[–] [S] 13 points 2 days ago

Tbh I feel like that’s an unfair generalization. Amongst the sea of opportunists there are real communists such as myself who show up to combat liberalism and connect with other revolutionaries. I see it as a platform to promote theory, do mutual aid, and network with people. We need to be available to answer questions when reformism inevitably leaves them disillusioned.

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 4 days ago

    lol I’m a Hoxhaist so I agree with that sentiment. This post is more so about Marxist solidarity against liberal slander specifically. “Tankie this” “authoritarian that” “book club, etc.”. Theoretically based criticisms are always welcome, don’t get me wrong.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago

    The sections on working conditions were sobering, I had many feelings. They read to me almost like a warning. In Ch.10 Marx quoted Horace when speaking to the then American readers “It is of you that the story is told”. At the time it was a direct truth, now it is a harbinger. There ought to be a black book of capitalism. Imperialism only imports the suffering of yesteryear for NA-Europe where the trauma is well contained in the commodities to fit the bill for the old reaper of scarcity.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 days ago

    Capitalism developed into imperialism in about 1900 according to Lenin. Imperialism was defined interestingly not just as a type of economic model a country can have but as an age, an era. This is why even the first socialist camp didn’t have national elections because under the age of imperialism itself democracy which in its beauty is one person one vote is subverted by capital into becoming one unit money one vote. Democratic centralism / internal party democracy was seen as a way to save democracy from bourgeois subversion actually. As communists we love democracy in its fullest form in principle but where we have limited its scope was out of a concession to reality.

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    I tried watching him again but the lack of class consciousness and understanding of imperialism is insufferable now that I’ve read theory. Only some videos seem worth watching but it’s really not worth finding the corn kernels in the libshittery…

     

    A socialist economy stable in the fulfillment of their 5 year plans & fully established with state industries of an early commodity production type as of the first socialist camp but a step further. That step being when all the collective industries are finally converted to state, then the economy can take the great leap towards ending commodity production. That leap being a well planned transition to a labor voucher system which could resemble the following prescription for how to do so.

    Carry over the purchasing power of the worker from the commodity system to the voucher system as a stand in for carrying over the value of wages:payments dispersed. Prices and payments will be exactly proportional in transit. 1 Soviet dollar = 1 digital labor dollar.

    Then as automation advances relate the prices of common goods to the increasing productive capacity in order to reflect the measured decrease in value contained in the goods as determined by the unit change of (Socially Necessary Labor Time) SNLT to produce them.

    By relation of productive capacity I mean in the conditions created by a common goods’ SNLT to produce being decreased which would bring an increase in the value of wages which carry either a deflationary nature on lowering prices or a shortening of the working day. If production can be doubled in the same time by next year but the price stays the same so the workers may take more time off in good proportion that is a gain still.

    As automation increases prices converge towards zero and aid socialism in overcoming scarcity giving workers ample free time & a deflationary wage increase which generalizes the wealth traditionally only relegated to the petite bourgeoisie thus undermining the basis of social democracy. Production since on a planned basis would be sustainable. Some goods would not have a price for artificial demand constraint but would be allocated per person. This seems best facilitated by a labour voucher system.

    In regard to international trade with other socialist states another Comecon should exist and utilize a non transferable currency to quantify the values traded on the ledger. This would be a solid step towards trading in use values until wage labor itself is safely made obsolete and the question of international trade fairness is made into a question of sustainable & moral production in relation to ecology which includes the people.

    Although commodities no longer exist domestically or within the socialist camp, there is still a withering period in regard to international trade. Until capitalism is globally uprooted, socialist states may export commodities only for the securement of important inputs from capitalist nations. We secure steel to forge an economic spear. International trade between socialist states remains decommodified. In the end the state becomes a widow for her late class society based on surplus labor is dead. The bourgeoisie’s existence, the existence of commodity production is finally finally by the spinning wheel!

     

    A socialist economy stable in the fulfillment of their 5 year plans & fully established with state industries of an early commodity production type as of the first socialist camp but a step further. That step being when all the collective industries are finally converted to state, then the economy can take the great leap towards ending commodity production. That leap being a well planned transition to a labor voucher system which could resemble the following prescription for how to do so.

    Carry over the purchasing power of the worker from the commodity system to the voucher system as a stand in for carrying over the value of wages:payments dispersed. Prices and payments will be exactly proportional in transit. 1 Soviet dollar = 1 digital labor dollar.

    Then as automation advances relate the prices of common goods to the increasing productive capacity in order to reflect the measured decrease in value contained in the goods as determined by the unit change of (Socially Necessary Labor Time) SNLT to produce them.

    By relation of productive capacity I mean in the conditions created by a common goods’ SNLT to produce being decreased which would bring an increase in the value of wages which carry either a deflationary nature on lowering prices or a shortening of the working day. If production can be doubled in the same time by next year but the price stays the same so the workers may take more time off in good proportion that is a gain still.

    As automation increases prices converge towards zero and aid socialism in overcoming scarcity giving workers ample free time & a deflationary wage increase which generalizes the wealth traditionally only relegated to the petite bourgeoisie thus undermining the basis of social democracy. Production since on a planned basis would be sustainable. Some goods would not have a price for artificial demand constraint but would be allocated per person. This seems best facilitated by a labour voucher system.

    In regard to international trade with other socialist states another Comecon should exist and utilize a non transferable currency to quantify the values traded on the ledger. This would be a solid step towards trading in use values until wage labor itself is safely made obsolete and the question of international trade fairness is made into a question of sustainable & moral production in relation to ecology which includes the people.

    Although commodities no longer exist domestically or within the socialist camp, there is still a withering period in regard to international trade. Until capitalism is globally uprooted, socialist states may export commodities only for the securement of important inputs from capitalist nations. We secure steel to forge an economic spear. International trade between socialist states remains decommodified. In the end the state becomes a widow for her late class society based on surplus labor is dead. The bourgeoisie’s existence, the existence of commodity production is finally finally by the spinning wheel!

     

    idk man it’s bleak. It’s like there is no fight in the people, they think fighting is just voting for the latest DSA Democrat and are completely unprepared for the horrors awaiting us in the coming decades. The only off ramp I realistically see is a communist movement birthed from the discontented workers when the Ai bubble -Great Depression 2.0 hits us in the face. This movement is only possible if we prepare for it. If you are reading this right now of in America I think we only really have about 12-16 years before the death camps & draft papers. This is our last chance to avoid all of it, how we educate agitate and organize in this short short window.

    Hell, even if we come close as the German revolution did and fall short we still have a “GDR” to look forward to when America collapses after WW3. But still only if prepare sufficiently now.

    I’m sorry for the dark post, get organized if not already.

     

    The centrally planned economy of socialism takes the form of a 5 year plan. The plan is determined by State planning committee, Gosplan for USSR or SPK for GDR for example. The plan would be something like (make 1 million trucks, 50 million shoes, X tons of corn) and was determined by the projected needs/wants of the population and economic developmental goals. The state extracts surplus value via a turnover tax from the domestic economy and profitable exports from the international market. There were smaller taxes and fees but exports and turnover taxes made the bulk of state revenue for socialist countries. The economy produced goods and services based on human need instead of the mere profit maximization by commodity exchange under capitalism. The 5 year plans were amazing and allowed the USSR economy to grow rapidly under the Great Depression unscathed while capitalist states contracted. You can watch an excellent video on the 5 year plans in the early USSR by Finnish Bolshevik on YouTube.

    Here is the link to it :  https://youtu.be/e4YDkWzQZAw

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