FIRST SET
1. Hi, there this is Comrade Rick. I found ProleWiki because someone on Lemmygrad sent me a link to a ProleWiki article, and then I saw that there was a Discord server. I decided to join it to be part of a Marxist-Leninist (ML) space. I am very familiar with ProleWiki by this point. I want to become an editor so I can help advance the proletariat cause by sharing correct Marxist-Leninist information online because Wikipedia is a CIA hub, and many sources out there are owned by the bourgeoise. Therefore, when people search online most of what is found is misinformation and disinformation. I want to contribute to all areas of ProleWiki as my knowledge increases.
2. I am a Marxist-Leninist (ML). I come from a very reactionary, afrophobic, Christian and yanky bootlicking country called the Dominican Republic (the DR). In the DR, the only popular political parties are right wing. I later moved to the United States and got exposed to more left-wing ideas. I later went to college where I got met LGTBQ+ people, and learned more about gender. Once I graduated, I grew more and more increasingly frustrated with the American corporate system and started watching LeftTube. I started with Second Thought, then moved to Yugopnik and Hakim. After that, I transitioned to more advanced sources of knowledge like books and articles. Some time later, I joined Reddit and started learning more Marxists knowledge from there, then from Reddit someone recommended Lemmygrad, which I later moved to. And from Lemmygrad I moved to the ProleWiki server.
3. Yes, I have, and I agree with all of them.
4. That gender is fluid, and that it is a social construct. And yes, Marxists should support the proletariat in all their struggles. This includes the LGBTQ+ community along with all the other oppressed peoples.
5. Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong were based. They were great socialist leaders. Joseph Stalin defeated the Nazis and oversaw the development of socialism in the USSR (the first socialist country in history). Joseph Stalin also contributed to Marxism-Leninism by doing further analysis and adding his experiences in the formation of the USSR in his books. Mao Zedong defeated imperial Japan in China and greatly contributed to the development of socialism in China. Mao Zedong also contributed to Marxism-Leninism with Mao Zedong Thought.
Critiques: I think that Stalin should have put in place better vetting processes for party member officials. This would have help in the fight to avoid the rise of revisionist ideas in the USSR, which eventually contributed to the USSR collapsing.
I think that Mao shouldn’t have been so reluctant to allow capitalists forces into China to help modernize the country. In addition, I think that the Cultural Revolution was a total disaster that didn’t achieve what Mao was looking for, which was to scare the high party members officials of the CPC from ever turning revisionists (which was his greatest fear), by empowering and arming the masses. In my opinion, Mao should have just gone after corruption on party members directly by creating departments designed with that purpose, instead of hoping that the masses would do that themselves.
6. China has done an amazing job at modernizing itself, taking its population out of poverty, and raising the life expectancy and standards of living.
Vietnam has done an amazing recovery and progress after being carpet bomb by the USA, and after having millions of their population murdered by yankis (some estimates put it at up to 4 million). Cuba is not doing amazing economically due to a 60-year embargo imposed by the USA. However, it is doing great advances for the LGTBQ+ community, and it does amazing humanitarian work by taking students from all over the world to be trained as teachers and doctors. It also exports many of its doctors all over the world to help people in need. The DPRK is doing amazing with how sanctioned the country is. This is even more amazing with how the country was carpet bombed by the yankis and how 20% of their population was murdered by the yankis too.
Laos, I sadly don’t know much about. I know that the USA carpet bombed them the same way as they did with Vietnam and Korea. I hope that they are doing better!
All the aforementioned countries are socialist because they all have Marxist-Leninists parties that are in charge of the government. These parties keep in line the capitalists class, and take charge of the planned economy and the macrostructure and infrastructure of the country.
7. Settler colonialism is when inhabitants of one country/land/region take by force the land of another populated country/land/region, for the oppressor settlers to settle in. Settle colonial countries are, but not limited to the USA, Canada, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina. Settler colonial countries should be abolished, and the land should be given back to the natives.
To liberate indigenous people in the USA, we would have to create a socialist state, and then take away all the power from colonizers and give it back the natives. Then, the natives can decide the rest, including what they want to do with the colonizers and other non-native groups. The only path towards liberation for all peoples (including ethnic minorities, and immigrant groups) is the path towards communism.
