Do all people get paid the same amount? a dishwasher would get the same as a doctor?

If you don't work... won't you get your first needs covered by goverment? what happens if there's not enough jobs for everybody?

Doesn't the lack of competition and individual economic incentives affect innovation?

and production and therefore cause that the economy slows down and the country overall could not grow?

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What is the best evidence to counter this argument that my anthropology teacher just slipped into his lecture about something completely unrelated.

https://chng.it/9RhhdcTTfn

Zelensky and co. locked up a fellow marxist. Check link for more.

For "free software", I’m using the definition by GNU^(1). For "free software movement", I mean organisations like GNU & the FSF and the free software advocates that mostly agree with them.

When I was younger and a social fascist, I used to actively support the ideals of free software. Now, I’m ashamed of the social fascist I used to be, and I would like to analyse free software advocacy and its links to social fascism, not focusing on the far-right elements of the movement. However, I believe that free software’s links to social fascism can help explaining the presence of said elements. This post is, naturally, written from a communist perspective; it will critique the free software movement for its petty-bourgeois utopian visions. That said, I still dominantly use free software, but I no longer see anything inherently progressive in it.

1) Compatibility with capitalism

First, its proponents openly acknowledge that free software, or specifically, their petty-bourgeois wish concerning software, is compatible with capitalism (in fact, capitalism is necessary for those wishes to be fulfilled). They simultaneously harbour anti-communist stances. The movement’s first leader, Richard M. Stallman, is a good example of a free software advocate & anti-communist^(2):

Communism as was practiced in the Soviet Union was a system of central control where all activity was regimented, supposedly for the common good, but actually for the sake of the members of the Communist party. And where copying equipment was closely guarded to prevent illegal copying.

The American system of software copyright exercises central control over distribution of a program, and guards copying equipment with automatic copying-protection schemes to prevent illegal copying.

By contrast, I am working to build a system where people are free to decide their own actions; in particular, free to help their neighbors, and free to alter and improve the tools which they use in their daily lives. A system based on voluntary cooperation and on decentralization.

Thus, if we are to judge views by their resemblance to Russian Communism, it is the software owners who are the Communists.

But what are their petty-bourgeois wishes? It is the notion that laws concerning the ownership of ideas, collectively deemed "intellectual property laws", primarily copyright, patent, and trademark laws^(3), need to be reformed to destroy the monopolisation of software; to give every programmer an equal opportunity to contribute and be rewarded, to let "every person", i.e., predominantly labour aristocrats in first-world nations, fully benefit from software, and more truthfully, the spoils of imperialism. There is little talk of abolishing the concept of owning/authoring ideas and private property completely.

Why is capitalism necessary to fulfill those wishes? "Personal" computers are perhaps the most important piece of private property to the petty-bourgeoisie. The possibility of many persyns being independent programmers, game developers, graphic designers, and so on, coincidentally the last few relevant areas for "making it big" for the petty-bourgeoisie (although now endangered by the rise of A.I., hence the outcry among artists), is founded upon the exploitation of the global proletariat. The materials used in persynal computers that allow for such activities have to come from somewhere, and it’s certainly not first-world wholesome working conditions.

2) "Co-option" by corporations & the open-source movement

The free software movement distinguishes itself from the open-source movement^(4).

It may appear paradoxical that while proponents of free software acknowledge the compatibility of free software with capitalism (or even its necessity), they lash out at the fact that the ideals of free software are being "co-opted" by the open-source movement. However, it can be easily explained; the open-source movement incorporates the ideas of free software in such a way as to be more compatible with monopolies. So while one movement is "strictly anti-monopolies", the other one is not necessarily.

3) Communist view on software

We have seen that the free software movement is hardly compatible with communism. What would be the communist stance, and how much would it differ from free software as defined by the free software movement? Here’s how I see the primary differences:

• instead of being based on petty-bourgeois fantasies of decentralised development, software development would be planned centrally and scientifically;
• there would be no inalienable bourgeois rights; the usage of software for reactionary ends would be punished and wasteful usage of computers prohibited;
• the concepts of authorship would be challenged as humyn thoughts don’t emerge from a social vacuum.

My views are rather limited because I'm still an inexperienced marxist. I would like to know what other comrades think of the free software movement and how software would be handled under socialism to further the communist goal.

I recently learned about this party and I was wondering what other Marxists think of it. For those who don’t know this party took power in Saskatchewan Canada in the 1940s and seemed to pretty successful. Here is a list of things they accomplished.

Establishment of a Welfare State: The CCF party laid the groundwork for the Canadian welfare state with the introduction of various social programs.

Established state automobile and fire insurance for affordable options.

Socialized key services like electric power, natural gas distribution, and bus transportation.

Introduced universal healthcare, a reform later adopted nationally.

Here is also the Regina Manifesto which was published by the party in 1933.

institute government-controlled economic planning;

assert greater control of banking through the socialization of finance;

establish state ownership of transportation, communications and electric power companies;

create agriculture programs to stabilize prices and production;

increase the regulation of international trade; create co-operative institutions to help farmers buy what they need at fair prices;

write a new labour code to give workers more power to determine working conditions, as well as to provide insurance for work-related injuries (see Workers’ Compensation);

provide free medical coverage to Canadians with government-run health care;

amend the Constitution to abolish the Senate and to give the federal government more control over national economic development; reorient external relations to promote peace and disarmament;

establish fairer tax policies; amend the Criminal Code and rewrite immigration laws to allow more freedom of expression and equal treatment before the law;

make the social justice system fairer to all; implement an emergency program of social spending to address the immediate challenges of the Depression.

