Ask a Red, Second Edition

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Erm, are you implying Fascism is supposed to be anarchist, democratic, and egalitarian?

No, I'm implying that it's modernist, incredibly organized, and wholly ordered and hierarchical, of which Nazi Germany was none.

 

[Alassius]

That's a strange view. How do you command 18 million soldiers, defeat or almost defeat the strongest powers at the time, build the autobahns, and engage in a massive, secretive conspiracy that murdered 17 million people, without organisation, order, and hierarchy?

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

This is why I don't waste my time with you, because you have zero understanding of the English language. You read whatever you want to, without stopping to think about what has been said. Or, in this case, it needn't even get that far, because simply reading the words on the screen would have sufficed. I didn't say they weren't hierarchical, or displayed no hierarchy. They were, however, rather chaotic in their organization, and in many cases (outside of the military, an organization in which the existence of hierarchy means absolutely nothing) who was in charge of who, and who was supposed to listen to who, was fuzzy and unclear. Nazi Germany, despite whatever misconceptions may exist of its organization, was a disorganized Charlie-Foxtrot, and the rest of the world's fascists laughed at the silliness of Nazism. The organization they displayed, and the social hierarchy, was not on a level characteristic of fascism.

 

[Alassius]

This is why I don't waste my time with you, because you have zero understanding of the English language. You read whatever you want to, without stopping to think about what has been said. Or, in this case, it needn't even get that far, because simply reading the words on the screen would have sufficed. I didn't say they weren't hierarchical, or displayed no hierarchy. They were, however, rather chaotic in their organization, and in many cases (outside of the military, an organization in which the existence of hierarchy means absolutely nothing) who was in charge of who, and who was supposed to listen to who, was fuzzy and unclear. Nazi Germany, despite whatever misconceptions may exist of its organization, was a disorganized Charlie-Foxtrot, and the rest of the world's fascists laughed at the silliness of Nazism. The organization they displayed, and the social hierarchy, was not on a level characteristic of fascism.

Chaotic organisation is not the opposite of incredible organisation. It's in a spectrum between incredible organisation, and no organisation at all. No clear chain of command is not the opposite of wholly hierarchical. It's between that and an anarchy where everyone is truly equal. And it was messy only at the very top. For everyone else there was clearly someone whose order you must follow.

So on one hand you have a system that was supposed to be incredibly organized, wholly ordered and hierarchical, authoritarian, nationalist, and expansionist. In reality it was chaotic but still organised, extremely hierarchical, authoritarian, nationalist, and expansionist.

On the other hand you have another system that was in reality incredibly hierarchical, authoritarian, and nationalist; in theory, it was to be egalitarian, democratic, and internationalist.

The difference here is that Nazism tried to be everything fascism was supposed to be, except for incompetent execution. Stalinism tried to be everything communism was not supposed to be. Can you explain that with incompetence alone?

 

[Camikaze]

Moderator Action: Alassius, you're arguing again. Please follow the 'Question' and 'Answer' format. This isn't a debate thread. If you can't do that, then please don't come back into the thread.

 

[Alassius]

Moderator Action: Alassius, you're arguing again. Please follow the 'Question' and 'Answer' format. This isn't a debate thread. If you can't do that, then please don't come back into the thread.

Sigh, my point is that the transition from fascism to Nazism is boring, unlike the transition from communism to Stalinism, which is what made the ideology fascinating. You guys are no fun. I'll shut up

 

[ParkCungHee]

Sigh, my point is that the transition from fascism to Nazism is boring

There was a transition?

 

[Gary Childress]

1. What would a true "communist" society look like? for example:

a. What sorts of laws or practices would exist in such a society

b. How would those laws or practices differ from other societies in existence today?​

2. Are there any historical examples of communism?

 

[Linkman226]

EDIT: Wrong thread

 

[Gary Childress]

Isn't there an "Ask a Red" thread for this....?

I thought this was the "Ask a Red" thread?

 

[Linkman226]

Hence this:

EDIT: Wrong thread

 

[GamezRule]

What do you make of this statement?

In order for communism/socialism to survive, there must be a state to guide it.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Fellow Reds, what do you make of Slavoj Zizek? In particular, his In Defense of Lost Causes.

 

[aelf]

I like what I've seen of Zizek so far, although those are mostly articles and stuff like that, not his books. He talks about things that I'm interested in. I'm not sure about the whole Lacanian thing, though, but he doesn't bring that up in what I've seen.

 

[Yui108]

Do Marxists (or "Reds") believe that racism is misdirected class tension?

 

[Linkman226]

I do believe that a poor living standard breeds racism because of the human urge to always feel superior to someone else.. I remember reading somewhere that poor whites in the antebellum South, actually hurt by slavery, were some of the strongest supporters of slavery because this allowed them to not be at the bottom of the social ladder.

 

[Me,myself,and,I]

Do you think that Communism is a realistic form of government (well policy technically) or do you think that while ideal it is impractical?

 

[aelf]

Do Marxists (or "Reds") believe that racism is misdirected class tension?

It could be. But I'm not one for ascribing everything to class tension without any indication.

Do you think that Communism is a realistic form of government (well policy technically) or do you think that while ideal it is impractical?

Technically communism and government are contradictory.

 

[WWTVICTOR]

Hi and I am a newcomer to this thread, may I ask 2 questions at a time?

Is communism despotic or democratic?

There are some countries like India or Libya (perhaps former Libya) declare that they are implementing socialism in their countries, how can we define them that they are socialistic government or not?

 

[civ-addicted]

This is maybe old:
When you look at Germany in ~1930, what was the reason that in a crisis of capitalism, people liked being ruled by fascists better than starting a communist revolution?