I haven’t looked much into him yet but he checks a lot of good boxes.
Is he someone that leftists could back?
Is there any dirt that people have dug up that I’m not aware of?
If we wanted to champion him, could the leftist orgs unify and help him?
Do I sound like a dirty reformist(God pls no)???
Thoughts? Opinions?
“Ronald Reagan was a freedom fighter in terms of supporting our Jewish bros & sis in the Soviet Union & opposing vicious forms of communism” - West
Oh Lord…
Freedom fighters is a red flag lol…
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He’s not wrong in that. The USSR did some Nazi-esque shit to Jews. Just at a slower pace.
Example?
In these instances it’s better to ask for source so that upon their failure we can throw quotes like “My source is that I made it the fuck up!”
In this case, it’s fine.
I got an example for them — Stalin spooned 100,000,000 Ukrainian Jews with his comically large spoon
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_Soviet_Union
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag
While the USSR certainly didn’t target Jewish folk as aggressively as the Nazis, that’s not really the bar for being horrible.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/534/
I recommend this, heavily.
Soviets ended the holocaust.
In pushing into half of Poland, they saved over 3,000,000 Jews from the Nazi war machine.
In this piece, there are touching quotations from Jewish anticommunists and sympathizers alike saying that they could never hate the USSR. Soviet soldiers spoke Yiddish to them, told them their nightmare was over. They cried and hugged them.
In the Soviet Union, antisemitism was illegal and punishable by death.
addendum from the source
Did you read the first link? Stalin especially disliked Jews and used euphemisms to target them domestically for placement into gulags. Yes the Soviet Union’s military might, manpower and resolve were critical to stopping the Nazi menace. Credit where credit is due.
But there were several dynamics that led to Jews being persecuted (obviously less severely than they would have been under Nazi rule) in the USSR pre and post war and especially post war under Stalin. The wiki article does a good job of describing those dynamics.
I do not respect Wikipedia as a source on these matters, and neither should anyone.
Digging through the linked references, we find dead links, snippets of articles with no named authors, and proven propaganda.
As @sicaniv@lemmygrad.ml alluded to, I would recommend looking into the U.S. state department’s relationship with Wikipedia (and reddit, for that matter) if you are still committed to using them as a source.
What exactly are you arguing? That the USSR under Stalin didn’t target organized religion? Or just that it couldn’t have been as bad as the Nazis so Cornell West is a tankie for calling it out?
Gathering info on communist regime from very anticommunist sources is really wise. There’s that book that literally debunks all the lies around anti-Semitism in USSR that @sovereignstate shared but then who likes to read a book instead of a wikipedia article. If you want wiki articles debunking the wikipedia article then you should visit prolewiki.
Trust wikipedia on politics at your own discretion. https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1131552
Imma use this every single time comment like this pops up
I’m not USian, so take this with a tablespoon of salt. My understanding is that he had some awful takes about AES countries in the past (seems to be better in some respects now, but I’m not sure to what extent). He seems like the least bad candidate by a wide margin (although that’s not saying much), but I’d still be cautious about investing too much effort into electoralism – of course, an anti-imperialist is not going to be allowed to win, so it all depends on whether the movement surrounding him can be used to prepare for revolution, e.g. if it’s going to work with indigenous movements, the African People’s Socialist Party, etc.
As shit as the US political system is it’s always nice for an outside perspective. If you can find anything about his last AES opinions can you send them my way? I might have to do my own dirt digging.
Reason I decided to even post this question was that our current front runners for Dem and Rep are so awful that, and maybe I’m being rarely optimistic here, but maybe there could be a chance for a 3rd party candidate to make some waves, if not get elected but our system is clearly rigged for the 2 parties we have: Fascist and Fascist Lite(now with more 10% more rainbows).
Thanks!
there’s this
I think he knows better now, but this is an astoundingly terrible take. If you’re interested, he’s doing recurring interviews on Revolutionary Blackout Network (they seem overly optimistic about him, so listen critically)
I’ll try to get a moment to listen tonight or this week.
So my dumbass actually backed Tulsi because even tho she worked with her father involving anti-LGBT stuff she changed, right? Right?
I do t wanna fall into that trap again.
Critical support for him, he has no chance but if he brings some people to the left it will be worth it.
He is not a socialist or a principled anti-imperialist and he is definitely not going to win, but he has the potential to split the Democrat vote enough that they could lose which would piss off a lot of liberals and create a lot of chaos in the upper ranks of the empire. That is a good thing for us as anti-imperialists. So yeah, critical support for him, i think leftist orgs definitely should champion him under the condition that when/if he drops out they do not endorse that his supporters switch their vote to the Democrats. Voting third party is good for destabilizing the control that the entrenched neolib/neocon duopoly has in the US.
