The Wagner private military organization – Openly neo-Nazi Azov Battalion

Why isn’t the first described like the second

Under this deal, Putin gets to annex key territories while Ukraine is kept out of NATO and left without American peacekeepers, forcing Europe to buy U.S. military gear. Imperialist powers divide and weaken working people by keeping nations in chaos and under constant threat. This brief period of “peace” isn’t for long as capitalist interests allow Russia to regroup and rearm. Ukraine remains in a disordered, free-for-all state under imperialist influences. In time, this setup could let Russia launch an invasion through Odessa to connect with Transnistria.

Democracy is demagogue-prone. That’s a disease to which electoral systems are vulnerable. Yet demagogues are easy to identify. They gesture a lot and speak with pulpit rhythms, using words that ring of religious fervor and god-fearing sincerity.

The practice can always be detected by anyone who learns the signs: Repetition. Great attempts to keep your attention on words. You must pay no attention to words. Watch what the person does. That way you learn the motives.

They create a system where most people are dissatisfied, vaguely or deeply. This builds up widespread feelings of vindictive anger. Then they supply targets for that anger as they need them—as distraction. Don’t give time to question.

They bury mistakes in more laws. Traffic in illusion. Bullring tactics. Wave the pretty cape. People will charge it and be confused when there’s no matador behind the thing. That dulls the electorate just as it dulls the bull.

Fewer people use their vote intelligently next time.

There appears to be a rule of nature that says it’s almost impossible for self-serving groups to act enlightened, flowing with the forces of life, adjusting your actions that life may continue. With the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number, of course.

The risks of democracy and how to prevent them paraphrased from Dune.

Apparent everywhere, Trump is just one in this path of centuries.

Focus on actions, not promises, and unite against inequality and division. Systems should be simple, transparent, and work for everyone, not just the wealthy or powerful. Educating and organizing workers, holding leaders accountable, and building solidarity across all groups are essential for achieving fairness. Lasting change comes from addressing root causes, not chasing temporary fixes.

Maybe the next century will show results somewhere.

I’m not arguing. The American Way is already how the ruling class stifles the people

Educated people won’t stay obedient. That’s why reactionary powers historically avoid aiming for truly educated masses—they prefer a controlled education system that reinforces their ideology, not one that fosters critical thinking or revolutionary action.

China’s ambitious education plan seems to promise quality and accessibility, but we must ask: what kind of education will it promote? True education awakens class consciousness and challenges power structures, but education shaped by the state can become a tool for reinforcing conformity, obedience, and the status quo.

As Marxist theory teaches us, the ruling class controls not just the means of production but also the means of ideas. The flex here is not in building ‘education power,’ but in demonstrating the capacity to shape minds for the future workforce, ensuring stability within their system of production and governance. In this context, the plan isn’t just about making smarter citizens; it’s about making a more compliant society under the guise of progress.

Good point. The issue at hand must be understood within the broader framework of state power and ideological control. While it’s true that the immediate justification for these arrests is rooted in anti-pornography laws, the enforcement of such laws is not ideologically neutral. Under a socialist analysis, we must examine who these laws serve and who they suppress. The targeting of erotic writers—particularly LGBTQ+ creators—fits into a pattern of reinforcing bourgeois morality and suppressing dissenting or marginalized voices.

Sexuality, as part of the superstructure, is inherently tied to the base. In a society where the state aligns itself with heteronormative and patriarchal values, laws purportedly aimed at “protecting morality” often become tools of repression against communities and expressions that deviate from the status quo. The absence of legal protections for LGBTQ+ people and the lack of recognition for same-sex marriage in China is a clear indication of the state’s alignment with reactionary values, even as it claims to uphold socialism.

Marxists should oppose the imprisonment of writers for exploring erotic themes because these laws serve to restrict the free development of human creativity and reinforce the control of the state over the personal lives of individuals. Engels, in The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, critiques how oppressive social norms are used to maintain class society. Similarly, the suppression of erotic fiction is not about protecting the people but about consolidating ideological control over the masses, maintaining a culture of obedience and fear.

We must also critique the broader pattern of repression. Mass arrests, whether for writing fiction or other nonviolent expressions, represent the actions of a state more concerned with controlling its people than advancing their material conditions. A truly proletarian state would encourage the flourishing of diverse cultural expressions as part of the revolutionary process, not silence them under the pretext of “morality.”

This crackdown is not an isolated incident but part of a larger reactionary turn in the governance of China. As communists, we must oppose these repressive measures and advocate for a society where the working class—not the state bureaucracy—has control over cultural and ideological production. Liberation includes the liberation of human expression from the chains of both commodification and state repression.