everyone: "the gestapo is killing citizens in the streets, the economy is on the brink of spectacular collapse, and the world is run by literal satanic pedophiles. it's so over, these are the end-times."

me: *taps both signs*

@rowb1t in dark times comrade always rember that this is historically necessary

@nyx @rowb1t

What.

@technicallydifficult @rowb1t we are currently living through a "weeks when decades happen" period of history

@nyx @rowb1t

yeah. It's times like these that try men's souls. I'm disabled tho, so I'm just hunkering down and waiting for the storm to pass. I haven't really had stability in a long time.

@nyx @rowb1t it could also be signs of further impending disaster. Try affect the course of events for the better..

Speaking of, i worry about your authoritianism if you think it's ok to post Stalin like that is ok..

@jasper @nyx bruh

@jasper @nyx @rowb1t go back to the CIA lab where they made you they undercooked ya a bit

@jasper @nyx @rowb1t

It would be an improvement to have communism, over what we currently have. And it's strange to hear that from someone in a European state that has a monarch and partially socialist government to be quite honest. We already live in an oligarchical dictatorship, so removing the oligarchy would be a significant improvement.

@rowb1t they're satanic?

@apophis @rowb1t

It's not the end times yet. A bunch of the prerequisites haven't been met, and they seem to be a long ways off. (unless you are yassir qahdi waiting on cosmic space zombies)

@technicallydifficult @apophis @rowb1t I really think this is just a blip honestly.

@technicallydifficult @nyx @rowb1t they do stuff with tax yeah, but really 'socialistic'. Plus totally going with every descent into neoliberalism, fascism and going to 5% "defense" spending.(including some support of industries)

Yeah fuck the king, we should depose him too. Just goes along with everything. Also like he could frustrate formation of a government a little, that's pretty much the extent of his power. I am sure such frustration could happen, and never because of moral qualms.(1/*)

Anyway, as of authoritarianism, well i am hardly the most knowledgable on history, but giving it a go.

like the USSR always claimed to be 'heading towards' communism, but after a very quick and effective industrialization and WWII mobilization, which effectively, but with a lot of unnecessary loss of life, defeated the Nazis, a lot of progress faltered actually.(2/*)

Plus the USSR pretty much started, after WWI, and with foreign money and weapons pumped into counter revolution.. Violently. But also authoritarian, very early on Soviets attacked other left-wing organizations. Which is not only injust, and opposite to any reasonable goals, it degrades the people in the longer term.

Probably attacking political opponents who aren't your enemy is even worse than any tanking of the economy.. It is going to take over your entire political project.(3/*)

@jasper

And it was still better than the Czar.

Vanguardism is also risk factor. For Russia, the industrial proletariat in was not actually that large, which also fed into that. But it is largely a "we know best" idea.

Finally authoritarianism, and infighting, eh in-killing happened after a revolution kicking out elites before and after. After the French revolution guillotining aristocrats also turned into guillotining political opponents, and caused the disaster we call Napoleon..(4/*)

@georgia @apophis @rowb1t

yeah, bad things are happening, but it's not end of the world bad. It just seems a lot of people are rejecting liberalism and the world is adjusting from bipolar to multipolar.

@technicallydifficult @apophis @rowb1t I dont think this will even end capitalism, let alone the world. I mean just look at the Arab spring. in modern times revolutions just aren't enduring without firm ideological backing to them.

@georgia @apophis @rowb1t
We need to end chattel slavery before we can hope to end wage slavery.

@technicallydifficult @apophis @rowb1t you mean human trafficking? or Mauritania?

@georgia @apophis @rowb1t

Both are technically the same thing, the only major difference being whether it is done with caution or support of the law. And also ending forced prison labor. And there is some slavery in nearly every Muslim nation, plus the US and Thailand. It's still a very common thing. The 14th ammendment doesn't abolish legal slavery, it only limits it to prisoners. And kafala still exists. And the seized passport and trickery type of situation. Which is why I don't buy seafood from thailand or chocolate from Ivory Coast. .

