senselessArtist's Notes on Leftist Literature

[venutianPunk]

Hi, I'm an anarchist-communist, and I like to read. Given the current circumstances, I find myself with slightly more time than I would usually have, and would like to better myself both as a leftist and a reader. In this thread, I will simply post notes on books as I go about reading them - essentially condensing what they say so that they are more easily accessible to everyone else. Comment, discuss, do whatever you want.

I will also do my best to find the literature in the forms of free .pdf's to be shared so y'all can read along if you'd like. The decent thing about leftists is that we tend to share =)

❤❤❤ Cheers! ❤❤❤

Vladimir Lenin's The State and Revolution
​

Spoiler: Notes on The State and Revolution

Preface to the First Edition (p. 4)

• Written within the context of World War I, Lenin alludes to 'The imperialist war' (p. 4) many times, accusing the nation-states involved in it for exploiting their citizens in terrific ways. 'The monstrous oppression of the working people by the state, which is merging more and more with the all-powerful capitalist associations-' (p. 4)
• Elements of opportunism that grew in times of relative piece have paved the way for the 'social-chauvinism' (p. 4) that proliferates throughout the dominant socialist parties. Chauvinism meaning aggressive support for one's own group, these parties sought only the interests of not only their nation's bourgeoisie, but the interests of their states themselves at the expense of smaller and weaker nations. Lenin deems World War I a struggle to divvy up these exploited peoples and resources by the imperialists.
• 'The struggle to free the working people from the influence of the bourgeoisie in general, and of the imperialist bourgeoisie in particular, is impossible without a struggle against opportunist prejudices concerning the "state".' (p. 4)
• Lenin will be covering three main topics within his book:
  • Marx and Engels' theory of the state, especially the specifics that have been warped by opportunists.
  • Karl Kautsky's role as the one most-responsible for this warping of Marx and Engels' theory.
  • The results of the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

Preface to the Second Edition (p. 5)

• 'The present, second edition is published virtually unaltered, except that section 3 has been added to Chapter II.' (p. 5)

Chapter I: Class Society and the State (pp. 6-15)
1. The State: A Product of the Irreconcilability of Class Antagonisms (pp. 6-7)

• Throughout history, revolutionary thinkers and leaders have had their ideas crushed while they were alive, and then annexed and distorted by the oppressing classes after their passing.
• The Labor movement of Lenin's time did the exact same with Marxism. 'They omit, obscure, or distort the revolutionary side of this theory, it's revolutionary soul. They push to the foreground and extol what is or seems acceptable to the bourgeoisie.' (p. 6)
• Lenin will pull from Marx and Engels many quotations directly from their works in-order to show their original theories, and how they've been distorted. Although a process that lengthens his work, Lenin deems this necessary.
• He begins with Engels' The Origin of the family, Private Property and the State (6th edition, 1894). Engels sums up historical analysis by saying:
  • '"The state is, therefore, by no means a power forced on society from without; just as little is it 'the reality of the ethical idea', 'the image and reality of reason', as Hegel maintains. Rather, it is a product of society at a certain stage of development; it is the admission that this society has become entangled in an insoluble contradiction with itself, that it has split into irreconcilable antagonisms which it is powerless to dispel. But in order that these antagonisms, these classes with conflicting economic interests, might not consume themselves and society in fruitless struggle, it became necessary to have a power, seemingly standing above society, that would alleviate the conflict and keep it within the bounds of 'order'; and this power, arisen out of society but placing itself above it, and alienating itself more and more from it, is the state." (Pp. 177-78, sixth edition)' (p. 6)
• In Marxism, the state comes about when conflict between classes cannot reasonably go further and be reconciled, and must be kept in-favor of the ruling class.
• It is along this fundamental idea of Marxism that the two large distortions by the (petty) bourgeoisie begin:
  • That the state actually is a tool of reconciliation between opposing classes. It is an organ for order, which to these specific reformists (Social-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks) means 'the reconciliation of classes, and not the oppression of one class by another-' (p. 7)
    • When the state came into question during the revolution of 1917, the Social-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks adamantly defended it, and were thus decided not to be actual socialists by Lenin and his Bolsheviks.
  • Through the Kautskyite distortion came about not the denial that the state is a tool by the strong to oppress the weak, but rather that liberation of the oppressed can come about both without violent revolution and without overthrowing the apparatus that is state power.

