this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 71 points 1 year ago (4 children)

What if, and hear me out on this one, the problem isn't which "-ism" is prevalent. The real problem is that ANY form of power or society needs checks and balances. If those are missing or not enforced, then everything goes to shit. It's a balancing act, not just a matter of black or white.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

Sir please put your -ism away, you're scaring the children.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Name checks out lol

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

The whole point of Communism is to balance power away from the 1% and back to the masses. The fact that it is an "-ism" and has decades of propaganda demonozing it, doesnt make that any less true.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The important part is it's not an authoritarian running the show and calling it "communism" or " democracy" when the reality is it's just a plain old oligarchy with a new title applied.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

100% couldn't agree more.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The whole point of Communism is to balance power away from the 1% and back to the masses

But there needs to be some governing body that is responsible for determining how the power and wealth is distributed. Per the OP's point: if the proper guardrails are not in place, control of that governing body will eventually shift towards a person or party who corrupts it for their own purposes. It doesn't matter what the "point" of a system is, corrupt people will always attempt to take the wheel.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This was legitimately a problem after ww2 where the politically active communists were more heavily involved in the war and a bunch of the human infrastructure of (especially local)democracy got killed by nazis

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

balance power away from the 1% and back to the masses

By installing a dictator...every time it's attempted...

Maybe not do that next time and try doing it from the bottom up instead of top-down🏴. It's much more work to convince people that this is a solution and have them help willingly instead of forcing them to go along with it. We tried the Marxist-Leninist way dozens of times, let's try the anarchist way. A capitalist boot or a communist boot on my neck makes no difference to me, it's still a boot on my neck.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That is a problem of how revolution works, not a problem of communism.

Create a power vaccuum, and those who had the most power will STILL have the most influence. Even if you literally killed all the old power, you would be immediately creating an authority structure with the legal authority of capital punishment, which many, MANY communists wouldn't agree with.

The problem is horrible people exist, NOT the concept of communism. For every reason people shit on Communism, there are twenty valid reasons to shit on capitalism. Neither system works in the real world on its own. To pretend like capitalism is magical in comparison is literally failing to observe reality.

The rich and powerful constantly shit on political action because it IS effective. They do not enjoy going through the effort of retaining power through internal conflicts and ESPECIALLY not actual revolutions. Why would they EVER tell you the truth?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why did Napoleon take power after the French Revolution if Capitalism doesn't have dictators every time a revolution occurs?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because short man special!

/s (do I even need this? This one HAS to be so absurd as to make the "/s" superfluous)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

HE WAS AVERAGE HEIGHT FOR THE TIME PERIOD!!! (I miss overlysimplified so much)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe not do that next time and try doing it from the bottom up instead of top-down🏴.

Those have been tried, but they often tend to get liberated by the CIA. Or in some cases, the KGB / Red Army.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm certainly not advocating for toppling other countries' governments, but honestly the fact that so many countries end up not being able to withstand the attacks from outside is kind of a mark against them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Well, that's the problem with bottom-up government, isn't it? It is better in most ways, but the local empire will invade you at the first chance they get.

If I remember correctly, the fall of the Paris commune to a Franco-German alliance was what led the early Marxists to embrace a centralised system. Of course, that brings its own problems, as power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Even the fucking CIA isn't dishonest enough to say such things

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A006000360009-0.pdf

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Rojava is doing exactly as I suggested. Spreading the power out. It's a rare bird among the many communist attempts. I was actually going to offer it up as an example.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is why Xi Jinping lives in a giant gilded castle and any negative thing said anywhere about him is censored, just like every other citizen. Everyone's equal.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago

Citation fucking needed, do you even know anyone from China?

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago

Just look at "balance power away from 1%" in China, Ruzzia or North Corea. Do you really like it? Or you just read books and not looking at real life examples?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why is there so much communist propaganda on Lemmy? Could it be that reddit is actually good at filtering out state-sponsored content farms?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Decentralization appeals to leftists, as that's the principle of the ideology, away from bourgeois interests.

I haven't seen evidence of state-sponsored propaganda, though there are people that simp far too hard for China and the CPC on Lemmy though.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You should read capital volume one, it will explain how the problem actually is capitalism

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Actually, the problem is homelessness.

The solution is either housing (ethical) or genocide (unethical).

Provision of housing for the poor can be achieved by means of social housing programs. These can exist in both communist and capitalist societies. E.g. the Netherlands is capitalist, but there is almost no homelessness thanks to its social housing program. The few homeless that are present are choosing this way of life and are therefore not part of problem.