Im aware that he is not a socialist by any means but i watched some interviews of him and he does have some good takes on US imperialism and the Western Hegemony but i also recall hearing that he did some pretty shady stuff but i cant remember any specifics....Im generally supportive of leaders who try to free their countries of the boots of the US even when they're not socialist per se but this Assad guy seems a little off

Does anyone have books/long length documentaries on the fascist groups currently active in Ukraine? With the recent surge in nazi apologia, I feel it would be best to educate myself more on their history in Ukraine.

I do agree that in retrospect, the war doesn't make much sense for Russia. As the article speculates, Putin must have thought that Ukraine was weak enough to be conquered in a matter of weeks, and that the west wouldn't intervene, since it also didn't intervene in the case of Crimea and Donbas.

I think i understand the basics. For example, a capitalist buys wood for 20 (money) to make a chair, he employs someone else to make the chair which adds value to the wood...lets just say the value added through the labour is 20 (money) the chairs cost therefore is 40 (money) but the capitalist steas some of the added value to make a profit and now the chair is only worth 30 (money). The worker has therefore worked a significant amount of time for free because the value added does not correspond to what the chair is sold for. Thats already what i understand but how exactly does the capitalist turn this into profit? Yes he has gained some money but he still has 30 dollars in debt due to the production costs and the labours costs...and it would not change in the future as the debt just like the value he steals from the workers grows. Can someone pls explian?

I have tried writing things I don’t want to forget, but I didn’t like it much. I have copied short quotes and added sticky notes at important parts, which I liked, but felt possibly not enough. I tried annotating, but it made me feel bad and disrespectful for the book.

The USA is a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, this is known. From the vast sums of money dumped into political campaigns by monopoly capital, to the cushy corporate lobbyist jobs awaiting elected officials after retirement, to the huge gulf between the values and desires of the people and the voting records of their so-called representatives. But there's one thing that I heard a lot of "progressive" liberals (or whatever you want to call them) saying over my many years in the USA: if voting didn't matter, they (referring to the republican party, naturally) wouldn't be trying to stop you from doing it.

Voting, and the outcome of elections in the USA, matters to somebody. Again, the capitalist powers that be invest quite a bit of money and effort into these political campaigns. But why? Why should contests over political office be so expensive and complicated if the result -- that imperialism wins -- is a foregone conclusion? Is it just the battlefield for the redivision of the domestic markets? How do the fights over civil rights issues and such factor in, or is it precisely because capital doesn't really care either way that bickering over those issues is so fierce?

I'm working through the manifesto and i'm really struggling with chapter 3s Feudal and Petty-Bourgeois socialism section. It seems he's waxing a bit into prose, or i lack important historical context. Is there something i can read that will provide this? Barring that i would also love any links or recommendations to literature that helped you understand

Oh and if this is stickied somewhere i apologize for dumb

I have heard mixed reviews on it. What do you think about it?

Also, is America benefiting from the war?

I've been very curious about it, and I believe there is no better way than to ask you computer geniuses for information.

Like title says, have recently gotten around to reading "Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?" but would like to hear how successful each country was and maybe where they fell short. Feel free to share any literature on this if you can, thanks comrades!

I want future generations to look at this question thread and marvel at our predictions and probably make lots of fun of us 😂

So there is a loneliness epidemic caused by capitalist alienation. However, I wonder if lack of material conditions also adds to this. I just keep seeing lots of my broke guy friends depressed because they can’t find a partner and it is so hard for them to meet new people. This makes me wonder if their financial situation is the main reason.