I assume this has been covered already (I’m new), and I welcome recommendations of existing material! (E.g. Imperialism by Lenin seems like it’d be relevant)
I’m reading State and Revolution, and am trying to map it to the conditions in the US.
From chapter 2 (emphasis mine):
The overthrow of bourgeois rule can be accomplished only by the proletariat, the particular class whose economic conditions of existence prepare it for this task and provide it with the possibility and the power to perform it. While the bourgeoisie break up and disintegrate the peasantry and all the petty-bourgeois groups, they weld together, unite and organize the proletariat. Only the proletariat — by virtue of the economic role it plays in large-scale production — is capable of being the leader of all the working and exploited people, whom the bourgeoisie exploit, oppress and crush, often not less but more than they do the proletarians, but who are incapable of waging an independent struggle for their emancipation.
My understanding is that large-scale production has largely been moved outside of the US. I imagine this is also true of most imperial core countries.
If that’s true, doesn’t it follow that the US has a small, relatively weak proletariat?
And if THAT’S true, what’s the path to revolution in the US? Without a powerful proletariat, there can’t be a proletarian revolution, right?
I could see one answer being:
- Weaken US imperialism (e.g. through revolutions in imperial periphery)
- US is forced to re-develop it’s own productive capacity
- Developed productive capacity results in strong proletariat
- (Wait for contradictions to sharpen?)
- Revolution
Another (more likely?) could be:
- Get conquered
In both of those cases, the immediate work is to weaken the power of the US as a whole, right?
What are the main tools the US uses to project power, and how could orgs weaken them from within? Organize, obviously, but organize to do what? Mutual aid and unions seem clear, anything else?
I’d also be curious about any work on other paths to revolution in the imperial core. This might be straying outside of Marxist-Leninism, but has there been any theory around a revolution lead by a different class?
E.g. perhaps a deeply racist country could have a revolution based on race? …though the majority of people in the US are white. E.g. the black panthers were threatening enough that the state infiltrated and killed them.
Anyway. Interested in y’all’s thoughts - sorry if these are basic questions.
I don’t think it works like that, at least in the imperial core. I get where you are coming from, but let me elaborate.
The issue of ‘race’ v.s. ‘class’ is the difference between ‘identification’ v.s. ‘action’. Anybody can identify as anything they want, as long as their identification is backed with legal force. Hell, you can even identify as things in spite of it being legal. It is the functional definition of subjectivity. And there is nothing WRONG with that method of analysis, if you want to tell stories. And stories are great.
However, as any good engineer will tell you, if you want to build something, you need at least have some real numbers. Not everything, even engineering requires alot of praxis, but enough to start somewhere.
For Marxists, this is ‘class’ because class isn’t based on how you identify, it is based on what you do, how you literally sustain your life. It is an easier category to create something closer to resembling objectivity. It at least resembles the kind of objectivity seen in other physical sciences, which for the purposes of analysis, is close enough. Certainly a better predictive mechanism for people way way on the outside of polite society, most of the time superior to mainstream news.
Like you’d be surprised at how much information you can get from just, looking at the history of tariffs and then placing them in the context of ours and realizing what a hilarious idea it is in modern times. Tariffs only worked when we could force open markets, and we just got our asses handed to us. This is some real 1910’s logic for the 2020’s.
Anyways, tangent aside, in a subjective, identity based world, marketing is king, because the market determines truth. We can never hope to overcome the capitalists in the market (at least as far as we, the American proletariat, are concerned, China is ofc another story). It is no surprise that communism took hold strongest in the areas that had the least access to English media.
However, life, like a town, is not just one big market. Lots of people desperately seek things outside the market, and it crops up in extremely odd ways (e.g. swinger culture in the Midwest). And it is outside the market, in the material, closer to objectivity world (not actually objective though as our ability to describe and interact with true objectivity is approaching infinity, but never crossing). It is that world, where we thrive. Where I can get a 22 y/o Latina woman and 45 y/o white redneck to agreed that it is clear that the management doesn’t have our best interests at heart, and look into organizing meetings outside of work. Issue for me is that I jump jobs a bunch (as an in-demand engineer), as well as I am not really a leader.
Anyways, my point is that, I have seen these arguments work countless times on countless people, and I’m fairly certain it is not because I am conventionally attractive. Idk if it is viable larger, but I have seen a lot of white and black people identify with their respective race of billionaires than their neighbors. Shit runs deep in this country.
Like I have a good friend (we trade food), who is like one of maybe three black men in the whole town. Guy is super outspoken, incredibly popular in town, is extremely socially liberal, but also identifies more with bar owners in town than the bar tenders, despite being a bar tender. Identifies as a conservative Christian though. Can’t stand Trump. Real true incoherent American. But like, I softened him on China within like one hour, just discussing poverty alleviation programs and the way they run elections, and I am slowly getting him around to class. These things are possible.