My father said something to the tune of: “If you are under 30 and not a communist then you are heartless and if you are over 30 and still a communist then you have succumbed to wishful thinking.”
When I was young I found that take annoyingly cynical, but I have been forced to look at that statement with reluctant agreement as I got older…
Is it cynical of me to vote for someone I share no ideological foundation with?
Maybe, but I have to be pragmatic sometimes, and the left is the only place where my political concerns are not ignored.What is a communist in your and your father’s pov?
Was your father a communist? Is Kamala Harris a communist?Is it cynical of me to vote for someone I share no ideological foundation with?
In your pov, does communism restrict you from doing that?
Are you USAmerican?
Like, isn’t Communism famous for allying with people when it helps in peace, liberation and development?‘Communism’ in Russia, USSR initially wished for a united front against Nazi Germany, but the Western powers were positive towards Nazi Germany and were doing peace agreements and things like the Munich Agreement which allowed Nazi Germany to annex Czechoslovakia(Poland also took part in the opportunity). USSR protested against it, but saw it was futile and created a non-aggression treaty for relative peace and buffer time/space for readying for the coming conflict. (Tho, this peace agreement is criticised by people too)
Then when Nazi Germany attacked, they fought back. They also allied with the Western powers to defeat the Nazi-facsist-Imperial Japan forces.‘Communism’ in China fought along with the KMT against Japanese colonisers, even when they had disagreements. They ultimately had to deal with the conflict with KMT.
‘Communism’ in Vietnam initially requested the help of the USA in freeing itself from French colonialism. But USAmerican regime attacked them and tried to keep them subjugated. So, they flight against it and won.
‘Communism’ does not restrict you from taking tactical positions that suit the current scenario.
Tho, if you don’t want to call yourself a communist, if you see yourself as someone succumbed to wishful thinking, then do remove the mask and say that you are not a communist. Why cosplay as something you are not?
I don’t think it is a matter of being communist or not, but the issue of being ineffective. Communists in some non-western regions were able to attain victory(they faced serious battles tho). Some communists in the western regions who tried to improve things were murdered like Fred Hampton, by programmes like Operation Gladio etc. They too faced battles. But in such a scenario, many of them were able to nudge things in a better direction, help spread awareness against the Vietnam war etc.
I am not 30 tho. But I see people and local politicians who are communists, who are over 30.
And many of the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party seem to be older than 30 tooMaybe what you would need is more communist planning, tactical alignment and discussions with others, if it only seems to be wishful thinking
Anyway, unrelated to this: Any suggestions for procrastination?
Well for my father communists were a very real threat to his life, the Stasi of the DDR could have killed him.
I was born after the german reunification so that stuff was “just” history to me growing up, but as I got older I got to learn more of how miserable life was under Honecker from history books and first hand accounts.
I get the feeling that communist means a very different thing to you based on how you phrased that post.
You have to keep in mind who’s saying it and what era shaped him. Some people can afford to turn away. Others can’t
My father remembers communists as a very real threat to his life, the Stasi of the DDR could have killed him as he made multiple illegal crossings of the iron curtain.
I was born after the german reunification so that stuff was “just” history to me growing up, but as I got older I got to learn more of how miserable life was under Honecker from history books and first hand accounts and why people would even risk their lives to cross the border to get into non-communist nations in the first place.Well, if you are going to bring personal trauma into arguments, then we could be defending monarchists against the French revolutionaries and could shut down any discussion against feudalism.
