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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Lenin covers the need for theoretical struggle a lot in What is to be Done. He also here quotes Engles

let him... but be that enough!

Let us quote what Engels said in 1874 concerning the signif- icance of theory in the Social-Democratic movement. Engels rec- ognises, not two forms of the great struggle of Social-Democ- racy (political and economic), as is the fashion among among us, but three, placing the theoretical struggle on a par with the first two. His recommendations to the German working-class movement, which had become strong, practically and politically, are so in- pra structive from the standpoint of present-day problems and con- troversies, that we hope the reader will not be vexed with us for quoting a long passage from his prefatory note to Der deutsche Bauernkrieg,* which has long become a great bibliographical

"The German workers have two important advantages over those of the rest of Europe. First, they belong to the most theo- retical people of Europe; and they have retained that sense of theory which the so-called 'educated' classes of Germany have almost completely lost. Without German philosophy, which pre- ceded it, particularly that of Hegel, German scientific socialism -the only scientific socialism that has ever existed-would never have come into being. Without a sense of theory among the workers, this scientific socialism would never have entered their

Page 111 in lenin's selected works vol 1:
flesh and blood as much as is the case. What an immeasurable advantage this is may be seen, on the one hand, from the in- difference towards all theory, which is one of the main reasons why the English working-class movement crawls along so slowly in spite of the splendid organisation of the individual unions; on the other hand, from the mischief and confusion wrought by Proudhonism, in its original form, among the French and Bel- gians, and, in the form further caricatured by Bakunin, among the Spaniards and Italians.

"The second advantage is that, chronologically speaking, the Germans were about the last to come into the workers' move- ment. Just as German theoretical socialism will never forget that it rests on the shoulders of Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Owen- three men who, in spite of all their fantastic notions and all their utopianism, have their place among the most eminent thinkers of all times, and whose genuis anticipated innumerable things, the correctness of which is now being scientifically proved by us-so the practical workers' movement in Germany ought never

to forget that it has developed on the shoulders of the English and French movements, that it was able simply to utilise their dearly bought experience, and could now avoid their mistakes, which in their time were mostly unavoidable. Without the pre- cedent of the English trade unions and French workers' political struggles, without the gigantic impulse given especially by the Paris Commune, where would we be now?

"It must be said to the credit of the German workers that they have exploited the advantages of their situation with rare under- standing. For the first time since a workers' movement has existed, the struggle is being conducted pursuant to its three sides-the theoretical, the political, and the practical-economic (resistance to the capitalists)-in harmony and in its interconnections, and in a systematic way. It is precisely in this, as it wer…

Pg 112 in lenins selected works (WitbD):
cialism, since it has become a science, demands that it be pur- sued as a science, i.e., that it be studied. The task will be to spread with increased zeal among the masses of the workers the ever more clarified understanding thus acquired, to knit together ever more firmly the organisation both of the party and of the trade unions....

"If the German workers progress in this way, they will not be marching exactly at the head of the movement-it is not at all in the interest of this movement that the workers of any partic- ular country should march at its head-but they will occupy an honourable place in the battle line; and they will stand armed for battle when either unexpectedly grave trials or momentous events demand of them increased courage, increased determina- tion and energy."

Engels's words proved prophetic. Within a few years the Ger- man workers were subjected to unexpectedly grave trials in the form of the Exceptional Law Against the Socialists. And they met those trials armed for battle and succeeded in emerging from them victorious.

The Russian proletariat will have to undergo trials immea- surably graver; it will have to fight a monster compared with which an anti-socialist law in a constitutional country seems but a dwarf. History has now confronted us with an immediate task which is the most revolutionary of all the immediate tasks con- fronting the proletariat of any country. The fulfilment of this task, the destruction of the most powerful bulwark, not only of European, but (it may now be said) of Asiatic reaction, would make the Russian proletariat the vanguard of the international revolutionary proletariat. And we have the right to count upon acquiring this honourable title, already earned by our predeces- sors, the revolutionaries of the seventies, if we succeed in inspir- ing our movement, which is a thousand times broader and deeper, with the same devoted determination and vigour.