8. Israelis are fascists and Israel should be abolished! Palestine has the right to defend themselves and reclaim back its territory!
SECOND SET
1. Dialectical materialism is the application of dialectics to materialism, which is a fancy way of saying that one uses materialism as a way to see how the world works, either in conversation or in thought process. Dialectics is a method to arrive to new ideas through the examination of different ideas, sometimes even conflicting ideas. Materialism is the science that studies the world with the premise that everything is made of matter. Materialism contrasts with idealism which believes in metaphysics, that is that not everything is made of matter (e.g. spirits and deities).
Dialectical materialists know that nothing stays static or isolated. They know that everything is in constant motion, and that everything is interconnected. Therefore, they always apply a wholistic view to their studies. Viewing anything as static or isolated is a metaphysical practice since it stems from the belief that god/s made things the way they are. They believe that all things have always been the way they are now.
2. Land back is an expression of the international proletariat struggle against imperialism. Moreover, native people should get their land back because imperialism is immoral. In addtion, in all countries where colonizers have established, the natives always get a lower standard of living than the colonizers. That has been the case in the USA, South Africa, Namibia, Australia, and New Zealand. Therefore, helping natives get their land back is a duty for MLs.
3. I have sadly not. But, I have heard of Alexandra Kollontai.
4. Yes, it should be abolished. It would be abolished by normalizing LGTBQ+ness, and by legalizing gay marriage and polyamorous marriages. Another option is that we could just get rid of the concept of marriage all together.
5. In the Dominican Republic, the biggest issues are the lack of class consciousness, rampant reactionary and revisionists sentiments, and extreme yanki bootlicking. Another big problem is extreme xenophobia to Haitians. Haitians could be a great asset for the Dominican proletariat on their fight against the imperialist and national bourgeoise. However, Dominicans instead choose infighting and xenophobia. There are no viable communists parties that I know of in the Dominican Republic. All the ones that I have seen are revisionists.
The United States similarly to the DR also the lack of class consciousness, has rampant reactionary and revisionists sentiments, and nationalistic sentiments. Moreover, either the CIA is always infiltrating parties and turning them revisionists or the leadership of the parties fall to opportunistic hands. Based on what I have heard, there are not viable communist parties either in the USA.
6. Marxism is the only scientific anti-capitalist movement. Other anti-capitalist movements are idealistic and lack praxis. The only anti-capitalist movement that has ever work and flourished with long lasting results has been Marxist-Leninism. Movements like anarchism always get crushed by the bourgeois governments very quickly. This is due to their reluctance to using the state as a way to crush anti-revolutionaries or bourgeoisie uprisings. Also, anarchism tends to be a European petty bourgeoisie movement. Marxism-Leninism tends to be a global south proletariat movement.
7. Imperialism is when one country owns the natural resources of another country either through economic means or military means, or both. By owning the natural resources, imperialist powers are able to enrich themselves, control government officials of the colonized countries, and dictate policy that allows for smoother imperialism. By having control of their colonies’ government, the imperialist powers can crush any attempts for national liberation. This can be done by using the colonies’ own military against the decolonizing forces. In case that an anti-imperialist party or president takes power and tries to nationalize the natural resources, they can use their money and influence to finance coups, like it happened in Bolivia. If that is not enough, they can send the imperial military to squash any attempts of nationalizing the ownership of natural resources, like it happened in Afghanistan.
IMF, Belt and Road Initiative, and the World Bank are tools of the imperialist powers to always keep countries indebted, so Global North corporations can get hold of their natural resources indefinitely.
8. I have.
On Authority from Friedrich Engels, is the best Marxist short read. On it Engels succinctly debunks the claims that the state is inherently evil, and that all forms of authority are evil. It denotes that fact that the term “authoritarianism” is a metaphysical fear mongering buzz-word.
Principles of Communism by Engels was also a pretty good read too because it jots down all the basics that any baby leftist needs to know to become a communist.
Currently, I am reading on book club, Elementary Principles of Philosophy by Georges Politzer, who was a hero that chose death on the hands Nazis over collaborating with them. The book does a deep dive on the philosophical aspect of Marxist-Leninism. It explains concepts like materialism, idealism, dialectics and dialectal materialism.
OPTIONAL QUESTIONS
1. No, it is fine the way it is.
2. I have familiarity on programming languages, but not on MediaWiki