Dropping the mask w coworker

  • Student loans brought up
  • Mentioned "Well I suppose conditions will have to decline before the proletarian revolution can bappen" (happen)
  • Me: I feel like the only chance here is when other countries finally get out of the grip of colonialism which allows imperialist countries (today centered with the United States) to extract rents through unequal exchange and other mechanisms that allow the ruling class to bribe a segment of workers. I know that might sound like academic babble but I guarantee it all means something. The good and bad news is that it's happening. US imperialism is weakening. When other countries can fairly trade their resources then the need for profits from firms will intensify the struggle against domestic workers
  • Them: Yeah I know that but what system keeps the good and removes the bad of what we have?
  • Me: Well, I'm a communist
  • Them: lol I can’t say because I don’t know what I am. But basically it has to get worse- like occupy Wall Street x 10,000
  • Me: Haha yeah, occupy wall street with actual demands. But America is the most anti communist country around and they've wages a decades long battle. So there's work to do
  • Them: What blows my mind is the inequality in this country - the basic basket of goods that is baseline is non existent
  • Me: And how this country's "good" has always coincided with an excluded other
  • Them: Exactly

Points I believe are important:

  • Capitalism/liberalism has always worked with an excluded "other"
  • They later mentioned rights in communist countries (implicitly compared to "liberal" countries)
  • Need to think of the world as a whole to assess the effect of regimes on people
    • Stalin may have had to crack down against counter revolution. China may have had devastating famine as part of a desperate attempt to modernize while under sanction/imperialist assault
    • Neither has had a "Jakarta method", purposely starved nations (like Britain did to Ireland and India), backed genocidal death squads like the US has done in Lat Am, etc
  • Thoughts:
    • Still a moral aspect when arguing benefits of socialism/communism. Not moralist as in the a-materialist/utopian view, but arguing things like how violence in certain aspects is justified to stop more (often an imperialist talking point but context is what matters). Recall from Losurdo's book how it could be considered immoral to forsake violence where it ultimately leads to more. Essentially, it's worth stopping a Jakarta method