We are constantly told that solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing poor and working class people in the U.S. do not exist. Meanwhile, billions taxpayer dollars are being used to fund the genocide of Palestinians.
That very money could have ended homelessness in the United States.
Money for our needs, not the U.S.-Israeli war machine!
That's a complicated question. The short answer is that, until Socialism is established world-wide, states are necessary, along with millitaries to defend them. All AES states have had to defend themselves, the USSR was invaded by 14 Capitalist nations right after the October Revolution.
Additionally, Socialism is not "the same place as before." Establishing Socialism through revolution has fundamentally changed who has the reigns, the bourgeoisie vs the proletariat.
Have you read any Marxist theory? I can give some reading lists, either a "full course" or I can recommend specific works going over the Marxist theory of revolution and the state, but that may raise more questions than it answers.
Honestly, as an American, I’ve avoided diving into Marxist ideas because they tend to carry a lot of ‘baggage’ here and are seen as a touchy subject by many. That said, the more I learn, the more I realize that I probably align with some aspects of Marxist theory, having arrived at similar basic concepts on my own, though I’ve always been puzzled why we don’t embrace these ideas. I haven’t really read any Marxist theory directly, mostly because of the negative bias around it, but I’d love to start somewhere. If you could recommend some beginner-friendly resources to help me get my feet wet, I’d really appreciate it. I also assume that there are resources here on Lemmy? Thanks!
Honestly, I'd start with Blackshirts and Reds, it's a history book that analyzes AES states critically and debunks modern anticommunism and anti-Marxism. Michael Parenti uses modern, non-Marxist language to appeal to liberals and leftists sympathetic to Marxism but unsure about it and AES. An alternative, or supplementary source, is the famous "Yellow Parenti" speech and/or Albert Einstein's Why Socialism?
The absolute best primer is Engels' The Principles of Communism, which I would follow with Politzer's Elementary Principles of Philosophy, and swing back to Engels for Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. By now, you should understand what Communism is, how Marxism diverges from older Utopian Socialism, and have a thorough understanding of Dialectical and Historical Materialism, the philosophical foundation of Marxism. DiaMat makes the rest of Marxist theory far easier to understand, as it is the basis of all that follows, including analysis of Capitalism and Imperialism, and why Socialism is what comes after Capitalism.
Now, you can read Wage Labor and Capital as well as Value, Price and Profit back to back for Marx to explain the Law of Value without yet delving all the way into Capital, and prep you for Lenin's works Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism and The State and Revolution, to bring you to the modern era of Imperialist Capitalism and explain the Marxist theory of the State.
If you read all of those works, you will be more well-read than the vast majority of Leftists. There are numerous other fantastic Marxist works, but this will get you by far the most bang for your buck when starting out.
As for Lemmy, the instances that care the most about Marxism are Hexbear.net, Lemmy.ml, and Lemmygrad.ml, both Hexbear and Grad have reading lists and offer help with theory.
Thanks for taking the time!
I am doing a lot of traveling over the next couple of weeks, so I will be sure to add these to my reading list. I will start with your recommendation: Blackshirts and Reds.
Again, thanks!
No problem! Feel free to message me if you have any questions.