• finitebanjo@lemmy.world
    336·
    5 hours ago

    So this was paid for and published by Commintern, The Communist International, also known as the Third International which operated from 1919 to 1943. This was published in the 1930s while Joseph Stalin was in charge.

    The fact that some people would post this unironically when the person who sent this message was notorious for the iron-fucking-curtain is beyond stupid.

    • Apepollo11@lemmy.world
      2·
      51 minutes ago

      On the other hand, could you also argue that dismissing something out of hand because the person who made it worked for a publication that aligned itself with a philosophy that was being used by a country that was being led by a bad man, well, kind of stupid too?

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
      3·
      2 hours ago

      Reminds me of this quoted exchange I read in Stalin’s biography recently. Situation is Stalin being increasingly irritated with Molotov, his long-time comrade and lashing out at a meeting, in 1941 (before the war)

      Stalin did not con­ceal his dis­ap­proval of Mo­lotov. He very im­pa­tiently listened to Mo­lotov’s rather pro­lix re­sponses to com­ments from mem­bers of the Bur­eau.… It seemed as if Stalin was at­tack­ing Mo­lotov as an ad­versary and that he was do­ing so from a po­s­i­tion of strength.… Mo­lotov’s breath­ing began to quicken, and at times he would let out a deep sigh. He fid­geted on his stool and mur­mured some­thing to him­self. By the end he could take it no longer:

      “Easier said than done,” Mo­lotov pro­nounced in a low but cut­ting voice. Stalin picked up [Mo­lotov’s] words.

      “It has long been well-known,” said Stalin, “that the per­son who is afraid of cri­ti­cism is a cow­ard.”

      Mo­lotov winced, but kept quiet—the other mem­bers of the Polit­buro sat si­lently, bury­ing their noses in the pa­pers.… At this meet­ing I was again con­vinced of the power and great­ness of Stalin. Stalin’s com­pan­ions feared him like the devil. They would agree with him on prac­tic­ally any­thing

      I’m willing to bet everyone in that meeting almost drowned in the irony but also deathly afraid to say anything

    • Natanox@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      166·
      4 hours ago

      Thank you for the context. The desperation about current (fascist) extreme-right politics really makes some people swing so hard towards the left they just end up with another flavour of fascism.

      (I know the horseshoe theory is garbage, please don’t @ me about it)

      • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
        5·
        3 hours ago

        The best propaganda is the truth. The capitalist press was and is actively lying to you, and when they do tell a truth that goes against capital interests they get punished for it.

        That the Soviets were doing the same thing is just another example of why only anarchists are cool and smart 😎

  • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
    1·
    3 hours ago

    pretty sure there’s plenty of socialism online, I don’t think the capitalists are hiding people from that.

  • fckreddit@lemmy.ml
    241·
    8 hours ago

    “Public opinion exists only where there are no ideas.”- Oscar Wilde.

    I think public opinion is overrated. Too many fools in the public. Just look at MAGA idiots in US.

    • Mayor Poopington@lemmy.worldEnglish
      281·
      7 hours ago

      I believe public opinion is fairly left leaning. Just looks how popular Bernie and AOC are. It’s just that corporate media discourse is very good at suppressing left wing views.

      • NewDark
        221·
        7 hours ago

        You can describe socialist and communist policies and people generally love them. You just can’t use those thought terminating trigger words.

        • fckreddit@lemmy.ml
          51·
          6 hours ago

          That comes from dishonest politicians and media, who twist things for their benefit. They frame certain acts like they are coming for your 2 chickens, when in reality, they are coming for a rich fucks’ 100000 chickens. Such people have a vested interest in fooling the people with 2 chickens. Hence, they campaign by equating such measures with ‘scary’ words like ‘communism’. Propaganda works. These kinds of tricks are bread and butter of advertising industry. So why not politicians and media?

          • umbrella@lemmy.ml
            3·
            2 hours ago

            there is technique and whole ideologies and entire categories of political theory in the left all literally dedicated to taking control off oligarchs and implementing it with varying levels of irl success.

            there is more to the left of liberals and they address a bunch of these things.

      • fckreddit@lemmy.ml
        2·
        6 hours ago

        What I mean is taking the opinion of the public seriously. I mean, people believe in a lot of weird things and that includes me. As an example, lot of people are anti-vaxxers, that doesn’t actually make vaccines dangerous. Should their opinion matter? If so, how much?

        I think the quote is meant to consider that sometimes we must ignore public opinion and do what is right. But, I agree some nuance could be lost. But sadly, the quote has no context because it is from a list of quotes Oscar Wilde wrote. Maybe, we should supply our own nuance.?

        • rumschlumpel@feddit.org
          4·
          6 hours ago

          Public opinion has a pretty big influence on who is getting voted into public offices. Ignore at your own peril.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          5 hours ago

          Only works if you’ve got the “right” politicians in place. Right now there’s a guy in power doing just that in the US and you see what it looks like.