2. Special Bodies of Armed Men, Prisons, etc. (pp. 7-9)

• Engels differentiates between the old and new ways of organizing:
  • "As distinct from the old gentile (tribal or clan) order,(2) the state, first, divides its subjects according to territory...." (p. 8)
  • "The second distinguishing feature is the establishment of a public power which no longer directly coincides with the population organizing itself as an armed force. This special, public power is necessary because a self-acting armed organization of the population has become impossible since the split into classes.... This public power exists in every state; it consists not merely of armed men but also of material adjuncts, prisons, and institutions of coercion of all kinds, of which gentile (clan) society knew nothing...." (p. 8)
• Engels is talking about how the power that the state wields, the power that originated and alienated itself from the people, consists of and is protected by a police force and a standing military, along with the institutions that work alongside them.
• Engels, when addressing the Europeans of the end of the 19th century, tried to convince them to see that these bodies of armed men were a tool of the state that rose from the irreconcilable conflict between the two classes, used to defend the interests of the oppressing class. The common person back then was lulled to a 'sleep', away from this thinking by Western-European and Russian philistines who borrowed phrases from Spencer of Mikhailovsky, talking about the growing complexity of society and the differentiation of functions, and so on.
• Lenin speaks on how if there was no class difference in society, such a "self-acting armed organization of the population" (p. 8) would differ much from any other 'primitive organization of a stick-wielding herd of monkeys-' (p. 8) because of its complexity, level of technical skill, etc.; and that it would be possible to achieve.
• If a self-acting armed organization arose from the subjected class, class struggle would ensue as the armed men of the state would see to it to defend the interests of the state.
• Engels refers to how public power can sharply enhance the class antagonism by speaking on the North American colonies, writing:
  • "It (public power) grows stronger, however, in proportion as class antagonisms within the state become more acute, and as adjacent states become larger and more populous. We have only to look at our present-day Europe, where class struggle and rivalry in conquest have turned up the public power to such a pitch that it threatens to swallow the whole of society and even the state." (p. 9)
• The turn from this to imperialism brings with it 'the complete domination of the trusts, the omnipotence of the big banks, a grand-scale colonial policy, and so forth-' (p.9)
• The imperialist attitude that swallowed the world arguably began in France, then North America and Germany followed suit. Among all the imperialist nations, World War I was chiefly fought between Britain and Germany to decide who gets what.
• Engels easily pointed out that 'rivalry in conquest' was an important distinct feature in the Great Powers, and that the social-chauvinists intensified this rivalry by defending 'their own' bourgeoisie with talk of defending the mother and fatherland, defending the republic and the revolution, and so on.

