France is speedrunning this right now. Any time a liberal claims to be antifascist, ask them to explain why they think fascism exists and where it comes from, materially.
To be fair, if liberals were capable of material analysis then they would no longer be liberals.
Fair, lol
What does “material analysis” means in this context? What should I search to know more? I searched the term and only came up with chemistry topics.
Simply put, materialism — as opposed to idealism — is the idea that everything we do and experience as a society (our history, culture, politics, etc) is shaped by the material reality around us, rather than ideas.
“Material analysis” in this case therefore means analysing politics and history through this lens. And it’s a fundamental component of socialism/marxism.
Simple diagram of how our material reality shapes our society
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Yogthos is insulting liberals because liberalism is an idealist ideology that always eventually gives way to fascism when a capitalist state is (inevitably) in decay.
Thank you for the explanation. Hopefully I learn something from the reference you linked. I’ll watch the video first before reading the literatures.
My original comment is meant to refer to the concept of Materialism, which contains the concepts of Marxist Dialectical and Historical Materialism. Materialism is a “reality-focused” branch of philosophy and analysis, contrasted with Idealism, which is idea-focused.
The connection to liberalism and fascism is because Liberalism is Idealist as opposed to Materialist. The Liberal answer to “where does fascism come from?” Would be “demagogues like Trump rising to power, racism, xenophobia, etc,” yet when you ask why those ideas are present or not present, the Liberal cannot answer genuinely.
For Marxists, fascism is a consequence of Capitalism’s decline, resulting in the Petty Bourgeois elements of society, ie the “Middle Class,” sliding into worse conditions and allying with the Bourgeoisie against the Proletariat. In the Weimar Republic, Capitalism was declining and genuine Communism was gaining steam, with the KPD at the forefront and the SPD representing the moderate Socialists, so fascism gained power as a reaction. Communism and Socialism gained appeal among the Lower Classes while fascism gained power among the Liberals, ie the Middle and Upper Classes.
The other works listed by other commenters are great, but my personal favorite work on the subject is Elementary Principles of Philosophy.
In Nazi Germany
Weimar Republic
Yes, misspoke. Was refering to the eventual rise of the Nazis, not their period of control. Has been corrected now, thanks.
Thank you for taking the time to explain the topic to me. I appreciate it. I’ll try to read the book.
No problem! DM me if you have any questions, or ask in one of the Marxist communities here, on Lemmygrad, or Hexbear.
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If they’re exclusively supporting the right wing candidate, they’re not a centrist, then
Centrism within the context of an exclusively right-wing overton window is always going to functionally be right wing.
You can’t possibly make a reasonable argument that Kamala Harris is a fascist lmao
- Authoritarian: no
- Ultra-nationalist: no
- Forcible suppression of opposition: no
- Militarisation of society: no
- State controlled economy: no
I didn’t make that point, I said she is right-wing, and is running on the same foreign policy as Trump did 4 years ago, with her promising to build the wall and strengthen border patrol.
Either way:
Authoritarian
What do you mean by this? America isn’t a real democracy, if she supports the current system then I believe her to be authoritarian.
Ultra-nationalist
If you count Trump’s border policy from 2016-2020 as Ultra-Nationalist, she’s Ultra-Nationalist. She also wants the US military to be, and I quote from her speech at the DNC, as “the most lethal military in the world.”
Forcible suppression of opposition
Democrats kicked the Party for Socialism and Liberation off the ballot in Georgia already, so while we aren’t all the way there, signs of it are showing up
Militarisation of society
Not there yet, sure.
State controlled economy
Much of the US economy is state-controlled, it’s just that the US State is controlled by the Bourgeoisie.
except she is for all those things except the last one which is self evident since fascists fucking love the shit out of the free market.
she is literally a fucking pig
she is amerikkkan and proud
literally head pig in california when the pigs where running people over in 2020
the amerikkkan empire is already so militarized that anything short of trying to scale it back counts
just because the other ghoul is even more of a fascists doesn’t make her not one.
The overton window shifted more left than right, unless said centrist lives in Turkey or Russia
What do you mean by that? Where is the Overton Window sliding to the left?
This is misleading. Most people do not actually know what Socialism or Communism are in the US (including people on Lemmy.world and other more liberalized instances) that think they know. What we are seeing is increasing polarization, fascism and Socialism are rising as a response to decaying Imperialism in the American Empire, as a consequence of decaying Capitalism.
