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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • Bernie and AOC have demonstrated that they will compromise on their “principles” ( if you even consider them that) to fallback to the Democratic party line. Putting our support in them is not a way to move their supporters to the left, but for them to move leftists to the right.

    I think AOC is just a careerist, and Bernie is genuine, but functionally they are the same. I think of it similar to the SPD in Germany during the late 1910s and how it compromised with the bourgeois which killed any real revolution from happening.

    Bernie wants billionaires to “pay their fair share” and then what? Is that really the root of the problem? They start paying more taxes and everything becomes fine for us?

    I think in order to move people further left, we have to break their trust in AOC in Bernie. They have to see that there is no politician out there that actually is fighting for their interests, and their salvation lies in their own hands and they must organize.

    Edit: oops I meant to reply to your other comment


  • I mean with the defunding of USAID maybe? China giving an alternative to the IMF that allows countries to take loans to develop themselves in a more flexible way. It seems more promising than it ever has for the third world.

    I think the working class in the west and eu is still too disorganized for a revolution. I believe the material conditions are there, but the class conscious and organizational structure to guide the working class are not, for various reasons.


  • Wartime revolutionary action against one’s own government indubitably means, not only desiring its defeat, but really facilitating such a defeat.

    banger quote. So he’s calling out the people who say they are against the war, but take no action that would impede the government from waging the war.

    The war cannot but evoke among the masses the most turbulent sentiments, which upset the usual sluggish state of mass mentality. Revolutionary tactics are impossible if they are not adjusted to these new turbulent sentiments.

    I think this is important when analyzing our own modern day situations, and not just taking what Lenin lists out here and applying it willy-nilly. It is my belief that we do not need to gain the support of the masses before performing an action because if we can understand the “turbulent sentiments” correctly, then we can come to a conclusion of what the correct action is. By performing the correct action we gain support of the masses. I think of it kinda like the whole UnitedHealthcare CEO situation, but the killer was not organized and only arrived at a correct action by chance.

    Those who stand for the “neither-victory-nor-defeat” slogan are in fact on the side of the bourgeoisie and the opportunists, for they do not believe in the possibility of inter national revolutionary action by the working class against their own governments,

    This is a nice way of framing it. In the end our goal is the revolution and everything we do is to achieve that end.

    edit: I dunno how you are going about selecting texts, but could I submit a vote for Theses on the National and Colonial Questions


  • Forming a study group seems like a no brainer now that I realized Lenin, Mao and even Marx had their starts in study groups

    Unfortunately I think I alot of people would be turned off by it being marxist, even if they dont have a real conception of what marxism is. I’m kinda wondering if its worth going straight to marxist texts, or maybe start with something more borderline to attract liberals that can potentially be converted.














  • I was in a similar position. Best advice I can give is to try to find a local Marxist org if you can. Luckily there was one for me, but I know not everyone has one. I think isolating ourselves is probably the worst thing we can do right now, even though the capitalist system makes it easy to do so.

    I used to think that I could convince my more lib/conservative minded friends since I read so much, but it’s not that easy even if you have all the knowledge needed for making a point. I have never successfully converted someone, but I think I at least made them think a little bit more critically and even have them agree with me on some things.

    Even in the context of Trump being in charge of the US right now, I still feel somewhat alone when talking to liberal-resistance-minded people about it because it’s like they’re approaching it from another universe of belief about how things work.

    Yea I feel this too, and imo it’s because they are not against the system but the individuals running the system.