3. The State: an Instrument for the Exploitation of the Oppressed Class (pp. 9-11)

• "Having public power and the right to levy taxes, the officials now stands, as organs of society, above society. The free, voluntary respect that was accorded to the organs of the gentile (clan) constitution does not satisfy them, even if they could gain it...." (p. 9)
• The most mundane officer is protected by special laws, placing them in a position of authority above even the wisest or eldest of a society.
• Lenin asks, in reference to the officials of the state, 'what is it that places them above society?' (p. 11) He plans to answer this with by referring to how the Paris Commune of 1871 did so in practice, and how Kautsky distorted it in 1912.
• "Because the state arose from the need to hold class antagonisms in check, but because it arose, at the same time, in the midst of the conflict of these classes, it is, as a rule, the state of the most powerful, economically dominant class, which, through the medium of the state, becomes also the politically dominant class, and thus acquires new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed class...." (p. 10).
• Feudal and ancient states were used to exploit serfs and slaves, and the modern state of today exploits wage laborers.
• "the modern representative state is an instrument of exploitation of wage-labor by capital. By way of exception, however, periods occur in which the warring classes balance each other so nearly that the state power as ostensible mediator acquires, for the moment, a certain degree of independence of both...." (p. 10). Lenin gives the examples of the absolute monarchies from the 17th and 18th centuries, the Bonapartism of the 1st and 2nd French Empires, and the Bismarck regime in Germany; as well as the Kerensky regime in republican Russia, which prosecuted the revolutionary proletariat when the Soviets and the (petty) bourgeoisie were unable to do much to each other.
• In democratic-republics, "wealth exercises its power indirectly, but all the more surely" (p. 10) via the corruption of officials (United States) and the relationship between the stock exchange and the government (United States and France).
• Lenin tells of how when the democratic-republic government of Russia was young, the Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks made a coalition government with the bourgeoisie, and that that any attempts to curb capitalism were halted by Peter Palchinsky - whom after retirement was granted a lavish and well-paying position by those he protected. Lenin forwards the question of if this can be seen as bribery, and wonders what roles Chernovs, Tseretelis, Avkentyevs, and Skobeleves played.
• Lenin is adamant that democratic-republicanism is the best host for capitalism, as once its power grows to where it essentially takes over, it is near impossible to shake from its roots.
• Engels also questions universal suffrage, coming from his time observing the workings of German social-democracy, stating that it (universal suffrage) is,
  • "the gauge of the maturity of the working class. It cannot and never will be anything more in the present-day state." (p. 11)
• Reformists changed Engels' theory, advocating that universal suffrage in the exact present-day state he was referring to is the key for the working class to have their wishes realized.
• Engels' views are generally summarized the following quote:
  • "The state, then, has not existed from all eternity. There have been societies that did without it, that had no idea of the state and state power. At a certain stage of economic development, which was necessarily bound up with the split of society into classes, the state became a necessity owing to this split. We are now rapidly approaching a stage in the development of production at which the existence of these classes not only will have ceased to be a necessity, but will become a positive hindrance to production. They will fall as they arose at an earlier stage. Along with them the state will inevitably fall. Society, which will reorganize production on the basis of a free and equal association of the producers, will put the whole machinery of state where it will then belong: into a museum of antiquities, by the side of the spinning-wheel and the bronze axe." (p. 11)

4. The "Withering Away" of the State, and Violent Revolution (pp. 11-15)

Chapter II: The Experience of 1848-51 (pp. 16-22)
Chapter III: Experience of the Paris Commune of 1871. Marx's Analysis (pp. 23-34)
Chapter IV: Supplementary Explanations by Engels (pp. 34-48)
Chapter V: The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State (pp. 48-59)
Chapter VI: The Vulgarisation of Marxism by Opportunists (pp. 59-69)
Chapter VII: The Experience of the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 (p. 69)

• 'The subject indicated in the title of this chapter is so vast that volumes could be written about it. In the present pamphlet we shall have to confine ourselves, naturally, to the most important lessons provided by experience, those bearing directly upon the tasks of the proletariat in the revolution with regard to state power. (Here the manuscript breaks off---Ed.)' (p. 69)

Postscript to the First Edition (p. 70)

• Lenin recounts how the pamphlet was originally written between the August and September of 1917.
• He had planned to write Chapter VII when the October revolution of 1917 occurred. He essentially fucks off, writing that he will put off the chapter for probably a long while, and that 'It is more pleasant and useful to go through the "experience of revolution" than to write about it.' (p. 70)

Pytor Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread
To be Read​

 

[venutianPunk]

Added:

• Notes: The State and Revolution
  • Chapter 1: Class Society and the State
    • Section 2. Special Bodies of Armed Men, Prisons, etc.

