this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2023
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Whatever "Marxists" tell you that they are anarchists are fucking morons (or Maoists, which could legitimately be said to be a type of anarchism in a loose sense, but then there's still a 90% chance they are fucking morons). Actually read Marx or Engels or Lenin, I beg you, this isn't a "he said, she said" situation.
People quote this too often, but yours is a rare case where it is justified:
This is the conclusion of "On Authority" by Engels.
The position of anarchists is the immediate and total lateralization of society, or else whatever government structure they handwave away as being "not real authority". The position of Marxists, as I already explained at length and you ignored without so much as a comment on its content, is that the matter of achieving such a society requires the creation of a transitional state which must be protected, and socialism brought to the rest of the world to avoid capitalist encirclement.
"State Communism," again, is something some sniveling "anti-authoritarian" useful idiots made up. Marxists see a current necessity of the state but not an essential or an eternal one. To call their ideology "state communism" is absurd.
That said, in the struggle against western imperialism, anarchists are widely regarded by Marxists within liberal capitalist states as allies (and that view is mostly reciprocated). Perhaps this was your mistake, since I would never reject someone for being an anarchist so long as they weren't one of those "I disavow the US but believe everything the State Department says about its enemies" types like the internet is fucking filled with for some reason.
Do you see what you are doing here? By trotting out major historical figures in this ridiculous and presumptuous manner, you are essentially arguing with the weight of chauvinism and an endless litany of mostly-bullshit accusations. It would take a book to answer about any of these figures in a half-decent way.
The short answers in order:
Stalin: Yes, though he was human and had both errors of judgement and in some cases deep-seated personal chauvinism; Before you ask, Khrushchev was anti-marxist but still seemingly some kind of leftist that I frankly don't care enough to diagnose.
Pol Pot: Absolutely not, he was an ultra-leftist and one of the most catastrophic leaders for one's country in human history, even worse than Gonzalo;
Mao: Yes, though he was human and had both errors in judgement and -- especially as he aged -- an odd propensity for utopian error which caused serious problems.
But how does conversation advance from me saying this? I feel no shame in endorsing the person who lead the destruction of Nazi Germany, or the one who fought of the colonizers and genociders who subjugated the people of China. You, on the other hand, are unlikely to retain a single new thing about them because whatever I say is just going to be "taboo noise" to you. My guess is that it's just to reassure yourself that I have nothing worthwhile to say, but that feels a little disingenuous compared to contesting the matter directly.
Here's an essay I like. Maybe consider reading it. I don't 100% agree, but it has definitely changed the way I thought about things.