Here are some questions I have about how communism would work in a country like Canada, where there is an European majority and a marginalised Indigenous minority.

  1. If the country itself goes communist but the indigenous peoples would really just want to govern themselves, what should the respectful solution be? Should they be allowed to break off into their own country if they so choose?

  2. Leftists speak about both decolonisation and giving back Indigenous land, but also collective ownership of all land. How would one integrate those two concepts in practice?

  3. Assuming we’re not talking about generations after the marginalisation ended, instead it’s the time frame when the oppression is in living memory and both oppressing and oppressed individuals are still alive and interact with each other (AKA, now): Do you think communism would truly allow people of European and Indigenous descents to become “even”, as in reach a point where the European peoples have completely settled their debt to the Indigenous peoples and can move on from the baggage of being colonizers? Perhaps more importantly, can such an enormous debt ever be repaid or will there always be a tension between those peoples? I think the same would go for any marginalised and marginalising groups, even if policy is implemented that removed all inequality between them, like communism for example, can the former marginalising group ever consider themselves to be rid of the shame and weight of their actions, or would that be arrogant?

  • Star Wars Enjoyer A
    5•3 years ago

    1. As seen in the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, they’d likely be given Autonomous Zones and mostly left alone. Though it’s worth mentioning; if there was a successful revolution in North America, neither the United States nor Canada would look anything like they do now. They’d naturally balkanize based on a number of factors (ethnicities (native and non), religions, cultures, geography, war borders, etc.) and likely become a union of many smaller states. So it’s hard to say exactly what it would look like or how things would end up.

    2. The Autonomous Zones of the USSR and the PRC both (to my understanding) had the right to decide what is to be done with their legal territory. I could be wrong on that, so I’d like to be corrected if I am. The natural balkanization of North America might include the decolonization of native lands, though decolonization of large urban centres would be too big a task, so it’s really hard to say how exactly it would go. The Reservations were purposefully put in places that kept the Natives away from resources, and the places with the most resources in North America got packed with settlers. It might be too much to ask the descendants of the settlers to kindly piss off, so I guess this is something only the future can tell us.

    3. I’ll admit that I am white, and I benefit from colonialism. The closest relative to me that is native is my step-grandmother, there are no other natives in my family aside from the half-uncle and half-aunt of mine she made with my dad’s dad. So I shouldn’t be the person who talks about the debts my group owe to the natives.

    However, that being said, I believe if Autonomous Zones are set up for the natives - should they choose that route - the communist society of North America would be obligated to provide the natives with the resources they require to uplift themselves. I can’t say whether or not that would make them “even”, I can only hope the natives can forgive our ancestors in time.

        • Marxism-FennekinismOP
          4•3 years ago

          So presumably they would form something similar in structure to the USSR? Or I guess the Federation in Star Trek for a fictional example?

          • Star Wars Enjoyer A
            4•3 years ago

            Couldn’t say for certain, and IMO guessing at the future isn’t always the best idea. I can provide you with theories and what I, personally, think will happen. But I have no more a crystal ball than you, or anyone else.

            It’s my opinion, based on various factors - one of the biggest of which being the vast size of North America and the cavalcade of different peoples who live here - that North America would fracture into smaller and easier to manage states, and that those states - should they choose Socialism - would form unions. Maybe one union, maybe many. I dunno.