Can people not understand definitions that are longer than 5 words?
I dont understand why people on lemmy are trying to remove the meaning of every specific word related to politics, leaving a million synonyms of the same general thing and no word for a specific ideology
that applies to imperialism too.
plenty of anarcho-libs out there claiming to hate capitalism, while repeating cia talking points about china, venezuela, and so on.
imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism
Imperialism has changed quite a bit from Lenin, such as the current development of one large empire and several vassal states under it benefitting from imperialism. Lenin's work is actually best translated as "current highest," not "highest." Economists like Cheng Enfu have developed theories of Neoimperialism, and Nkrumah with Neocolonialism.
I second this. I enjoyed reading Lenin’s Imperialism very much, but it also felt very dated (as it should, it’s well over 100 years old now). I can’t help but think that if Lenin were alive today, he’d agree. That doesn’t mean it’s not an incredibly important work that we can’t draw from today, but we should also understand how the world has changed since.
I haven’t read John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century yet, but I’ve heard it’s a very good update.
While I understand that it's statistically likely, I can't believe some people are actually named "John Smith" lol.
Imagine all the doubting stares when you introduce yourself as John Smith (in Poland it would be Jan Kowalski which is funnily enough both literal and contextual meaning) but you're really John Smith.
Yep, Marxist-Leninists have been advancing our theory beyond Lenin. What Lenin laid out is still foundational for analyzing the imperialism of today, but we are no longer in the age of competing empires, but a dying mega-empire and the rise of the global south.
I dont currently see how the book can seem dated. I laughed when I read it a week ago how shockingly current it is. Like the fact that international banking is basically the mafia. The imf is like the number one evidence for it.
It's not that it's dated into being no longer accurate, it's that conditions have changed since it was current. Marx didn't live to see the same heights of imperialism Lenin saw. Lenin did not live to see the consolidation of all competing imperialist powers into one hegemon and several vassals. Lenin is critical and relevant to this day, but we also need to look at how imperialism has advanced.
Agreed. I might have misunderstood. I think black shirts and reds as well as washington bullets are pretty spot on in that regard.
Another one for the downloads list
Yep! No shame at all to Lenin, the highest of respects in fact, but he did not live to see the US Empire come to become an even higher stage of empire than what was going on in his day.
Technically you can be an anticapitalist and still not a leftist. You could be one of those weirdo turbo conservative monarchists.
It's not just weird, it's materially impossible. History doesnt move according to big ideas exclusively, the main driver of history is materialism. Feudalism gave way to capitalism not because someone conceptualized capitalism and made it become real, but because the historical development of feudalism led to the primitive accumulation process of capital, the progressive appearance of a bourgeois class, and this was accelerated by western imperialism and the exploitation of resources in the global south by European powers.
Once the accumulation of capital had taken place and the main economic driver of the economy had become capitalism, it was impossible to return to feudalism, capitalism became a historical necessity. A return to feudalism is simply unfeasible.
It's not just weird, it's materially impossible.
I was mainly talking about the people being weirdos. Every monarchist I've ever run into have been extreme oddballs.
That doesn't mean there aren't people who do believe we should return to feudalism though.
My head-cannon of the differences
US Socialist (social democrat) - Busses should be free for everyone.
US Liberal - Free bus passes only for poor people
US Right-wing - Let the free-market decide and somehow only allow US citizens to ride busses.
Oh!? Well this is my head-cannon of the diffences..
US Communists - Just buses? Are you kidding me? We need at least 50k km of highspeed rail, make rail travel free for all, even tourists! And seize all gigafactories and data centers to pay for it.
US Democratic Socialist - Let's do what Europe does* and provide free bus passes next to free healthcare.
US Progressive - Let the free-market decide for men. Free bus passes only for people of minoritized identities and only if the bus will combat climate change, so diesel buses are out of the question.
US Liberal - Let the free-market decide. Free bus passes if you can prove that you're using it to go to work.
US Right-wing - Rob the poor blind! Those who don't contribute to society, should be punished for it. And no buses. If you need a ride, buy a car. If you can't afford one, then get a job you filthy commie! Also, it's the rich that contribute to society, so it should be the poor who should pay the most taxes in order to help those who keep the US economy thriving.
US fascist - Transportation should be free for everyone, but especially for the native Americans. We believe in the power of the native Americans. And this all the fault of the rich. So kill the rich, kill the rich, kill the rich.....Juice! Buses are part of their (((globalist elite))) agenda, the agenda of "you will own nothing and be happy". Look up who runs the WEF. Pay good attention to their ((( affiliations ))). So let us native Americans, who speak English and aren't brown, unite against the Khazarian (((billionaires))) and their brown globalist allies. We should provide free bus passes for non-native Americans however, under the condition that they're run by ICE and only with destinations outside of the US.
Good post.
Every time i hear an American say anything about social democrat they are just describing a normal liberal policy.
The free market will decide it's actually more profitable to shut down bus service entirely and pivot to helping ICE transport bus loads of "illegal immigrants".
Future "don't make me tap the sign" material
