right now? I highly doubt this is that last act, I think some kind of half apology is going to make its way out.

Am I wrong to empathize at least a little? Ive had crash outs that were pretty bad. I’ve never ddos’d someone but ive definitely done 2000s forum “psycho ex girlfriend” story post levels of crazy before. In your moment of rejection, nobody else matters, you devalue everyone just for that very small satisfaction of revenge.

Sounds right to me. Aren’t we just larping? /J

I never liked my jobs until I found one that I did. I work as a meat cutter (I cut primals into subprimals). It’s a job I could see myself doing even in a post revolutionary society. The people I work with are all pretty chill too. Mostly queer libs, which, is refreshing considering jobs I’ve previously had.

I obviously don’t like that my surplus value is being extracted, I don’t love that my manager is being forced to use an AI that allocates the amount of hours we all get each week (which is becoming less and less). But the actual labor? The actual task of cutting meat? I find it shockingly grounding. It just feels like I’m actually doing something someone benefits from.

Getting your needs met is unfortunately a luxury in the capitalist system. As long as my job feels necessary and my coworkers don’t totally suck I get by though. If my coworkers ever actually wanna do union activity they know I’m up for it, and if we ever hit a revolutionary situation, I’ll be down for that too.

A lot of people misunderstood the original comment you replied to. They know leftists don’t vote blue no matter who. They were bullying the original commenter for talking down to “everybody who didn’t bother to vote”.

Let’s use a cube as an example.

I can tell you roughly how large it is, if its rotating and roughly how fast. I “visualize” absolutely nothing. Not even a vague outline.

So then as long as my machine doesn’t have systemd im fine?

The lessons of the 2nd international will forever be forgotten on this website. Smh.

Its literally always this one guys complaint, you know, the guy that shills signal, the app that literally requires a phone number to use.

True.