Protect the worm at all costs!

There are conflicting reports on this. I've updated the title accordingly.

The Worldview and Philosophical Methodology of Marxism-Leninism

This took me a long time to finish, but that's mostly due to starting and stopping for a period of time, but I'm so glad I did stick with it.

At first, the density within the annotations was almost comical. Having finished the book now, those annotations were invaluable. The concepts within feel almost simple upon reflection, but the complexity is within the way each of these concepts are interlinked.

The material world is the base of consciousness, and consciousness can impact and change the material world, which in turn changes our state of consciousness. This motion of practical activity within the world creates quantitative changes in our consciousness that eventually become qualitative changes in consciousness. Relative Truth becomes aligned closer to Absolute Truth the more we perform this practical activity within the world. This process allows us to theorize about reality, test those theories, revise them, and test again. This process is Practice\Praxis.

Understanding, too, that this method of analysis can be applied to many different systems both small and large really shaped my thinking. As I worked through this book, I could see how I could apply this framework in my own personal and work life.

On my own personal reflection, looking back at the last couple of years through this lens, I can see the quantitative changes that lead to the qualitative changes within my own thinking. How the events of 2020 pushed me in a direction that lead me here (both personal events and political events), writing this post, consuming books at a rate that I never have previously in my life. It hasn't just changed my understanding and knowledge, it has also changed my level of interest. I find myself excited at the prospects of reading and learning. Something I would say wasn't true only a few years ago. Every book I finish, only makes the next book less daunting, and so here too I can see the qualitative changes as well.

The final chapter and the afterward really impresses on you the need for action within the world. This is a lesson, even before I reached the end of the book, that I began to understand. Finding an organization to donate some of my free time too is on my list of things to do for the future. When I'll be able to do that, is unclear, since being a parent is a full-time job as it is. Even still, I have thoughts on how I might implement small amounts of Praxis as a result of this reading. I used Logseq to organize flashcards based on the glossary at the back of the book to aid in reading / studying this book, helping keep concepts fresh in my mind. I might find a way to publish that work online for everyone to consume.

In closing, I think this book does a great job consolidating all the different writings that make up the whole of Dialectical Materialism and synthesizing those concepts into a digestible and cohesive work. What more could I expect from a college level text book? Thanks to Luna Oi for her work in translating this text, and I look forward to the future release on Historical Materialism.

Archive

Open-source intelligence analysts reported that Crooks didn’t appear to use mainstream social media channels such as Facebook or Instagram and had an almost negligible internet footprint, which is highly unusual for a 20-year-old. Instead, analysts said that Crooks corresponded with friends and associates on a Discord server that they were now trying to access.

Discord servers are restricted ring-fenced sections of the internet. They are often used by gaming groups and communities as secure chat rooms but are also used by fringe organisations to push their ideologies and discuss wild conspiracy theories and plots.

You do something this brass and don't even leave a letter? Maybe its to early.

How's the fam? Burgerlander's, hope you had a safe 4th of July weekend, don't loose any fingers. Showed this video to Kid1 the other night and she wants to hear it all the time now 😅. It's cute, and I think, a nice affirmation.

Feel free to join us on Matrix: #parenting:genzedong.xyz. Learn more here.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2921799

I've just finished reading "How Marxism Works" by Chris Harman, as part of Prolewiki's Absolute Beginner Reading List, and I wanted people's thoughts on its section about Marxism and Feminism. This edition is from the year 2000, and this section feels like the weakest section in the entire pamphlet.

It feels like a very surface-level dive into the topic, and I'm wondering if I'm simply picking up on a lack of familiarity by the author. I will admit, as well, that this is a weak topic for myself. I know that there were Bolshevik women who had to advocate for their inclusion in the state after the October Revolution. Their admission led to huge social progress and amenities for working-class women, but there is no mention of them by name in this section. There is no mention of intersectionality, either, from the 'Feminist' side of the section, but lots of focus on the "separatist ideas" of Feminism. No mention of works such as Angela Davis's Women, Race, & Class (which is on my reading list).

Queer Marxism, Feminist Marxism, often feel like an under discussed subsection of Marxist thought (to me anyway, as a cishet man, who could probably do better about seeking this information out). I have to imagine that, being a woman, being queer, being non-white, and looking at Marxism and its focus on class can feel like an alienating experience to some. To have your struggles collapsed and folded together into the "Class Struggle" with no real mention or notion of what life will look like for you and your intersection with society at large after the elimination of the class society must feel like someone telling you to "take it on faith" that things will improve for you. That somehow, in a post capitalist state, the biases and prejudices are simply washed away from the minds of the masses. You would need to take a step further, to study the history of places like the Soviet Union and its efforts in decolonization to get an idea of what that looks like. This could also be my own shallowness showing regarding theory, however.

So, what are your thoughts? What are some historical perspectives I should be seeking out that flesh out this section? What are some works of Theory within the realms of Women's Liberation, Black Liberation, and Queer Liberation I should consume to expand the foundation for my world view?

Thanks!