Dialectical materialism can be applied to basically anything and it takes awhile to develop it. I’m still not an expert by any means but I have certainly built a better understanding of it over the last 6 months as I’ve touched grass a lot, lot more and also re-read a lot.

It’s a pretty broad question, asking how we apply it to broader society. So I’ll just do an example I guess.

When looking at an issue, the first thing(s) I look for are the contradictions within it and the contradictory relationships it has with other things. We know literally everything is interconnected, and that everything exists in a state of contradiction until it is resolved (and then transforms into a different contradiction but blahbababa) so that’s where I usually start.

Thinking about a gas station near my home, in isolation, is just a gas station. It operates perfectly well and statically to our liberal friends or if you’re not paying attention. But taking a diamat lens to it I would say that there exist tons of contradictions and interconnected relationships that drive the success or failure and the overall conditions of that station. There exists obviously the contradiction between the workers and capital owners there, the one we all know. This contradiction, the primary one in economic life under capitalism, sets the stage for others to pop up - a worker may recognize the futility in how hard they work there, and leave certain tasks undone. Contradictions like that within the gas station build up until they are resolved by either another worker taking the task up, the worker getting fired, or people neglecting to come to that station if it’s bad enough, leading to its closure. This is not static, and is constantly developing and in relation with everything else in the material world.

Connecting the gas station to society is easy from there, you just take off the magnifying glass and look outwards. The station exists in one part of a country that operates under that same economic system. So more contradictions pop up that are not internal to the station. Perhaps the piping that flows the fuel is not properly maintained because those workers are on strike, and ceases to function. The station is now defunct due to contradictions of the economic system, due to no fault of its own other than existing under this material reality.

Everything that happens affects everything that happens. The universe is a dynamic interconnected place and using the diamat framework is immensely helpful for making sense of things.

I could give a kind of abstract math equation, which can be helpful, but for me examples usually do the trick better. The more examples you hear the easier it will be to formulate your own and yeah.

Nobody has dialectical materialism “figured out” either, btw. The best analyses require many people, many years, much PRACTICE -> THEORY -> PRACTICE etc.

Hope this made sense, and if anyone with a better understanding of this than me wants to chime in feel free.

Given the political conditions of the US at the moment, fucked as the material ones are, I’m going to say adventurist. There would not be MASS support for that kind of thing in droves large enough to spark revolution.

Now, many folks would be in support of it, and it would likely radicalize people further/spur them to action. But again, the primary contradiction in the US today is not having a communist party leading the working class. Because a majority of people aren’t in tune/don’t know who these guerillas are, it would be framed as individual terrorist activities and swept under the public eye, no matter the effectiveness.

We aren’t there yet, in my opinion. But give it time, trust.

What do you mean? If you’re talking about in a red setting or a summation after an action or something then think back to the problems that happened and how you contributed to them. Point them out to others in that summation setting.

If you are talking about on like, a personal level, do the same thing but apply it to everything you’re doing. What exactly happened, how did I contribute to it happening? What were the good/effective things I did, what were the things that hampered effectiveness or hurt someone?

Write it down if you have to, or just take note of it in your head. There’s no universal process for self-criticism. Never stop (while being healthy about it obviously). Criticize your critiques, criticize your actions, criticize your thoughts. Don’t beat yourself up but always be trying to disprove or poke holes in what you think.

No. This amounts to throwing your hands in the air and giving up. Work needs to be put in to build something of value. And not all of them are revisionist or whatever. PSL and FRSO are both good options.

Currently working at a UPS warehouse - I am a physically fit young adult and the shit is still grueling. I feel you heavy.

deleted by creator

That was a very interesting substack.

I think, if that is true - then what does it matter? I might as well just use shit until it’s officially “gone” or whatever. I do agree it’s on the way out, btw. At least the form we have now. I’m not sure how the world is going to proceed from that.

This is a great idea - but it needs to be backed and endorsed by an organization. You’re correct that lack of organization is the number one obstacle/contradiction when it comes to boycotts being effective. That means that we probably would need to have a respected and large(ish) organization use it and set a good precedent with it before it would get big enough.

Typically I respond with the obvious “they’re not” answer - but even if they were - it’s important to realize who the real enemy is in that situation. These people are often coming from war-torn or poverty-stricken countries, primarily BECAUSE OF U.S. CAPITALISM AND IMPERIALISM. They wouldn’t even be here if they weren’t forced by horrific material conditions.

I ask the person to consider if they would want to leave everything, their family, common language, homeland, for no reason other than “my life might be a little better there” and the answer is obviously no. The immigrants they are concerned about (the poor, desperate brown ones - not the rich French or x “white” ones) are coming out of absolute desperation and taking shitty jobs that often aren’t even ones they’d be doing in the first place. They are the most exploitable and therefore most exploited people. They have much more in common with you (the x ignorant or racist person) than you do with any of these people you see on TV. Why don’t you stop blaming them and punching down and focus that energy on uniting with others like you - working class people - and take some action instead of posting racist memes on Facebook?

Setbacks and temporary failures are not indicative of a permanent failure. The capitalists are obviously going to swing back. But ultimately the people punch harder

I think it will be no longer than 10 years at this point.

Unless the U.S. finds another way to give itself a shot in the arm and hobble along for another 25 years (which is possible, I guess) - this country is cooked. It is already so much different than even 2 years ago, just in terms of general consciousness, that if this trend continues, it will fall within our lifetime. Like others have said the contradictions are becoming ever stronger, other countries are increasingly powerful and most notably China and the global south are rapidly growing.

