Diving into the Wreckage 7.1: First Principles w/ C. Derick Varn
Added 2023-01-11 11:00:03 +0000 UTCTaking a break from the ongoing debt crisis analysis, Sean and Varn lay out a series of first principles. This miniseries is meant to lay out some basics for how to think about the world and act within/upon it, what differentiates our particular political bent from others on the left and ultimately what is to be done with the social knowledge and beliefs that all of us hold in common.
By the end of this series we hope to have hammered out these principles into a basis for a recomposition of communist organizing.
Song: Gary Numan - This Wreckage
Comments
I am a Jew and I have literally fought Aryan Nation members. Just check real fast on your claims there. I still stand by what I said. There are always reasons for individuals to be afraid--legitimate ones. You can't, however, translate that into political fear unless they really are about to take over.
Derick Varn
2023-04-07 07:08:25 +0000 UTCGood stuff, but always makes me cringe a bit when I hear sum1 say they "aren't afraid of white nationalists" when they r not the target of that part of the right. There's a lot to b afraid of for a lot of people. This kind of thinking is why hardcore Marxists had no idea what to do during the 2020 rebellion.
Turtle Bugg
2023-02-22 21:12:05 +0000 UTCIt's a rhetorical tactic, I overuse, but I definitely don't think I have perfect information. That said, people who point out a stylistic or rhetorical flourish but then aren't specific are effectively doing something similar ;)
Derick Varn
2023-02-16 02:52:23 +0000 UTCWhen the episode popped up in my feed I immediately said to myself in Vern’s voice, “people aren’t going to like hearing this but…” ;) I haven’t listened to this one yet, but based on your comment I’m guessing it happens again.
Jeannette
2023-01-21 14:12:15 +0000 UTCwhen Varn anticipates criticism of a point he always makes up what that criticism will be to dismiss it before it arises, but his dismissals are largely not very good and it just look like he thinks he has Perfect Information.
Harper
2023-01-13 23:35:29 +0000 UTCAlso idk why you believe this definition has any predictability with regard to sympathy for communism. By this definition most self-defined communists are PMC
DeliaCore
2023-01-12 02:14:15 +0000 UTCDefining and quantifying effort is going to be a problem that you will not be able to solve with this definition.
DeliaCore
2023-01-12 01:16:27 +0000 UTCHow about this definition of PMC: anyone that expends less effort than the commodities they're compensated with take to create. PMC usually refers to people that sit in offices or other air-conditioned rooms and talk and type for a living. They get paid much more than people than many who do manual labor, for example. Or, it refers to people that do difficult, effort-intensive work, but have really good compensation, people commonly referred to as "labor aristocracy". The fact or perception that they get disproportionately compensated relative to the effort they put in is common to all these groups. These groups are unlikely to be revolutionary allies. They benefit from the current system. Assume in socialist society that compensation, to the degree work needs to be directly compensated, is proportional to effort. The PMC would not necessarily benefit, even if they are wage workers. I think when people talk about PMC, they're picking up on the fact that not everyone that earns a wage is equal. There are plenty of wage workers who would not materially benefit from a socialist society relative to a capitalist one. Given my definition "PMC" is nominally inappropriate for many groups. The unemployed receiving benefits, well-compensated factory workers, neither of which are necessarily professional or managerial. Some groups, like the unemployed, may be excepted because their absolute compensation is so low, even if it is higher relative to their effort. But, we should have a term for the group of people I have defined, even if it's not PMC. On its face, it seems rather obvious to say that people that materially benefit from the current system are unlikely to upend it, and we should think about what to do with them. Of course, there are many individuals who will see and accept the necessity of the socialist cause regardless of their material interests.
seth england
2023-01-12 00:27:24 +0000 UTCLove this. I also loved the quick list varn gave at the end of the last series episode of actual organizational tools like sortition, recall, etc. and would love a more in depth discussion/comparison of organization tactics for people trying to do this stuff out here right now. Also while I'm here can we get some rural communists up in the discussion? Yall city folk drive me crazy sometimes, there is so much potential out here
Kin
2023-01-11 22:55:55 +0000 UTCBest series
E
2023-01-11 12:54:49 +0000 UTC
