State-run communism as it has actually existed and fascism end up with very similar results, not the least because both believed in fast progress, dismantling traditional communities and value systems and everything being run by a strong man with an iron fist. The fascist dictator is supposedly a personification of the will of the “people” or “nation”, while the communist one is the same for the “proletariat” or, indeed, the “people”. The fact that both systems produce cleptocratic oligarchies that destroy lives of ordinary people is no accident.
This is also why the “extreme left” supposed by the OP is not extreme at all. Some just tend to confuse evend mild and moderate social democracy with genocidal communism, perhaps because their domestic political landscape is fucked up beyond recognition
It doesn’t help that the communists here usually deny the communist autocracies of the past as “not real communism, this time it’ll work bro trust me,” and when you press them on their beliefs you learn they find killing political dissidents not only acceptable, but they’re excited to line you up against the wall “the second they get a chance.”
And the milder, actually center leftists like you describe, deny the existence of Group A above outright instead of saying “yeah those guys are crazy, we’re not like them,” but then turn around and count the supposed nonexistent Group A as their compatriots against “the nazis.” (But when Group A’s genocide takes off guess who will quickly fail a purity test and be shot just after all the nazis and anarchists, yup, it’s Group B here.)
America’s left needs to realize that people like those represented by lemmy’s own tankie triad are real, are “left” not just “right playing dress up,” and are dangerous people to them as well and to normal people, not “just the nazis.” It reminds me of Trump not denouncing the KKK because they supported him, but you can disavow people who unironically support the Holodomor and want to do it again to their kulaks while also pushing for social policies that benefit the people.
State-run communism as it has actually existed and fascism end up with very similar results, not the least because both believed in fast progress, dismantling traditional communities and value systems and everything being run by a strong man with an iron fist. The fascist dictator is supposedly a personification of the will of the “people” or “nation”, while the communist one is the same for the “proletariat” or, indeed, the “people”. The fact that both systems produce cleptocratic oligarchies that destroy lives of ordinary people is no accident.
This is also why the “extreme left” supposed by the OP is not extreme at all. Some just tend to confuse evend mild and moderate social democracy with genocidal communism, perhaps because their domestic political landscape is fucked up beyond recognition
It doesn’t help that the communists here usually deny the communist autocracies of the past as “not real communism, this time it’ll work bro trust me,” and when you press them on their beliefs you learn they find killing political dissidents not only acceptable, but they’re excited to line you up against the wall “the second they get a chance.”
And the milder, actually center leftists like you describe, deny the existence of Group A above outright instead of saying “yeah those guys are crazy, we’re not like them,” but then turn around and count the supposed nonexistent Group A as their compatriots against “the nazis.” (But when Group A’s genocide takes off guess who will quickly fail a purity test and be shot just after all the nazis and anarchists, yup, it’s Group B here.)
America’s left needs to realize that people like those represented by lemmy’s own tankie triad are real, are “left” not just “right playing dress up,” and are dangerous people to them as well and to normal people, not “just the nazis.” It reminds me of Trump not denouncing the KKK because they supported him, but you can disavow people who unironically support the Holodomor and want to do it again to their kulaks while also pushing for social policies that benefit the people.
yeah tankies are the real problem in america right now /s
All authoritarians are always a problem
You’re in the meme
You’re in the meme.