• 3 Posts
  • 12 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 15th, 2023

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  • Happy to see that this conversation is so amicable. I really love the whole climate here on Lemmy.

    Communism cannot be defined by what the state tells you, as communism is, by definition, a stateless society. Depending on what kind of communist or socialist you ask, you’ll get answers on what the difference between the two is that vary from “they’re interchangable terms” to “socialism is the stage of society that eventually will become communism, which will happen when the state, money, and class withers away.”

    Anarchism, specifically anarcho-communism, sees the end goal as the same as communists. A society in which no classes, money, or state exists. The difference is that Marxists tend to believe in a necessary interim period, normally referred to as socialism, before communism can be achieved. Anarchists believe communism can be achieved directly by simple behaving as communists now, and fighting for a revolution for communism directly.

    These are all generalizations, and I’d you ask 11 communists… et cetera.

    As someone else said, the issue most people point to when critiquing communist philosophies is central planning. Specifically central planning done in some nefarious way by a shadowy unelected government. It’s worth noting that places like the USSR, Cuba, et cetera, democracy was increased after their revolutions. It may not be what some would want out of a democracy, but it was more democratic than what came before. Central planning, too, isn’t exclusive to communist/socialist ideology. Walmart, Amazon, and plenty of other retailers run massive centrally planned economies that rival the size of many nations. It’s an incredibly efficient way to run an economy, and with proper democratic control of the government, oversight, and a focus on what the actual needs of the people are over the profits of a corporation, or the welfare of an elite few, those models could prove to be able to end hunger, homelessness, and all manner of societal ills. Or we can use them to make sure the Walton family can buy extra mega yachts or bookman can go to outer space. Societal priorities are all that need to shift.






  • Edit: my network is being just, like, absolute crap. I don’t know why it posted multiple times. Such is the life of rural America, living with a 4g hotspot for home internet. Lol. Apologies!

    I’m a sort of hodge podge of different traditions, philosophies and religions, and this is absolutely my view. In Hinduism, one of the reasons humans are at the “top” of the reincarnation cycle is because we have the intellect to understand things like karma, and are able to achieve liberation through that understanding. In my view, while we may be the only ones able to achieve liberation, we are also the only ones building up negative karma. It’s a double edged sword. Animals, plants, bacteria, they don’t do wrong things, they don’t engage in wrong thinking. They act on impulse, on intuition, on instinct, and as such, they’re pure spirited. Humans on the other hand are capable of evil, and as such we are the only species on earth that must struggle towards divinity. We just also happen to be the only species that can understand the nature of divinity. You don’t think the universe be like it is but it do, y’know?


  • I really appreciate the reply. I think I’m going to stick with Lemmy for now, since it has a mobile app I enjoy, and I’m mobile the vast majority of the time. I’ll just also make a mastodon, and follow the other things on there. Maybe when Kbin gets a mobile app I’ll consider switching.

    I’m seriously in awe of how people act on this side of things. A dozen replies, none of them hostile. I never got that on the other site! Lol.