 

[Moth Man]

Crunchy, it's me art.


You know that if ancomms actually had their way the vidya games you love playing so much wouldn't exist because video games are literally the peak of capitalism. They are totally worthless outside of their ability to occupy your mind for a few hours which true communists would frown upon.


Blyat.

 

[venutianPunk]

Crunchy, it's me art.


You know that if ancomms actually had their way the vidya games you love playing so much wouldn't exist because video games are literally the peak of capitalism. They are totally worthless outside of their ability to occupy your mind for a few hours which true communists would frown upon.


Blyat.

Damn, you're totally right. I totally hadn't thought of art, only one of the most essential aspects to humanity, when pondering my preferred system of society. Back to the drawing board I guess :/

 

[Moth Man]

Damn, you're totally right. I totally hadn't thought of art, only one of the most essential aspects to humanity, when pondering my preferred system of society. Back to the drawing board I guess :/

The art part of vidya games is only half the battle, and the resources required to make a game like half life alyx are so exponentially large that it would be pretty much unachievable under a system like that because socialist and communist systems are heavily utilitarian because if you're using "the people's" resources for something it better work and work well.

Soviet state funded art was also almost exclusively propaganda so creative freedom disappears under those kinds of systems.

And anarcho communism is kind of a silly concept because you cant enforce communism without a state. You're pretty high on the wacky scale friendo.

"That guy isn't sharing all the apples in his orchard! Let's go kill him and give his orchard to someone who will share the apples!"

"That guy made a video game and it sucked, thats a poor use of the people's resources, we've got no state to enforce our will so let's just string him up!"

 

[venutianPunk]

The art part of vidya games is only half the battle, and the resources required to make a game like half life alyx are so exponentially large that it would be pretty much unachievable under a system like that because socialist and communist systems are heavily utilitarian because if you're using "the people's" resources for something it better work and work well.

Soviet state funded art was also almost exclusively propaganda so creative freedom disappears under those kinds of systems.

And anarcho communism is kind of a silly concept because you cant enforce communism without a state. You're pretty high on the wacky scale friendo.

"That guy isn't sharing all the apples in his orchard! Let's go kill him and give his orchard to someone who will share the apples!"

"That guy made a video game and it sucked, thats a poor use of the people's resources, we've got no state to enforce our will so let's just string him up!"

Communism is simply the economic policy of workers owning their work. It can be brought about in a number of ways that are authoritarian, anarchist, or mixed in-nature.

Ideally, anarchist-communism is rather productive in-nature, as the needs of the commune are met first and foremost from a combined effort of the commune's inhabitants, and then everyone can do with the rest of their time as they wish. Given modern agricultural techniques, technology, and future developments, it's theorized that most people need to only work a 'mandatory' four to five hours for all needs to be met, and a surplus to be created.

If my passion is an art, then I work my five hours daily, and then do with the rest as I please. I can spend it lounging about or perfecting my craft, or whatever else my heart fancies. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine that a team of people get together and make a video game. People are very passionate about computers, computer science, programming, design, voice acting, graphics, modelling, etc. etc.

 

[Moth Man]

Communism is simply the economic policy of workers owning their work. It can be brought about in a number of ways that are authoritarian, anarchist, or mixed in-nature.

Ideally, anarchist-communism is rather productive in-nature, as the needs of the commune are met first and foremost from a combined effort of the commune's inhabitants, and then everyone can do with the rest of their time as they wish. Given modern agricultural techniques, technology, and future developments, it's theorized that most people need to only work a 'mandatory' four to five hours for all needs to be met, and a surplus to be created.

If my passion is an art, then I work my five hours daily, and then do with the rest as I please. I can spend it lounging about or perfecting my craft, or whatever else my heart fancies. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine that a team of people get together and make a video game. People are very passionate about computers, computer science, programming, design, voice acting, graphics, modelling, etc. etc.

You cant own your work and sell it too. Get paid for your time and work or make something worth selling.

