CamaradaJeronimo

joined 10 months ago
[–] CamaradaJeronimo@lemmygrad.ml 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I agree with you about a lot of those cases, I might be biased because I'm a Portuguese communist. The PCP has been done all those things (defend China, North Korea, go hard against the war, sending more military armament and sanctions) and got absolutely rammed by the media for being vocal about the conflict. There was literally a PCP delegate in the Donetsk election. The party was labeled as pro-Putin (which we're not and will never be), party buildings got vandalized and militants got death threats and aggression. Hell, now that people forgot that war and we're regaining strength, the media is still trying to make defamatory bullshit in an attempt to hurt the party.

The KKE is not an example for any decent communist party with their brand of eurocommunism that spread into a lot of major left parties in Europe. Should they define what is the Western left? Fuck no. Do they invalidate the existing Western parties and comrades that are fighting for the right cause? Fuck no!

About Clare Daly, google "Clare Daly Ukraine" see what shows up. Could they go further? Definitely, but I definitely understand why they don't in a continent where going further than that will get you labeled as a putinist, in favor of an alleged "genocide" and even get you in legal trouble in some places. The propaganda is extremely strong and, in my opinion, the best way we can recruit is to present it all in an agreeable digestible manner and give the people the tools to understand it all.

Now about Corbyn, why should we care what he says or not? He's a so called social democrat, I don't expect anything else from him.

I completely agree with you there's a lot of bad apples in the mainstream Western left, I absolutely hate them as much as you do. That should not invalidate or discourage others that are trying to make a difference. And it definitely feels unjust to be lumped in the same bag as eurocommunism and leftlibs as the definition of the "Western left". We're as much the definition of "Western left" as any of those Corbyns and Melenchons of Europe.

[–] CamaradaJeronimo@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

I'm not gonna lie, with all respect, statements like this about "the Western libs and left" by grouping the left with the libs make me cringe every single time. The actual Western left, those that didn't sell their soul to attract libs, all are anti-war, anti-NATO and don't fall into this idiotic and xenophobic conspiracy theories. Just say libs, the description fits them all.

I understand the dislike against some of this so called "leftists" from the West, but let's please not fall into the mistake of feeding this narrative that only helps the right wing opportunists and their rhetorics that the left is not a solution in the Western world.

 
[–] CamaradaJeronimo@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Another promising figure in Die Linke who is generally a bit more vocally anti-imperialist than the rest is Sevim Dagdelen, but lately i haven’t seen much of her.

Apparently she left Die Linke to be part of Wagenknecht's new party.

[–] CamaradaJeronimo@lemmygrad.ml 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

I find that the "xenophobic" or "anti-immigration" claims against her and her party seem to be way overblown, e.g., look at the sheer number of first generation Germans in high positions of the party (if I remember correctly, Sahra herself is the daughter of an Iranian immigrant). Of course we've seen a bunch of self-hating grifters on the right with similar backgrounds, but if you actually read what is said in the manifesto, it doesn't seem to be rooted in that kind of bigotry. I'm not German, neither do I live in Germany, so I might be missing some extra context and possible dog whistles.

When talking about immigration, sometimes we on the left fall into the mistake of promoting policies that only help capitalist exploitation while disguising it as progressive action. It's a tough balancing act and that's how I interpreted her party's take. Maybe I'm missing something more problematic that she has said before. Also if, I remember correctly, in the manifesto they talk positively about refugees.

That being said I find her takes on "wokeism", COVID and "idpolitics" a bit more concerning. I understand being tired of some parties that lib it up and sideline other struggles, but this are essential causes that cannot be separated from the whole proletariat fight. Overall I've a positive view on her, hopefully we can get a better picture of where the party actually aligns when their actual platform is released.

 

I'm Portuguese and can understand Spanish but weirdly enough I haven't had a chance to read much from Cuba. I've read books and theory work from China and Vietnam (special shout out to Luna) and feel like I'm missing out on a bunch of works that could be more accessible to me in it's original form.

Is there any essential reading from Cuba (not about the revolutionary period)? I have a special interest in the current state of Cuba, thoughts on what (and how) should be improved or reinforced and Cuba's plans for future. Also any books oriented on theory work from Cuba?

Anyone has any works (English or Spanish) they would recommend?

 

I enjoyed Cheng Enfu's "China's Economic Dialectic" and now was looking to read more books written/edited by him. One of the books I found interesting was "Delving into the Issues of the Chinese Economy and the World by Marxist Economists":

The book includes 30 articles divided into 4 parts: basic principles of Marxist economics; contemporary socialist economy in China, contemporary capitalist economy and comparative studies on Marxist economics and Western economics. All authors are prominent Chinese Marxist economists.

This book, under the chief editorship of Prof. Cheng Enfu, is one of the results of the discipline construction and theoretical research of the Marxist Theory implemented by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and is one from the book series The Discipline Construction and Theoretical Research of the Marxist Theory. This book mainly contains the representative and high-level articles on Marxist economics published nationwide in 2013, which are the representative, cutting-edge and authoritative results of current theoretical research in China on Marxism.

I haven't seen much (if any) discussion about this book. Has anyone read it? If so what's your opinion on it? Is it worth the read?