The U.S. will not be able to win a war without deploying nuclear weapons and obliterating the entire world along with itself. I wouldn’t put it past them to try if/when it comes to that, but the period of domination where they could fend for themselves is gone. Recruitment rates are in the shitter and again, the general population is extremely unhappy with the way things are going. Class consciousness still has a way to go, but we’re getting there. It’s not like it takes a whole country to complete the initial stages of a revolution, and more and more people are getting radicalized by the minute.

Ultimately, it’s going to take a serious world event that weakens and splits the bourgeois of this country (which is already kind of happening) and the swift action of the masses to take advantage of that when the time comes. It absolutely has to be soon, not only do I believe that it will be, but it has to be, or climate change and the US lashing out will genuinely cause hell.

In our lifetime ain’t just a saying, people. Get out there

deleted by creator

I wouldn’t say equally important, only because in the situation of someone doing 100% online work compared to someone doing 100% physical life work, you’d obviously prefer the latter.

However it’s important to recognize the very real benefits online communist activity has. Fuck, that’s what got me involved. That’s where I got most of my information. It’s where I learned to discuss well, it played a humongous developmental role in becoming a communist that does things irl too.

Like others have said, we need tech spaces not controlled by major corporations. We need places that don’t censor us, that we can confidently post things and organize on. Especially when things get more spicy here in the states. That is, in my opinion, a real life benefit.

We can’t expect just working online to change anything, but we sure as hell can use the crazy amount of people online and useful tools that the internet has to bolster our movement. Full solidarity with our software commies.

*I’d like to make an edit/clarification because after thinking some more, they’re about as close to being equally important as you can get in today’s age. Specifically in the west. Even in the scenario I created earlier, it’s better to have both of those people than just one, because the online-commie can absolutely assist the real-life commie in many tangible and not tangible ways. I think of the research done and articles gathered from those of us on this platform, that never could’ve happened if it were just me researching. Having a, for lack of a better term, think tank designed for us is really important for developing correct ideas and discussion.

At this rate it probably won’t lmao

Yessss I was waiting for someone to confirm that <3 get fucked empire

I wouldn’t really use the word “agrees” to be honest. It’s a great thing, undoubtedly, but I think they wouldn’t do this if they weren’t de facto forced to because they’re stretched so unimaginably thin. This country truly is on the brink.

This is true.

The neutral criticism piece I actually disagree with. I think it’s equally on the people’s perception as it is on the person delivering/intention, and in a society where most people are going to be much more likely to be responsive to a positive languaged critique, there is no reason not to. We don’t have to be logic-lords or Spock, we’re humans and we like to be reassured and talked to nicely even when we are wrong. This is all assuming the person is good faith ofc.

It probably differs based on who you’re talking to, y’know, other comrades can probably take a little more direct language compared to some random newbie but I think it stands regardless, you have to frame it in a way that is digestible because of the large possibility that it could be blocked by your tone and their response to it. If we want to be practical, we need to consider this.

Personally I still agree with you lol, and am working on/getting better at taking direct criticism as not personal. But that doesn’t mean we should expect everyone to take it that way, it’s just not the way most people think.

Edit: everything else you said I agree with though, I still just have my own issues I listed above lol ^

That could be true, and definitely is for a number of “left-wing” creators. I don’t know if that’s the case for this, though, because he seems to (no hate to him here) really not be that popular? Or content-creator-y? Like he writes essays and critique pieces, he doesn’t make videos or whatever and to my knowledge none of this is monetized, so would that even be a motive? I don’t know, but either way it’s an “ugh” moment lol.

I hope I’m not crucified for this but I can’t stand this guy. People have made good points about him, and theoretically/intellectually he is brilliant - we all know communists need to be engaged in serious business and not just spam posting memes and hanging out in our circle-jerk platforms.

But is he not a flaming hypocrite? I swear I’ve read something about how he isn’t even involved in an organization because he “just can’t find anything serious enough” (this could be a dream on my part tho) - that is just insufferable. There are a few good orgs in the US/Canadian area and it’s ridiculous to throw everything out because they don’t adhere to page 4858584 line 5 of some obscure Marxist’s writing. It seems to me that he dishes out criticism after criticism and spams writings on the internet, engaging in borderline useless beef that doesn’t get much traction, all while being… chronically online himself?

I just think that like, anyone who is willing/able to understand/actually applying this level of Marxist thought isn’t just sitting online anymore and doesn’t need constant “takedowns” because someone said something vaguely wrong. JT makes one iffy MMT video that is literally one of his least effectual creations and dude wets his pants over it. I’m not saying don’t criticize but the frequency in which he makes them, combined with his harsh ass wording, combined with the (maybe?) fact that he is not even doing anything serious in real life? Rubs me the wrong way and just paints the stereotypical insufferable communist picture we all know.

He extrapolated very erroneously that anyone said don’t read theory here, and although the “you have to be a literal slave to be a commie” is braindead, he seems to latch on to literally anything that could be false and go deboonk mode.

Part of flowing through the masses and being one of them is not being an insufferable nerd. If this guy preaches sincerity and seriousness, then I think we should get serious that this rhetoric and behavior online isn’t doing shit other than MAYBE fine-tuning already-ML-aligned people. There’s a use for that, but good lord, if he tried this shit in an organization he would be hated. You can’t be obnoxious to your comrades or random members of society if you expect anything.

I could be going too harsh here honestly, I just have had these thoughts for quite a while and never really said anything lol. If it is proven true that he is in fact in a real life org then a lot of this would fall through and I would only stand on “stop being annoying” point, but I don’t know. You have to be personable and digestible to be an effective communist, not just “I know my shit and you don’t and here’s why”

Mucho texto over, burn me alive if necessary

Edit: Stawp downvoting me and explainnnnn