this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2026
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why even be communist then
because I'm not bourgeois, the labor theory of value succinctly explains where all real value actually comes from, the overwhelming majority of people are in some stage of being exploited or another, and I'm good at deluding myself but not good enough to just, like, ignore that
Anyone can recognize they are being exploited. That’s not what makes a communist. Communist also think that there is something that can be don’t about exploitation. If you think that nothing is to be done, then what is the point. This is liberalism.
thinking that the expropriation of the means of production from the bourgeoisie is probably impossible in the West at the rate we're going (and definitely not helped by this apparent continued need for sitting around re-hashing theory like that will achieve anything) doesn't mean a person doesn't still conceptually support that thing happening. Thinking "wow we're so fucked that probably isn't happening" isn't "liberalism"
my statement wasn't "I'm a communist because i recognize my own exploitation" btw it was specifically I cannot delude myself into ignoring the inherent evils of capitalism. If you're in a world where the overwhelmingly vast majority of people are basically slaves with more steps and there is an ideological and material framework that fixes that and you don't support it despite full knowledge of that then idk imo you deserve to be flayed alive. I'm a shithead but I'm not "flay me alive" shitty. My recognizance of the constant and widespread oppression around me, including but not limited to my own oppression, is a factor in why I am a communist but not itself the singular reason.
This convo is rly emblematic wirh what the article talks about "Stalinists" reaction to expressions of doubt in our (communists) likelihood of success success as reasons we'd want to betray communism (i really dont like the term "stalinist", but thats what the article uses so ig im using it here)
i feel even more vindicated then bc i'm on the forefront of western marxist theory without reading said theory