Sorry if the title is a bit weird, I’m curious about what made you believe what you do. Mainstream leftism usually doesn’t go any further than trans rights or maybe UBI in some places, at least from what I know, so what made you go beyond that? You can answer generally or talk about a specific belief, just wanna see what caused the more radical opinions in you
I’m particularly curious about what changed your opinions about the USSR and China, most people think they’re awful, but in here they’re really liked and defended, I’ve even seen a lot of posts denying the Tiananmen massacre and the Holodomor and stuff like that, what made you go to such lengths?
I was a hardcore lib in the bush era because of the daily show, air america etc. I knew that something was wrong with our system but I didn’t have the words or the time to articulate it. I eventually transitioned in the Obama era and, like many trans people, the experience made me question everything around me. I got really into Bernie Sanders and volunteered on his campaign. (Critiques aside, I will say that Sanders was a fantastic Lib to Left pipeline and a majority of my friends are moving to communism, and having discussions about communism, who never would have before)
I decided to look into Karl Marx because I knew -of- communism, but I realized I didn’t know much about the ideology itself beyond red scare propaganda.
I started reading Capital (well, skimming and looking at spark notes) and the communist manifesto. Then it clicked- all the problems he was describing weren’t just the way “the world was” our problems are systemic. While things like “Air America” critiqued events and individuals, they did not get to the root of our problems. Why do we have to live in a system where people can’t get homes? Why do we have to produce piles of literal garbage for our economy to function? Why do we have to work our assess off for the benefit of corporations? What kind of a world are we, as a society, striving for? Is this really a world I want to help build?
I’ve only gotten more radical as time has gone on and I’m now a full blown tankie.
I genuinely believe that organized violence is the only outcome of Neoliberal policy at this point- not because I want to participate in it, but because capital has blocked off all other alternatives. When a system causes mass violence and death it’s only a matter of time before people will violently turn against the system itself.
But yeah, there is my disjointed ramble about radicalization.
Do you think organized violence against the system happening and succeeding is innevitable? I’ve been so disilusioned with many mass protests that end up just dissipating and not really achieving any real change like BLM or the protests in Colombia or France or Cuba, it seems no matter how big the numbers and the resilience is the state always ends up outlasting them… don’t really know what else are we supposed to do
I am certain that there are people here who are more informed and articulate than me who can discuss this, but I’ll give my armchair take.
There is not going to be one, singular, event that breaks the system down. The struggle is exponential, and with every event the system will erode further as the contradictions of capitalism increase.
Yes, the state outlasts those protests, but not without getting damaged. BLM for example. Thanks to BLM cops were exposed and continue to be exposed for their crimes.
Now my region is struggling to hire cops. No one wants to be a cop because if you become a cop, you will get ostracized from the community. This is a WHITE community! And this is happening in the entire region. Police, an apparatus of the state, are losing their grip. This is erosion in real time.
As long as capitalism causes humans to suffer the violence will increase. If masses of people can’t afford to have a place to live, they will kill their landlords. If people can’t eat, they will kill the rich and eat them.
It is the job of the average communist to present alternatives to the status quo so when the state does inevitably fail, it isn’t replaced by fascism.