Thank you! I actually looked at their list of color revolutions, but it didn't seem complete, and didn't include it. What page did u find that on?
Cool, I think that's the same conclusion I've come to aswell. Haven't been able to put words to it that well though. What are your thoughts on Gonzalo in general?
Where would you say MLM falls into this? I read that post and the dogmatic thing seems to make sense. But there are elements of MLM such as the Labor Aristocracy and such that I unabashedly agree with.
Will do, thank you!
Cool, I'll check it out. I think he can be hit or miss, especially when it comes to 'hard theory' videos, but I'm none the less interested.
Was the collapse of the Mongolian People's republic due to a color revolution?
Been trying to learn about both color revolutions in recent history, as well as the Mongolian People's Republic, but both seem rather scarce on info. Was the protests that led to the collapse of the Mongolian People's Republic as big of a scam as the events that led to, for example, the USSR?
Looking for help to understand why 'One Divides into Two' but not vice versa
I've heard that 'One Divides Into Two' as a foundational idea in Dialectical Materialism, and I feel like i understand dialectical materialism relatively well. But I'm confused as to why 'Two Combines into One' is not correct? Isn't a foundational idea of dialectical materialism how contradictions are resolved? Why isn't that the same as combining into one? And how is the resolution of contradiction a division into two?
Thanks!
That makes a lot of sense to me. I think my question is really coming from the modern day divide between MLs and MLMs. I'm still trying to understand what differentiates Marxism Leninism applied to its material conditions, versus a new stage of development in ML theory.
Was what was done in the Soviet Union, at least during Lenin's leadership, considered to be Dogmatic Leninism? What seperates Dogmatic Leninism from Marxist-Leninism?
Also, would you say Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is an adaptation of these material conditions? Or a higher stage of development. What even differentiates the two?
Was that in a speech or a book? Would love to get the full context.
I get that you are not anti Kim Ill Sung, but what comparison do you see between the two, just in general? Not sure i follow.
You should not call yourself a communist if you're an American and do not know about AIM and their struggle imo.
Potentially silly question, but are different arms of Marxism relevant to different global situations?
Is this a misguided idea? That different ideologies, such as 'vanilla' Marxist-Leninism are more applicable to more industrialized countries, or perhaps countries closer to the imperial core, while ideologies such as MLM are more applicable to the most imperialized, agragrian/feudal countries of the world?
I think it more comes from how a lot of supposed mental disorders, are more of a conflict of that individual and the society they live in. If society was structured in a way for ADHD people to be able to contribute that is structured around how their brain works, there wouldn't be a disability in the first place. Not all, of course, but many. How we shouldn't be positing these people as 'broken' because their brains work slightly different, but because our society isn't structured in a way to allow them to contribute in a way that works best for them.
I have always felt like a highly sensitive person in general. I know there's a lot of pop-psych stuff around that term, but I've really always felt that way. Getting into a verbal altercation with someone, including family has always rattled me inside, makes me feel all fucked up. Same with seeing something highly sad, It's hard for me not to just be incredibly sad, such as weeping, versus being able to contain it. Same with anger, and so on.
Maybe 'it's okay to be afraid' is the answer. Maybe for me, it is that idea of “clinging” to life, and struggling with that. Maybe it is having this image of myself in my head, that when the time comes, I shouldn’t let the emotions overwhelm me, and I should be able to remain stoic and “exit the world with dignity” or something like that.
Indeed I have passed out, many times. It's always a terrible experience, or, incredibly uncomfortable probably. It feels like I'm losing my mind when I'm passing out to be completely honest. It feels almost psychedelic coming out of unconsciousness for me. Excluding anesthesia, more thinking about passing out while getting blood drawn or from heat or something.
I wish the idea of simply fainting from existence was comforting, but historically that phenomenon has always been uncomfortable as hell for me.
In terms of afterlife, I would say I'm agnostic. When i say I have appreciation for the Dharmic religions, I don't mean that I believe in the supernatural aspects of those religions, more that I appreciate the philosophical undertones present within them. Specifically stuff like Indra’s Net, or anything that stresses that “things aren’t really things, but things are the relationships between things”, if that makes sense. Just the stuff that stresses interconnection and nuance, i find that I can really appreciate and see a lot of crossover with systems science and Marxism. Also, Swami Vivekanda has written some very interesting texts on Socialism based on his time in the USSR, which I found pretty interesting.
