Varn Vlog / hyperreality isn’t Disneyland Anymore
@varnvlog
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The official X account for Varn Vlog. I don't fight your battles for you. Union Rep. Podcaster. Poet. Teacher. Armchair Historian and Theorist. DSA.☸
Utah, USA
Joined May 2024
There is a Spectre haunting X. A spectre of me hating it. Ghost-form, the final form of contempt.
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I am sad today. Not depressed. Sad. I am going to get back to work.
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@varnvlog I’m agnostic about this particular issue, but it is important to keep in mind that Marx of the Manifesto was significantly more statist in orientation than he would be by the Brumaire, let alone by the Paris Commune and the Gotha Critique.
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@varnvlog In addition, it is notable that the demands of the Manifesto are the only part singled out by Engels for being outdated.
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This hurt as much as Mike Davis dying that Haider was so much younger. I can’t compare it to Fisher or Brooks death because I knew them, but for people I haven’t met or helped, Haider hits me hardest.
I'm frankly devastated over Asad Haider's death. He was a major force on the left. He lived and breathed theory. Asad was able to take the most baroque theory and make it speak to practical political tactics and strategy. Very few could do that as well as him. Every issue of his
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Love this clip from Asad Haider on how the criticisms his book received led him to engage in a self-critique. This was from a symposium we hosted on one of Asad's heroes Sylvain Lazarus in 2020.
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Conservatism really boils down to turning historically specific outcomes of social relations to products of an unchangeable human nature and individual character
The left is right here in that it is “carceral” to forcibly house those who have made the choice to live on the street. This whole thing depends on the noble lie that they actually want to be housed and don’t ruin any housing they come in contact with. Of course this doesn’t
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@bibles4booze Let me make myself clear: I don’t expect Z to be anything than a progressive reformer. That isn’t an insult or a compliment for me. If he can create some more working class space in NY politics, great but that is all I can see as possible from that position. And it will be hard
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Sun City Girls don’t get enough credit as one of the greatest bands of all time
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@shaqfan1937 Step 1. Say action dismantling the empire you inhabit is the only way to be leftist Step 2. Flee Australia Step 3. Do nothing in Argentina
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Gen X socialist and communist figures are dying younger than their boomer counterparts, which sadly is a sign of where the general population is headed
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This seems fair, but also doing any even indirect electoral work will be a constraint on that budget. I would need to look at the numbers but I would support stipends for national level work, although probably adjusted for cola.
@katewillett Right now there’s 27 NPC members. Five of those people are on the NPC Steering Committee and receive a $2k/month stipend. Then the treasurer and secretary get the same, and the YDSA co-chairs on the NPC get $1k. The rest get nothing but that may change as we budget for next year.
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I am picking on M.U.G. comrades today because I agree with a good deal of their positions so we when disagree on something, it stands out more. Don't take it as a lack of support.
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Socialism or barbarism ( the common ruin of the contending classes) does imply that things are not predetermined.
@maksim_makaron Let me make something clear for you since you dont seem to be following: History is not predetermined & has no universal “rules” ✅ The outcomes of class struggles are not predetermined ✅ Both of these lines are consistent with marxist orthodoxy, and you clearly did not know
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Marx did not believe historical development is linear or predetermined
Marxism through a racial lens exposes its blindness in language: uniting workers is counterproductive, some workers benefit from class inequality; Marx should have unified the exploited and those excluded from work. Their liberation should proceed the liberation of the worker.
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@bibles4booze City taxation is not federal taxation, but capital flight will be a hard limit on a city. My comrades in the DSA must deal with that instead of obscuring it in abstract declarations about different places, levels of government, and periods of history.
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Which became highly destablized in the 1980s and 1990s because of the profit needs and which also surprised wage gains to fight inflation to make sure its productions were competitive on the international market it places where there weren't as many extractive recourses.
But there’s never been a real existent period of classic social democracy in state practice other than I suppose a few decades in north Europe and Scandinavia in particular.
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I tend to think that elected leaders in workers' org should be compensated for their work, but they should not be compensated enough to be dependent on their position for their survival. It's not ideal, but it is why most unions landed here.
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