Pg 122-123:
Let us recall the example of Germany. What was the historic service Lassalle rendered to the German working-class move- ment? It was that he diverted that movement from the path of progressionist trade-unionism and co-operativism towards which it had been spontaneously moving (with the benign assistance of Schulze-Delitzsch and his like). To fulfil such a task it was ne- cessary to do something quite different from talking of under- rating the spontaneous element, of tactics-as-process, of the in- teraction between elements and environment, etc. A fierce strug- gle against spontaneity was necessary, and only after such a struggle, extending over many years, was it possible, for instance, to convert the working population of Berlin from a bulwark of the progressionist party into one of the finest strongholds of Social-Democracy. This struggle is by no means over even today (as might seem to those who learn the history of the German movement from Prokopovich, and its philosophy from Struve). Even now the German working class is, so to speak, split up among a number of ideologies. A section of the workers is organised in

Catholic and monarchist trade unions; another section is organised in the Hirsch-Duncker unions, 156 founded by the bourgeois worshippers of English trade-unionism; the third is organised in Social-Democratic trade unions. The last-named group is immea- surably more numerous than the rest, but the Social-Democratic ideology was able to achieve this superiority, and will be able to maintain it, only in an unswerving struggle against all other ideologies.

But why, the reader will ask, does the spontaneous move- ment, the movement along the line of least resistance, lead to the domination of bourgeois ideology? For the simple reason that bourgeois ideology is far older in origin than socialist ide- ology, that it is more fully developed, and that it has at its dis- posal immeasurably more means of dissemination.* And the younger the socialis…

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I mean they treated mildly progressive early Castro like Castro, their treating of Mamdani is definitely following an established trend

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Finally getting to reading Lenin, picked a great time for it. From "two tactics of social democracy in the democratic revolution", feels increasingly relevant today

"Get out of your study, look about you, and seek your answer in the streets. Has not the government itself started civil war by everywhere shooting down crowds of peaceful and unarmed citizens? Have not the armed Black Hundreds come out as an "argument" of the autocracy? Has not the bourgeoisie-even the bourgeoisie-recognised the need for a citizens' militia? Does not Mr. Struve himself, the ideally moderate and punctilious Mr."

Struve, say (alas, he does so only to evade the issue!) that "the open nature of revolutionary action" (that's what we are like today!) "is now one of the most important conditions for exerting an educational influence upon the mass of the people"?

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Ah well, fair enough. Looking at all the replies and thinking about it more, yea it is probably bad to focus in on this one member of a marginalized community doing horrific indefensible things and not all the white cis straight guys around her and above her who do the same and worse

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Huh, sorry to hear ya got kind of forced out, but definitely sounds like a field to stay away from. I was a janitor for a little at a progressive call center, and I remember their bathroom had a note complaining about employees taking toilet paper home. Prob not good pay if workers need to do that

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Huh, yea honestly thinking about it more that's probably on a moral level with, like, amazon delivery where it's too miserable a job to criticize. Like that's not even an insurance company call center, cell phones seem a bit uh, small potatoes to get all morally outraged about

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Well then what are you trying to say?

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Little odd to go searching like that but like, even if he did still work at t-mobile, thats a call center job isnt it? Seems like a job where you may have to act pretty scummy dont get me wrong, but theres a pretty big difference between "shitty telemarketer" and "baby killer for raytheon", y'know?

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Replace "Henry George" with "Andrew Yang" and "Land Value Tax" with "UBI" and it basically still applies, especially that bit about them being great at advertising

Marx letter to Freidrich Adolph Sorge June 20 1881:
"All these "socialists" since Colins have this in common, that they leave wage labor, and thus capitalist production, untouched, and de-"

ceive themselves or the world into believing that through the trans- formation of land rents into a state tax, all the evils of capitalist pro- duction would disappear by themselves. The whole thing is thus merely a socialistically embellished attempt to save the capitalist rule, and,

indeed, to establish it anew on an even wider basis than the present one. This cloven hoof which is at the same time an ass's hoof, also unmistakably peeps out of the declarations of Henry George. It is the more unforgivable in him, since he, on the contrary, should have asked the question: How did it happen that in the United States, where relatively-that is, compared to civilized Europe-land was accessible to the great masses of the people and to a certain degree (again rela- tively) still is, the capitalist economy and the corresponding enslave- ment of the working class have developed more rapidly and more shamelessly than in any other country?

