• lugal@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        24
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        3 months ago

        Tbf it’s not that anybody saw that coming. Maybe Bakunin, Kropotkin, Malatesta and all the other anarchists but aside from them, nobody could have known it.

        • volodya_ilich@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          communist party

          private property owning class

          If there’s no exploitation, and if everyone can voluntarily join the communist party and the unions (and is encouraged to do so), how can you say there was an owning class?

          • lugal@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            2 months ago

            I love how tankies (and in varying degrees most Marxists) have no analysis of (vertical) power structures. As Bakunin so perfectly predicted:

            So the result is: guidance of the great majority of the people by a privileged minority. But this minority, say the Marxists will consist of workers. Certainly, with your permission, of former workers, who however, as soon as they have become representatives or governors of the people, cease to be workers and look down on the whole common workers’ world from the height of the state. They will no longer represent the people, but themselves and their pretensions to people’s government. Anyone who can doubt this knows nothing of the nature of men.

            But don’t take it from someone who saw it coming, but from Bookchin who was very sympathetic to the USSR:

            That the Russian Soviets were incapable of providing the anatomy for a truly popular democracy is to be ascribed not only to their hierarchical structure, but also to their limited social roots.

            • volodya_ilich@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              Nobody in their sane minds argues that there wasn’t overbureaucratisation in the USSR. That’s a well established truth. The question is, if people aren’t only allowed but encouraged to join the party, and if there’s no exploitation of the working class, what’s the argument to suggest that the “bureaucrats were the new owning class”

              • lugal@sopuli.xyz
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                2 months ago

                But we agree that they were the ruling class? Once everything belongs to the state, it really belongs to those who rule the state.

                And there is power structure within parties. Being member of the party doesn’t make you an equal to every other member. Many people were not only encouraged but coerced to join the party and do as the higher ups say. Centralism is never democratic.

                • volodya_ilich@lemm.ee
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  2 months ago

                  Once everything belongs to the state, it really belongs to those who rule the state.

                  Again, not that easy. Khruschev didn’t decide that the iron in the factory #3 would be used in the steel beam factory #7. The planning of the productive forces was an incredibly complex process in which thousands of bureaucrats union members were involved. Calling that amalgam of workers an “owning class”, especially when they’re not extracting surplus value at all from the workers seems a big stretch to me.

                  Centralism is never democratic.

                  The fact that the USSR wasn’t as democratic as ideal, doesn’t mean that the existence of a state can’t be democratic. “Centralism” is an umbrella term covering many different possibilities of governance, and a single party ruled by elected leaders of worker councils is a recipe of some sort of centralism that can provide a very reasonable degree of democracy. I’m not arguing this was the case for the USSR. If you want to read on a practical case of the existence of democracy within a Marxist-Leninist single-party regime, I recommend you have a look at a book called “How the worker’s parliaments saved the Cuban revolution”, from Pedro Ross, which describes this exact form of functioning of back and forth between the central government and the worker councils in which millions of Cubans participated to overcome the worst consequences of the “periodo especial” after the illegal and antidemocratic dissolution of the USSR.

                  I myself am from a country with a rich history of anarchism in the 20th century: Spain. By the 1930s, the CNT, a union of workers which proposed some sort of anarcho-syndicalism (which I bet you’d be happy to agree is a good method of governance), had more than a million members, which for the population of the country at the time was absolutely huge. The lack of centralization of sorts initially among the leftists, and their consequent weakness to respond to threats, is actually the very reason why fascism could trump the democratic government in many places of the country and destroy this anarchist movement and all social progress for the following 40 years. Funnily enough, the dictatorial USSR was the only country which assisted the republicans in their civil war against fascism, other than the admittedly heroic volunteer corps from the brigadas internacionales.

          • Rinox@feddit.it
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            2 months ago

            Because there’s always one. Name one county where there isn’t a owning class

            • volodya_ilich@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              2 months ago

              Ok, so in the USSR, the country with no exploitation of labor and which promoted membership of party and unions, the owning class was the working class, right? Or are you gonna do some mental gymnastics to say it was the politician class?

              • lugal@sopuli.xyz
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                2 months ago

                I’m looking forward to your mental gymnastics on how the Kronstadt rebellion were the bad guys

          • lugal@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            10
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            I’m talking about bolshevik parties and their bureaucracy becoming the new capitalist or ruling class as Bakunin told Marx would happen

            • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              7
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              Why do democratically elected government officials constitute a “class?” How would Socialism be Capitalism?

