Comradeship // Freechat

Part of understanding Dialectical Materialism is in understanding that the small but growing thing (if properly protected so that it can continue to grow) rather than the big but crumbling thing, represents the future. And it is from this that Revolutionary Optimism is born, as the seeds of a given systems destruction and replacement exist within it's own contradictions, and is grown through the growth of those vary contradictions. Revolutionary Optimism isn't blind optimism, it isn't just having "faith" in it, but is actually a thing of reason, as the small but growing thing starts small, but doesn't stay small, the big but crumbling thing is big but doesn't stay big, the contradictions get worse and the seemingly impossible Revolution becomes inevitable. This dialectic exists in the Revolution itself as well, gorilla warfare involve taking the supplies, weapons and ammo ETC of the enemy such as to support it's growth, and in this way it grows while the state shrinks, until eventually the Revolution begins switching to conventional warfare and operates as a new state that slowly replaces the old state.

The depression you speak of isn't from Dialectical Materialism itself, but rather from awareness, Dialectical Materialism can grow an awareness (though it isn't the only way to become aware of the horrors of the system), but also within Dialectical Materialism exists it's solution, to the root cause of the depression that is the very oppression itself.

Dialectical and Historical Materialism is an irreplaceable and vital tool for achieving the cure. (Revolution) Once you start you cannot stop, only partial understanding leads to errors, of which certain ones, or too many, can be fatal, and every opportunity to put it into Practice, to actually use it, is vital as the Theory can only be properly understood through it's application to Practice, otherwise you risk slipping into ultra-leftism and/or utopian thinking.

You need to not only read the philosophy, economics, and history in general (though you still need that too), but it is also important to read about the actual successes, as within those works is the experience of those Comrades who actually succeeded, which can also help with Revolutionary Optimism both by showing how it can be done, but in showing that it can succeed even in the most hopeless of circumstances if we Communists play our cards right.

If you find yourself depressed, you might want to look at what you are reading, if you are reading too many depressing works that go over all the horrible things that happen, then maybe you should counter balance that by reading of the victories of the past and current Socialist countries that actually achieved some stage of Socialism.