or lenin or mao or etc

i’m curious. I don’t think I’m a marxist but I have been trying to read marxist theory and I got caught by my family and had a huge argument with everyone. it was really interesting because it seemed like we weren’t talking about the same thing at all. Things like everyone is paid the same or everything is made by the government etc, I know very little but I have asked and read the basics and I was able to point out that wasn’t true

i’m used to people being smug about things they know nothing about, but it’s interesting how they look down on communists, like looking at a silly child that doesn’t know anything - while not knowing anything about what communists said in the first place. I actually tried to pull out quotes from the book but they didn’t want me to, they actually refused to know what they hate, it’s strange. I mean, I do the same, I’ve never read fascist theory or ayn rand or stuff like that, so I can’t really blame them, but I don’t try to seriously argue with fascists and libertarians anyways

some of them have a lived experience in eastern europe or cuba or something so I can’t really argue against that, but when it’s just an argument I’ve never met someone extremely vehemently against communist thoughts who actually read any of what communists wrote

have you ever had like, a productive, genuine conversation with an anti-communist?

  • President_Obama [they/them]English
    7•2 years ago

    Yeah it makes sense as a Marxist to do so. I’d recommend, and intend to do so myself, to read modern works, because you should always read things that go against your biases, in general. It’s silly and dogmatic to only read work by Marxist academics, and worse yet to only read five-heads

    • ReadFanon [any, any]English
      6•2 years ago

      I gotta be honest with you, and this is probably my ignorance and my bias shining through (a very powerful combination indeed), but I can’t really think of any modern liberal philosopher that isn’t primarily an economist besides… Fukuyama I guess? lol. And I really don’t have time for him or anyone else who is just an apologist or who gets their ideas directly out of the trashcan of ideology.

      I’m open to being convinced otherwise though.

      • President_Obama [they/them]English
        4•2 years ago

        Nah I mean economists. Piketty is the first name that comes to mind - broadly left wing, makes a strong case, but comes from a different philosophical background (not Marxism). It’s why I am planning on reading Arrighi — a post-marxist but left wing view on imperialism.

        Michael Hudson is great, but he doesn’t challenge a Marxist’s worldview, simply because he too is a Marxist. But a modern one, and a good economist, and a proper academic.

        See how I don’t even know real liberal academics to read? I want to improve on that. I’m still looking for a modern liberal analysis of imperialism

        • GhostofLeninsGhost [he/him]English
          3•2 years ago

          Arrighi is good but a tough read (I got through about 100 pages before I tapped out). I’ve been reading Hegemony and Socialist Strategy recently, and while it’s also tough it is holding me a bit better. It could be that I need to revisit Arrighi given how I’m doing with this current book.