Giving No Kings vibes.

It can’t be slave labor if they’re paid a few cents! /s

I mean I guess that’s true but it’s certainly a spectrum. There’s a fair difference between a Western democracy like Canada and whatever we’re saying the PRC is these days. And an even bigger difference between that and Stephen Miller’s fantasy, and there’d still be a difference between Stephen Miller’s rotten mind and what Stalin was doing.

A government must to some extent be authoritarian but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s mutually exclusive with civil and personal freedoms.

So you’re acknowledging that there’s a general consensus among historians and political scientists and rejecting it anyway?

Well, you do you I guess.

Red fascism is more or less something ginned up in the early stages of the Cold War as a way to conveniently carry the fight through to the new enemy.

Stalin was not fascist, nor is Stalinism related to fascism. Stalin was a fucking monster regardless of whatever label you prefer, though.

If we look at other cited regimes, your footing is even weaker. Mao wasn’t a fascist, and none of the leaders of the PRC since then have been. Same for Castro and Cuba. Pol Pot was one fucked up dude, but he wasn’t fascist.

Stalin is certainly the closest comparison, but he’s still not fascist.

I think it’s an overall dramatically better way of running things than capitalism for what are hopefully obvious reasons. But I also think even “partial socialism” is still an improvement. Reform is maybe not ideal but it’s still better than what we have now. So long as you don’t stop pushing for and seeking out that better, brighter future for everyone.

Could you ship of theseus your way into socialism? Who knows? I’d be willing to try though.

Gotta win elections to ram that through, though.

Given that, so far, precisely none of the Marxist-Leninist states have successfully transitioned into a classless system (or even tried to), I’d say that the last bullet point is especially relevant.

It’s awfully tempting to retain that total power over others, once given it. There’s only been a handful of people throughout history that have willingly handed the reins of power back after the crisis was resolved.

I’d be surprised that anyone would want to stop at the SocDem phase of things. Like if you actually get that far and things are going well, wouldn’t you want to take that next step? I guess it depends on perceived risk?

Technically, the single party state thing is intended to be a temporary thing. It’s meant to last only long enough until the whole stateless, classless thing comes to be.

People being people though… the people in charge start to enjoy the benefits of being in charge and tend to not want to keep going. Mao sure never missed a meal during that famine his regime caused.

It’s a critical weakness in the Marxist-Leninist ideology and why I can’t buy into it myself. I feel like any would-be “better way of doing things” has to take into account how people actually behave when exposed to and given power over others.

So… do you understand that authoritarianism isn’t necessarily fascism? You’re listing authoritarian regimes, but none of those were fascist. At an extreme simplification, authoritarian/libertarian is an entirely separate axis from left/right.

Stalin is one of the most evil men in history and committed atrocities against his own people but he and his regime were most emphatically not fascists.

Good luck getting that motley crew to get along. Everyone can agree on anticapitalism but that’s basically it. How exactly to go about it is going to vary widely. It’s hard to see Marxist-Leninists wanting to play ball with reform advocates.

It’s still a good idea worth trying. I’m just skeptical of lefties ever turning into a cohesive force since there’s such a wide array of leftism and some of the particulars of given ideologies are mutually exclusive.

Good thing she’s such a cutie!

The downside is obviously you get zero natural light. And your neighbors might think you’re weird, but they’re roasting while you’re not so fuck em.

You could probably tape the foil to a piece of cardboard cut to size and that would make it easy to remove once the sun isn’t shining straight at your window and put it back before morning. I don’t know if the cardboard would affect it, however.