r/Marxism

I've seen a lot of critics on his content and their hasn't been anyone who has provided any solid evidence or structured logic to critic any of his works properly. I've seen some stuff within his videos that I didn't like but it would be passing comments that could be seen as reactionary. If anyone has any good particular thoughts or criticisms of his works or views, I would like to hear them.

Also if you're going to reply with a critic on one of his tweets that are obviously shit posts to gaslight Americans then please don't respond at all. Only looking for serious responses to his actual works.

I ask this as someone who is a very aesthetically minded person, and when trying to in my free time make a board for Marxism, realized there was a severe lack of variety in image choices, symbols, and so on comparatively to other boards I had made. When I came to writing a list of Marxist aesthetic items vs non-Marxist aesthetics, it was a lot more difficult for me to list it out beyond propaganda posters, Marxist figure heads, the hammer and sickle, and the color red.
I could try and further on why I think this is, many aesthetics can be rooted in cultural specific locations and conditions, and symbols of those cultures can be taken advantage of to produce various moods. I won't get too specific as I think I fail to make a proper explanation, but I feel like Marxism is very static and singular and doesn't branch out.
It vexes me and I am concerned with it for no reason than wanting to integrate my ideology into my own personal aesthetics.

It really shocked me that most tablers at rallies still only really have somewhat pricy editions of notable socialist works available. It was especially shocking to see how something like the Manifesto, which is extremely short, succinct, and well-known, is either not being sold at tables or is a paperback in the $5+ range.

My solution is this: free to download, zine-esque, formatted to be condensed PDFs that you can print at home in bulk to distribute. Right now all that is available is the Manifesto, a 10 page print-out (10 double sided sheets, divided into 2 pages per sheet, stapled into a book), and, by the suggestion of the MLRH discord, Einstein's "Why Socialism?" though I do have plans to make some of selected passages from S&R and collections of some of Mao's quotations that would make sense to go together.

Keep in mind: what's chosen are works that are intended to bring people into Marxism. If you're already a Marxist, you've probably already read these.

https://preview.redd.it/brky6uwr5b2h1.jpg?width=1177&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=865f50cbdaf065c42e2edc72ac53cdb8ca019113

And if you do not know him, please research him; he is a wonderful person. Here is an example of his poems:

6 ARALIK 1945
"They are the enemies of hope, my love,
of the running water,
of the tree in its season of fruit,
of life that scatters and flourishes.
Because death has stamped its mark upon their foreheads:
-rotting teeth, decaying flesh-,
they will collapse and go, never to return again.
And of course, my love, of course,
it will walk about, swinging its arms freely,
it will walk about in its most glorious garment: in worker's overalls,
freedom in this beautiful country of ours…"

I've noticed the denial of evolution is rampant among arab communities as opposed to denial of the formation of stars or so. Why is this the case? Does it serve some purpose?

I know little about democratic centralism, only that you elect local leaders who join a council, then these leaders elect a representative and as soon as a decision is made, everybody needs to rally behind the decision.

Can someone please give me a better understanding of it, or how to defend it in discussions?

I noticed a sense of guilty happiness in myself when I read a news article stating that a theft had occurred at a prominent businessman's house. The suspects were people from a slum area in our state.

Ps- i am not much educated on Marxism.

Is the result of dialectical materialist analysis overwhelmingly Marxist in terms of the socioeconomic conclusions akin to the usual array of socialist tendencies? Does this mode of thought always lend itself to a revolutionary, class-conscious politic?

Che says “reality is Marxist” and I personally don’t see why not but I want to be sure!

Bonus points if you feel like giving a concise read of how Marx and Engels depart from Hegel’s dialectical method. Muchos gracias!

Products and services like WhatsApp and other SM draw their value from how many user their platform has. Does this not produce problems for the LTV?

A clone of the same product with the same code is worth almost nothing regardless of how much SNLT was used to produce it. And it should still have qualitative use value, should it not? Or is the value in a marxian sense zero and this is just a deviation of price and value? Are services benefiting from network effects just extracting Monopoly Rent?

Any and all help would be appreciated- I am trying to do some research, and I think an in-depth biography would be very helpful, Thank you in advance.

I have recently been trying to delve into Yugoslavian history and wondered what the Marxist takes were on this subject. I have a neighbour who "fled" communism in Yugoslavia and is now a pro-capitalist lawyer in Canada—but his story, while not diminishing his personal feelings on this, feels lacking in context. I would also like advice on where to go for more reliable information on Yugoslavia and perhaps ways in which I could go about sparking up a discussion with my neighbor. Any related discussion is welcome, thank you.

now, it makes sense to me that if anyone were to hypothetically steal from a large corporation that wouldn’t be bad, it’s a bit more questionable if it’s a small business, given that they are much smaller than the mega corporations of the world but then again, the small business owners would probably still be considered petty bourgeois.

