I don't agree with ppl saying it's a waste of time to debate others. Depending on the person ure talking with, it may be very possible that you help them move into the right difection. Or maybe the ppl listening. That's partially how i got here.

I have a friend who continuously asks questions abt communism, but will then counter my answers with an assumptions of his, but in a friendly, devil's advocate kinda way. That's pretty much a debate, I think and so far I could help him understand certain concepts. When I'm outta answers I simply say that I have no clue atm and know that I have to look up that certain topic and learn more abt it. So it's helpful to myself as well.

While I don't have anything to recommend for forming better arguments, in my experience, the better you understand a topic the better you are at arguing for it. Very often it's simply abt not falling for the usually false, misinformed premise ur 'opponent' presents u with. I've also found that it's best not to engage people at all who are just looking for a fight. Hope this helped.

Yeaa figures. Parenti talked abt how Bernie's "bombing Yugoslavia is lit" stance back then marked the end of their friendship.

Events like these, where everyone with a clear mind can clearly observe the absolute abomination that is the liberal worldview, seem to be occuring regurarly enough to radicalize entire generations of ppl. Bastards like Bernie will die out one way or another.

..my condolences. I didn't know shit was hitting the fan like this in Belgium. This sounds so fckn illegal fr. Was that in response to the actions of the harbor unions?

In Austria the terrorism threat has been hightened; that's all I know abt. Like there's gonna be more soldiers stationed at the parliament and whatnot. Oh and it's illegal to cover your face significantly for a few years now. So at unauthorized demonstrations what might happen is police reminding ppl it's illegal to cover ones face and once the demonstrators are kettled, they might get an additional fine to the normal one. Tho if every protestor would object, any lawsuit would prolly be retracted; that is if enough ppl r affected.

There's a German/Austrian greenwashed alternative called Avocadostore. Might wanna take a look at that. It says it has several requirements if one wants to sell anything on there, regarding ones business' "climate friendliness" or so. Most stuff on there is on the more expensive side of things as one could imagine and I got no idea abt the quality. Regarding shipping, even to Austria the costs are like 10€ or so. Been a while since I took a look at it.. Might be worth checking it out.

They're trying to scare off ppl from protesting.. These are our so-called democracies every lib loves so much. In school I once learned protesting was one of our most important rights under democracies. Whatever happened to that o.O

Meanwhile incredible activists around me are losing their jobs for standing up to genocide. Hearing abt these cases just makes me wanna raise my voice even further. Tho I wouldn't know what I'd do if I literally lost all my job opportunities. Literally only cuz I stood up against the cowardly slaughter of babies. At least I did the right thing then.

Yoo totally! Thx for the suggestion, I'll make sure to look into him. Any specific work you'd have in mind?

I am a 5th year Animation student, currently working on my group's and mine second 3d animation short so far. It's anti-capitalist in its message, but I rly wonder how the storytelling could be different in a marxist direction. Obv we weren't exactly taught to create communist films (tho we got at least one communist teacher.) Either way, I'll take anything you can give me o.O

Russia being the bad one in the war with Ukraine. I used to tell my mother, that one can totally be against both Russia and the US, and I just didn't get how she could talk abt them defending themselves from Nato and so on.

And then I became a dirty lil Commie.

Also the term "Tankie". I rly thought (due to influencers like NFKRZ) that tankies were stupid ppl who didn't understand history or so... AND THEN I BECAME A TANKIE - Proudly so.

That's a rly interesting perspective. I too feel like I can't remember important stuff from the books I read cuz the information mushes together in the end, but I never thought abt reading another book to counter that.

Imma try that and see if it works lol

Oh, true. I only read Lenin's "Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism" as of yet. Do you have any specific book recommendations from him?

Damn bro.. So many ppl are reading several books at once apparently. I don't think my brain could manage so much information at once honestly o.O

I'm reading "Blackshirts and Reds" by Parenti. Am on page 119 rn, and I gotta say I still enjoy Parenti's simpler style of writing as opposed to Marx'. Also I was surprised how Parenti went into detail abt czechoslovakia even. Specifically abt Vaclav Havél's privatization campaign. Never thought he'd go that direction. I feel like I learned a LOT through this book and I'll keep recommending it to everyone who hasn't read it. I think anyone can profit from reading this.

