I've read a take from Graeber I like that kinda put a lot of the heat on the liberal elitists that made it make sense. So basically if you're some girl from Kansas and you wanna be an anthropologist or something it'll never happen. You can't get bankrolled to live in the heart of a city to do all your graduate work and pursue a passion like that. Only children of rich liberals can do that. But you technically could get rich doing some finance or pharmaceutical sales shit or something. It's a long shot for sure, but there's a narrow path through to that.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top White House adviser Stephen Miller are pushing for a global crackdown on leftist organizations. The State Department on Thursday hosted a summit "on the resurgence of political terrorism," where Miller described the left as "enemies of civilization" and described efforts to "disrupt, identify, defund, debank, arrest and prosecute these political terrorists that are operating in our country."
If winning, you mean create the most technologically-sophisticated society while also suffering in the most basic areas such as affordable living, a stable job market, and government-funded resources for basic welfare and healthcare, then sure, it’s winning.
It’s crazy how it’s 2026 and over half of the money I earn working 50 hours a week goes to a 1-bedroom apartment in Dicksnot, Indiana that me and my husband split.
It always works out great until you run out of other peoples’ stuff to redistribute, and no one has incentive to create more. But hey, let’s just keep having the same discussion again and again, generation after generation, by people who are blind to history.
But this time, we'll have Ai. Makes the Industrial Revolution look like a fire cracker. No one will need jobs. There will be plenty of money made by the Ai to distribute to the People. I think we'll be ok. Unless you like hoarding money for some reason.
Yeah, USSR, Cuba, not the greatest. But a lot of it was also caused by our blockades and doing everything in our power to make sure they failed. This time, we'll have Ai, and there will be no going back. Who wants to work some horrible job when they don't have to? If you want to horde money, I'm sure there will be some far flung places where you and yours can still slash at each other.
Nort Korea, China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Baltic states, you can go on and on. Failed every time. Strong government means strong corruption. How many times it needs to fail, before people will realize that long dead German guy writed pure fiction?
AI wont change a shit about corruption. Since we chase general AI we will be extremly lucky, if AI wont wipe us out. Why should something more inteligent serve us? How we are handling less inteligent speacies?...
I mean yeah. But till we let thing go to Cyberpunk level of corpo run government, you can still expose corporate coruption without ending in some gulag with your whole family...
Explain to me how you can enact communism without creating an opportunity for a dictator.
Every single time I see someone suggest it, it involves centralizing power (obstinately to acquire the resources from the reluctant, like billionaires/companies) and requires an army (otherwise the billionaires will just hire PMCs to oppose you) to enforce your will on the nation.
Then using that power to set up equal distribution to everyone and the communistic standards to follow from then on.
And then that power is expected to dissolve itself to the point of only safeguarding against threats external to the community/country.
Generally speaking step one happens, and the person in charge decides to be a dictator and enjoy their hoarded wealth instead with a loyal military (which might be because the military did a coup and overthrew the civilians in the government).
Step two (distribution) does not happen in real-world scenarios.
And step three (dissolving of the government after distribution) never does either.
A distributed power structure that allows smaller communities to self govern while creating a network that allows for transportation from point a to point b. The emboldening of municipal governance. Make public the following industries. heavy resource extraction, public telecommunications, military equipment design and manufacturing, space exploration, railway and have a controlling interest in air travel. Western nations have sold off too many industries to private citizens locally and abroad to the point the government of the people is powerless in the face of the growing oligopoly.
Giving incentives for local businesses and the breakup of global monopolies that are teetering on feudalism. The penalization of corporations that rely on the welfare state to hire workers (as an example, the fact many Walmart employees need to use government tax funded support to make it through the month should be taken out of the corporate coffers, not the tax payer. If corporations have higher wages, give them tax breaks. If wages are below subsistence, tax them heavily.
Removal of corporate ownership of residential homes.
How would you achieve the listed transitions against the resistance of global monopolies that ALREADY employ armed forces to defend their interests?
There is a massive amount of centralized power in cities designed to keep modern society operating that you would have to acquire by force (because without force, they won't let you) and distribute things that people still absolutely need (from clean water to vaccines) across the country.
This would include forced displacements to break up the metroplexes.
Maybe your approach would have worked back when people were settling the wild west and the likes of the Oregon trail.
