The Maelstrom of Violence

[Eric the Green]

(08-30-2017, 11:46 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(08-30-2017, 12:28 AM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(08-29-2017, 08:45 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(08-29-2017, 10:36 AM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(08-29-2017, 10:16 AM)Warren Dew Wrote: Actually we have a very good idea, since their goal is to 'destroy capitalism' and they fly anarchocommunist flags.  Stalinism is at the end of that road.  They might not be exactly equal - Stalin killed several times more people than Hitler - but they're on the same level.

They aren't even close.  Marxist-Leninists look at the Antifa crowd and laugh.  They are at most useful idiots for the Stalinists who follow in their wake, and they are always the first to the Gulags after the revolution.

Sure.  That's why I say "Stalinism is at the end of that road", rather than it being their goal.  They don't think they're Stalinists, but they pave the road for the Stalinists.

I was more objecting to calling them on par with "Stalinists".  They aren't even close.  Antifa's tactics are to smash stuff and hit people.  Their ideology is to label anyone they don't like a fascist, whether they are or not.  Which I find amusing about people who claim Trump is a fascist.  In a calmer, saner time, within the living memory of both Boomers and Xers he would at most be a pro-business Democrat.

In any event only two outcomes are going to arise from Antifa's antics. 
1.  There is a communist revolution headed by a Marxist-Leninist party
2.  The emergence of an actual fascist group to combat antifa by taking control of the state.

At present in the US situation 1 is unlikely.  Most of the ML parties in the US are poorly lead and terribly small.  And the CPUSA has been suffering from Browderism since the 1940s and is thus  spent force.  Situation 2 is more likely.  If the mild reforms Trump wants to push are frustrated too much someone who is less mild than him will be found, and Gen X has plenty of people like that running around.

Antifa rioting every weekend is the best thing that ever happened to the neo-nazi types.

I don't think 1. would have to be by an established Marxist-Leninist party.  Some charismatic person who is either part of the movement or who had influence and wants to take advantage of the movement would be sufficient.  Even some factions of the Democratic party might work.

I agree that 2. is also a possibility, especially if the press keeps pushing the alt Right toward white nationalism.

1. Democrats are nowhere near Stalinists. It's true that libertarian right-wing economics claims that regulating and taxing business is "totalitarian," but it is not; it is vitally necessary. You can see where absence of government regulation leads in Houston today. The Oil business is allowed to get away with anything by Texas libertarian government, and the result is that people are being unfairly poisoned by the flood, as they frequently are.

A charismatic Marxist-Leninist is highly unlikely to get anywhere in America. But show me one with a great horoscope score, and I might take a look. On the other hand, even the Green candidate Jill Stein has an outstanding score, and is going nowhere. I looked up an independent candidate named Laurence Kotlikoff whom my friend suggested, and his score is 13-2, but appears to be going nowhere. You have to be in a position to be recognized as a prominent candidate in order to get elected or nominated. Even Bernie's score was better than Hillary's, probably, but couldn't win because he's a "socialist" whom the Democratic Establishment was lined up against.

The "movement" called antifa is too loose for it to be taken by anyone toward any particular political goal other than to oppose fascism.

2. good.