Something something a vote for a third party is a vote for Trump (or whomever the republican tube of toothpaste is next election) You must vote for the democrat tube of toothpaste (Biden flavoured!) and then, most importantly Do absolutely nothing for the four years. That’s the only way to make sure your voice is heard!
It’s a distraction. He’s not a Marxist, he’s not meaningfully anti-imperialist in rhetoric (equivocates on Ukraine for instance I believe, not pro-China, might even call it a dictatorship or oppressive, can’t remember; being pro-Cuba doesn’t count, Obama lowered some sanctions on them after all and although it upsets some gusanos in Florida it’s not a key piece of US hegemony like Russia/China are) and he won’t get a platform to spread anything positive on. If he won (he won’t) he’d be blackmailed, threatened or killed. The only point of participating in bourgeois elections is with a vanguard party so you can raise awareness of its platform, our rhetoric, our points, our program.
As he is not a Marxist, as he is a IMO an OP or at least knows the limits of what he can say without getting killed and adheres to them and as he is ideologically a liberal I don’t see him as that useful.
I have to be honest in that I see Trump is being the most destabilizing force in the upcoming election. Is he anti-imperialist and principled? No. Is he Marxist? Obviously not. Is he a beastly ghastly piece of shit guilty of all the usual crimes and more? Obviously. But he does stand a chance of winning and actually taking power and his winning will upset an awful lot of imperialists in the Democratic party halls of power and kick them out (I would love to see Victoria Nuland and Jake Sullivan kicked out as they’re either competent when it comes to prolonging the empire’s life or dangerously deranged enough to get us into a nuclear war). Will they be replaced by neo-cons? Doubtless in many cases but shifting leaders in the middle of things is like replacing a director after shooting has begun, it can’t help but be at least a little disruptive. Will it entirely change the program? No. Certain things are advanced by organs of the state that aren’t elected and are beyond accountability since killing Kennedy. The China show-down will continue apace, he won’t make peace there. But what he will do is anger allies, hurt the US image badly, chaotic and violent shifts in policy like perhaps pulling out of things with Russia or withholding enough support to tip the balance leaving the Europeans feeling upset and whiplashed and the Ukrainians feeling stabbed in the back as well as giving China another example to whisper to the separatists on Taiwan about why they shouldn’t trust the US.
I’m not saying campaign for Trump (don’t, organize) but well I wouldn’t be upset if he won. We’ve already lost abortion rights, the march of the reactionary post-cold-war claw-back against the people continues under Biden unabated, doubtless he’ll push that more but it would happen anyways and Biden is seen as stable whereas Trump getting back into power would traumatize a lot of liberals, do a lot of damage to the US image, further reinforce the idea it is a declining unserious power and set liberals and reactionaries in the US at each others throats ever more which is where I want them, not together united to impose imperialism and doom on the world and extend the reign of the US. I’d rather have that than more Biden and civility liberalism nonsense while we lose our rights, our futures, and while he re-organizing the US to try and preserve its life longer in an effective way. Trump is a monkey with a wrench. I want to see what he does. He won’t bring the whole thing done but he’ll mess things up and at key moments when the world is struggling for multi-polarity, we need someone who messes things up, who makes foolish moves because his gut tells him to. We need someone who hesitates and needs it explained to him 3 times because he isn’t that smart.
So no I don’t support Trump but he might be the least bad option (in a field of abominations and terrible choices) out there in terms of practical effects (ideologically obviously we couldn’t disagree more, though his isolationism is useful for helping ease the empire into its grave more peacefully). One more thing, liberals stopped organizing to help minorities and fight back against moves of government as soon as Biden got into office, they all decided he’d take care of things. With Trump back some of them might get a little more militant. You want abortion rights back? You want student debt relief? You’re not going to get it with liberals sleepily saying Biden will get to it or at least he’s not Trump.
It’s not like elections change anything, but at least he’s a presidential candidate acknowledging the Indigenous population and their demands as well as actual anti-racist policies like reparations. He has some cringe takes and will never get elected, but elections in the USA are just excuses to show ads and at least he’ll show some different ones. I’m pretty sure whoever is the Republican will win the election unless Biden dies of a heart attack and lets somebody at least halfway popular run instead, not that it’d change much. He did an interview on Red Nation if anybody wants to hear what he has to say straight from his mouth without having to trudge through newscorps. Don’t expect much though.