If you think you're going to see post scarcity in your life time I find that hilarious.

People already do use their free time to make free games, models, music etc. Adding 2 hours of free time to their day might speed up those developments but they wont necessarily be higher quality. Large projects that make the ground breaking art and movies you see today can only be achieved by private companies with a large amount of capital investment and no communal or socialist governing body is going to give those kinds of resources for unneccessary things.l, especially if they turn out to be poorly rated etc. You're not allowed to fail under those kinds of systems because if you do you will never get another shot at whatever your project is and that level of risk is not something am average creator will take on.

In the traditional setting for media creation you're hired to do a job and the worst thing you can have happen to ya is your product is poorly received and you get fired. Under a system in which you're held to a standard of quality by a governing body you're simply screwed if they dont like it. You'll never work in the industry again or worse.

 

[bubblegum]

Crunchy, it's me art.


You know that if ancomms actually had their way the vidya games you love playing so much wouldn't exist because video games are literally the peak of capitalism. They are totally worthless outside of their ability to occupy your mind for a few hours which true communists would frown upon.

Video games are being destroyed by capitalism. The drive for money over innovation and art leads to things like DRM, piracy court, microtransactions, useless sequels, and so forth.

There are a lot of open source games that come out which are not only free, but provide fun entertainment for thousands of people just for the sake of it.

 

[ruble]

Crunchy, it's me art.


You know that if ancomms actually had their way the vidya games you love playing so much wouldn't exist because video games are literally the peak of capitalism. They are totally worthless outside of their ability to occupy your mind for a few hours which true communists would frown upon.


Blyat.

dumbest shit ive ever read in my lifetime

Art cannot exist in communism.Because it does not Produce anything it is frowned upon

the people with passions for art arent completly driven by money - it's a passion, a painter will paint because it's his passion, same with a composer / musician making music - large private investement is not a recipe to print out works of art made by individual people - the world doesnt turn drab grey without private investement because all the art dies out

Under a system in which you're held to a standard of quality by a governing body you're simply screwed if they dont like it. You'll never work in the industry again or worse.

capitalists love expressing their opinions on communism formed on anecdotal evidence and misinformation, you should not be giving opinion pieces on ancom ideology when you literally cant differentiate leninism and marxism

 

[bubblegum]

dumbest shit ive ever read in my lifetime

Art cannot exist in communism.Because it does not Produce anything it is frowned upon

the people with passions for art arent completly driven by money - it's a passion, a painter will paint because it's his passion, same with a composer / musician making music - large private investement is not a recipe to print out works of art made by individual people - the world doesnt turn drab grey without private investement because all the art dies out

its also ironic because it's often times impossible to make what you want to make in capitalism. that's why art majors are called useless. its why a lot of art now is manufactured to make money, instead of just for the sake of it.

 

[venutianPunk]

its also ironic because it's often times impossible to make what you want to make in capitalism. that's why art majors are called useless. its why a lot of art now is manufactured to make money, instead of just for the sake of it.

Graphic Design for advertising is a legitimate career path and knowing that makes my soul rot.

 

[bubblegum]

Graphic Design for advertising is a legitimate career path and knowing that makes my soul rot.

I'm a web programmer. Am I going to make projects that change the world?

No, I'm going to make it so you get to look at more ads per click.

We live in a complete hell world.

 

[Moth Man]

dumbest shit ive ever read in my lifetime

Art cannot exist in communism.Because it does not Produce anything it is frowned upon

the people with passions for art arent completly driven by money - it's a passion, a painter will paint because it's his passion, same with a composer / musician making music - large private investement is not a recipe to print out works of art made by individual people - the world doesnt turn drab grey without private investement because all the art dies out



capitalists love expressing their opinions on communism formed on anecdotal evidence and misinformation, you should not be giving opinion pieces on ancom ideology when you literally cant differentiate leninism and marxism

If an ideology that promotes the seizure of private property is offered to me I reject it immediately. I dont care. My land, my money, my home. Get your own.