              Bakunin himself was incredibly antisemetic, and considered the State itself to be a Jewish Conspiracy, so I’m not sure we should trust the background of his arguments.

              • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                9
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                2 months ago

                The above commenter is wrong about it being capitalist, but they’re right about there being a ruling class in the USSR. The ruling class was the communist party, the “intelligentsia.” Communist party members pre-selected candidates for all political appointments, and becoming a member of the communist party involved passing through multiple stages of party-administered education and then having your past scrutinized and approved by committees of existing communist party members.

                At its’ highest level of membership it never surpassed roughly 3% of the population. That is a politically privileged class that enjoyed better wages, benefits, general living conditions, and political influence than the general population.

                • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  arrow-down
                  3
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  The above commenter is wrong about it being capitalist, but they’re right about there being a ruling class in the USSR. The ruling class was the communist party, the “intelligentsia.”

                  The Bolsheviks and the Communist Party were not the Intelligentsia. The Intelligentsia predated the USSR, and was a cultural term for engineers, mental leaders, and other “educated” classes. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was made up of various members, not exclusively Intelligentsia. In fact, the close-link to the bourgeoisie that pre-Revolution Intelligentsia had caused distrust towards the Intelligentsia.

                  Communist party members pre-selected candidates for all political appointments, and becoming a member of the communist party involved passing through multiple stages of party-administered education and then having your past scrutinized and approved by committees of existing communist party members.

                  This does not make the CPSU a class, nor does iy mean it was not democratic. The US functions in much the same way, outside of fringe areas where third parties win.

                  At its’ highest level of membership it never surpassed roughly 3% of the population. That is a politically privileged class that enjoyed better wages, benefits, general living conditions, and political influence than the general population.

                  Yes, Marxism has never stated that people cannot have it better or worse. Anarchists seek full-horizontalism, while Marxists seek Central Planning.

                  Even at the peak of disparity in the USSR, the top wages were far, far closer than under the Tsars or under the current Russian Federation, and the Workers enjoyed higher democratic participation with more generous social safety nets, like totally free healthcare and education.

                  The USSR was by no means perfect, but it was absolutely progressive for its time, and would even be considered progressive today, despite the issues they faced internally and externally.

              • Rinox@feddit.it
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                2 months ago

                democratically elected government officials

                Yes, and Mussolini won by plebiscite.

                The best democratic elections are those where you only have one choice, it’s known.

              • lugal@sopuli.xyz
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                2 months ago

                The soviets were democratic but the bolsheviks smashed the soviets as soon as they realized they wouldn’t infiltrate them and stayed a Soviet Union in name only. Why wouldn’t they keep the soviets as a decision making body if the were interested in a democratic government?

                • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  arrow-down
                  3
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  No, the Bolsheviks did not smash the soviets. The Factory Committees were replaced with the Union system, because the Factory Committees were acting in their own interests irrespective of the needs of the whole. The Union system added the interconnected element to the Soviet Planning system. The Soviet system retained until the collapse of the USSR.

                  The wikipedia article on Soviet Democracy makes this clear, the Soviets were the main operating organ of the USSR throughout its lifetime. If you believe the Soviets to be democratic, then you believe the USSR to be democratic, or misunderstood the history of the Soviets within the USSR. This is on top of you referencing a wild anti-semite who considered the state itself to be a Jewish conspiracy as reasoning for complete anarchism alone.

                  I think you need to hit the books for a bit and come back later. Blackshirts and Reds goes over what did work, and what did not work in the USSR. There were definitely issues with it, but it was democratic.

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      Except you oversimplified and it matters. The entire point of capitalism is to centralize money in the hands of a few at the expense of the rest. Capitalism itself demands continued growth, which is unsustainable.

      All forms of government are subject to corruption, but only some forms of government are broken by design.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        Capitalism itself demands continued growth, which is unsustainable.

        Green energy is a growth industry. No reason why capitalists can’t make money building and renting new green infrastructure.

        If anything, we could use a huge injection of new capital spending. We’re just not getting it into energy projects. We’re getting it into fantasies and scams, like Crypto and AI

      • YeetPics@mander.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        If you think capitalistic greed stops at national borders out of some sort of respect you are denser than I thought you were.

        China has almost 700 billionaires.