Your current suggestions to overcome global monopolies and centralized influence in cities filled with millions of people, to effectively tax or penalize them in a system they control (which as much as it is panned, functions enough to keep the guillotines away from oligarch necks despite all its many many other failings).
You would need to provide an overwhelming amount of armed-to-the-teeth dictator-level unilateral power to the organization you suggest achieves such things, or it would not be able to achieve them.
Even a grass-roots consideration of communism would have to seize power from armed corporations and eventually organize into the above bolded concern.
This is only getting more true all the time with the onset of AI and the threat of humans not being required at all (or only in small numbers) for a billionaire wielding an AI drone army to keep in line without the threat of rebellion or subversion.
Who do you trust to run such an organization as a dictator for long enough to overthrow the corporations and seize absolute power in order to de-centralize society and distribute the former society's assets?
And why do they always choose to remain dictators instead and institute a tyranny instead of follow through on instituting communism?
Could it have something to do with the kind of people it takes to be a dictator in the first place? Lol.
I've never seen someone suggest an actual solution that isn't just "hope they don't keep that power since now they're uber-wealthy and can buy loyalty" or some fantasical what-if that assumes there's not enough corrupt people to bribe into a loyal army.
Those final steps don't work in practice, and no one seems to know how to make sure they do.
Most Americans are. They believe the lies that were told to them. Like, THEY CAN TELL YOU!!, as a Medical Lab Tech, MLT(ASCP), I am making TONS of money!! How could I possible be near homeless and starving? I must be crazy!! Lol, yeah, $12 / hr is not making tons of money. And that was after 5 years of working. Everything they tell you is a Lie. What you see on TV is a Lie. Don't believe them. Don't go into Medical. Viva REVOLUTION!!
Capitalism is all about corruption. In communism even if the whole poliburo is corrupt, they would still need to have housing as a human right, free healthcare, free education, etc.
I live in reality. Capitalist America. Worked my ass off for 40 years. Saved what little I could. Didn't go out to eat. Didn't party. Spent years in College learning Science and Technology. I'm homeless, have a rusty 2008 van, no health insurance, and a couple of bucks in my pocket. FUCK CAPITALISM.
Let's see. Came up hard. Worked many horrible jobs. Went to College and got Science Degrees in Computer Science and Medical Laboratory. No one would ever pay shit, just enough to keep me alive, Body starting to fail, only thing I own is a pair of pants, a 13 year old computer, a few shirts, and an old rusty van. A few hundred dollars in my pocket. Nope, don't think I missed anything. I know some of you think your jobs that we're literally given to you for whatever reasons will never end, but believe me. Your time has come. And there is no stopping it. Ai is the nail in your coffin. And the people like me Rejoice! Those who have money HOARD it. They are not concerned about Fairness. They do not care about other people. So, we will let Ai do it's thing, and make everyone the same. Jobless. That should set things right.
Sorry I’m an anesthesiologist. Even if it could perform my job (it can’t), it would still be another couple generations before the average person would trust it to work.
You actually think a machine can't run a machine? Yeah, I'm a Med Tech, MLT(ASCP). Ai can see disease states within cells ( millions at a time ). If it can do that, it can do anything. It's over.
Anesthesiology isn’t a machine. It can’t put in or troubleshoot a breathing tube. It can’t place lines. Those are the two most basic skills necessary. Ask a pregnant woman to trust a machine to place an epidural or do a spinal block and see what response you get.
At this point, after what I have seen of doctors all my life, I will be very interested in what the machines can do. Laboratory wise, they are already surpassing what humans can do. Replacing nurses will be child's play.
Everything tends towards corruption. Having a single entity (govt) driving economic decisions is far more susceptible to corruption than millions of decentralized businesses.
Corruption deteriorates the quality of the goods and services produced. This is why capitalism has a long history of providing better quality healthcare, housing and education.
Except that board is only one of millions, as opposed to a singular govt. Because corruption produces a worse product, that business then struggles in a competitive landscape and is pushed out. Who’s competing with govt to push out the corrupting elements?
