I’m worldbuilding a fictional universe centred on communist societies, and I want to write the socialism/communism aspects as accurately as possible.
So if a country is currently monarchist, fascist, imperialist, etc but with a socialist revolution is underway, there is certainly going to be extreme resistance from the existing State. In a situation like this, do you think the socialist revolution should do things that help them, but would be considered unethical in war, aka “war crimes”? For example, things like poisoning key figures of the existing State, using “cruel weapons”, torture, etc. Especially if the existing State is already acting in that way? Would this contradict socialist philosophy or morality? What if the revolution is in danger of being extinguished by the State?
Sucks to say it, especially because I’m a communist in large part because I believe that a better world is possible, but unfortunately I’m a “by (most) any means necessary” sort of person when it comes to establishing socialism.
You only need to look at what they did to Allende, what they did to Cuba (Saul Landau has a great lecture on this), the years of lead, and the counterrevolution in Indonesia as examples of what we’re up against.
Regrettably we don’t get to choose whether or not the gloves come off, the only choice we get is whether or not we fight with one hand tied behind our backs.