Actually, this town has more than enough room for the two of us
He/him or they/them, doesn’t matter too much
Marxist-Leninist ☭
Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don’t know where to start? Check out my Read Theory, Darn it! introductory reading list!
When western, pro-NATO outlets are forced to admit and report on ongoing corruption scandals in Ukraine, you really have to wonder how much overwhelming evidence it will take to convince you that something may be afoot in the Banderite-controlled Ukrainian government.
To build a better world through organizing in real life, and combining that with thorough study of Marxist-Leninist theory. Part of that agenda involves talking to those with misconceptions surrounding socialism and communism, and trying to help correct those misconceptions.
It’s definitely “scary” for right-wingers and the like.
They don’t, they reference what they call the “June 4th incident” all the time when relevant. What they don’t allow is spreading the fictionalized version of events, ie tanks running over 10000 protestors in the square. They acknowledge the real events, which were riots around Beijing that were put down by the PLA, resulting in a few dozen deaths of officers and a few hundred rioters killed by the PLA. The west uses the atrocity propaganda of the former story to undermine the socialist project in the PRC.
The Red Army was responsible for 80-90% of the war effort in Europe against the Nazis, the eastern front absolutely eclipsed the western front.
The US has floated the idea of using special forces units as an alternative to land invasion, so sabotage isn’t unlikely.
This is expressly being pushed by the US state department to undermine a popularly supported progressive leader. This is a fascist coup attempt:
You are on a site maintained and developed by communists, so there are a lot of us here. We all have biases, of course, and I’d argue that presenting an anti-western, pro-communist bias on some of the most unjustly demonized figures in the world both today and historically is exactly what OP asked for.
As for the bit on “authoritarianism,” communists support the use of the state in protecting socialism and uplifting the well-being of the vast majority of society. This is often framed as “authoritarian” by western countries, stripping property owners of their spoils and focusing on collectivized production and distribition, but we communists would argue that this creates a freer society overall.
Marx was called an “authoritarian” in his time as well, yet his work has helped lead to the liberation of billions of people. The communists who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to gain the power to feed, house, and clothe the people are the ones actually fighting for freedom, even if the west calls them authoritarian.
There isn’t a strong argument that China is “steadfast in becoming imperialist.” There’s projection from western countries that have imperialized and colonized the global south for centuries. The liberal, western definition of imperialism you give is meant to makw any influence seem to be imperialism, it’s vibes-based. A much better definition is one of extraction via export of capital, ie outsourcing and using millitary domination to force austerity on the global south (exactly the role of the IMF).
China and Russia are not imperialist by this definition, one that is materialist, and accepted by the majority of the world and not just the west.
The west provoked the war with Russia, sabotaged peace talks, and give aid in exchange for steep loans and rare earths. They are forcing Ukraine into an unwinnable war so that they can fleece Ukraine for everything.
As for Putin, generally the people and land in Eastern Ukraine are Russian, that’s why the divide exists. Western Ukraine is Ukrainian. Putin’s words often get morphed through a game of telephone, exaggerated, or taken out of context. He’s certainly no saint, but he’s also not Hitler 2 like liberals claim.
Russia is capitalist, but doesn’t have the immense imperialist infrastructure to plunder the world that the west has. China isn’t imperialist, nor is BRI. China doesn’t loot and plunder the global south like the west does, there’s mutual development.
When you say “the people wanted X,” and I showed how that was not at all consistent, you then try to minimize that there was not a consensus at all as I pointed out.
Russia is indeed not communist, nor is Ukraine, but the western imperialists provoked the war and are carving up Ukraine for it. I don’t believe everything Russia says, and I don’t believe everything Ukraine says. I even gave you a mountain of western sources backing up my points.
Palestine isn’t communist but I support them too. Me being a communist helps me analyze why this conflict is happening in the first place without just reducing everything to a battle of good vs evil like right-wingers do. Again, as I showed, my analysis is the most common communist analysis, you dehumanizing me and calling me a bot or a shill just because you can’t actually accept that communists disagree with your pro-western, pro-NATO viewpoint is absurd.
The IMF does that with almost every loan. Sorry to spring this up on you, but the west is a cabal of imperialist nations that exploit, loot, and plunder the world. It forces poverty and austerity measures to free up money for loans and foreign investment to own key infrastructure. This austerity comes in the form of privatizing and destroying safety nets, and the very same safety nets Europeans enjoy are funded by this imperialism.