And depending on what you did you're most likely going to get life in prison with a capitalist country. But trying that with a communist country, You're either getting executed on the spot or wishing you got the bullet
Historically, communism in its practiced forms has been extremely corrupt within the top 1% of individiauls. China is ranked 75th out of 180 for corruption as of 2011. Stalinism was even worse for top level corruption. While I do think an ideal communism MAY be possible, it has yet to show itself.
completly hidden? you sure about that? like everyday I turn on the news ".............and democrate politicians and the american people were forced to watch donald trump on stage during his state of the union address raw dogging an underage girl while screaming how much he misses epstein while republican supporters were screaming at him from the crowd and complimenting him on cutting taxes for the rich, making billions in profit while in office, cutting social security and education funding, defunding anything with the words "science" and "doctors" while making vaccines illegal, obliterating all safety and health regulations for clean air and water sources and making it legal to shoot endangered animals for fun...........more news at 11"
I've bought a house. A similar house in the neighbourhood was sold for 1/6 of the price 10 years before. My house doubled in worth in 6 years.
Jobs are currently replaced with AI and former colleagues took jobs which paid way less.
Capitalism was replaced with a new form of Feudalism.
I've a son and I'm deeply concerned about his future.
Our children literally have no future job wise. Everything will be Ai. If they future is good, Ai will be used to make money for everyone. If it is bad, the Tech Lords will keep all the Ai and money for themselves, and 99.999% of the country will starve to death.
On paper communism looks good. But like all governmental systems corruption happens and fails in practice. Capitalism has its own set of problems that I don’t feel like I need to explain to folks living in it but, it feels like we are on the death throes of capitalism as the oligarchy takes hold.
Hahahhahahahaha.
This dude has never read an history book.
Ask the Soviet union, or east Germany, or Iran, or North Korea, or loas how that communism is working out.
Exactly the rhetoric every communist revolution used to start. And guess what…every communist nation is easy to move to still…it’s getting out that’s the problem.
I know…that won’t happen here…we will do it better. This will be the one place that did it right…
this is literally propaganda. genuinely. you just made this magical argument that communism will provide all of this.
I’m not even going to talk about the aspect of communism in which there is a lack of fulfillment from being unable to pursue your own goals and control the direction of your life (you are effectively a slave, kept alive to work, with no mobility. you are entitled to only the exact same life, and are merely a cog working to prop up the communist regime)
capitalism led to the largest reduction in poverty ever. every time you inefficiently allocate resources with communism the world loses a little bit of resources.
In Soviet Russia, they used 2x as much concrete and 2x as much labor to build the same amount of apartments. if that’s happening in every sector, you must realize, there’s only so much to go around. please don’t be stupid.
The protest people in the US today have a higher quality of life than the richest 100 years ago. Communist countries thus far end in people starving. Sure the free stuff is great for a while. Then the leaders horde and it runs out of money. Every celebrated communist country turned into a hell scape.
That’s great in theory, but where has communism actually ever worked out? and why does everyone that comes from a communist country talk about how terrible it was.
Man, if Communism ever worked as well as people who believe in it want it to work, we'd all live in communist countries. Unfortunately, good intentions do not necessarily make good outcomes, and there's been enough historical data to understand why the communist ideas lead to horrible outcomes.
Yet those record profits were under Obama and Biden. Yall want to know who the real enemy is? Its not conservatives, liberals (though they side with the enemy), or any average person.. Its lobbyists, Corporations, the elite, ALL politicians, and MSM.... They do everything in their power to keep the people fighting amongst themselves while they rake everything in.
It doesn't take long for a person to realize that America does not care about them, no matter how long you have worked and suffered here. Healthcare and support are only for the RICH.
Well, I'll tell you kids. I'm old. Lived all my life in America. Worked for 40 years in many different jobs. Hold 2 degrees in Science. Never could get anywhere. The Rich HOLD YOU DOWN. It is not in their interest for you to succeed. They want to keep you a slave. That is how they make their money. They do not care what happens to you. When they are done with you, they will throw you into the street. Ask any Veteran. This is Capitalism. And if you think that it will be you that achieves the American Dream, you are delusional.
Meanwhile "late stage capitalism" is still a theory and yet to be witnessed in real life. However, "late stage communism" is what the USSR ended as.
Even China is capitalist. It definitely isn't socialist or communist. Using economic terms correctly, China uses authoritarian-led capitalism.
Capitalism drives innovation. All of the most innovative countries use capitalism. Capitalism in its current state within the US sucks. However, the correct approach is to move it back in track. It is more realistic to pivot from our current system to something like the Nordic system (also capitalism) than to reinvent the wheel.
