Just to be sure, I asked them whether they were being sarcastic. They replied with a link to a Chomsky lecture about the USSR…
Transcript:
YouTube comment, “Banana Bender”, 7 hours ago:
Early after the revolution and even Pre-revolution the Soviet Union/Russian Empire looked like a pretty promising democratic society. But once it turned into a one party state crushing workers movements and especially the Kronstadt rebellion, it was only downhill from there. That’s why I’m a LibCom.
Reply, “lionfire1917”, 6 hours ago:
It was necessary to crush the Kronstadt rebellion. They were fighting a civil war at the same time they couldn’t have opposition on the inside
Reply, “Banana Bender”, 6 hours ago:
That’s a liberal talking point.
Lib in libcom stands for liberal CMV
Here’s a hot take (maybe?): I don’t thing we need to apologise for what Trotsky did and say it was necessary or anything. He should do it regardless without having to find an excuse. Anarchists are always acting as parasites and we should never care about them.
When they crushed the Kronstadt rebellion, of course there was no consideration to whether the anarchists will like it or not. I think “lionfire1917”'s reply was not as much to convince the libcom who wrote the original comment, and neither to apologize for what Trotsky did there (apology, in my definition, would be saying something like “that was a mistake”), as to clarify it to by-standers who are more unsure about the issue. If someone who is not educated about the issue always sees those “libcom” takes, and never any clarification from our side, they’ll be more likely to side with the libcoms.
