I hate how “anti-war” has been hijacked by these people to mean, let imperialist countries invade whoever they want with no consequences. (in the case of tankies, any imperialist country that isn’t in NATO).
I don’t understand how other communists can defend Russia at this point. It feels to me like most of them forget that Russia is no longer a communist country.
They’re capitalists. Putin is often using christo-fascist tactics. He’s also pushing for Russian imperialism in very capitalistic ways. Also, Russia was 100 percent the agitators here.
Just because it challenges US worldwide hegemony doesn’t automatically make it good, boys.
Tankies might as well be called CINOs — communists in name only. Their defining feature is reverence towards authoritarian leaders. They revere Putin and Xi as “strong” leaders and completely ignore how little their regimes have in common with the socialist workers paradise Marx envisioned.
My favorite is when they argue that China has billionaires and private property and a stock market because Marx said you have to go through capitalism to get to communism. Which... doesn't somehow also apply to the West?
I'd buy that line if China wasn't integrating those large businesses (albeit slowly) into the public sector, something the west is not doing, but rather moving to deregulate more and more (Thanks Trump! /s)
In industries that have been pulled into the public fold, sure. I'm calling them socialist In the same vein that you might still call most western countries capitalist despite having market regulations and some companies that are workers co-ops or use other socially owned frameworks. As long as they're solidly on this trajectory it seems silly to me to label it otherwise at this point just as it would be silly to call the us socialist for having a few employee owned businesses
I especially despise how Putin and Xi were seen as 'strong' leaders, but when shit hit the fan in the last 5 years, they just hid away from repercussions