I don’t really see Biden running again but that could easily push Kamala as the Dem frontrunner unless they really do pull something out of their back pocket(not like the phony Bloomberg bullshit last time) to get votes. If Kamala is their pick then Reps are probably gonna get it this time easily. That’s just my hot take without diving too much into it though.
Also it’s cool to see indigenous persons as activists. I like slowly getting introduced to these new channels of info I wasn’t previously aware of.
He’s actually already running though it’s such a deflated campaign that you probably hadn’t heard of it. There will also be no debates in the primaries as far as I’ve heard, so the DNC is just handing it to him.
The announcement video is pretty funny though. “DING… DING… DING… DING… FREEDUM!”
“Let’s finish the job”
What, nuclear apocalypse? Climate disaster? Straight up handsmaid’s-taleing women now that Roe was overturned under your senile ass? Finish the job, pfft. Motherfucker.
It’s funny because usually the second presidency is the one with the least popular stuff getting done since they can just go on to retire and build Obama Institutes or whatever without caring about votes. Though I have no idea how he can top how bad his first presidency was. Ever since Sanders got cheated out of the primary I’ve been saying that Trump is just gonna get elected again, if not in 2020, in 2024. I’m just not placing bets yet because somehow the US also produced DeSantis since they aren’t trained to de-escalate on literally anything.
I’m positive about his figure but knowing bourgeois Democracy he will 100% lose.
Aside from that, his campaign will be a net positive, I don’t have a crystal ball (for now) but I hope we’ll see a Bernie campaign 2.0,with a lot more people pushed to the left. He’s a lot cooler than Bernie too. So that could help radicalizing people more to the left than simply “let’s curb the excesses of corporatism” and more towards “let’s find a better system period”
The main reason I made this post was because he gives me big Bernie energy. Someone that could help scoot a few more people over to the actual left hopefully. Even if he won’t have a chance to win. I’m way more left than Bernie, for example, but he did help me wake up to healthcare, education, worker rights and other issues in the states.
Aside from the freedom fighters tweet, he could be useful for agitating at least. I’m probably be way too hopeful though.
I have many disagreements with him, but he is the best candidate in the current election by a mile. I don’t think I will be a US citizen anymore by the time (assuming the US finally lets me renounce) the election rolls around, but if I were I would probably throw my vote his way.
There’s no chance he would win, even though he is far to my right he is far too left for the establishment to tolerate. If nothing else, I hope he represents a “gateway” to people getting more interested in actual left thought. People realizing there is a choice outside the two colors of the same party. I know a few comrades who started as liberal Bernie supporters, and then sprinted left from there. They would never support somebody as rightwing as Sanders now, but he was at least the first step for them.
I ultimately don’t think the US can vote itself into an actual socialist government anyway, that would take an actual revolution.
Not great but infinitely better than literally any other Democrat running. He doesn’t have a lot of PR and that’s what wins elections. He’s far from perfect but I’ll continue to compare him against the Democrats, and he’ll always come off looking better. Idk if I’ll even vote tbh but if I do I guess I would vote for him maybe
The lack of PR was part of what hurt Howie Hawkins’s campaign in 2020(well that and the fact that the whole damn thing was a complete shitshow anyway) so it would be good to see West try to get out there more. I will keep an eye on him because I agree that it’s pretty easy to compare him to any Dem candidate we end up with, but won’t hold my breath. The PR thing is what killed a local candidate where I am at because she didn’t want to get he name and face in front of millennial voters and just wanted to do radio commercials.
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Critical support for him. Third parties reaching 5% nation wide would get funding and could further fracture the empire’s politics
Other than that just keep helping out CPUSA
Maybe I should look into the CPUSA more. I lost my job today so I got some free time.
CPUSA is great. I’ve been involved in my local chapter without paying dues because I’m unemployed
Unfortunately a close friend of mine killed himself so I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus but I’m going to come back to CPUSA to do work and build the party
Sorry about your loss.
If they are cool with unemployed members not needing to pay, maybe I should reply to that email that’s been sitting in my inbox. I reached out to them about starting a chapter here in the middle of the Texas MAGA stronghold that is the panhandle.
Hilarious
He might not be one of us, but he is about as far left as you’re allowed to go in the US, and he’s actually getting a bit of attention.
He is overall garbage and I won’t be voting for Democrats in the first place. I’ll find some niche 3rd-party candidate to support instead.
Jill Stein is running his campaign… Yes, the same 2016 presidential spoiler candidate that ate up just enough votes in key battleground states to tip that election to trump. That probably says a lot of what you need to know.
West SAYS something interesting half the time, but I don’t believe he’d actually get anything done in office.
I’m pretty sure most people here aren’t convinced that he’ll even be elected.
