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Big Mad (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 1 month ago by Dialectical_Idealist@lemmygrad.ml to c/memes@lemmygrad.ml

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[–] poo_22@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I don't know if this is an ultra leftist take or just a regular leftist take but I keep hearing how only changing material conditions will bring about social change in the US. But then why the heck are we even bothering to read theory and talk about it with people?

Another take is that communists should be supporting countries that the west is most profiting from via imperialism, and help those countries fight back against imperialism, which would lead to changing conditions in the west. And like okay, I guess we can do that but not everyone can just go travel and be a professional revolutionary, so again, are communists in the states supposed to be doing something or patiently waiting?

What's your best take on this?

[–] redchert@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 month ago

patiently waiting? Americans are literally getting poorer with each day. The "patiently waiting time" should have been spent establishing infrastructure for a vanguard party aka organizing, creating an alternative cultural pole/media, independent financing, safehouses, making connections with important power nodes (aka infrastructure), finding the audience (its not whole food leftists in urban areas)

But instead energy was wasted scolding, watching breadtubers and coping that the THIS "socialist" (socdem) will tots make the democrats into a vanguard party. We are still not over this. And there is an increasingly large population of alienated and angry americans looking for answers and none is there to galvanize them into a succinct revolutionary movement because the american left are idealists and utopians at best. Hell they were shocked and devastated about contra points turning out to be reactionary or "let people enjoy things" when "purist" rained on their mamdani parade - described by some as the result of "marxism planted in the hearts of americans" are you for real?

[–] zedcell@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You reading theory and telling it to other people is changing material conditions. That's dialectics baby.

[–] poo_22@lemmygrad.ml 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I disagree that it's changing MATERIAL conditions. It's changing discourse perhaps.

[–] zedcell@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You need to learn more about dialectics and the way that humans create new material conditions out of the creative application of our knowledge and thoughts (the dialectic of theory and practice, the self-actualisation of humanity). Learning political theory and teaching it to other people demonstrably changes the material conditions we live in. If you don't think that is the case, you have a very flimsy understanding of the material.

[–] poo_22@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

My understanding of Marx is that economic conditions must change first, then society adapts to it. By conditions here I mean things like climate, war, famine, and technological progress. I don't think people reading is going to change anything.

By now everyone knows that America is committing a genocide in gaza, but Americans keep going to work. If something like genocide can't change the course of society, how am I supposed to believe that a few people reading theory will change anything?

Theory can be applied once people are forced to change. So it definitely has it's place.

If I'm actually wrong please direct me to what Marx or Lenin said about theory changing material conditions.

[–] zedcell@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 3 days ago

The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism by weapons, material force must be overthrown by material force; but theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses. Theory is capable of gripping the masses as soon as it demonstrates ad hominem, and it demonstrates ad hominem as soon as it becomes radical.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/df-jahrbucher/law-abs.htm - Marx

To get a better understanding of dialectics and dialectical materialism you can read the CPV's curriculum of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism:

https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Curriculum_of_the_Basic_Principles_of_Marxism-Leninism_Part_1