On the other hand, George's book, like the sensation it has made

among you, has importance in that it is a first, even though disappoint- ing, attempt at emancipation from orthodox political economy. Moreover, H. George does not seem to know about the earlier American Anti-Renters,5 who were more practical than theoretical. He is otherwise a writer of talent (with a Yankee talent for advertising too), as, for example, is shown by his article on California in the Atlantic. He also has the repulsive presumption and arrogance that invariably characterize all such panacea-hatchers..

Salut fraternel.

Yours,
K. Marx

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

It feels similar to georgism in that they're both very "fix capitalism with this one weird trick". Though the land value tax feels a lot more meaningful and effective than ubi though, feel like even our dumb crank liberals are less ambitious now in late-stage capitalism

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

"Years after losing to a moron pedo tv show host who destroyed the country, we won back the ashes" The administrative state has been destroyed, dollar hegemony is gone, and the military is a laughingstock. Being all "we'll get em next time" ignores the irreversible and fully avoidable damage done

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Just realized, probably a coincidence, but Gordon Bok (when he has the moustache at least) has a pretty strong resemblance to commissioner gordon from batman

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Ok but visiting a bread factory does actually sound cool as hell I love bread

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Finished Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee. It's very good, though it—understandably—can feel a bit too fatalistic; I feel like there should have been a conclusion that pointed out no, the US govt couldnt fully genocide the natives, theyre still here, and we can still try to make things right by them

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

yea definitely, you have to do your damndest to rehabilitate criminals, life imprisonment itself is the system admitting it can't do its job of helping people function normally in wider society, it should be avoided except as a last resort when nothing works

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Maybe there's some people that are impossible to rehabilitate, or there aren't the resources to do so, but the goal of a socialist govt is to better the lives of everybody. To be a bit crueller, if fascists dont want those kind of restrictions they can do what their leaders did at Nuremberg

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I think even beyond just allowing govt to take back a wrongful conviction, life imprisonment can be more humane than just "warehousing" somebody. Yes, you may need to keep them under supervision, but a prisoner can still develop skills, read, write, draw, make music, socialize, fall in love, etc

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

And yknow not to fedpost but I mean, if anyone had the electoral mandate to punish—strictly legally or not—a former president, it was the guy who won based entirely on everyone hating trump. Like if those fuckin dark brandon memes were even 1% what we got the US govt would be leagues better off

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Well yea the state's point is to harm people, but i think there's an important line to draw between the death penalty as a normalized legal thing done by a judge and execution done by elected reps during times of existential crisis, and "the death penalty" is usually considered to be the former

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Sorry to butt in, but I think this is a good question. im opposed to the death penalty, excepting cases where societal stability is existentially threatened. with them, you have to ignore the immorality of killing for the political need to disorganize the remaining fascists and cement the new order

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Im in favor of political executions when its an existential threat to socialism, but even ignoring rights we still have to talk it, and we know it doesnt work as a deterrent, and we know killing causes you mental harm, and even the worst people can still work a job, it should be abandoned asap

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

This is true, and there are always revolutionary excesses, robespierre was executed because he wanted to prosecute the organizers of the mass drownings in nantes; however, in a state of war—which the republic was in from the moment they limited the king's power—you're allowed to defend yourself

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

In his speech calling for the execution of the king, he doesnt point to the morality of the king or his ability to be rehabilitated, he just says politically they had to kill him. I think he's right, the death penalty is bad, but when society itself is threatened you have to choose the lesser evil

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Robespierre had a similar conundrum. Before the revolution, he was known for opposition to the death penalty. His opinion, from my understanding, is that yes, the death penalty is bad morally and shouldnt exist for normal crimes, but political executions are a necessity for revolutionary governments

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Knitting machines also stop people from having to spend hours knitting a single sock, and lets poor people be fully clothed and not in rags. Technological advancement is good, the issues stem from capitalism's push for limitless profit and endless consumption

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Extremely funny thing to say when just last year the president nearly destroyed the economy singlehandedly with tariffs no one else wanted or liked

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Please, for your own sake, get some rest, this isnt a good use of your time or energy

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

To give his parents the benefit of the doubt, their son died just this morning, its understandable theyd say something stupid in their grief, and it's possible the AP is quoting it specifically to paint any opposition to ICE as stupid. But like, christ people dont do interviews the day your son died

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Reposted by Josh

Stephanie Farr @farfarraway.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Signs about the history of slavery in the U.S. and the 9 people George Washington enslaved are being removed right now at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, across from Independence Hall, months after the Trump administration threatend to do so. How far we have not come in 250 years.