        Liberal clown-state, but with a red/yellow flag. Same shitty story, despite what you may have us think.

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      2 months ago

      Why? Capitalism cannot solve Climate Change, as it depends on the highest possible profit margins and rampant consumerism. Transitioning from a profit-focused system to fulfilling uses and needs in Socialism, where the Proletariat is in charge and can collectively agree to tackle Climate Change, is the only path forward.

      This seems like you just want to be edgy and doomerist with nothing to back yourself up.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        2 months ago

        Capitalism cannot solve Climate Change, as it depends on the highest possible profit margins and rampant consumerism.

        It’s definitely possible to do “Green Capitalism”, so long as the profit margins of green capital exceed dirty capital.

        But Americans have huge investments in old dirty infrastructure that they want to use until it falls apart. That’s the real difficulty. How do you convince people with a $1B pipeline through the West Texas gas fields to scrape that project and build lower-profit windmills/solar farms and HVDC cable lines instead?

        Our current leadership could subsidize green energy to move the market. But this would force existing businesses to build new capital rather than rent seeking on existing capital.

        Compare the US to France, which has a huge legacy investment in nuclear power. They’re capitalist, too, but they aren’t in a rush to burn more fossil fuels.

        • ZMoney@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          2 months ago

          Capitalism can’t do green. If you were to make an accounting of all of the environmental damage that capitalist industry has done to the ecosystem, the cost to clean it all up would dwarf the revenue. Capitalist economists are incapable of calculating such “negative externalities” because they don’t understand basic thermodynamics. I used to work in environmental remediation and am happy to talk more about this if there is interest.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            2 months ago

            Capitalism can’t do green.

            Goldman Sachs would argue otherwise. There are enormous rents to extract from an energy source that’s functionally boundless. And as the capital costs plunge, investment soars.

            the cost to clean it all up would dwarf the revenue.

            Oh sure. Repairing the harm that the fossil fuel industry has done would require an incalculable amount of capital and labor. And there’s some stuff we’re never getting back. Millions of species driven to extinction, for instance. How do you even put a price tag on that?

            Capitalist economists are incapable of calculating such “negative externalities” because they don’t understand basic thermodynamics.

            Capitalist participants don’t need to calculate long term tail risks and external costs precisely because they’re external. Even the most environmentally conscious investor is only really interested in the 40 years between when they start making serious investments and they retire. C-levels who only plan to stick around for 5 years, maybe 10 years at the longest, have even less concern for the long term consequences of their decisions.

            But that problem isn’t unique to capitalism. Soviet economies were also incredibly short-sighted during their early iterations. The Russians were notoriously sloppy in their industrial development. China’s only refocused on ecology in the last fifteen years (hat tip to President Xi Jinping). Cuba’s ecology is more a consequence of the embargo than their eco-socialist philosophy. Vietnam’s industrialization has carried a huge cost to the native wilderness and ocean space.

            Still, a real five / twenty / fifty / one-hundred year economic plan gets you a lot farther than “How much money can we print inside the next fiscal quarter?” hyper-capitalist mentality. Government bureaucracies that seek to reproduce themselves indefinitely need to crunch the numbers on this in a way that fly-by-night businesses do not.

            But if you’re just looking to industrialize green at a rapid pace, capitalist economics does the job as well as any other system.

            • ZMoney@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              2 months ago

              Sure, no arguments there. I guess it’s the “green” label I take issue with. Carbon-free capitalism is definitely possible as long as there are enough critical elements to produce all of the necessary solar panels and wind turbines (and I guess fusion reactors if we’re really ambitious about printing money 🤑). I do wonder about rent collection long-term though, especially with such decentralized energy sources. Overproduction will also come sooner than everyone thinks. But I guess these are much better problems to have than imminent eco-catastrophe.

    • marcos@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      The funny thing is that you’ll have a hard time defending that the North Europe ones are governed by the property owning class… So this one is actually false. But it does apply to all countries that call themselves communist.

      Anyway, it’s a very rare oddity for a country to have such a strong middle class that rich people can not reign free. Good for those few ones that managed it.

      (And yeah, talk about non-sequitur on the 4rt one. It’s ridiculous. Yeah, the best way to fight climate change is by supporting a revolution lead by the OP’s favorite fascists. No explanation needed.)

      • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        2 months ago

        The funny thing is that you’ll have a hard time defending that the North Europe ones are governed by the property owning class… So this one is actually false. But it does apply to all countries that call themselves communist.

        All of the Nordic Countries are Dictatorships of the Bourgeoisie, they have seen sliding worker protections over time and increased disparity. Occasionally, Capitalists will make concessions to keep their power for longer, that’s what happened in the Nordics.

        You are correct about Communist countries, they are directed by the Proletariat, who now owns the property. I doubt that’s what you were meaning, though.

        Anyway, it’s a very rare oddity for a country to have such a strong middle class that rich people can not reign free. Good for those few ones that managed it.

        It’s not really rare, it happened in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Social Democracy is not fascism, but the idea of the Middle and Upper classes collaborating, ie the petite bourgeoisie and bourgeoisie against the proletariat, is something Social Democracy shares with fascism.

        (And yeah, talk about non-sequitur on the 4rt one. It’s ridiculous. Yeah, the best way to fight climate change is by supporting a revolution lead by the OP’s favorite fascists. No explanation needed.)

        Can you explain how OP is supporting fascism? Is Marxism “fascist” to you? Why?

  • NutWrench@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    33
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    2 months ago

    Our government was corrupted the moment the courts accepted the “Corporations are people/ Money is speech” arguments. At that moment, the government stopped representing the needs of ordinary people and only represented the needs of billionaires and their lobbyists.

    It’s taking a long time to play out but it’s going to end badly.

  • livingcoder@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    2 months ago

    I don’t know how to get everyone I know to really understand this. Every time I bring it up in conversation, the other person just puts their hands up and explains that they’re powerless to address it, so it’s not even worth talking about. I don’t know how to respond to the apathy.

    • WbrJr@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      2 months ago

      To be honest i offen feel the same, just helpless and too insignificant to change it in my own. But thats the point, we are not allone! I just try to show them undenieble facts, the already very present effect of climate crisis or just statistics of how the money is distributed in our country. The thing I struggle most with them is their bad feith in people. For example many welfare programs or in the extreme the concept of unconditional income by the state gets always used to argue that people are lazy and it would not work because no one would get a job anymore, which i disagree with

      • ZMoney@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 months ago

        The best way to counter this is to point out the laziness at the top. Corporate welfare is way more damaging to society than the few million lazy people at the bottom. It would cost a lot less to write them off than to pay CEOs 2000 times as much as the average worker.

    • candybrie@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      2 months ago

      With reasonable, actionable steps. If you don’t have those, then they kind of have a point, don’t they? It’s like the Newton’s flaming laser sword of politics.

      • ZMoney@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        2 months ago

        And, since we’ve shifted so far to the right, the “Marxist” texts can be written by John Maynard Keynes.

    • J Lou@mastodon.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      Include, in your politics, actionable steps. The most important step is to create worker coops and supporting institutions, so you aren’t giving the fruits of your labor to capitalists with what you do everyday @memes

  • miridius@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 months ago

    All first world governments have some degree of corruption from money in politics, but don’t kid yourselves: USA is much worse than most

    • InputZero@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      2 months ago

      Corruption in politics was described to me once as the grease that keeps the cogs of government turning. The importance difference is what type of grease is used. A government with low corruption uses a small amount of very clean grease, just enough, and only in the right places, to make the sticky gears turn. A government with high corruption will just drench every gear with very dirty crude oil, and if the gears seizes up they won’t even notice.

      In an ideal world the machine of government wouldn’t need any corrupt grease or oil to keep turning but no one truely lives in that world, yet.

  • peteypete420@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    Hey if a bunch of scientists say otherwise then, yah, they know better. But I thought we were basically beyond preventing catastrophic climate disaster?

    Also this is the first I’m seeing the big Gritty brain meme format and I love it!

      • peteypete420@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        I meant more of the dictionary version of catastrophic. Sorry if it normally has or implies different meaning when talking about climate change.

          • peteypete420@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 months ago

            O, then what does the equal equal thing mean? Yea I thought major climate catastrophe was unavoidable even with a complete and immediate change by the entire world. Not that everyone would die in a climate apocalypse.

            • Ilandar@aussie.zone
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              2 months ago

              It’s how people commonly type “does not equal” when they don’t have quick access to the not equal symbol. Your top level comment seemed to be contesting the meme, which claimed we still have 20 years to change before we all die. I was saying that 20 years before we all die is not the same as 20 years before a climate catastrophe.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Catastrophic means basically we have to move farmland and we have to surround some cities with dikes as they’ll now be under sea level.

