North Korea

Insert Clever Anime Reference wrote:

It’s unfortunate, but quite frankly, it hasn’t been a good fit for me in a while. I’m not an anarchist anymore (as you can tell by my factbooks). I’d say my biggest influences are Marx and Engels, obviously, in addition to Daniel DeLeon’s theory of industrial unionism and his “dual approach” to revolutionary praxis, Mao’s emphasis on Mass Line and democracy amongst workers, Paulo Freire’s conception of the oppressor-oppressed contradiction and his educational theories relating to this, and I guess a little bit of Murray Bookchin’s Social Ecology.
Huge fan of the Black Panther Party, if that means anything.
Anywho, just thought I’d give a run down.
Also, New-Lazarus is my second nation lol.

What made you move on from anarchism? And very interesting mix. It's been long since I've read anything from De Leon, do you have any specific works of his you recommend?

Zulanka in NK wrote:

What made you move on from anarchism? And very interesting mix. It's been long since I've read anything from De Leon, do you have any specific works of his you recommend?

The more I studied and learned about Marxism, the more I felt anarchism gave inadequate answers, specifically regarding the state. They (anarchists)don’t have a scientific understanding of the state, and they remove it from its economic base, which is an absurdity to me now.
As for DeLeon, his emphasis on radical communist unions and their revolutionary potential in America (he didn’t say this was a universal condition) seems like a viable model for the transference of power in the US. “Reform or Revolution?” and “Industrial Unionism,” as well as maybe a more minor work, entitled “Syndicalism,” are solid reads. He has a work entitled “As to Politics,” but I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s a bit of a drag. Very, very boring and pedantic, because it’s his letter correspondence with anarchist-esque citizens.

Insert Clever Anime Reference wrote:

The more I studied and learned about Marxism, the more I felt anarchism gave inadequate answers, specifically regarding the state. They (anarchists)don’t have a scientific understanding of the state, and they remove it from its economic base, which is an absurdity to me now.
As for DeLeon, his emphasis on radical communist unions and their revolutionary potential in America (he didn’t say this was a universal condition) seems like a viable model for the transference of power in the US. “Reform or Revolution?” and “Industrial Unionism,” as well as maybe a more minor work, entitled “Syndicalism,” are solid reads. He has a work entitled “As to Politics,” but I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s a bit of a drag. Very, very boring and pedantic, because it’s his letter correspondence with anarchist-esque citizens.

That’s mainly why I left anarchism myself. That and because I realized that iconic anarchist projects (and other leftist revolutionary projects) were and are states (like Catalonia), something they often take offense to but a truth nonetheless. I eventually found Marxism to be the path that had the best analysis of the state as you said, but also understood its role and accepted it rather than feared it. Instead of establishing a weak and vulnerable “decentralized” socialist state for the sake of “removing hierarchy,” Marxism establishes a well organized and protective entity for a revolutionary movement.

In fact, it was folks here who helped me to realize that haha ;)

Hello comrades!

I disagree with the Patnaik's proposition of what is essentially a transitional programme and allying with liberals as a way out of neoliberalism. Their comments about contemporary imperialism having moved beyond the frame of analysis of Lenin and Kautsky is likely to be controversial to many here as well. However, I believe this article is still insightful and worth reading for their economic analysis about the limits that neoliberalism is hitting now.

Neoliberal Capitalism at a Dead End

https://monthlyreview.org/2019/07/01/neoliberal-capitalism-at-a-dead-end/