this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
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politics

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"Progressives should not make the same mistake that Ernst Thälmann made in 1932. The leader of the German Communist Party, Thälmann saw mainstream liberals as his enemies, and so the center and left never joined forces against the Nazis. Thälmann famously said that 'some Nazi trees must not be allowed to overshadow a forest' of social democrats, whom he sneeringly called 'social fascists.'

After Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933, Thälmann was arrested. He was shot on Hitler’s orders in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944."

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

We keep doing "harm reduction" but after what point is is truly harm reduction and when does it because a slow decline into fascism? Right now the "harm reduction" policy means voting for genocide, war, a fascist border policy, less social programs for the poor, more money for the rich, mass censorship, and surveillance. What will you Liberals say when the Kamala runs again but even more right wing, and then what? When does the insanity end? At what point do we vote for Fascists as a form of "harm reduction" while the planet dies? How long do we truly have to keep making the capitalist class rich at our expense before there is no future generations to protect? I reject this line of thinking, true freedom cannot come from reform. We need a new revolution or we will not be alive to tell our story.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Did you even read the post?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

Yeah, its blatant historical revisonism. Just look at any of the comments here that point it out (they all have very good points).

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Do not forget that in '32 the SPD backed Hindenburg... who then nominated Hitler as chancellor.

Thälmann was foolish, but even if he didn't run, Hitler would still get into power. If the far right is strong enough, mere electoralism will not stop them. Fighting them must happen on the street level.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago (8 children)

We could avoid this with ranked choice voting.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

in ranked voting there is still the possibility that a fear of a deeper evil driving straight to a bipartisan situation again.

You still have all the same campaigns exacerbating fears with just a different look to the ballot. Ppl could easily fall into the trap of picking their top 1-2 choices based on who they don’t want in power after glued to the screen watching all the drama.

Rcv just seems like the new ev where someone oversells that it fixes all things but hides the cons that we’re all pretty much in the same spot we started.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I agree with this assessment for the most part, but it does seem like the best method for introducing a third party, which the US desperately needs. Do you have a better EV?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (9 children)

Yes, but you're going to need to find a way to think beyond that, because both parties understand that it's in their interests to oppose rcv, so "vote democrat until we get rcv" effectively means "vote democrat forever".

Fundamentally, there is a limit to the extent that a capitalist democracy will tolerate actual democratic power, because eclipsing the power of capitalists obviously means threatening their position. They will not sit idly by and allow their power to be voted away.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Or will they? You see, this is what I don't understand about MAGA congressmen. If they make Donald Trump their dictator, they are abdicating their own power and giving it to him. How is this in their best interests?

[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Well, two things:

One, that is a very alarmist view of Trump. He liked slinging around executive orders, but he had neither the ambition nor the audacity to be a Hitler. It simply isn't realistic to think he'll execute his second term by toppling the Republic, he doesn't have visions like that, even if many people have visions like that for him (including Mike Lindel, somewhat hilariously, with his apparent attempt to get Trump to do a false flag and establish emergency powers).

Second, look at history. Inevitably, some people who release leopards do get their faces eaten, but becoming an executor of a fascist regime isn't a loss of power, it's a change in title at worst and, if anything, something of an increase in power. Imagining Trump becomes a fascist autocrat, that doesn't actually mean that his whim is enough to unilaterally move things however he likes, and that is true of every leader in history. The reason for this is that his power, his authority, doesn't come from himself, it comes from the class (or classes, historically) that support him, so he needs to make sure to keep them on his side or they will absolutely just kill and replace him. The petty Congressmen that support him know this, and are fine with working in a paradigm where they benefit from his support and are left with a broad range of things that he views as acceptable (since Trump won't try to micromanage the whole country) in which to exert their personal agendas as they see fit.

But again, Fuhrer Trump is a fantasy. Maybe Tom Cotton poses such a threat, but Trump does not.

Does this all make sense?

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