@SolidShrimp@BmoreOrganized Instead of advocating ”prison abolitionism” within the bounds of class society (a pseudo-anarchist and fundamentally unserious position), we should strive to turn the system on its head and build a new prison system for the purposes of maintaining proletarian class dictatorship.
@BadEmpanado I support the armed resistance, of which Hamas is only one of several factions (and not necessarily the most politically progressive one).
@somanyshrimp@docmartimcfly@BmoreOrganized Yes, like every single other communist working in the tradition of Marxism-Leninism. The prison system is an integral part of any state, including the worker’s state. Being ”anti-prison” is a in its essence an anarchist position.
@somanyshrimp@docmartimcfly@BmoreOrganized I have been an organised revolutionary communist for the better part of a decade now. Why should I have to ”answer for the status quo,” just because I disagree with postmodern establishment intellectuals like Angela Davis?
@docmartimcfly@BmoreOrganized That could absolutely be the case. Self identified ”prison abolitionists” are still obligated to explain how all of this would actually work on a practical level and what sort of concrete reforms they are advocating for.
@miravus@pkgandakin I would argue that contemporary professionals fall squarely within the latter tendency of their specialised skill being rendered worthless by new methods of production. This creates a reactionary political consciousness which is above all else opposed to proletarianisation.
Nothing smacks of inexperience and unfamiliarity with class struggle than venerating "flashy" photographs and propaganda
"Less political fireworks and more attention to the simplest but living facts of communist construction" - Lenin
@PunishedVucko Marx is unclear on this point and uses ”class” inconsistently. Contemporary class analysis has to spring out of a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. On these grounds, I believe there is a point to be made by arguing that professionals today constitute a separate class.
@miravus@pkgandakin Professors are far closer to artisans than they are to proletarians. Under the same logic Marx uses to argue that artisans constitute a separate class to the proletariat, one could easily argue the same for the modern day professional class.
@RedRafin Because the overwhelmingly dominant element of the Chinese economy remains commodity rather than capital export, we should consider the country more of an imperialist power in development rather than an imperialist power outright.
@RedRafin While China has started to become a net capital exporter, this has been a fairly recent development. As such, the accumulated sum of Chinese assets abroad still remains relatively insignificant in terms both of its own economy and of its western competitors.
Contemporary Marxists really need to recover and revitalize the key scientific discoveries that Marx made—mode of production, surplus value, and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Otherwise we fall into vulgar evolutionism and economism that cannot actually produce knowledge.
Marx's value theory (LTV) versus supply/demand (SD) rhetoric flying around again. A symptom of broken economics education that yields right (LTV can't explain scarcity prices) and left (SD isn't real) idiocy. LTV and SD are entirely compatible. The schism lies elsewhere. See:
Lenin (1922, very ill):
'Yes, Comrade, you may publish a selection of excerpts from my works as long as
•you state that you did the selecting
•you include as much as possible against "Leftists"
•you include a lot from Leftwing Communism: an Infantile Disorder'