FIRST SET
1. Where did you find ProleWiki from? How familiar are you with it? Comment what made you want to join ProleWiki and what areas you are interested in contributing to.
I've heard of ProleWiki in a Marxist subreddit, I don't remember which one. I have spent the last few days going through the articles and I've noticed that there is very little content on Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Communism. I'm from Serbia and I know a lot about our history so I'd like to share that knowledge with like-minded people. For example, the article on Tito has only a few paragraphs, and I'd like to expand on that.
2. What current of Marxist thought do you uphold? Describe as thoroughly as needed your path towards your current political perspective.
I am a Marxist-Leninist, but I'm all for leftist unity. I believe that we, socialists, must focus on removing capitalism first, and only then should we debate which school of thought is best.
Well, Serbia, is a very conservative country, but my parents are pretty liberal. Despite that, a few years ago, I fell into the far-right pipeline, unironically watching Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson "destroy" college students in "debates". Sometime after, on my own, I realized that what I was doing was pretty stupid. I became a liberal and considered fascism and socialism two sides of the same coin. Soon after, I became a social democrat after seeing how good the Nordic countries were. Then after a year, I learned, both through the Internet and through speaking with the older generation in my country, that socialism wasn't as bad as I was led to believe. After that, I started listening to Leftist YouTubers and reading about Marxism, although I haven't spent much time reading actual works of Marx, Engles, Lenin, Mao, and so on... Now I'm a Marxist
3. Have you read our principles? Comment your agreements or objections to their points.
I have read the principles, and I fully agree with them, there's nothing else I'd add there.
4. What is your understanding of gender? Should Marxists support the LGBT community?
Gender differs from sex in that it is a social construct, created by society, unlike sex, which is biological. Gender can be changed without surgery or HRT. All Marxists should support the LGBTQ+ community in its efforts for equality since that is the core ideal of Marxism.
5. What is your position on Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong? How would you describe their historical role? Share any comments or critiques you have regarding them.
What they did was instrumental to the survival of their respective nations. But that, of course, doesn't mean that they were perfect, nobody was. My criticism of Stalin is that he hadn't focused on finding a good replacement after his death, leading to a "power struggle" that brought revisionist Khrushchev to power, whose shortsightedness resulted in the collapse of the USSR. My one criticism of Mao is that he was too hesitant to adopt a firm stance. It is true that he was opposed to the Rightists, but in doing so, he wavered between the positions of the Center Wing, the party's original leadership line, and the Center-Left ones, or the Gang of Four. Mao never adopted a stance that simultaneously criticized the Rightists and the Centrist lines, which were sort of "Hidden Revisionists" who later allied with the Rightists themselves.
6. What are your thoughts on China, Vietnam, Cuba, DPRK and Laos? Do you believe any of these countries is socialist? Why or why not?
China is state capitalist today, not socialist, but they have announced that their aim is socialism, and as soon as they reach enough economic development, they'll transition to socialism. I believe that this also applies to Vietnam. Cuba is today, I believe, the country closest to being socialist, and it would have an extremely high quality of life if it weren't for Western sanctions. We don't know much about the DPRK, so I won't say much about it. But in my opinion, the Kim dynasty's rule over the people is invalid. The position of the leader of a socialist government should not be a hereditary one. I haven't read much about Laos, but they're still a developing country, which has made great improvements in the last few decades.
7. What is settler-colonialism, are there any countries that still fit that description and what should be done regarding them? Further, what is to be done about the decolonization and liberation of indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, and immigrant groups in your country?
I have understood settler colonialism to be displacing indigenous people by settlers, who would later form a society on that territory. A perfect example of that would be what happened to the Native Americans by European settlers, they were displaced further and further west until they only had a few square kilometers of land to live on. Well over 90% of their population was wiped from Columbo's "discovery" of the Americans to today. Another example is Israel, which I'll talk more about in the next answer. Serbia as a country has never had a problem with immigration, but rather emigration, or a "brain drain" after Yugoslavia was destroyed in the 90s.
8. What is your analysis of the situation in Palestine? What do you think of the 2023 October 7 events and the groups involved from both sides of the conflict?
Israel is the perfect example of settler colonialism. They have settled land that was Arab for 100s of years after the UK and France drew some lines on a map of which they no understanding. That has led to the suffering of the Palestinian people for 70 years now. But, the attack on October 7th did not strengthen the Palestinian position, it only gave an excuse to Israel to flatten Gaza and further occupy the West Bank, while killing everyone in their path.
SECOND SET
1. In your own words, how would you describe dialectical materialism?
There are two kinds of reality that exist: the material (everything physical) one, and the ideal (everything spiritual) one. For centuries, philosophers have debated whether it was the material reality that shaped the ideal one or vice versa. Hegel then said that those two weren't mutually exclusive, they can affect each other. Marx then introduced the idea of dialectical materialism. Materialism is the one that has the strongest effect, but the ideal reality isn't disconnected from it. The two realities talk in dialogue (the origin of the word dialectics), shaping our world.
3. Have you read anything on Marxist feminism? What are your perspectives on it?
I have read enough on Marxist feminism to understand it. While sex inequality was a major issue in the 20th century, today, because of various movements of women's emancipation, it is not as prevalent, but nevertheless, it still exists. In the past century, women have been "slaves of wage slaves" and a part of the reserve army of labor, but today, with material conditions worsening, they've become wage slaves themselves.
4. Do you think abolishing the nuclear family should be a goal of the communist movement? If so, how would it be abolished?
Abolishing the family unit within society shouldn't be our goal. Without the family, the duties of childcare, eldercare, pre-elementary education, etc. fall on the state. That doesn't mean that everyone should be in a nuclear family for their entire life, not everyone wants that. But it is also crucial that children grow up with both of their parents, in order to be stable and functional members of society
5. What do you think is the most pressing issue for communists in your country? What is your opinion of communist parties there?
There aren't many communist movements here in Serbia. The SPS (Serbian Socialist Patry) is the successor of the SKJ (Union of Yugoslav Communists), but the party today doesn't represent socialism at all, it has formed a coalition with the ruling party, which is neoliberal. Groups that are truly socialist aren't even in Parliament. The social democrats announced that they are running with a far-right party, meanwhile, ZLF (Green-Left Front), which is the closest party to being socialist in our Parliament, will be running with multiple other liberal parties, forming the pro-European opposition. The elections are on December 17th.
6. What do you believe is the main difference between Marxism and other anti-capitalist movements?
Most other anti-capitalist movements challenge the West from the right, while Marxism challenges it from the center. Most other movements (like those in my country in the 90s and 00s) are traditionalist and socially conservative. That means that they lack one of the most important things, equality for all. But that does not mean that they should be brushed off, we should view them with critical support.
THIRD SET
1. Do you have any comments or feedback about this application process? We will use it to improve the process.
I think that the process should be more like an interview, and more interactive, maybe on a voice call. The content of the questions is fine.
2. Do you have familiarity or skill with any programming languages or MediaWiki?
I know front-end web programming (HTML, CSS, JS), and back-end (fluent in Python (I've made a messaging website), a bit of PHP), and I know a bit of C and C#. And I'm generally good at programming and "good with computers".