From The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/the-rotten-roots-of-global-economic-governance/
From The Elephant: https://www.theelephant.info/analysis/2025/01/16/debt-and-austerity-the-imfs-legacy-of-structural-violence-in-the-global-south/
The people did want the Russian loan, that’s why there was a civil war. The Russian loan would have been far better. Yanukovych went against the wishes of parliament, which was in his bounds as president to do so, then was couped by the west and the far-right Banderites.
As for your source, it does indeed align with the far-right, pro-imperialist narrative. What it does is admit some basic facts, but twist them, exaggerate, and minimize, as all good propaganda does. I’ve read these western framed sources already, but I’m a communist, and as such I agree more with leftist analysis like that. My opinion is the common Marxist take, shared largely by PSL’s statement and FRSO’s statement.
Since you love sources, why not read through these? They’re almost all western sources, so you should understand that these people already try their best to present the far-right narrative you agree with, but they still can’t help when basic facts arise:
not one inch east declassified https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/16116-document-05-memorandum-conversation-between
Documents reveal Clinton forced Yeltsin into signing NATO-Russia pact https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/documents-reveal-clinton-forced-yeltsin-into-signing-nato-russia-pact/
In May 1990 speech Secretary General Manfred Wörner said “The very fact that we are ready not to deploy NATO troops beyond the territory of the Federal Republic gives the Soviet Union firm security guarantees.”
This shows 2 things:
https://www.nato.int/docu/speech/1990/s900517a_e.htm
Yanukovych turned down the IMF loan that required privatizing and destroying safety nets like healthcare in favor of the Russian loan that didn’t have the same strings attached, then the west couped him for it. It was never about “free trade.” Russia didn’t want the post-Euromaidan far-right regime to have ties to NATO while bombing the Donbass region.
I trust Russian sources more than you do and distrust Ukrainian sources more than you do. I don’t blindly accept either. Russia isn’t indiscriminately firing missiles and drones at cities, and neither is Ukraine. Both have at times targeted civilians, and both have at times unintentionally hit civilian targets. Russia isn’t acting as an evil empire, it’s trying to grab the four oblasts and demillitarize Ukraine after a decade of deescalation talks failed following the far-right Euromaidan coup.
There’s not ethnic cleansing in Ukraine, though. The nationalist Banderite movement that dominates Ukraine right now is similar to Israel saying everyone is out to destroy them. I don’t deny Putin’s words, but at the same time I also don’t deny Ukrainian words when they say they want an ethnostate and are oppressing ethnic Russians in Ukraine.
Ukraine will cede the 4 oblasts and will likely be neutral to NATO at the end of the war, crippled and battered, vs the same results without the devastation of years of conflict had they surrendered months in when they had the chance. Ukraine has taken far less civilian casualties than they’ve claimed, and has dealt far more than they’ve claimed. Russia isn’t some evil empire of villians, it’s a country at war. It isn’t Israel.
I do agree that pasting tons of sources isn’t going to do anything, that was the reason I posted so many (though you can feel free to check them, as I’ve already done for your sources). I do think it’s funny that my sources are largely things like bbc and OHCR, just presenting a narrative that concedes basic material reality.
There is a degree of that, but often it’s overplayed by pro-Ukrainian people to the degree that they believe Russia is trying to ethnically cleanse Ukraine, which is wrong, and is purely justification for continuing an unpopular war that the west uses to damage Russia and carve Ukraine out for resources.
I mean, sites like the BBC are right wing propaganda outlets. If you like, I can also copy and paste a bunch of sources:
not one inch east declassified https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/16116-document-05-memorandum-conversation-between
Documents reveal Clinton forced Yeltsin into signing NATO-Russia pact https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/documents-reveal-clinton-forced-yeltsin-into-signing-nato-russia-pact/
In May 1990 speech Secretary General Manfred Wörner said “The very fact that we are ready not to deploy NATO troops beyond the territory of the Federal Republic gives the Soviet Union firm security guarantees.”
This shows 2 things:
https://www.nato.int/docu/speech/1990/s900517a_e.htm
That doesn’t actually form an argument, though.
I’ve never once said either of those, because both are wrong.
No, I’m not a hypocrite. I doubt those that came in here with their minds already made will change their minds, but I do know I’ve changed minds.
People generally operate by licensing themselves to believe what they want to. Until their material conditions force them into accepting reality, they will continue to license themselves purely to believe that which upholds their present worldview.
We all do this, to be clear, but understanding that process helps us understand our limitations.