Does this party count as a successful attempt at socialism? Or is it just a social democracy?

I can understand the fact that Germany has some sort of collective guilt over the Holocaust and how this influences on most mainstream parties simping for Israel. But literal communist parties / movements (like Antideutsch) being pro-Israel makes no sense to me. Like, where's their internationalism and solidarity with oppressed peoples?

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Hey comrades. I'm looking for book recommendations on political pedagogies outside of Paulo Freire and bell hooks. Thanks!

I'm looking for it to translate it into Spanish, but I can't find it.

In German, it is entitled "Rechtsstaat und Klassenjustiz."

Ty all!

I want to find what the member organizations are for my country so I can join one of them.

Hello, first, I wanted to apologize for my poor level of English.

I wanted to ask the reddit communist community something I'm seeing lately in communist organizations. Some organizations have among their members law enforcement workers (police, army,...) and consider that it is compatible to be a communist and have said job. However, to achieve the emancipation of the working class it is more than evident that there must be a class rupture where the forces of order take a fundamental role and protect the privileged classes over the working classes. Isn't accepting that a communist can be a police officer basically the same as thinking that these reactionary institutions can be reformed? In fact, these communists who accept police officers into their ranks consider that the police are working class. This speech shocks me, what do you think?

Greetings, comrades

?

Want to start getting more news from a left leaning perspective - any good news outlets that are explicitly socialist/communist leaning?

I found this April 2024 World Bank "Macro Poverty Outlook" on Palestine, which I wanted to share. The World Bank, being the World Bank, makes me suspicious of the document's accuracy. However, I find it useful because even if the numbers are intentionally deflated, the understated information still proves how the Zionist regime subjects Palestinians to extreme poverty, unemployment, and economic underdevelopment.

For example, according to the World Bank in 2023, the West Bank and Gaza's combined GDP per capita was USD 3,401. In 2022, Gaza's GDP per capita was $1,253 and the West Bank's was $4,491. Unfortunately, the document does not say if the West Bank's GDP per capita includes Zionist settlements - I assume it does not.

In comparison, "Israel's" 2023 GDP per capita was $54,903 USD. Dividing $54,903 by $3,401 shows that the GDP per capita of one 'Israeli' is equivalent to that of sixteen Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza.

Why is GDP per capita a useful metric? A country's GDP per capita is closely correlated with its people's standard of living, such as consumption, savings, healthcare, education, life expectancy, and so on. Therefore, if Palestinian revolutionaries were to overthrow the Zionist entity, initiate reparations, and implement the redistribution of wealth, it would quickly improve the standard of living for Palestine's people. Simultaneously, revolutionary policies would demand a steep drop in the settlers' standard of living, almost certainly for the remainder of their lives if they remain in liberated Palestine. GDP per capita reveals the extreme wealth of "Israelis" relative to Palestinians, and is a clear economic indicator demonstrating why the Zionist state wages war against Palestine's revolutionary organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Beyond GDP per capita, the document highlights (and potentially understates) the economic effects of the war since October 2023. I recommend reading the whole thing (it is only two pages) - these are parts I am sharing below:

In Gaza, as of January 26, 2024, an estimated 82 percent of private sector establishments have either been partially damaged or destroyed. Further, 62 percent of residential buildings in Gaza have incurred some form of damage. Infrastructure is heavily impacted, with over 62 percent of all roads damaged or destroyed.

...

On the fiscal front, additional deductions by Israel from the revenues it collects on behalf of the PA (clearance revenues) increased from an average of NIS200m to NIS500-600m per month since October 2023....Due to the deductions, clearance revenue transfers shrank by over 50 percent and, as a response, the PA decided to decline several of the monthly transfers of the sharply reduced amount. Notably, clearance revenues, prior to deductions, have shrunk drastically due to the contraction of economic activity and Palestinian trade. This, paired with decreased domestic tax collection has made the 2023 fiscal deficit balloon five fold vis-a-vis the pre-conflict baseline, reaching US$516 million, or 3.0 percent of GDP.

In other words, even fewer crumbs of stolen surplus-value are being given by the Zionist regime to the Palestinian Authority.

Finally, the document ends with this threat from the World Bank:

Downside risks remain elevated. The severity of the economic contraction will directly hinge on the evolution of the conflict and the resolution of the clearance revenues dispute. Absent a cessation of the hostilities and a substantial increase in external aid, the risks of potentially disorderly fiscal consolidation measures cannot be excluded.

So the World Bank demands a "substantial increase in external aid" to the West Bank and Gaza, all to ensure money still flows back to the creditors. The imperialist bourgeoisie demands Palestinians scrape by on imperialism's charity, end their revolutionary war, and accept apartheid in perpetuity, all while threatening to tax them even more and strip the puppet government for parts!

I don't have any academical formation or academical interest to hard study Capital from Karl Marx, but as a well-wish Marxist, I want to know if the Capitla from Paul Lafargue is a good choice to understand the concepts.

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Thanks!

Pretty much what the title says.