Oh, so
that's what the voices are telling me to do? It was hard to understand the thick Russian accents.
Think of poor me then who starts to hear voices in Chinese...
Well, we'll see when the result is clear. First had to sort out "So you want to run a Gulag" and " A bourgeois can never be killed too many times.
But seriously, I seem to remember a few good ones even if I haven't studied these things for years now...
Anyhow, how much of this can be chalked up to differences in culture? From what I have read from Ralph and Cheezy, they take a far less authoritarian line then Richard yet all three of them are Communists. It has been my understanding that the Communists in the traditionaly 'left' countries tend to be far more authoritarian then in other countries. Is that a fair assertion to make?
Partly so, especially if you include class in the term culture.. But also keep in mind the age differences and our different experiences and learning. I used to have anarchist leanings myself when younger but as far as I can see that is not a practical road to take. Ironically, at least in the eyes of most people here, my experiences with the eastern Bloc (including my recent wife and quite a few stays in different countries) made me think twice regarding certain "truths". Besides, the libertarian dismissal of the socialist countries smacks too much of self-rightousness and scholasticism too me. While I don't show it off in every second thread, I am a historian by education and a few years ago I set myself the task to look more critically into the myths surrounding the Eastern Bloc (My own field is the Early Modern Era). The combination of experience and research in regard to this made me change my mind about quite a few things.
I admit that I think that authoritarian measures might be called for in given situations. This is not something I am happy for though, but sometimes one has to soil one's hands to get the job done. Personally I regard myself as quite an including and open person, even if I might be rather nasty at times which at least partly is due to chronical illness which are rather annoying at times., However in this miserable world I see less scope for that in politics. All this said, I sincerely want to work together with anybody who wants to abolish the capitalist society with a left alternative. If capitalism is that bad as we sometimes claim, we should be able to put differences and historical grudges aside.
So they're aware of the exploitative nature of capitalism, but lack any informed analysis and so the ability to actually do anything about it- presumably, then, why they vote Social Democrat. That, I assure you, is not a part of the left I will trip over myself to defend.
The so-called Social Democrats in Sweden are not left by any reasonable definition of the word. They played an important part in moving Sweden to the right. Actually I don't think there are any genuine Social Democratic parties left anywhere in Europe. We seem to be sliding closer to the wet Capitalist American dream, it seems.
[QUOTE}]So you knew two Middle Eastern ex-pats with legitimate grievances expressed questionably, a lazy hippy with delusions of terroristic grandeur, and me, age 17? That's not really a particularly comprehensive survey, I must say.[/QUOTE]
I am always confused about this hippy thing. In Norway most communists (almost all 50 of them) seem to be elderly people like myself with modest social background rather strict personal conduct and the odd doctor or sociologist. Young people with disrespect for labour tend to be rather far out on the right.
Left-wing critiques of the right generally hinge on the fact that only a very small minority of people are rich, thus implying that for such a claim to be consistent, the right would have to have far more abysmal an electoral record than it historically has.