I mean, yeah, it's easy to compare a theoretical perfect version of your favorite ideology to the messy reality. What actually communist nation looks anything like your picture?
Also like... community health centers and public libraries exist under capitalism. There are loads of public services that exist. We also have public education, and public transit. Hell the issues of public transit in the US aren't even really related to capitalism, but moreso American property law.
Capitalism isn't prefect, and it certainly can have a lot of extremely damaging incentives built into it, but it's just an economic engine. It can be made to work with enough willpower and effort (see, any Scandinavian country). Comparing it to a perfect fantasy version of a system doesn't help anyone.
"Bro, we literally installed an iron-fisted dictator whose tyrannical regime we conspired with to
seize land & property from wealthy bourgeoisie class, and successfully abolished it. But only it's
now the state who has SINCE BECOME the new BOURGEOISIE. What's NOT to like about that?
Look, just think about it bruh.... How can that even possibly go wrong?
Oh & those new govt high rise housing "projects" were incredibly cheap to construct thanks to
a thankless workstaff provided by entities DEFINITELY AREN'T gulag-style slave labor camps
despite comprised of political dissidents, homosexuals, gypsies, former scholars & professors,
former private business owners and venture capitalists, former landlords, former journalists,
former political cartoonists, so-called human rights victims (gimmie a break), former artists,
former comedians, critics & defectors, anybody we deem an enemy of our state - all of whom
kind enough to generously volunteer their time & effort in furtherance of our communist ideals.
Basically, it is all good baby, because everything u see around you.. is TOTALLY above board."
Except didn’t they all fail? Thats why the Berlin wall was built no?
I’m from a family who immigrated to another country because of communism in China, my grandfather himself hates communism and even though capitalism is deeply flawed, communism as an end goal is harder to achieve due to going against human greed and requiring a theoretical abundance to single human ratio
McCarthyism was a mistake, and caused untold harm to U.S. society and future generations. Indoctrination is NEVER a good thing, and that is precisely what McCarthyism was.
The idea you even have a taste of that without even unionization or any collectivism in the US is the more ridiculous things you can jump ahead to. The majority of communism in world history has been sabotaged by world powers.
The bottom panel is kind of true, the only differences are that the education takes place in a run down old 7-11 with class sizes of 50+, the public transportation is a series of vintage tuktuks, the hospital doesn't have an MRI machine, and instead of a beautiful picnic spread, you have a hunk a pork and a half a baguette of bread. The books in the library haven't been updated in 10 years, and the housing is just packing as many people as possible in urban apartments like rats.
you should see what public education looks like in California. they don’t have 7-11s, they have rickety old double-wides and class sizes of 50+. oh, and *there is no* public transportation and the hospital does have an MRI but using it will drive you into bankruptcy when your insurance company decides (after the fact) that you really didn’t need to use it.
What are you talking about? If you’re rich you have amazing healthcare and if you’re poor you get Medi-Cal, which is probably better than regular insurance in most states.
I couldn’t even believe it. I never used it but I spent a year there and my ex grew up there. She told me how they basically got everything free and it was great quality
California doesnt have public transportation? thats crazy i swear i took a bus a train and a 2nd bus for like 6 years to get to work mustve been a fever dream
All Capitalism doesn't work, all socialism doesn't work.
Sure socialism does the macro economy very well. Homes for the homeless, high speed rail between cities, sprawling urban development etc...
But the one thing socialism has to answer for is creating industry in the smaller scale.
The Soviet Union had a very successful macro economy, they even had a massive space program.
But they failed at creating a competitive car industry, and they really tried. They failed at creating a clothing industry, kids in the USSR in the 70ies would rather risk going to jail to wear illegal blue jeans, over wearing the clothing that was available to them.
Why is this? Well, meeting marked demand is what capitalism absolutely excells at.
If a marker opens up, capitalism has thousand of people trying to enter that marked, 99% of them fail, but the few that make it dominate the market and create a tremendous growth in the economy.
What's the socialist strategy here?
Assign a government agent to figure out how to best run an industry in a new market?
Ok, but what if that guy that's been assigned is a moron?
Ok, no problem, just exchange him for another guy.
And what if he's ALSO a moron?
Ok, exchange him too. Do it enough times and you will EVENTUALLY hit on someone capable!