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

If I remember right he's actually a mormon trotskyist (weird combination I know) and this here is the one clip of him I've actually seen. He seems ok youtu.be/0VJgUBFGfXQ?...

youtu.be

string em up

YouTube video by things i stole from facebook

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

I mean the easy comparison for what they might do is iraq or afghanistan, but that was a little before my time to be honest. I don't know if these people are competent enough to do a venezuelan operation iraqi freedom, but regardless they just want the oil, you don't need a stable govt for that

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Like Jesus Christ my main criticism of Maduro now is that he didnt go far enough in securing his government because the consequences of a US-puppet Venezuela is far worse than the consequences of an "authoritarian" one

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Y'know that Parenti clip where he talks about how the Sandinistas, when staring down a US-orchestrated coup, were basically forced to impose authoritarian measures? Can't help but feel that way about Venezuela now

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

I mean work boots are pretty normal for the trades, warehouse jobs and deliverypeople, it's not all workers of course, but it is a significant portion. And lets not forget shes a public figure and the wife of the mayor of nyc, it is kind of her job to look nice

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

*like traveling through private property. You can't travel through some public property though, of course, like a military base or a mayor's office

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Rights have limits -like traveling through public property- and a right to travel isnt meaningfully limited if you're given other ways to fulfill it. The way things are now, those who lack the money or ability to drive a car are facing far, far greater limits to their rights than any car owner

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

feels similar to another group the GOP hates but who loves the GOP: Latinos (a few not all of course). With stuff like Marco Rubio as SoS, it seems like they've made it work, for now at least. Maybe it's a way to hold onto privilege; cops benefit a lot financially from terrorizing their communities

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Yea that one guy is either full of shit or went to a very unique school, we all learned them. I remember my AP history class in high school talking about metacoms war and the trail of tears and stuff, at least a little, but dont think they discussed it much, my memory is bad though

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Who are these psychos defending Bill Clinton in the replies?

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

I mean at least Garfield was apparently super into spiderman as a kid and loved playing him, and he was good in the social network right that came out right before. Picking Holland seems pretty indefensible though just find some other 20 year old that looks like a high schooler

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

No one derserves to be brutalized and sent to a concentration camp, going all "he's no angel" plays entirely into ICE's hands and justifies deporting an old man who hasnt committed any crime in 50 years. You can't give the fascists an inch

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

My mom is dyslexic and she's told me she couldn't really read until she taught me to with hooked on phonics. Its boring yea, but it objectively works way better than anything else

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Think comparing the actions of a genocidal state to this is a bit of an exaggeration, to say the least. I dont have much experience in using my penis but it still seems to work fine despite losing a little off the top. Again its very bad and should be banned but that isnt really comparable to, yknow

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

I mean to be clear yeah slicing off babies' skin should be banned, but y'know, i doubt the actual cabal of pedophiles in government like rfk care, if anything the fact that circumcision is child mutilation is a reason for them to like it, its part of why them doing this is so weird to me

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Yeah without a doubt. It also feels like, weirdly old school anti-semitism. Almost everybody here is circumcised, its not just a Judaism thing. Its like when varg was saying "let me guess you have no foreskin"; to most USians its just super fucking weird and incoherent, but it's clearly a dogwhistle

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

FUCK ITS NOT IT'S GODDAMN IT

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

I mean according to this at least, its 10% in like 12 years, which is still horrifically bad, guessing that person thinks its for some stupid reason rather than climate change and the US doing everything in it's power to destroy cuba for the past 65 years www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

lemonde.fr

Cuba faces population decline and aging amid mass migration exodus

Cuba's population fell below the 10 million mark in 2024. Independent experts fear a more pronounced demographic decline, driven by the exodus of the working population and a drop in birth rates on th...

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

A mormon speaking is indistinguishable from chatgpt, by design the church makes them all a bit uncanny to outsiders

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Josh @jooshinator.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

I think the mechanics have good bones, I like the feeling of progression, the combat (excepting magic) lacking feedback for misses I think is the main issue. Like with kenshi you also start as a schmuck and end as a god but you actually see your hits get parried or connect, and that adds a whole lot

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