Marx never said centrally plan the economy.
this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
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Lenin was a mushroom
Tankies don't have a solution for what to do when you and your homies are marching in a compact group along a precipitous and difficult path, firmly holding each other by the hand, and one friend won't shut up about how everybody should go into the marsh.
Maybe anarchists are necessary to help keep the revolutionary state honest. However, I don't know if I'd go so far as to call myself an anti-Leninist.
Honestly, I find there's a lot of overlap between Marxism and Anarcho-syndicalism, and I think this is essentially the correct way for the workforce to be organized.
Anarcho syndicalism is snakey af
For a while, that's probably how I would have sorted myself, but how are the anarcho-syndicalists on taking power from capital and wielding it? How does that differ from Lenin's guidance? (Part of why I don't call myself an anti-Leninist is that I haven't read any Lenin lol.)
As far I'm aware, Anarcho-syndicalists don't really provide a solution for changing the system as a whole. Meanwhile, Lenin focused specifically on achieving a socialist revolution. Lenin primarily dealt with the task of organizing and education the masses to create a revolutionary force that would be able to seize power from the capitalists. The two most prominent works I'd recommend starting with would be What Is To be Done? and The State and Revolution.
When have the anarchists accomplished anything? The people itself should keep their goverment honest.
Every day; all sorts of stuff from simply feeding people to high level assassinations, including a POTUS. Anarchism is a means by which the people can embarrass the government and compel corrective action to its deficiencies.
Paid holidays, 8 hour shifts, women's ability to vote, same-sex marriages and LGTBIQ+ rights in general... Those are ideals and achievements that started in anarchism.
you gotta be delusional if you think those things were accomplished by anarchists lmao
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Isn't always true. Just because a country/political faction opposes US hegemony doesn't automatically make them morally superior.
Isn't it implied by using this proverb that you know they have some bad qualities?
Same as supporting the 'lesser evil'?
Also, it's hardly impossible to not be morally superior to these scumbags.
That's not what MLs actually believe, we have the concept of critical support. It's the act of backing a cause, group, or individual while maintaining a clear-eyed critique of their flaws, contradictions, or harmful actions. Itβs not unconditional endorsement but a pragmatic stance that balances solidarity with accountability.
Even tho we don't care about it, the US holds no moral high ground on any country. The US certainly doesn't care about it either when they support "socialist" forces in Syria, like the SDF, while also supporting headchoppers like HTS. Everything goes as long as it advances their interests.
Oh yeah of course, the US is an imperialist, neocolonialist power that does a tremendous amount of harm in the world.
I'm an anarchist, so you won't find me singing the praises of any state power, for sure not the US. They do what all states do, consolidate centralized power and dominate as many people as they can.
My point was that some folks act like anything that opposes the interests of the US is automatically good, and that's not true, ISIS opposes the US, but they're a pretty fucked up group of religious extremists, same with the Westboro Baptist Church hate group, who also oppose the US strongly, but are total scumbags.
Regionally reactionary groups like Hamas can find themselves fighting for a globally progressive cause, just like regionally progressive groups like the SDF can find themselves strengthening globally reactionary causes.
US imperialism is the main reactionary force in the world, so yes entities that legitimately end up opposing US interests, regardless of their internal politics, end up fighting for a progressive cause and deserve my critical support.
On another note, ISIS is straight up an US pawn.
Lennin's "state and revolution" and accepting China as a communist country are in conflict with each other. Most tankies or "Marxist-Lenninist" are distorting both Marx and Lennin. Communism in one country can not exists for long without a global overthrow of the capitalist class. Yes, the state in these various countries control the economy more or less, but who controls the state? My assertion, and most other Trotskyists, is that its not the workers.
We addressed this point on Prolewiki: https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_China#Abandoning_of_Marxism/Capitalist_restoration
https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_China#Democracy_and_popular_opinion
China is actually a democracy
A special kind of democracy where the leaders aren't elected huh? You have simultaneously redefined the word democracy and practiced doublethink
Unlike in bourgeois democracies, which are really bourgeois oligarchies, representatives in in China actually are elected by the proletariat instead of pre-selected by the bourgeoisie, and it shows.
- Most in China Call Their Nation A Democracy, Most in U.S. Say America Isn't
- Long-term survey reveals Chinese government satisfaction
- Helping 800 Million People Escape Poverty Was Greatest Such Effort in History, Says [UN] Secretary-General, on Seventieth Anniversary of Chinaβs Founding
- Chinaβs Energy Use Per Person Surpasses Europeβs for First Time
- At 54, Chinaβs average retirement age is too low
- China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data
- Chinese Scientists Are Leaving the United States [for China]