I do agree religion isn’t the end all, be all, and i generally have disdain for religion, i do find that those philosophies have a lot to be appreciated, especially when compared to the purely black and white thinking of abrahamic religion.
Maybe for me, it is that idea of "clinging" to life, and struggling with that.
Agreed. I do think the ideas present within Vedanta and Zen Buddhism (the only two that I've studied to any extent) do have some really cool ideas that have a lot of overlap with scientific socialism and Marxism. Specifically stuff like Indra's Net, or anything that stresses that "things aren't really things, but things are the relationships between things", if that makes sense. Just the stuff that stresses interconnection and nuance, i find that I can really appreciate and see a lot of crossover with systems science and Marxism. Also, Swami Vivekanda has written some very interesting texts on Socialism based on his time in the USSR, which I found pretty interesting.
I do agree religion isn't the end all, be all, and i generally have disdain for religion, i do find that those philosophies have a lot to be appreciated, especially when compared to the purely black and white thinking of abrahamic religion.
How do you come to terms with death?
I think since having become divorced from religion (at least with Christianity, I still find Dharmic spirituality interesting, but I still don't believe in the supernatural), the idea of death has become a bit more difficult for me.
I tell myself that I am okay with dying, since it's inevitable, and out of my control, but I think deep down, when I really think about the end of my existence, there is some deep terror there, perhaps related to the fear of the unknown. I can think of all kinds of fantastic quotes about death and finding peace with it, but when I think about what it will feel like to die, it instills great terror within me.
It's not even a fear of the pain or anything. Just a fear of what may or may not be next. I think part of it too is some sort of fear of missing out. A fear of not getting to see the great things that are to come in this world. A fear of not having the time to learn the innumerable interesting things that there are to learn. So much to learn, and so little time. I think it also has to do with the thought of being forever separated from my loved ones. From my partner. From the person who I share my life with and have created my life with. Imagining being separated from her for an eternity, it brings me to tears.
Interestingly, this is a fear I've always had, ever since I was a child. I remember being 4 or 5 years old and asking my dad what happens after death, what death feels like, where my friends will go after death, and remember him becoming almost frustrated with my questioning, because these are obviously answers he doesn't have and are honestly fairly strange thoughts for a child so young to be pondering.
For some reason, death has always been something on my mind since I was a child, and a very emotional thought at that. I think my brief stint of being religious from early childhood into mid-teen years was an emotional 'band-aid' of sorts, but since I've come to the conclusion that I truly don't know what death will feel like or what will happen after death, these thoughts have again started racing through my head, giving me moderate emotional discomfort.
Have any of yourselves come to term with death? How have you managed to find peace with it besides "just don't think about it"?
Are there any good readings that fuse marxism and systems theory?
I don't know how to explain it, but since I've been studying Dialectical Materialism (and mindfulness too, but may not be as related), I've had this intense feeling/emotion/thought pattern that's been emerging that I've had a tough time putting words to. I've done lots of research into the idea and talked to a lot of people, and I think it's a fuzzy sense of interconnectedness that's being given to me by this radical shift in cognition that I've had over these past couple years. Just really noticing and feeling the complex interconnection between everything in the world, and the patterns that make up the world, and how everything in the world is interdependent on everything else in the world and trying to observe that structure of the world we live in. I feel like i've never had this kind of nuance in my thinking before, and I like it, despite the occasional bouts of anxiety it causes. The closest fields of study that I've found, besides marxism/dialectical materialism of course, has been Systems Theory. In my research, some computing/math topics like recursion and fractals have also appeared, but I've yet to figure out their relevance, besides just being types of patterns. A couple of neuroscience topics cropped up as well, but, again, not sure the relevance, so I want to start with looking at the crossover in theory between Marxism-Leninism and Systems Theory. I'm decently familiar with ML, just been reading through the recommendations on the ML Reading Hub site, but I have literally zero experience with Systems Theory, however, I would love to learn, if you have any recommendations. Or if you think I sound like I'm losing my mind, that's also valid lol, I sort of feel that way while typing this out and just being like "it's all connected man!!!". Thanks for any responses, regardless lol.