Let’s analyze Wisconcom’s arguments:

“So you are unwilling to have your notion of “AES” be put through intellectual criticism by other Marxists who maintain a dialectial and materialist framework?” [link]

Here user @Ouisconkom@lemmygrad.ml claims his criticism of China is done through a “dialectical and materialist framework.” And what examples of criticism does he give?

“So, for example, saying that the People’s Republic of China should return to a centrally planned economy from its present economic system is a “CIA talking point”?” [link]

He claims the People’s Republic of China should return to a centrally planned economy. User @cayde6ml@lemmygrad.ml pointed out that in fact, the PRC still maintains a high degree of economic planning (see Chinese five-year plans, for instance):

“The PRC does use a centrally planned economic system. The socialist market economy is used to “fill in the gaps” so to speak. Just like the Soviet Union, Cuba, DPRK, Vietnam, Laos, Yugoslavia (except Yugoslavia had more market elements than the other socialist countries I listed.)

The PRC primarily abides by Central Planning targets put forward by the state, with bottom-up and top-down input from specialists and proletarian representatives, and leeway given if necessary. The private/market economic activity is used to generate a higher degree of profit, while still subject to the commanding heights and regulation of the CPC. Even partially private for profit enterprises are in all but name state-owned.” [link]

This is a known fact by most Marxists-Leninists today. But after receiving that answer, Ouisconkom/Wisconcom is extremely dismissive and refuses to recognize his mistakes:

"I disagree with you on a number of your arguments. However, the point of this discussion does not concern the economic system of China. [link]

Your purported facts are false, or atleast not fully telling of the truth. I am willing to discuss this further, but not in this particular context." [link]

He began talking about the economic system of China, then later after being corrected, he says “the point of this discussion does not concern the economic system of China.” This is the type of behavior that I have already personally addressed to this user. Wisconcom has made several high-quality contributions to the English ProleWiki, and I’m certain he could be a valuable comrade to our community, but his manners, his hostile and dismissive behavior towards others has been extremely annoying both in ProleWiki and in Lemmygrad. This is what I said about my experiences with Wisconcom:

“I should state, though, that your personality is sometimes “in the way” when you engage with others. You very commonly resort to name-calling (calling them “revisionists”, “liberals”, “anti-Marxists”, etc.) and you do not engage with the idea of others, you simply attack them, calling their political understanding “Dengist Revisionist propaganda”, and in general being usually hostile towards others in this position. I should remember you, in the last discussion we had about the Nazi sympathies of the Ukraine state and government, where you claimed I was “destroying our revolutionary ideals” through “text-book revisionism”, when in fact, as you later realized, you simply misinterpreted what I had said.”

Wisconcom hasn’t engaged intellectually, he is simply dismissive by calling the person a “revisionist”, a “Dengist propagandist”, “liberal”, “anti-Marxist”, but while he arrogantly insults others, he fails to deliver a reasonable argument which contradicts our claims. At most, he picks a bunch of quotes by Hoxha on Mao Zedong and China and it boils down to, “since Hoxha said it, it’s true.” That way he ignores the inumerous scholars, historians and economists who say China is a transition economy, by analyzing the 50 years of development since Deng Xiaoping, which has raised the living standards of the people like no other capitalist country achieved in its history. China was the most impoverished country in the planet at some point, now it is the industrial superpower of the world. If someone claims China is a capitalist country, they are therefore claiming capitalism is what made China develop, but it was not, it was an economy controlled by the Communist Party of China. The country led by Hoxha fell under a bourgeois dictatorship while the Communist Party of China still maintains its leadership in the country. This tells us a lot about the correctness of one political line over the other.

This is my critique not of Hoxhaism, but Wisconcom himself. His behavior is not that of a revolutionary, but of an ultra-leftist idealist which no grasp over Marxism nor Marxism-Leninism. But there are several Hoxhaist parties in the world, communist parties which follows this line. One example is the Brazilian Partido Comunista Revolucionário, which I think does actually a good work together with the Unidade Popular, which I’m not sure is Hoxhaist, but maintains a close affiliation with PCR. So I believe this user is not representative of Hoxhaism in general, he’s just an annoying exponent. Usually the Hoxhaists I know are mostly grounded in Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and finally Hoxha. But Wisconcom appears to be grounded in Hoxha alone, which I think is responsible for his awful deviations.

My personal opinion on Hoxha is that he was a great revolutionary in practice, but if by reading his works people become as insufferable as Wisconcom, I don’t think there’s much value in taking Hoxha’s works as the only truth, under the assumption Hoxha did not make terrible ideological and theoretical mistakes in his lifetime. I think we should read works by everyone possible, even from bourgeois sources like Marx did actually. But there’s a difference in reading something critically and taking a single author as your unchangeable ideological and political line.

I don’t think Wisconcom should be banned if they manage to correct their positions and behavior. Right now, I haven’t seen any willingness to admit his mistakes or recognize that the way he engages with others is extremely toxic. But if this behavior continues, I would recommend a ban, no hard feelings. And if he tries to do the same thing in ProleWiki, he will be banned in ProleWiki as well. Quick reminder that the MediaWiki software bans people based on IP, so it will be tougher to circumvent than to simply create another account. You’re free to criticize China, Cuba, People’s Korea, Vietnam and Laos all you want, but be ready to be criticized. If your response is to simply call others “revisionists” and not engage with the arguments other will give you, you’re showing that you have no interest in dialogue and just want the freedom to attack, not criticize.