I’m finally making the switch from Reddit. The Voyager app seems like a pretty seamless transition, but I’d love to hear any tips about using this platform, or what quirks distinguish it from Reddit as a whole.
I’m finally making the switch from Reddit. The Voyager app seems like a pretty seamless transition, but I’d love to hear any tips about using this platform, or what quirks distinguish it from Reddit as a whole.
Since you did ask, I made an introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list after the US election in the hopes of helping those increasingly radicalized along their political journeys! I also wrote a post on how to determine if an overall system is Capitalist or Socialist, from a Marxist perspective.
As a side-note, Socialism is generally seen by Marxists as the intermediate stage between Capitalism and Communism, with Communism as a fully publicly owned, global democratic economy with thorough planning, and Socialism as a society where Private ownership has become subservient to the public sector and now Public ownership is the principle aspect, which is the method of getting to Communism. No country has achieved Communism, which must be global, but many have achieved Socialism.
A bit on “Democratic Socialism,” and how it differs from Marxism-Leninism:
Democratic Socialism usually can refer to either something like the Nordic Countries, which would technically better fit the term "Social Democracy* as private ownership of Capital is the principle aspect of their economies, or as Socialism achieved through electoral means, ie public ownership as the principle aspect of their economies.
I say “principle” as no system is “pure,” every country has a public and private sector, but the public sector in China and Cuba, for example, has far more power than the Private through having firm control of large firms and key industry, while in the Nordics the public sector is in support of the private. The Nordics also rely on international exploitation in order to fund their safety nets, meaning it isn’t a system that could be adopted by just anyone with the same results, it requires winners and losers.
As for how it compares to Marxism-Leninism:
Democratic Socialists usually wish to achieve Socialism through elections, while MLs are revolutionary. Just like you can’t just ask a billionaire to give you their money, MLs don’t believe you can simply ask them to implement a system that dramatically weakens and eventually erases their power when they control the State.
Democratic Socialism is generally a far less defined, while Marxism-Leninism has a rich history of testing theory to practice, and changing over time. This is because Marxism-Leninism is almost always going to be the underlying ideology of any country deemed “Communist,” such as the PRC, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, DPRK, former USSR, and more. This means MLs are usually more in agreement than disagreement with each other.
And that’s enough to go off of, I think! Let me know if you habe any questions, though the reading list is my recommendation for a good place to start. It even has audiobooks for most of the listed works as alternatives, as well as links to epubs or pdfs.
I appreciate the breakdown. I’ll crack into the reading material tomorrow and get back to you. Thanks!
No problem, feel free to leave feedback! And don’t worry about getting back in any soon time period, take your time with it and get out of it what you want to. This isn’t homework, you’re not joining a Communist Party by reading anything on the list, haha.
Now, I will have considered it a fantastic success if it leads you more down that path, of course, but even reading the first section or two so you can get a better idea of what Communists here are talking about and why will already be a big benefit for yourself and a point of pride for myself.
Haha. No I’ve actually been genuinely interested in learning more about this for a little while now. I think this is the time for radicalization, if there ever was one. Still trying to figure out what that looks like for me personally. Thanks again for the resources—and I welcome any others, across any medium.
Not to toot my own horn, but I saw the recent election results as a good opportunity for further outreach, which is why the list is in the format it is, such as frontloading with Parenti’s work, who directly is speaking to a US-based audience and can help tackle Red Scare mythos that permeate the western Left.
Contrary to what anticommunists will have you believe, Communists don’t believe all instances of AES (Actually Existing Socialism) are perfect or free of struggle, but instead that we can learn from their successes and their failures, as many of their problems will be faced by any Socialist country, and many of their successes can be replicated or improved.
As yet another recommendation, for if you aren’t feeling theory but instead want general history, I’m a big fan of Blowback, a very well-produced and thoroughly researched podcast that goes over the US Empire’s involvement with various wars and conflicts over the Cold War and until today. It manages to be funny at times, heartbreaking at others, but frequently it’s bittersweet or even hopeful, such as in the Cuban season. Lots of interviews with experts from the countries they talk about and various academics as well.
It’s great that you want to learn more, by the way!