@technicallydifficult @apophis @rowb1t right I forgot about prison slavery smdh

@georgia @apophis @rowb1t

forced labor is also used in some state mental institutions. (been there, done that, it's my most recent work experience and has prevented me for passing every interview since then)

@technicallydifficult @apophis @rowb1t gosh thats awful I'm sorry. ive been in hospitals but was never forced to work, gosh. unless you account for the workshops you have to kind of attend if you want to get out...

@georgia @apophis @rowb1t

Yeah, the company somehow gets your tax records and just goes and pops the damn question, like, what was the nature of your work at [mental hospital}? Why isn't it in your resume? Why was it for less than minimum wage?

@technicallydifficult @apophis @rowb1t :( I hope things get better for you.

@georgia @apophis @rowb1t

haha, me too. I'm not doing very well.

There was also this long text about the Philipine communist party destroying itself and other left wing activists by calling them traitors. Ugh i can't find it..(5/6)

Really, we should tolerate a lot, but not political oppression. A just or good society will never be finished, tranquil, or without disagreements, and always have multiple streams in it. Also, the next generation will always be making choices that modify and erase the former, sometimes beyond what they could conceive of, and that can be fine. I mean educate your young to think for themselves, you won't be doing it for them.. eventually.(6/6)

Sorry not sorry for making this long.. I mean, it was going to be long.

Am sorry i can't do it better, like get a really good source or whatever.. It is mostly from the top of my head.(also i am not great at remembering stuff...)

About being better than the Czar, probably at many points it was. The real comparison to make is compared to what could have been

Whereas if things went differently, it might have been a success. Even if it started later..(1/*)

The USSR ended up largely defining the left wing, the left was framed in it. The left was stuck with them. Systems with no freedom, no ability to correct themselves.

It's failures was used to propagandize that _that_ was the alternative, for generations of people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5ecU2yGDpM

Despite Mikhail Gorbachev attempts, it's failure was also far from graceful, Putin came to power.(btw Yeltsin who had a tank shoot at parliament Time magazine cheered on propagandists helping him win) (2/2)

@jasper

riiiight... Well, I don't care. I already knew all that. My grandma's a teacher specializing in Russian History. The fact remains, that Russia is still better off than under the Czar. None of what you said had to do with the material conditions of the poor. Russia was a shitshow since the middle ages. It's not changed except that it has become less of a shitshow for the poor, but that is stilll an improvement. Improvement is improvement, regardless of whether you like it as a privileged and arrogant eurobro.

Like, you have no idea how bad it has been here for the entirety of my life. The life we were promised isn't even an option anymore. Our streets are dangerous and 60% of the population struggles to make ends meet. It takes 10+ years to apply for subsidized housing because there's so many people on waiting lists. There's not enough jobs to go around, and probably at least 30% are unemployed (only those unemployed for less than 6 months are counted in employment statistics). I don't know anyone who has never been homeless or never had to beg for money to care for their needs, except for a doctor and his son from my old mosque. Half the people I know have eaten food from a trash can. Everyone I know has accepted charity food. A significant number of Americans are barely literate.

So the assumption that we would be worse off with communism sounds like absolute bollocks. Cuba eliminated illiteracy and nationalized health care. They also equitably distributed food through a ration system and guaranteed the right to housing, education, medical care, and employment. What's wrong with that? Sounds like exactly what we need.

I can hear it now, "But they killed the rich people!"

And?

"The russians did it too!"

I fail to see the issue. The Czar deserved it. The Princes (all russian noblemen are called prince) deserved it. And it was a mercy to Alexei who was bedridden with haemophilia.

They ate the fat while peasants were worked to death in brutal conditions. Most poor Americans die of preventable or treatable causes. From not being able to afford their basic needs, or not being able to afford medical care.