But what about a home burglary? To me, in my mind I feel like that comes with a lot more dependable contexts and reasons. Like, for example would it be morally justifiable if someone in poverty were to burglarize someone’s house, if this person is like middle income.

I also see many parallels with this for someone joining the US military, because I’m sure that many of you would agree that it’s morally bad to join the US military regardless of their economic status.

does this go the same way if someone were to break into someone’s house and steal their stuff regardless of economic background? or are there more layers of context to this?

I’ve been reading about Jewish history in Europe, from the Middle Ages up to the Holocaust, and it’s striking how European ruling classes failed to resolve what was historically called the “Jewish Question,” often resorting to nationalism, exclusion, or outright persecution.

In the 20th century, support for the creation of Israel is often presented as a “solution,” but it seems more like a displacement of the problem rather than a resolution, especially considering the ongoing conflicts and contradictions it generated.

From a Marxist perspective, how should we understand the “Jewish Question” historically, and what would be the path toward its real resolution? Is it primarily tied to overcoming class society and nationalism, or is there a more specific framework within Marxist theory that addresses it?

One comrade has been posting incredibly long documents which have been confirmed to be AI generated. My Marxist analysis of AI is that it materially harms the working class, is anti-intellectual and wastes comrades time. Data centers steal energy, water and intellectual contributions of the proletariat while offering nothing in return. At the same time this stifles critical Marxist analysis and dialectics because it requires no critical engagement. The issue is that this comrade is bogging down productive organization time and forcing comrades to read long documents which took no input from the creator. I am going to be proposing a formal AI policy to my organization and my thoughts are that we should have no tolerance for it. Are there any comrades who think otherwise?

>What is now happening to Marx’s theory has, in the course of history, happened repeatedly to the theories of revolutionary thinkers and leaders of oppressed classes fighting for emancipation. During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the “consolation” of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance**, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it. Today, the bourgeoisie and the opportunists within the labor movement concur in this doctoring of Marxism. They omit, obscure, or distort the revolutionary side of this theory, its revolutionary soul. They push to the foreground and extol what is or seems acceptable to the bourgeoisie.** All the social-chauvinists are now “Marxists” (don’t laugh!). And more and more frequently German bourgeois scholars, only yesterday specialists in the annihilation of Marxism, are speaking of the “national-German” Marx, who, they claim, educated the labor unions which are so splendidly organized for the purpose of waging a predatory war!
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch01.htm

I used to hold this naive belief that "of course people would rise up" if they understood how corrupt and bloodthirsty the system is, after all that's what all our guns are for! But the mask is off now. We see the genocide, corruption, and lawlessness out in the open and I see no real revolutionary fervor.

Sure, atomized individuals are angry, but that's about it. The idea of communism has been so delegitimized in the western mind that moderate social reform like medicare for all and a 5% tax on billionaires is the most revolutionary ideas that this society can entertain.

Labor power has been so thoroughly suppressed that people who want to organize literally don't even know where to start.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see even an inkling of a vanguard party.

Thus my pessimism. I feel like just as people are using midterms as a comfort blanket we also use the idea that if things keep getting worse people will just overthrow the system as a comfort blanket.

I don't think we've ever seen a more atomized, propagandized, individualized, and divided society in history. I don't see how we pull together at the 11th hour if thus far people(I'm massively generalizing) are content to just watch genocides and corruption and lawlessness without lifting a finger.

I guess a counter-point that comes to mind as I write this is that the speed of information flow on the internet does allow populations to be radicalized much faster than any other time in history. It's surprised me how normalized the idea that "billionaires are the problem" has become, that wasn't the case even 5 years ago. And now more of those folks are recognizing the reality of the class war.

Still though I'm not seeing that discourse translate into real-life action. I think that's why platforms haven't been more heavily censored. If there was a real threat of revolutionary ideas breaking containment into real-world action they'd shut it down in a second. And so we spend our time online fighting shit-libs and arguing about the merits of anarchism vs communism all the while waiting and hoping for someone else to DO something(I include myself in this critique).

And another counter-point, Minnesota came together and organized when ICE came to their doorstep. I think their organization actually did scare the power structure. But the pressure valve was released and now Minnesota is trying to pass one of the most awful assault weapons bans, which allows LEO to conduct warrantless searches of your home.

And after natural disasters people have been great about coming together and sharing resources. So, maybe if push does come to shove people will just naturally organize together to fight the class war but I don't know I feel very pessimistic on that front. Seems much more likely some white supremacist ultra-nationalist would just use the existing white supremacist militias, ICE, LEO & military to seize power in that scenario.