1. I was intending to join one year ago, but I never got around to it until now, after fixing various computer issues. 2. Marxism-Leninism. I was led to this mainly through reading (things like Lenin's works, Blackshirts and Reds, Decolonial Marxism, Wretched of the Earth, etc.). 3a. Dialectical Materialism has been the only theoretical framework that has historically guided nations away from total capitalist rule for an extended period, as these listed nations demonstrate. 3b. As we are in a stage of capitalist imperialism with one major hegemonic imperialist power, in order to combat imperialism, any large opposition, either national bourgeoisie, or socialist, must be supported. Very often, criticism of nations like Iran, Russia, China, etc., no matter how "nuanced" they appear to the person criticizing, serves only to uphold the standard hegemonic thought. 3c. Those who downplay the role of women, lgbtqa+ and oppressed ethnic groups, while proclaiming to be socialists, seem to be forgetting the entire past century of socialist history. I believe it was women garment workers who led the first strike in the October revolution. The Soviet Union was the first country to legalize abortion, among many other major advances for women. And of course, the Soviet Union would not have been a union without the many nations previously subjugated under the Tsar. Both Lenin and Stalin wrote in length about how the real weight of the proletariat lies in the colonially subjugated nations, as history would show repeatedly, and still shows today with Palestine and Yemen. 4. Gender is a social phenomena I do not know how to explain beyond it being how a person identifies and expresses themself in certain aspects (hair style, clothing, mannerisms, etc.), and it is as unique and ever developing as the rest of a person's identity. Members of the LGBTQA+ face repression to some extent in nearly, if not every country. Distancing ourselves from them or their struggles only serves to break up the working class further than it already is and alienate a demographic where we will find many of the most courageous revolutionaries. 5. My views on Stalin and Mao are generally positive. Both led their countries through some of the most horrific circumstances, with China and the USSR having some of the most rapid economic developments in human history under their leadership. 6. All of these nations are progressive, anti-imperialist forces with clearly defined dictatorships of the proletariat that are doing whatever in their power to advance beyond the capitalist mode of production. However, this is greatly limited by the shape of the global economy. Debating over which nation is "socialist" as if it were a purity test is not very useful I think. Were the definition of socialist, for example, to somehow not include China in spite of everything that was said before, would that change its fundamental role in the global economy? It would not, of course, because the dynamics of class rule in China, as with Laos or Cuba are qualitatively different to one in typical capitalist society, and these nations, due to this class rule, are pushing away from liberalization to the benefit of their people and the international working class. 7.Settler colonialism, as its name suggests is a form of colonialism in which a sizeable settler population displaces the native population. With this definition, we can see its fundamental tendency towards genocidal violence. Modern examples would include the US, Australia and of course "Israel". The specific answer to settler colonialism will differ in each case, depending on things such as the size of each population in proportion to one another and the extent of counter-revolutionary measures taken by settlers, and can only be provided by the colonialally subjugated masses themselves. Sympathetic white workers will not create the path forward in liberating the people within reservations in the US, just as sympathetic Israeli workers will not decide the trajectory of Gaza's development. 8. "Israel" serves as a base of operations for the US's wars in West Asia. Its general use for the imperialists geopolitically, is the weakening of Arab sovereignty. This alone would make the Palestinian cause progressive. On top of this, it is also actively waging a genocide of its own against the Palestinian people, with full support from the US. Like with criticisms of Iran or Russia, condemnations of Hamas, Hezbollah or Ansar Allah are largely disingenuous, and serve to distract from the brutality of the settler regime and the progressive role the resistance plays in this historical moment. The resistance in the past few months has rapidly changed the layout of global geopolitics in favor of progressive forces. Ansar Allah's attacks on western ships have shown the essential role Yemen plays in global trade, and the reasons for the imperialists pushing to destabilize the nations of West Asia. This war has shown the weakness of the imperialist hegemony, and the potential we have to escape it.
1. Dialectical Materialism is the foundational philosophy behind Marxism-Leninism. It asserts all things are in constant motion, with this motion being driven by both internal and external contradictions (dialectics), and that we are shaped by our material reality (materialism). 2. National liberation is necessary to advance the socialist cause. As said in my answer to Prolewiki's principles, the weight of the proletariat lies in the colonially oppressed. This means that what will disrupt the imperialist system the most at this point in time would be these struggles for national liberation, including things such as the Land Back movement. 3. One book I have read is Philosophical Trends in the Feminist Movement. It addresses many issues with the various contemporary feminist trends, and in doing so, highlights how a marxist approach to womens issues that connects these issues to the wider socialist movement is necessary to properly address them. 7. Imperialism, as defined by Lenin, is the historical stage of capitalism when capital concentrates to the point of monopolies, and banking merges with industry to form finance capital. Today, we can see some of the most obvious displays of this, and its effects on the world through the IMF and the World Bank. These two organizations serve as a primary method from which western nations can impose economic policies on the global south. Debts are high, and essentially guaranteed to pile up gradually over time and loans typically have strict conditions a nation must meet in order to apply, often meaning further and further austerity measures. The Belt and Road Initiative, and Chinese development aid in general provide a strong contrast to this. Conditions for loans are less strict and debts can often be forgiven, making development far more viable under Chinese trade. 8. I have read more works from marxists than I can count. Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara are the ones I can think of from socialist nations that I can think of who I have read. Because I read the last two only when I was new to theory, unfortunately there is not much I can speak on from their writing. I will need to go through their works again at some point. Lenin is my favorite marxist author. He has a particular humor in his works that makes it especially entertaining, like in The Right of Nations to Self Determination when he practically calls Trotsky a worm.
1. I do not like having to use emails for account creation. I understand the use, but I would prefer if there was some way to avoid it.