Marxists ideologies would make sense in their time when a worker was only considered worth the coal the brought in or the products they made.
But modern labor laws have made the lives of workers significantly better since then without the need to upheave the economic system(which in general has been how all of the trade in human history has occured) and steal property so that it is "collectively owned."

Communists arent people they're property of the state.

I love the concept limited government but if the folks up the street are gonna burn my house down because I didnt share my food or resources with them and "that's selfish" sucks to suck.

 

[venutianPunk]

If an ideology that promotes the seizure of private property is offered to me I reject it immediately. I dont care. My land, my money, my home. Get your own.

Marxists ideologies would make sense in their time when a worker was only considered worth the coal the brought in or the products they made.
But modern labor laws have made the lives of workers significantly better since then without the need to upheave the economic system(which in general has been how all of the trade in human history has occured) and steal property so that it is "collectively owned."

Communists arent people they're property of the state.

I love the concept limited government but if the folks up the street are gonna burn my house down because I didnt share my food or resources with them and "that's selfish" sucks to suck.

You can keep your shit lol. The problem is when 'keeping your shit' infringes on the ability of others to properly live.

 

[Moth Man]

You can keep your shit lol. The problem is when 'keeping your shit' infringes on the ability of others to properly live.

"If you have more than someone else we will take your extra stuff and give it to this person because it's not fair.

Gimme your art tablet I dont own one that's as nice as yours.

Gimme your oreos I dont have a pack

Give me your money you have more than I do.


You're not entitled to take things from other people simply because they have more than you. Just because someone has more than someone else doesnt mean it was stolen.

If I go out and earn money and invest it and turn a profit or buy something that I want with it, that's my business just because you or someone else doesn't mean you get to then try and take my stuff and give it to someone else.

Doing well for yourself Is not a crime and you. Shouldn't be punishes by being robbed by the state or in your case robbed by the people down the road since you want anarchy.

 

[bubblegum]

"If you have more than someone else we will take your extra stuff and give it to this person because it's not fair.

Gimme your art tablet I dont own one that's as nice as yours.

Gimme your oreos I dont have a pack

Give me your money you have more than I do.


You're not entitled to take things from other people simply because they have more than you. Just because someone has more than someone else doesnt mean it was stolen.

If I go out and earn money and invest it and turn a profit or buy something that I want with it, that's my business just because you or someone else doesn't mean you get to then try and take my stuff and give it to someone else.

Doing well for yourself Is not a crime and you. Shouldn't be punishes by being robbed by the state or in your case robbed by the people down the road since you want anarchy.

Private property isn’t personal property.

 

[ruble]

its almost like personal property and private property & capital and different and noones coming into your house to seize a pack of fucking oreos or take your art tablet away by force lol - there is a big distinction

"that's selfish" sucks to suck.

cause the poor should just "pull themselves up by the bootstraps" right, instead of a core part of our system and what inherently makes us a civilization being our ability to care and provide for those who have less than us, those who are disadvantaged - but it sucks 2 suck they shouldve just worked harder bro.... not taking MY money and putting it towards something beyond myself for the betterment of society

 

[venutianPunk]

Oi lads, the almighty @Blackquill has come to me in my dreams. He brings with him testament that is to be followed, lest we be smitten.

This thread should solely revolve around me updating my notes and discussion of the books involved. If we're going to actually talk about or argue over anything politically-related that deviates far from the literature, we need to take it over to the Communism Containment Thread in Current Affairs.

Cheers!

 

[Raiden]

These threads are better placed inside current affairs due to it's political nature.

Interesting discussion nonetheless.

 

[venutianPunk]

These threads are better placed inside current affairs due to it's political nature.

Interesting discussion nonetheless.

The only real reason I didn't was because I didn't feel notation on literature was worthy of being deemed 'Current Affairs'. Though, because of the political nature, I definitely understand why people would want it to be.