Post Ac9h3YjkPevsLqllTM by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
(DIR) More posts by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3Osx2aLvnUzyQi by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T19:29:48Z
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I hereby present: https://www.marxist.com/why-has-there-not-been-a-revolution-the-need-for-revolutionary-leadership.htmthis is an article from Alan Woods, a marxist, as he says, where he talks about how it is necessary for revolutionary leadership to "guide" the masses to ensure their "success". I don't want to give anything away however, because his elaborations are, as I will now demonstrate, very funny. this website is affiliated with the International Marxist Tendency, a trotskyist group which has internationally made great strides in wheatpasting their one dogshit poster everywhere and showing up once everyone has debloced to sell their fucking magazine.please remind me if I forget alt text, and also I would appreciate hearing your takes.
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3Pwt5R5z5zqdCi by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T19:35:57Z
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it is kind of strange that the introduction makes sure to tell everyone reading this that they are stupid idiots for even asking this question
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3QtNZxsq1PDLNI by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T19:37:57Z
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especially considering that you're asking them to give you money right after that
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3RlcKJGijcaeum by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T20:07:09Z
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there's also these quotes from trotsky and engels, and I don't know if they're part of the article or the introduction. the engels quote is noteworthy, as he lays out that things will happen, when they happen, and that you just gotta be kinda patient until they happen. we'll see a lot more of this kind of thinking later on, and I will elaborate a bit on it then.now, with all that shit out the way, I'll get to the actual article
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3SZbKTFdEdyZpA by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T20:13:02Z
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(DIR) Post #Ac9h3TaLZBRSNFKgcq by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T20:29:47Z
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look, I'm gonna be honest, like most people, I don't know shit about dialectics, but I get the impression that "dialectics" is just this nebulous authority you can point to if you want to assert a premise or, as alan does here, to show off that you know what a dialectics is.besides, what does "things change into their opposite" even mean? what is a thing? how does it change? why? how is the opposite defined? why did you even say this???
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3UWU51wjHYX7FA by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T20:36:43Z
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alan does not know what a federal reserve bank is. or a bailout. or securities regulations. why? is he stupid?
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3VMwvxuhuH511M by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T20:53:57Z
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ok so would it be funnier if alan woods doesn't have an editor, or if he does and the editor pointed this out to him and he was against changing it
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3W9s052sLzy5Gy by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T21:14:06Z
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this is another instance of a.) a Hegel quote, and b.) the belief in the inevitability of the revolutionalso that it is "the task of the marxists" to "acquire a rational insight". this implies some sort of expertise, perhaps a leadership role, on part of the marxists. I guess it's worth pointing out that, next to engels, marx, and trotsky, they of course also believe lenin to be one of the great thinkers of the communist movement. because of this, they very much replicate his belief in centralized control of the worker's party in the hands of a few intellectuals who know what a dialectics is. this is, as we know, incredibly likely to lead to further consolidation of power, the control of dissent, the destruction of competitors, as well as et cetera and so forth
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3X74RyOtJbfMY4 by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T21:19:43Z
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alan, here, is actively arguing against trying to further revolutionary developments through your own actions, because he thinks that there is some sort of inevitable process that should not be messed with.
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3XsZbMOjgvtIae by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T21:29:00Z
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like I've already mentioned, alan believes that things will happen, when they happen, and that you just gotta be kinda patient until they happen. BUT, crucially, that they are definitely going to happen.this reflects a general theme of both this article and the beliefs of the trotskyists that I have interacted with. "the working class" or "the masses" (these terms are largely interchangeable) are destined to achieve revolution, and it is the responsibility of the kind of marxist who writes this shit to lead them in their struggle and achieve communism/democratic socialism. it is almost like the rapture, in how it has never happened, but is always going to happen, because some grand narrative has ordained it so. I think marx already wrote something about how socialism was the logical next step in human societal development, that based on the previous transitions from slavery over feudalism to capitalism, that is just how it works.
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3YjkPevsLqllTM by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T21:38:07Z
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I should point out that I'm skipping some sections, like this one, because it's just completely needless bloviating. Woods writes like someone who is more focused on making himself seem smart than he is on communicating an idea.He could cut. all of this. and it would not matter. not a single premise or argument is in these paragraphs. it's just words.