After I'm done with this book, I thought I might pick up Mao's "On Practice"? I read "Dialectical and Historical Materialism" by Stalin and "How to be a Good Communist" by Liu Shaoqi, so I hope that book might additionally help me understand philosophy more.

BRO I feel exactly the same! This horror is unraveling right in front of our eyes while people in their ignorance are simply siding with the oppressors.. I've been so frustrated lately with the sheer stupidy of people. Yet I don't wanna stop debating with them, cuz I feel like it's our job to try our best to correct and educate those ppl to at least show them that there's other ways of thinking out there - beyond the propaganda. But I swear, some ppl's takes have been permanently scarring to listen to, and I've been so upset about my lib friends who cannot help themselves but say stupid shit QwQ

Thank you for sharing, fr.. This world is sick, but I'm at least glad to know what the antidote is and to have my comrades with whom I will fight for that antidote as long as need be. It's not much but it fills me with hope.

I agree, what Palestine and Hamas are currently doing are the only actions left to them by their oppressors. After so many atrocities committed by Israel and so much hatred and violence against them, the Palestinians literally are fighting for survival. Thus, I couldn't, in good conscience, tell them to 'dial down their violence' or whatever it is shitlibs want from them.

And thanks for ur comment. Imma think abt meaningful distinctions.

Well, I kinda get your point.. Though in all honesty I couldn't blame children for being born there. And like ppl who don't willingly move there. So I'd argue there are civilians.

I'm supportive of Hamas' and Palestine's fight for liberation though, just to clarify.

Well, I kinda get your point.. Though in all honesty I couldn't blame children for being born there. I'd argue there are civilians.

I'm supportive of Hamas' and Palestine's fight for liberation though, just to clarify.

Thanks for this; I shall use this knowledge next time I speak to them. Tho honestly I think my energy is better spent elsewhere.

I was talking with two friends yesterday. Apparently they always supported Palestinians, but once they saw Hamas soldiers screaming Allah Ackbar and kidnapping civilian women, they are of the opinion that they're not better than Israelis. "It's just two Nazi Germanies fighting against eachother." Was a banger I heard during that discussion. Another banger: "You don't see Ukranians murder and kidnap civilians, do you? They are respectful of POW."

I tried my best arguing; to no avail. Whatever I said, I was countered with smth like, "well i support them too, but this kind of force is totally unjustified". So in short I failed the argument.

Yeahh, tru. And I wholeheartedly agree with u there. It would be very welcoming to see less US dick sucking. Especially when looking at the old Slovak- or as u said, europe's governments.

As maybe a tiny shimmer of hope though: In Austria, Graz, the Communist party "KJÖ" actually won the election last year. They're doing pretty well there apparently. In Vienna not so much, tho I'm nevertheless hopeful. Still, them winning the election for government fr won't ever happen.

I rly wouldn't be too optimistic.. His views got nothing to do with communism and he already was in cabinet like 3 times. I wouldn't be surprised if he never followed through with these promises. Maybe he'll go the Orbán route? Fico prolly won't be worse than Matovič tho. But who knows.. This is liberal politics at its finest after all.

I personally believe it was and still is a totally valid strategy of China to use Capitalism as a means to bring about prosperity to its people, for it is impossible and irresponsible to build Socialism on poverty.

The strategy Mao implemented was formulated with the, at the time, current material conditions kept in mind. Deng did exactly the same for his time. "A very poor population, the lack of an industrial base and the lack of a large urban population" were the driving forces behind the "Reform and Opening Up" policy. These conditions were brought about by the policies made by Mao. That doesn't mean Mao's policies were 'bad': the average life expectency went up from 35 in the 1950s to 70 in the late 70s. But the average citizen still lived on less than 1$ a day.

^This is taken from Prolewiki's Deng Xiaoping article

So reforms are undertaken by attempting to improve certain aspects, but will inevitably have contradictions accompanying them, which the next reform will address in turn. And such is China's approach. Capitalism brought about fast industrialization which lead to wealth, but has also brought about pollution issues amongst others, which China is addressing now (reduction of reliance on coal, banning it in Beijing altogether, tho not completely eliminated, massive reforestation projects and becoming the global leader in green-technology)

^This is taken from leohezhao.medium.com "The Long Game and Its Contradictions" a generally great article imo.

What I don't know at all is if there was anything like a rivalry between Deng and Mao? I ran out of time so if anyone can shed light on that i'd be happy. Nevertheless I'm certain Mao would have been happy with the results of Deng's reforms.