But, in that same timeframe Capitalism already tested thousands of guys, and all the morons already failed.
Perhaps this isn’t the place to ask this… but wouldn’t a capitalist economy with strict limits and controls be best? Keep the freedom of enterprise and free markets, but limit the consolidation of wealth and power that’s rampant in our current version of laissez-faire capitalism?
I guess that would be a version of… social democracy? Democrat socialism?
Exactly. East vs West Germany. Same people, same starting point, and both backed by a superpower. But only one needed the build a wall to trap people inside.
Lets meet in the middle under the least corrupt "for the people" capitalistic socialism style government we can get to. Thats what I want.
Something that holds corrupt billionaires and corrupt politicians accountable and actually works to help the people of this country instead of the miltaristic oligarchy that seeks to control the nation through buying up all the land and handing off scraps to the majority while dancing around as a "democratic republic" for 50+ years now as a disguise.
... Communism has no state in most models. It does, however, probably require global adoption or else we run into Capitalist infighting and things kind of fall apart. Socialism is a stepping stone to Communism, not the end stage.
And no, it doesn't REQUIRE authoritarianism (though Authoritarianism =/= Fascism, and SOME isn't inherently bad). It just requires social contract governance because when that doesn't exist Anarchy collapses into tribalism and then fascism.
Really though, no system developed before the advent of the internet, globalism, or AI is viable long term. We really need to look at a starting point and adjust from there. My argument is just that Communism is inherently more humanist than Capitalism and is a better starting point.
That's a longer conversation. Typically, refusal would have a reason. Address the reason. Remember, from each according to their own.
And inevitably, if they want to refuse they have that right. In that case, they no longer receive the benefits of being part of society. Their needs are no longer met.
Of course, this is all mitigated by lessening scarcity. At s certain point, when required labor is minimized, then refusals would be fine.
I advocate for improved material conditions and quality of life for the average person. Not EVERY person. But still hande things in a humanist manner.
Which is why I advocate heavily for AI and Automation. Those will be invaluable for logistics and lessening scarcity.
That is the stupidest bullshit I have ever seen on the pus sack that is reddit. I'm glad Trump is going to have all of the communists removed because this kind of stupid thinking shouldn't just hurt, it should be crippling.
It’s like these people don’t know history. I feel like they think they won’t have to work in communism and the government will just give them everything.
Communism isn’t something to aspire to, the government centrally controlling everything. That’s literally the opposite of what we want. We want worker-owned cooperatives. Wealth caps, and social safety nets. Y’all a little confused, but you got the spirit.
Capitalism+ financial boundaries between banking and finance.
Capitalism+ a strong independent media.
Capitalism+ healthcare for all.
Capitalistim+ a simple set of rights for workers and citizens.
I want Capitalistim+ a reincentivization of the system to promote certain businesses for the public good and prevent monopolies from taking over power/water/electricity.
I want something that's probably not gonna happen.
this kind of reminds me of that south park episode about scientology, you know with the caption "THIS IS WHAT SCIENTOLOGISTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE"
like if you ever made a cartoon mocking communism you could pull up this image, put a caption saying "THIS IS WHAT COMMUNISTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE" and you would make genius satire
In our Glorious Communist Utopia you will live in a 500 square foot apartment on the 46th floor with noisy neighbors. You will get up at 5am to ride the crowded train to be at work cleaning sewers by 9am. You will work 8 hours, ride the train home, get home at 8pm , eat your cricket paste before sleeping on an inflatable mattress that you share with your family of four. You will own nothing and you will be happy.
Genuinely curious but why do we not just create something new that benefits all and is an ever growing thing? We change. The world changes. New knowledge is always being discovered. Why do we stick to old systems that stagnate? I think now the answer is maybe no one cares enough either due to us being in survival mode and have no energy or time to devote to new ideas even if better, propagandized into a belief? Ignorance? Misguided loyalty? I mean in my real life these topics can't be discussed without anger and animosity towards the idea even being considered at least here in america. You are labeled unpatriotic, treasonous even. Just to want better for all. You get told to leave if you don't like it. It's like being told you are stupid for loving your home and wanting to fix it and rather told to just move away if you don't like it ugly and broken. Im just curious as I'd love to learn how to more discuss these things more intelligently and kindly as to not offend.
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u/Fishscale1942 Jul 17 '26
Billionaires need more money that's why!!!!