In my opinion, the people like Maupin, Jackson Hinkle, and especially the Infrared YouTube channel (people like Haz) have not engaged in the debate in good faith AT ALL.
But moreover, I do believe that patriotism, certainly “American patriotism”, has no place in the ML movement. I believe in the working-class, but I wouldn’t want to muddy the waters with cheap appeals to what would essentially be working-class conservatism and chauvinism. I won’t say much more than the fact that my comrades and I have been talking about this extensively and all agree: decolonization comes first and foremost. Landback is a must and many people, of all races and ethnicities, have been hurt by colonialism and neo-colonialism as well as imperialism both within and outside the United States, the original indigenous inhabitants being a prime example.
I hope I haven’t said anything to offend anyone, but I support Landback and decolonialism. I even originally became an ML in part due to Berta Caceres’s murder in Central America. In the CPUSA, Browder was very controversial and was fought against as he became more and more unpopular (until he was finally ousted, in huge part because of his “Americanism”). SO even then: the issue of “American patriotism” was suspect. I think that we live in a much more radical and interesting time where decolonization must take center stage now more than ever before.
That Haz would say that “indigenous peoples” or Native Americans have no place in the ML movement is folly; we should be doing more to not only comfort them but make us more available to them as a movement, not decry them or anything.
Anyways, enough Twitter drama. I took a break from most social media and I feel much better now. But I think Maupin/Haz (Infrared)/Jackson Hinkle have belittled and side-stepped the issues at stake, from what I’ve seen of their content.
It does the wider communist movement a disservice when people claiming to be CPUSA members (who obviously aren’t or can’t be traced back to in the databases) and people who certainly are CPUSA members (albeit, from what we can tell, a minority so far in the organization) try to appeal to right-wingers and sometimes even believe in their nonsense. Well, I can’t say much more about the organization other than what’s on display on Twitter, but I do think that one should be open about all this.
Welp, that’s all I have for now.
I once had a long conversation with an “anarcho bolshevik” on twitter who had made disparaging comments to me about the Soviets because they “signed a pact with Hitler”.
When I pointed out the Soviets were the last European country to sign a pact with Hitler, that they had worked tirelessly since 1933 to build an anti-nazi pact which was scuppered by Uk and France (who helped the fascists take over Spain in the spanish civil war whilst only Mexico and Soviets came to defence of the Republican government).
When I pointed out that Chamberlain wasn’t merely an “appeaser” as British propaganda has tried to put him as but an active collaborator, especially with the Munich pact a year before the Molotov Ribbentrop pact. Where Chamberlain and the British foreign policy went into overdrive to ensure that the French would not initiate the defence pact that the Soviets and French had signed to protect Czechoslovakia. (the Czech president, understanding that if only the Soviets came to their defence it would likely turn into an all out “anticommunist war” had demanded that the Soviets could only come to their defence if France came first.
I even pointed out until April 1940 the British were running spy planes into USSR looking for targets to bomb during the “phoney war” period".
I pointed all this out and the “anarcho bolshevik” finally said “you still shouldn’t sign a pact with Hitler”.
Faced with this utter removedation I had an almost epiphany in exactly how idealism and a lot of the left sees itself. Their ideology is this untouched beautiful thing untainted by actual reality.
And because they never intend to actually build or take power and instead remain a lone beautiful voice against the harsh wind of reality they can essentially build whatever castle they like in the sky.
The opportunism of the likes of Jason Unrue and the rest of the Western Left (if this is what you’re referring to the video of Haz discussing with Jason) revealed itself so totally and completely in that discussion and shown 3rd worldism for the bankrupt opportunist and ultra left ideology that it is/
When Haz posits to Jason exactly how he intends to come to power Jason starts mumbling about “climate change will probably wipe us out” (nevermind that the most influential climate change book The Limits to Growth was funded by David Rockefeller and the neo-malthusian society likely as a psyop against society that “doom is coming” to prevent optimism or revolutionary ideology becoming popular )
There is no decolonisation. Colonialism happened and left it’s scars on the world. Are the burgers going to send all their whites back to Europe? (fuck right off we don’t want them)
The Soviets were patriotic for their country (as they should be)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/yaroslavsky/1941/war.htm
And likewise Marxist-Leninists must be patriotic for their countries and pick the kernels of patriots that can represent the new socialist society (I don’t really care what Burgers pick nor would I know as I’m not a Burger or in Burgerstan). USA has lots of working class history socialists should champion and push forward as patriotic.
Ceding the ground on patriotism to the right is, tactically, amazingly stupid.
But a lot of this is ultra left whining from idealists that have zero intention of actually taking power in Burgerstan
Real communists understand that communism (and by extension communists) being built, in this world not imagined ones, is not a beautiful thing.
Sometimes communists must take slaps in the face and sit there and take it. (Much like Lenin did in Brest-Litvosk in signing one of the most humilitating treaties in history or Stalin did by signing Molotov-Ribbentrop).
De-colonialism and sending white Burgers back to Europe is not happening in a million years. That is the slap Americans need to take in the face then they need to go out and present the best elements of the American working class and communist movement and turn them into American patriots and banners to signal socialist revolution in USA.
Jason’s argument the other night was moralistic and infantile, at one point he was saying ‘bad guys’. As if the class struggle is one of good vs bad, when the class struggle is something fundamental and comes from the contradiction between differing class interests that are at odds with each other, not some moral good vs bad scenario.