You probably know how this basically went.

So this guy was in class and he had a shirt of Karl Marx. I said “Based!” and told him that he should get a Lenin shirt next. He said that Lenin was authoritarian, so we argued about whether Lenin was good or not and whether “authoritarianism” was required to succeed in a socialist revolution. I even told him to read “On Authority” and he still didn’t agree with me.

Some gems:

  1. “He (Engels) is saying that authoritarianism is required DURING the revolution, not after.” I tried to explain to him that such “authoritarianism” was also required to SECURE the proletarian state after the initial violent revolution, but apparently that went over his head.

  2. “You’re not a leftist, you’re far-right. You just use leftist rhetoric. You’re just like Nazis.” The classic red fash tankie line.

  3. “Killing fascists is bad because killing people for their different political beliefs is always bad. You are basically doing genocide.” He literally (if I recall) said that violence is required in a socialist revolution but all of a sudden if we do violence against fascists, which are harsh enemies of workers, that’s bad and us letting them off the hook totally isn’t going to lead to them becoming stronger. He said Lenin was bad because he “murdered political opponents.” (I assume he is referring to the Red Terror.)

  4. “Wouldn’t all the killing done in a Leninist nation cause similar destabilization as when the USA does imperialism such as in Iraq?” I have yet to see such destabilization in socialist nations, only exceptions being in Cambodia and when the Warsaw Pact nations fell to capitalism.

  5. “You aren’t fighting the bourgeoisie, you are fighting the workers.”

  6. I defined fascism as socialists define it: an open terroristic capitalist dictatorship in response to workers’ movement. Therefore, former AES nations and not even the current USA (yet) can be considered fascist. But he said “You’re just playing the definition game” or something like that.

This young man is very intelligent, I’ve got to admit. I can only hope he shares his wisdom with the socialists of the third world, to tell them why the evil Leninist line is just far-right and that they need to embrace his enlightened version of Marxism in order to succeed.

  • Beat_da_Rich
    11·
    2 years ago

    Exactly what you wrote. I’ve radicalized a lot of friends over the years by not picking battles and by just being open about what I am. If there’s any anticommunist comment from a western leftist in my circle I just politely disagree without trying to argue. You gotta wait until people are accessible and actually invite you into the conversation first by genuinely asking about your views. Then try and lead with questions, preferably not leading questions though, if that makes sense.

    The goal is to actually make them feel smart, not dumb, by allowing them to come to their own principled conclusions. And for that to happen they need to feel safe in the conversation first.