Monday, January 20, 2020

Help! Theory buffs & M-Ls I have some questions


I'm a solid Centrist Marxist of the critical social democracy/ critical DSA support/ Chapo apologist sort (call me lib if you have to I get it). Lately I've been confronted with some challenging questions and information about imperialism that lead me to explore Lenin, Mao, and Fanon and listen to some M-L voices (RevLeft radio, ProlesPod, twitter M-Ls) to find some insight. I've found it very useful to understanding imperialism, colonialism, social chauvinism, the development of effective + pragmatic social movements, and engaging with propaganda and media dialectically. Despite this, I still hold some very sticky questions about the usefulness of M-L theory and revolutionary praxis in the contemporary imperial core, and was wondering if I could have some of your thoughts or be pointed in the right direction for where to find answers to these questions:TheoryThe United States has had a significant reduction in industrial productivity, bc of this a hypermajority of workers (~70%) get their wages from service labor - does this produce a class relationship to the bourgeoisie different from that of the industrial proletariat to the bourgeoisie (like the peasants or the labor aristocracy)?If so, do these workers have revolutionary potential and how do we as Socialists engage this revolutionary potential? What revisions must be made to accommodate for this relationship?This service-proletariat subclass has growing numbers in the imperial periphery as well due to capital consolidation, automation, and industrial consolidation into the PRC. If this productivity relationship creates a unique social relationship, what revisions need to be made in third-worldist theory to accommodate for this relationship? Is third-worldism rendered impossible by this?What are some visions of decolonization? Specifically, what are some visions of decolonization for colonized peoples in the core?What is the social relationship created by the supernational bourgeoisie (multinational industrial monopoly capitalists i.e. GE, Exxon, P&G etc.) and supranational bourgeoisie (post-industrial dead labor capitalists i.e. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, banking, etc.)? What is the social character of struggle with this class/these classes (the "hyper-bourgeoisie" acc. to Chauvin or the "billionaire class" acc. to Bernie)? Is it different than the relationship created by the national/industrial bourgeoisie? If so, what revisions must be made to accommodate for this relationship?PraxisGiven that this super/supra national bourgeoisie now owns a large portion of production within the imperial core (roughly 30-40% of every core economy), is it not only useful, but necessary that a broad electoral left movement in the core be engaged to stifle their international reach, bust their monopolies, redistribute their capital, and quarantine the national bourgeoisie to the core before a social revolution can occur?If so, is it likely that this movement would come from the Bernie/AMLO/NDP left populist movements in N. America and the SocDem resurgence in W. Europe? What would be the optimal path forward for these movements?If not, how do we as Socialists plan on isolating the national bourgeoisie in a revolutionary scenario to avoid international-scale reaction?With methods of social control and capitalist violence developed to the degree that they are now is it even possible to engage + sustain social revolution within the core without a starting condition of state failure?If so:Is state failure even possible given core dominance over IMF currency binding and bourgeois revolutionary state structure (no czars to overthrow)?How would state failure occur in the core without environmental collapse (likely affecting AES and periphery states first)?Are contemporary core political & material conditions likely to give towards protracted or "peaceful" state failure? (I personally think PRC rising hegemony could do this)If not:I'm not sure how anyone could come to this conclusion, but if so, I'd love to know why that is.That's pretty much it. Thanks, comrades. via /r/communism https://ift.tt/38qO6GW

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