She’s also dead

Why did I read “dead” instead of “dad”

Rorschach’d the title too hard

the fact that you get ripped off in the deal doesn’t change that

What deal? When does the typical American sign it?

I dont accept the dichotomy of colony-or-neglected-region. It’s ruling class versus the working class, always has been.

It’s not realistic or useful to conceive of entire societies as class-conscious conspirators. No country has ever achieved that kind of uniform ideology, not even the Soviets nor communist China.

Abstract theory is of far lesser importance compared with the material circumstances of one’s own life, in terms that one understands. This generally means issues local to one’s town, neighborhood, and household. Thinking larger than that is pretty much unnatural and requires dedicated effort.

A backward family in, say, rural Kansas is going to be mostly aware and educated of their immediate issues, like the success of their farm and the stability of their family. All other issues of politics are viewed through this lens. When Junior joins the military, his family celebrates because it’s a path to economic stability for them, and they have little reason to doubt US foreign policy propaganda. They have no tangible experience that might be had in Ferguson or Philly or NYC. They’re basically ignorant (though not necessarily more ignorant in every way compared with the urban proletariat)

US is imperial core. It’s just that the whole labor-aristocracy thing has been greatly exaggerated. Whenever I hear that I just want to ask them if they’ve ever been to Philly or Baltimore or NYC or LA or Portland or… or, or. There is so much poverty in the US, and its visibility is a feature - a warning to the proletariat who barely clasp a semblance of an income.

The economy in the US is highly financialized, this is true. But the fact that this is nevertheless necessary labor is demonstrated by 1) the fact that it is hired at all in private industry, 2) the profound aggression by which the state fights unions and other collective efforts.

h3 particle

“HB is libbing out” isn’t critique directed at Zohran. It’s wrecker behavior whether you intended that or not (I truly don’t think you did). Vague insults that no one can meaningfully engage with (you don’t seem to want to further discuss the specific points of the post beyond it feeling lib) isn’t adding anything, it’s harmful actually.

I don’t feel negatively toward you individually and don’t want this to draw out into a back and forth, so I’ll leave it alone

Mamdani has nothing to gain by using stronger language than he already has. He just needs to apply China’s “do nothing, win” strategy because all of the opposition is doing the work for him.

I don’t mean he should compromise on principles but I think you are greatly exaggerating the significance of this statement. No one on HB is expecting this guy to be Lenin 2.0, that gets repeated every day. Mamdani appears to be a clear win for the left, not a total victory, but damn y’all are so used to losing that you forgot how to win

It really does read like an Onion article.

I think we don’t disagree significantly. I had in mind the Democrats generally losing elections up and down the ballot as they fail to respond to the undermining of what little democracy did exist in the US. There’s a real possibility that MAGA solidifies control over the entire government for more than the usual back-and-forth of presidential terms. If that happens, the Democrats won’t be taken seriously anymore by anyone except their most dedicated followers.

Has any effective organization ever began with an individual publishing a manifesto?

If your org is wrong on an issue, you are obligated to critique them. Not doing so is one of the types of liberalism. But I wouldn’t call such a critique a manifesto. It would be an essay. It would have a relatively narrow scope on whatever issue you disagree on.

If you disagree with everything your org is doing, then just leave it.

The Dems are effective only because of their perceived legitimacy. If they completely stop winning elections, then the public will look elsewhere: to either the Bernie/AOC types, or to MAGA. No one wants to follow a loser.

Money is necessary but insufficient for the DNC to effectively stifle opposition

Believe it or not but there are many people who would have voted for both Mamdani and Cuomo. They just would rank Cuomintang #1 because they’re sus of a brown person supporting Palestine, but they like Mamdani’s smile so they give him a #2 anyway.

Single choice elections give outsized influence on single issues and make it easier to manipulate the discussion one way or another. All you have to do is build a narrative that Mamdani = bad economics, Mamdani = jihadist, etc. and suddenly his polling collapses even if nobody particularly dislikes him. People are less willing to take a chance if they feel like they can make only one selection.

A manifesto is a declaration of values, whether for an organization or an individual.

If an individual, then it is electoralism-brained, public preaching on the street corner to prove that one holds the most correct stances. Because in liberal democracy, your political power is reduced to mere enumeration of individual beliefs, rather than organized action. A manifesto of this kind centers the individual for little benefit to the broader working class, if any. The only time it might make sense to publish this kind of manifesto, then, is before some sort of adventurism which is ineffective and individualist for the same reasons.

If an organization, then a manifesto serves as a centralized place to declare the purpose of their concrete activism, as a means of recruitment.

NYC, the capital of Capital, would be a poetic start of socialism in the US if that were to happen

Better red than dead

and drafted the communist manifesto together and with feedback from a workers party. The purpose was to announce a movement and to attempt to coalesce a bunch of disparate socialist ideas under one banner.

Writing a manifesto in isolation from an organization is Jeopardy logic

Whataboutism

Reminds me of some new research that each person’s breathing pattern is like a fingerprint that can identify them. An ordinary smartphone microphone is sufficient

Agree, nostalgia is a tool of reaction. It will backfire if that’s how you recruit support.