By that I mean no alienating tech like Tiktok and such, strong middle class, normal seasons/no worry of climate crisis, general optimism about the future etc. etc.
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You can’t. Capitalism has decayed, trying to move the clock backwards is where fascism comes from. That’s why fascism is reactionary, it’s an alliance of the Petite Bourgeoisie and Bourgeoisie against rising leftist sentiment among the Proletariat and Lumpenproletariat.
Trying to struggle backwards against the historical development of the Mode of Production in society is reactionary, Capitalism moves towards large monopolist syndicates which makes itself ripe for siezure and public ownership, ie socialization. Even if you successfully broke up monopolies, they would trend towards the same point we are at now.
Additionally, it was quite terrible for ethnic minority groups (still is), gender/sexual minority groups, women, etc., and this was in the context of trying to prevent a worker revolution similar to what happened in the USSR. The social safety nets were better so it was harder to look at universal free healthcare and education in the USSR and believe they had it better, with the fall of the USSR safety nets quickly eroded in the US.
Now, to escape this hellish landscape, we need to move forward, not backward, and that means progressing to Socialism. The way forward is via revolution, which starts with organizing. Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.
The 2 best orgs in the US are Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). Pick one you like and is active near you! If you have any theory questions, I can make recommendations for a reading list, or answer directly to the best of my abilities. I’m no theory master or anything, but I consider myself decently well-read, with over 2 dozen books across Marxism and Marxism-Leninism under my belt, so I’m no slouch.
Can I ask a doubt?
Bourgeoisie, Petite Bourgeoisie, Proletarait & LumpenproletariatWhat would be simpler terms(or brief 3-5 word plain language explanations) for those?
Ultra rich wealth/land hoarders/exploiters, Their immediate managers, facilitators and upper mid-level wealth/land hoarders, Average workers & Average people who are dissatisfied?I think the established socialist terms are best, even if they require further explanation because our definition and understanding of “class” is the distinction between us and your average Republican. It’s the definition from which our entire understanding of politics flows. To a Republican “class” is a series of virtues you signal, self reliance by having a pickup truck, being a hard worker by having working man boots and not being college educated. A petit- or bourgeois man born with a silver spoon in his mouth can still be happily brought into the fold of “working class” so long as they get their hands dirty and don’t talk like “the liberal elite”.
To a Marxist, “class” is based on whether you have an exploitative or exploited relationship to production.
Socialist terms are fine for those politically involved but you need more digestible info for the masses. Keep it very simple. “The Working Class” is sometimes even too much. You need to reframe the US vs THEM to be Rich vs everyone else.
Dont say poor either. People dont want to think of themselves as poor even if they are. A lot of poor Americans think theyre middle class or petite bougouise but they arent. So steal the language. The Billionaires are attacking the middle class! Instead of convincing them they are something different than what they think they are just use their language to reshape their perspective.
Bourgeoisie - Capital Owners, doesn’t need to labor to survive
Petite Bourgeoisie - Small Capital Owners, must labor to survive
Proletariat - Workers, sell their labor power to survive and own little to no Capital
Lumpenproletariat - criminals, sex workers, the scorned laborers of society
There will be no revolution, mate.
Try to examine the absurdity of this statement for a moment. You think the current system of governance and control which has barely existed for a century or 2 is going to continue in perpetuity for the rest of human history? You could argue this version of global capitalism isnt even 100 years old yet if you look at the end of WW2 as the start. So your argument is that a system that is younger than some people still alive today will never end? Or is it that you think we will go extinct in the very near short term and people wont overthrow the government before that happens?
That’s like saying you can keep heating up water and have it never boil. Disparity is rising, revolution is already happening around the world. Capitalism is continuing to decay. Revolution is inevitable as long as climate collapse or World War 3 don’t end us first. It is the duty of Leftists to organize so that this revolution can be guided by revolutionary theory and not result in barbarism or fascism.
Not a USA-ian, but weren’t issues like racism and homophobia worse off then?
Definitely, but if the recent spike we’re seeing keeps going we should be well on our way to 80s and 90s levels by next year!
Yeah, but we talked about it way less, so it didn’t seem like a big deal.
/s?
Man, I am much more worried about climate crisis and not being able to buy a house.
You can worry about two things. You know, if you want.
Yes, but again, life was better because of what I mentioned in the post.
Right. We have to regain the good without losing our progress.
Except that there’s basically no good.
…the rights that people have gained in the last 30 years? Like gay marriage?
Climate crisis.
Climate crisis.
Climate crisis.
Ozone hole anybody? The climate crisis existed back then, do you think it suddenly popped into existence? It has existed since the second Industrial Revolution, it just got progressively worse
The 80s and 90s still had a relatively normal situation, that’s what I’m saying.
You want to go back to (nonexistent) 80s climate policy?? I don’t think you’ve thought this through.
No, I want to go when seasons were normal and we didn’t feel the effect of climate crisis.
Climate crisis is worse.
“I can excuse racism, but I draw the line at climate crisis!”
“You can excuse racism?”
Nowhere I said that I excuse racism (as if today racism didn’t exist…)
There are a lot of problems, but there are a lot of things we aren’t worrying about now, either. AIDS was killing millions, and there was no treatment. The Satanic Panic. People were exposed to lead and asbestos everywhere. Duck and cover drills in schools for when the nukes went off. I mean, we’re all scrambling to figure out how to stop climate disasters, but then they were scrambling to stop some nutter on either side from pushing a button and ending the world! Where I come from, they still took kids away from their parents for the crime of being Aboriginal! Things change.
I choose to be optimistic. All through the twentieth century, overpopulation and mass famine were looming spectres, and better crops, phosphate fertilizers, falling birthdates all led to us not really being that worried about that. Read Stand on Zanzibar.
Crime rates are down all over the world.
The inequality? 1920’s. The FTC and the EU are (finally, IMO) taking big tech to task for their monopolistic behaviour. It’s moving slow, but there is starting to be the political will to address the challenges.
Things go in cycles.
There are a lot of problems, but there are a lot of things we aren’t worrying about now, either. AIDS was killing millions, and there was no treatment. The Satanic Panic. People were exposed to lead and asbestos everywhere. Duck and cover drills in schools for when the nukes went off. I mean, we’re all scrambling to figure out how to stop climate disasters, but then they were scrambling to stop some nutter on either side from pushing a button and ending the world! Where I come from, they still took kids away from their parents for the crime of being Aboriginal! Things change.
Yeah, because that risk doesn’t exist anymore…