Party-wise, the Democrats are running on the GOP platform of 4 years ago, while the GOP is running on overt fascism. American politics is more right-wing than ever before.
Under the asumption I am most people, can you give me the definition of socialism you prefer?
In addition to Cowbee’s comment, the Prolewiki article on Socialism expands on it.
Socialism is, put at the most simple statement, Worker Ownership of the Means of Production. It is also, more abstractly put, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat in a transitional status towards Communism.
People often confuse Capitalist governments doing stuff for Socialism, and Socialist governments retaining Capitalist elements as the entire system being Capitalist. It requires class analysis of who is in power.
Do you have a different idea, or is this in line with what you currently understand?
Anywhere that companies will cater to the left, why would they throw away profit otherwise? You’re the majority now and they’ll market accordingly
What do you think “left” means? Communists and Socialists are not the majority, nor are they being pandered to. Right-wingers like Liberals make up the majority.
You’re kidding me, by your definition I’m center right
Yes, you are, presuming you support Capitalism.
Fascists are ‘centrists’ regardless how it’s spun.
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We can’t afford to stay neutral on a moving train.
Man, those guys get more relevant every year
At this point, “centrist” is slang for, “I want to argue for what I believe in under the guise of being the ‘Devils advocate’”.
Aren’t there dedicated communities for political memes? I blocked those for a reason. Why is politics bleeding over to here?
Everything is political, there is no such thing as a non-political meme.
Either way, there’s a comm for less political memes
I think like… Rocks aren’t political, until communities of humans arrive and start talking about rocks and using language to describe rocks. A rock that humans have never interacted with isn’t political, until people start using it as an example of what is and isn’t political. Sort of like quantum but for concepts and relationships being perceived by communities of people.
Why did I write this?
Rocks aren’t political
They are engaged in a billions years of unending (if slow) political geology conflict, with solution being games of scissor, rocks and paper, but with constant draws because they are rocks.
Rocks are dialectical when they bash against one another, just as I bash my head against every other leftist.
Clearly you need more paper to read.
I wish I had more time :(
Same :(
Politicize this.
Dialectically, the wizard class is fearful of the rising cryptid underclass.
Damn. Well done.
Thanks!
Soviets discovering Hitler’s burned up corpse, 1945, colorized
Don’t bring Zizek into this, let the lava buck skeleton talk.
the wizard class being fearfull of the rise of the burning skeletal deer fascists
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I can’t tell if this is a liberal or conservative meme, since both sides call the other side fascist.
It’s a Communist meme. Liberals are correct when calling conervatives fascists, they just don’t realise that Liberalism supports the material conditions that result in fascism.
both sides
Which side are you on, exactly? I kind of doubt you’re a leftist if all you see is “liberal vs conservative.”Are you one of those pretentious “independents” that wants pretty much everything the conservatives want except you also like legal weed?
that’s not true, I bet they want/don’t want more than just conservatives, like roades
You can’t tell? Seriously? Conservatives only criticize one specific fascist party because it cynically used socialist in the name. If somebody is critiquing any other form of fascism, with the infrequent outside of WW2 obsessed Americans, exception of imperial Japan) it’s a safe heuristic to assume its form the left assuming no dog whistles are being blown.
Let’s hear what a bunch of leftists who think that you can have a functional democracy when everyone thinks exactly the way they do lecture everyone on why political extremisn is a good idea,then start crying when they realize that the only way they can achieve their political paradise is for them to act like the very nazis they claim to despise
living the meme buddy
“leftists” just want their population to be fairly represented. The system that we have now gives significantly more power to people who live in the right places.
These places are all away from densely populated areas (which are, coincidentally, the areas that are contributing the most to our GDP, also where the highest wages are and thus where the biggest chunk of taxes are collected)
What we are well on our way to, is a tyranny of the minority, and you sound like you’re applauding it. As if that is somehow better for everyone than majority rule, or even the stalemate we have now.
Yeah, we want a functional democracy where not everyone, but at least the majority, thinks the same way…and also runs under the direction of a majority. You know, like a democracy should.
What we have now is a dysfunctional democracy…one which runs counter to what the majority are thinking.
and are the enlightened centrists in the room with us now?
Down below. Learn to read maybe?
Wingers both left and right need to get out of their bubbles. Wingers have no idea what their opposition believe. And attacking centrists is an silly approach to further you’re cause. They’re literally the people you should be engaging with instead of producing bubbled memes like this.
I know exactly what the right wing parties in my country want, that’s why I’m a left winger
You’re the meme.
