By Tyler Lyons On My Life Before Joining the Party Long before the onset of the COVID pandemic, I was struggling with my political identity. I had been disillusioned with…
You keep repeating the same points, so this is the last thing I’ll say.
You keep trying to narrow things down to your own specific definition of your ideal version of patriotism. This version of patriotism that you speak of doesn’t exist in the US. US patriotism is highly jingoistic and inextricably tied to Imperialism. Holding on to it in the hopes that American people suddenly wake up and adopt your socialist version of patriotism
Even the CPUSA, before 1991, followed the USSR line and defended patriotism
This still doesn’t change the reality of the vast difference between the largest imperial power on the planet and a country that had already had it’s revolution and discarded any notions of the former Russian empire. Oh, Abraham Lincoln, truly the shining example of patriotism. The reality is that he was bloodthirsty and furthered the removal and genocide of Native Americans from their land. He said this about freeing slaves, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that”. Yes, he was an abolitionist, but only on the contention that he wanted to “save the union” before anything else. You say that you would understand why American communists would hate the flag in a later response to someone else, but you point out the CPUSA waving around the US flag and upholding Lincoln as somehow good things.
While you’re mentioning the CPUSA, they had this nonsense to say about
Stalin and Mao, whoops!
You think we are “appeasing the right”? You are literally doing so! What is the argument the right always uses against communists? That we are unpatriotic, that we hate our country, that we are foreign agents. And instead of rejecting that label, as communist parties worldwide do, you embrace it! You say “yes, i am unpatriotic, i do hate America, i want to see America destroyed, i work for China”. You are the one appeasing the right! This is just like those who say “USSR wasnt real socialism”
The leaps you’re making here are unhinged. Who on earth said you were appeasing the right? You’re engaging in reddit level discussion right now. Once again, here’s what I said, patriotism in Imperial core countries is always subordinated to capitalists in times of trouble and war especially. That’s not saying that you’re being a willing participant in that, but that your own perception of patriotism and those alike are irrelevant if it doesn’t align with the aims of Capitalists in times of trouble/ war. Regardless of whatever definition you have of it, nothing will change the inextricable link between American patriotism and American jingoism.
What is the argument the right uses against communists? If you only adopt certain positions based on how reactionaries react to you, then I don’t know what to tell you. I could say “peace is good, i am a communist” and reactionaries would still find a way to flip that 180. I hate the United states, and it should wither away and go the way of the Russian empire.
They serve international billionaires, they refuse to give their people the most basic necessities, theyd rathers serve Wall Street than their country. How is that patriotism? Thats not patriotism, its the opposite.
None of that changes the political reality of what patriotism is in the US, and how it will continue to be used in the US. Once again, trying to cling to your own definition to try co-opt it from capitalist hegemony is like trying to swim upstream against a raging current. It’s futile. Patriotism in the US is and will always be linked to the oppression of people abroad and locally.
You continue peddling american exceptionalism! So the whole world has socialist patriotism, but not USA, USA is special. I never said Abraham Lincoln or US flag were good or bad. Im not american, its not up to me to choose which patriotic symbols the american people should identify with. If they like Lincoln and USA flag its ok, if they dont its ok. All i said is that american communist parties always used to be patriotic, until very recently when they decided to appeal to liberalism. Thus, its completely false that american patriotism is inherently reactionary, unless you are saying that 1960s CPUSA was reactionary. Why are you quoting a CPUSA article from 2020? Im talking about the CPUSA of the 1960s and 1970s, before CPUSA became full of liberals. Modern day CPUSA rejects patriotism.
Greece is an imperial core country, yet its communist party is very patriotic. Are they reactionary? All european communist parties are patriots. Greece, Spain, Italy, Moldova, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc. Many of these countries are imperial core, so your argument is nonsense. Its an argument invented by post1991 US communists to justify their appeal to liberalism and american exceptionalism. Patriotism, like everything, has a class charachter. You have bourgeois and proletarian patriotism. You are talking about bourgeois patriotism, im talking about proletarian patriotism, which definetely exists in USA. What is it if not, when working class americans love their fellow americans and want to improve their lives, together? You are literally being patriotic right now, by wanting all americans to be free of oppression and exploitation and have good living standards and socialism, idk why you are so hell bent on denying it.
You keep repeating the same points, so this is the last thing I’ll say.
You keep trying to narrow things down to your own specific definition of your ideal version of patriotism. This version of patriotism that you speak of doesn’t exist in the US. US patriotism is highly jingoistic and inextricably tied to Imperialism. Holding on to it in the hopes that American people suddenly wake up and adopt your socialist version of patriotism
This still doesn’t change the reality of the vast difference between the largest imperial power on the planet and a country that had already had it’s revolution and discarded any notions of the former Russian empire. Oh, Abraham Lincoln, truly the shining example of patriotism. The reality is that he was bloodthirsty and furthered the removal and genocide of Native Americans from their land. He said this about freeing slaves, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that”. Yes, he was an abolitionist, but only on the contention that he wanted to “save the union” before anything else. You say that you would understand why American communists would hate the flag in a later response to someone else, but you point out the CPUSA waving around the US flag and upholding Lincoln as somehow good things.
While you’re mentioning the CPUSA, they had this nonsense to say about Stalin and Mao, whoops!
The leaps you’re making here are unhinged. Who on earth said you were appeasing the right? You’re engaging in reddit level discussion right now. Once again, here’s what I said, patriotism in Imperial core countries is always subordinated to capitalists in times of trouble and war especially. That’s not saying that you’re being a willing participant in that, but that your own perception of patriotism and those alike are irrelevant if it doesn’t align with the aims of Capitalists in times of trouble/ war. Regardless of whatever definition you have of it, nothing will change the inextricable link between American patriotism and American jingoism.
What is the argument the right uses against communists? If you only adopt certain positions based on how reactionaries react to you, then I don’t know what to tell you. I could say “peace is good, i am a communist” and reactionaries would still find a way to flip that 180. I hate the United states, and it should wither away and go the way of the Russian empire.
None of that changes the political reality of what patriotism is in the US, and how it will continue to be used in the US. Once again, trying to cling to your own definition to try co-opt it from capitalist hegemony is like trying to swim upstream against a raging current. It’s futile. Patriotism in the US is and will always be linked to the oppression of people abroad and locally.
You continue peddling american exceptionalism! So the whole world has socialist patriotism, but not USA, USA is special. I never said Abraham Lincoln or US flag were good or bad. Im not american, its not up to me to choose which patriotic symbols the american people should identify with. If they like Lincoln and USA flag its ok, if they dont its ok. All i said is that american communist parties always used to be patriotic, until very recently when they decided to appeal to liberalism. Thus, its completely false that american patriotism is inherently reactionary, unless you are saying that 1960s CPUSA was reactionary. Why are you quoting a CPUSA article from 2020? Im talking about the CPUSA of the 1960s and 1970s, before CPUSA became full of liberals. Modern day CPUSA rejects patriotism.
Greece is an imperial core country, yet its communist party is very patriotic. Are they reactionary? All european communist parties are patriots. Greece, Spain, Italy, Moldova, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc. Many of these countries are imperial core, so your argument is nonsense. Its an argument invented by post1991 US communists to justify their appeal to liberalism and american exceptionalism. Patriotism, like everything, has a class charachter. You have bourgeois and proletarian patriotism. You are talking about bourgeois patriotism, im talking about proletarian patriotism, which definetely exists in USA. What is it if not, when working class americans love their fellow americans and want to improve their lives, together? You are literally being patriotic right now, by wanting all americans to be free of oppression and exploitation and have good living standards and socialism, idk why you are so hell bent on denying it.