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3Zum29LY0Kw5IW by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T21:58:19Z
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now, of course there's an apparent rhetorical strategy behind taking ideas from scientific study, applying them to politics and calling it materialism, but it does seem kind of overplayed if you're using this framing to say that revolutions are like volcanoes. sure, you spent two paragraphs explaining what volcanoes are, and then spent another paragraph explaining it again but with some words changed, but alan, here, is just comparing things. he provides no actual argument for why revolutions are like volcanoes (other than "because dialectics says so"). and besides that, he didn't even need to mention it, because he applied his thinking directly to revolutions afterwards. the metaphor was completely pointless, except for the purpose of tying marxism to science to make marxism itself seem scientific (even though marxism is definitely not a science). he also, once again, states that revolution is, in fact, inevitable, because an earthquake in san francisco is inevitable, and revolutions are like that.
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3aj70zc2WSUHlA by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:00:13Z
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this is so fucking funny
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3bYruZ0r6yhcQq by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:01:33Z
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"only we, the marxists, understand physiognomy!!! because we are scientific!!"
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3cMUw2iBatvFmy by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:07:50Z
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ok so would it be funnier if he didn't have an editor, or if his editor had told him not to bury his thesis statement 1800 words in and he was against changing it
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3dRqtcaYxnR2m0 by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:14:59Z
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isn't it itself sectarian to call others sectarian for disagreeing with you? and I guess I am one of those sectarians for believing that resistance to domination is a constant in human societies, whatever form that may take, which is kind of the same thing? I guess? seems like this depends on your definition of "revolt"
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3eJjfHgreue4lE by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:20:11Z
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yknow at first I was like "I don't agree, but maybe he has a point" but then I realised that his source was that he made it up.He just says it. He just throws it out there. he just says "well that's how brains work".
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3fGw7B2scWLM2K by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:30:58Z
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alan can't stop himself and once again takes a concept from scientific study and applies it to society, only this time he also throws out the concept of routine, which, like inertia, is a force that keeps people obedient, and doing what they're doing. there's other names for adjacent concepts, be that discipline, faith in democracy, or ideas about the instilling of passivity, which are, I agree, things that the education system does. I dunno, I just feel like routine is a bad name for it that he only picked because it sounds more similar to inertia.
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3g1NKWBywY4RQ8 by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:41:06Z
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I'm gonna be honest, I've never been to a strike, but is this true? it doesn't sound true. alan is also reiterating that leadership is crucial to strikes (or revolutions), because the masses are too ignorant to figure out that they're oppressed on their own.
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3gnaRGkzM4cwZE by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:44:40Z
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alan does not know what a federal reserve bank is. or a bailout. or a tariff. why? is he stupid?
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3hq6ZOMiaAoT8C by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T22:51:00Z
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this is all his discussion of the russian revolution boils down to. "the soviets took power because of these two guys, therefore we will always need some guys to do a coup if we want to achieve communism"
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3igDRe37BnC5M8 by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T23:01:49Z
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including the first paragraph because I have personally experienced and IMT member doing entryism, but the second one is way more interesting: the marxist tendency (the IMT, the org he's writing this for) must have "the will to power, to conquer".this is where the actual revolutionary strategy of the IMT and Alan Woods shines through, obscured by all the comparisons to geology and pointless assertions: just do what lenin did. build a party and do a coup. kill a bunch of people if it's necessary (which it always is because the opposition must be eliminated to ensure uncontested power), consider yourselves the saviors and rightful leaders of the working class/the masses. it is an approach that completely ignores intersectionality and is counterrevolutionary in both the short and long term. they are at best a bunch of annoying larpers who don't share our values, or at worst a grave danger.
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3jTqT7kRfiPiiG by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T23:11:53Z
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I wanna note that I think his analysis of the reformist left is kinda shit. like it's not terrible, compromise absolutely is a dead end, but his analysis completely fails to account for interests such organizations might have besides their political mission, that they are stuck because they believe the power for change is vested in the state (kinda like alan woods does, actually), or that politicians are, yknow, spineless. has this guy never read ten blows against politics???
(DIR) Post #Ac9h3kGlXEsc7RImxs by Roadblock161_@kolektiva.social
2023-11-24T23:16:52Z
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I've made it about halfway through the article in the past three hours, and while I WILL continue to talk about the rest of this, I am gonna take a break for tonight. I hope you got to take something away from this.