Ask a Red III

[luiz]

Um, since when is this purely a question of biology?

It seems that you're trying to frame the issue at your convenience in order to make your arguments work.

It's about biology because it's about the nature vs nurture debate, which is a complex subject that cannot be answered without empirical methods.

 

[Lone Wolf]

The Stalinists have arrived! Now we have a perfect spectrum of leftist ideologies here - leftcomm (Traitorfish), fairly pro-Soviet non doctrinaire (Cheezy), cynical left-wing social-democrat (Innonimatu) and Stalinist (ReindeerThistle). Let's rock!

 

[Mouthwash]

Can I be a Maoist?

 

[ReindeerThistle]

A lot, actually.

Not BY statistics. But what do you mean, here?
Lenin admonished the leaders of the second international to not rely so heavily on the numbers as what people DID with thos numbers. Please clairfy and explain your position, please,

Incidentally, being half-Scot myself, like your choice of CFC name -- Glyndwr was the Welsh contemporary to one of my revolutionary heros, The Douglas.

What do you think of the kibbutz?

Thanks for the query.

The short answer is this: I liked them. But that is a generalization, because not all kibbutzim were the same.

That being said, I actually have just a phone call away an actual kibbutz veteran. She is also a communist of my stripe, and unlike me, will never set foot on this forum.

She says that the kibbutz she was on was a great example of socialism -- people with varying skills in carpentry, farming, light industry, target practice etc., taught the other members of the kibbutz the skills and everyone learned from everyone else. They traded with other kibbutzim and sold what they didn't eat or use on the open market learned how to defend themselves. They shared the responsibilities of maintaning the camp and the grounds, fixing things, learning how to defend the camp.

She pointed out that while the kibbutzim are great example of what socialism looks like as the end product and she thought it worked (definitively she said not communism, and that requires another explanation). However, she pointed out they were not the means toward socialism for a nation, because there were still class antagonism and they are not resolved for the nation because they did not represent the majority of the people of the nation.

My friend says the kibbutz she was on was not started BY communists. But she said some were.

The Stalinists have arrived! Now we have a perfect spectrum of leftist ideologies here - leftcomm (Traitorfish), fairly pro-Soviet non doctrinaire (Cheezy), cynical left-wing social-democrat (Innonimatu) and Stalinist (ReindeerThistle). Let's rock!

You forgot the dialectical theoretician, Aelf. Aelf has soe great posts -- short and to the point, but no less significant than my tomes.

However, I am not a "Stalinist," that is a name, like "Beantown" -- noboody in Boston calls Boston "Beantown," given to anyone who defends Stalin or quotes him. Lenin did not call himself a Leninist and Marx definitively said, of the European socialists like LaSalle "If that is Marxism, I surely am no Marxist."

However, I am a Marxist-Leninist whichi is distinguuished by a practice -- i.e. M-Ls demand a full-time revolutionary practice. It is not for everyone.

Anyway, you're right, we should get the full spectrum of answers to questions about socialism and communism.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

The Stalinists have arrived! Now we have a perfect spectrum of leftist ideologies here - leftcomm (Traitorfish), fairly pro-Soviet non doctrinaire (Cheezy), cynical left-wing social-democrat (Innonimatu) and Stalinist (ReindeerThistle). Let's rock!

We're still missing Trots and Maoists, but I think our cadre can spot-cover as required. Such is precisely the goal of this thread. I'm very happy with the crew that has assembled itself here.

EDIT: I did not realize that we had reached 1000 posts! Please redirect all new posts to the new thread, which can be found here:

Ask A Red: The IVth International