Essentially capitalism had progressed to a point sometime in the late 19th century where industrial monopolies had formed in the major European powers. The industrial monopolies had been purchased by finance capital, and the finance capital became monopolized as well. In search of cheaper profits, these monopolies began exporting capital overseas to other countries and colonies. The secret treaties were a product of this. France for instance was heavily invested in Russia (I think Lenin said France owned half of all foreign capital in Russia at the start of the war) so France signed a defense pact with Russia to protect their investments there.

The treaties also carved up the world outside of the major European powers so the Balkans, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific were all legally divided between the imperialist powers so that they could be more securely be exploited.

The German, French, British, and American finance capitalists ability to carve up the world (as they did with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman empire, Africa, Asia, and they intended to do to Russia had the Bolsheviks not won) and exploit the people in these imperial holdings was why the war was fought and they were happy to liquidate the proletariat of all nations to do so. It had nothing to do with fighting autocracy or the right to self determination which only served as ideological cover for the postwar settlement and were quickly done away with especially in the British and French colonies. Therefore the British and French were not the “good guys”. Tens of millions of people were slaughtered just so the British and French could pillage and enslave most of the world.

No, democracy is not identical with the subordination of the minority to the majority. Democracy is a state which recognizes the subordination of the minority to the majority, i.e., an organization for the systematic use of force by one class against another, by one section of the population against another.

We set ourselves the ultimate aim of abolishing the state, i.e., all organized and systematic violence, all use of violence against people in general. We do not expect the advent of a system of society in which the principle of subordination of the minority to the majority will not be observed. In striving for socialism, however, we are convinced that it will develop into communism and, therefore, that the need for violence against people in general, for the subordination of one man to another, and of one section of the population to another, will vanish altogether since people will become accustomed to observing the elementary conditions of social life without violence and without subordination.

This might get at your question somewhat but I’d strongly suggest reading the whole of State and Revolution if you haven’t already.

Essentially, liberal democracy is a sham because of capitalism. Even if there’s some aspects of a democracy like elections or a parliament the capitalist class still rules and democracy will be subordinated or ignored if the capitalists deem it necessary. Marxists recognize that democracy is an important tool in teaching the proletariat how to govern itself and that capitalism must be overthrown therefore it is an important stage of historical development. As communists we also recognize that the democratic state must one day wither away and therefore democracy will wither away. In that way we are not mere democrats with some idealistic belief in majoritarian rule or the perfect democracy or whatever the way liberals are. If democracy becomes impractical or unnecessary in the pursuit of communism than it can be done away with.

I had some CPUSA members tell me Trump was a fascist threat that needed to be defeated even if it meant voting for genocidal Democrats and I desperately want to ask them why they aren’t organizing a new Abraham Lincoln brigade now that the fascist threat is here.

The purpose of this is to spread it as “educational content”, to arm people online with talking points. The goal is to create thousands of people with this information in their heads so that everywhere an org name comes up (PSL for example) immediately gets dozens of comments dropping these talking points.

There was a small workers group in my area that had existed for years and hadn’t really done anything until myself and my partner joined and got regular meetings going and set up a plan to do some public facing work. Suddenly one of the prominent members pulled out and shared a post detailing these exact points on Instagram the next day and the group quickly fell apart shortly after. My partner and I were the only two in the group that would even identify ourselves as Marxists and while I like PSL and Workers World neither of us are members of it or any other “vanguardist” organization.

Don’t forget that a small army of lawyers need to be paid for to fight the government when it finds out that the dyes in that underwear cause cancer. OP also has to pay for the settlement fund for that class action lawsuit and the fines that accompany it.

The fascism has been here since at least 1946. Probably more like 1776. Libs are just scared it might hurt them now unlike before.

Yes

Only two of the seven Democratic presidential campaigns in this century have lost the popular vote.

I have to flesh it out but I keep being struck by the contradictory nature of American elections and how frankly nonsensical it all is and it returned me to this (from Wikipedia)

Gallup principal economist Jonathan Rothwell concluded, in a 2020 analysis and economic impact study of the PIAAC results collected during 2012 - 2017;[55] commissioned by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy,[56] that the United States could increase its annual GDP by 10%, adding $2.2 trillion in annual income, by enabling greater literacy for the 54% of Americans reading below a sixth-grade level nationwide.[57][58] The analysis noted that, of the 33 OECD nations included in the survey, the U.S. had placed sixteenth for literacy, and surmised that about half of Americans surveyed, aged 16 to 74, had demonstrated a below sixth-grade reading level.[55]

If this and similar studies are accurate it means a significant number of Americans can read what’s on a page and repeat it back to you, but couldn’t tell you what it means or draw anything from it. If it is the case that people can read but not understand than no wonder Americans are so clueless - they’re thinking at the level of twelve year old children.

I think coming out of this election one of the things we should be doing is organizing for the collective education, both political and general. It’s no wonder that communists of yore prioritized workers schools, study groups, newspapers, etc. Illiteracy is a tool of the imperialist because it allows people to wallow in ignorance and uncritical thought. We should be organizing study groups (and schools where possible) for the people in our lives to study, appreciate, and create not just theory but also art, music, literature, etc. of both the expressly political and seemingly apolitical varieties. As long as we are engaging with people and challenging them to think for themselves they will come closer to socialism.

These groups can also serve as the basis for actual organizing which is the second thing that we as a society need to learn. We must make change if we want it, politicians and bureaucrats will not do it for us. This is especially true in the workplace where workers have come to rely on government intervention or legal contracts for far too long into a time when capitalists do not care and will only respond to actual labor action.

Somewhere between forty and seventy percent of American adults do not demonstrate comprehensive English literacy meaning they can technically read and write but the ability to recall, analyze, reference, or think critically about text is at or below the level we expect twelve year olds to read at. This is not a matter of them being able to read words on a page, it’s a matter of them being able to think. America makes a lot more sense when you realize this.

Final tallies aren’t in but it seems like significantly over half the population also did not participate in this election.