        We’re facing ecosystem collapses but that’s from overfishing and more direct habitat destruction, not so much from climate change.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      Climate change is not an existential threat. The existential threat is added by science journalism.

      Climate change is gonna make life harder, but not kill humanity.

  • MNByChoice@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 months ago

    Huh, some commenters raise a good question. What are the non-capitalist countries doing to fight climate change?

    China is building out massive renewables and massive coal.

    My list is short, please add to it.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      What are the non-capitalist countries doing to fight climate change?

      https://electrek.co/2024/07/16/china-on-track-to-reach-clean-energy-targets-six-years-ahead-of-schedule/

      Lots of solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear energy investment in the public sector. Huge investments in mass transit and electric engines. Conversion of old coal powered steel production to electric. Dense urban real estate department. Disposable waste reduction. Big efforts at tree planting along the Gobi Desert.

      They’ve been very “all options on the table” about climate change. Some work. Some don’t. But the progress is undeniable.

    • ZMoney@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      “Massive coal” was twenty years ago. India is “massive coal” now.

      They have an electric car that costs $10,000.

      They are quickly switching from Li batteries to Na, which will not require Ni or Co either.

      They have a mixture of capitalism and central planning, so it’s not entirely fair to call them “non-capitalist”.

      • MNByChoice@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        2 months ago

        Not far in the past.

        https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/

        In China, 47.4GW of coal power capacity came online in 2023, GEM says. This increase accounted for two-thirds of the global rise in operating coal power capacity, which climbed 2% to 2,130GW.

        China’s 70.2GW of new construction getting underway in 2023 represents 19-times more than the rest of the world’s 3.7GW. As the figure below highlights, the country’s trajectory (red line) is diverging significantly from the rest of the world (orange line).

        • ZMoney@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          I was considerably happier before I knew this. Hopefully coal prices will continue to increase, and they won’t end up burning more coal even though their capacity has increased. From what I’ve read, it’s mainly provincial governments trying to boost their economic statistics that are responsible for this building spree.

    • menas@lemmy.wtf
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      We couldn’t have non capitalist state with imperialism However, if we consider countries without state, we shall consider EZLN and the Democnatic Confederation in Rojava. Both have very interesting approach of eco-socialism.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        2 months ago

        They were never really on the wrong track, primarily because of their huge investment in nuclear power back in the 70s.

      • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Run by communists with a majority public sector and control of private enterprise? Hmm. Doesn’t sound correct.

          • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            “Common sense”, aka you don’t know shit about how to define capitalism or about the political economy of China and insist that your poorly developed ideas are self evident.

            • khaleer@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              Told person who do not know the difference between authoritarian capitalistic dictatorship and commuism state. Go swallow your copium pills. EDIT: I just lurked into your account, this explains a LOT xD

              • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                2 months ago

                Told person who do not know the difference between authoritarian capitalistic dictatorship and commuism state.

                Gonna throw out the word authoritarian because it is an empty signifier.

                If China is a capitalist dictatorship why is the economy mostly publicly owned, with the percentage growing? Why does its government have a 95 percent approval rating according to a Harvard study, and why do innovations in participatory democracy emerge from China?

                I just lurked into your account, this explains a LOT xD

                Wow, what a vile little weirdo treating me being openly trans as some own.

              • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                2 months ago

                You might want to read the article China Has Billionaires. The economic case for China being Socialist is not unfounded. Nobody believes China has reached full Socialization of the economy, but it is largely Socialized, and appears to be increasingly Socialized as compared to the Dengist period.

          • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            Tencent existing as a private enterprise is compatible with the statement you are responding to.

          • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            2 months ago

            All capitalism requires a state, the fact that you call an alternate system “state capitalism” just goes to show that you need to do more research on what capitalism is.

            • The Stoned Hacker@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              2 months ago

              According to DuckDuckGo

              State Capitalism: An economic system that is primarily capitalistic but there is some degree of government ownership of the means of production.

              Basically capitalism managed and owned by the state. This is not communism, nor even socialism. China is communist in name only.

              • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                2 months ago

                Oh my god I didn’t consider what the brilliant minds of a duck duck go- wait you didn’t even cite where the definition is from?

                Lol

    • BallsandBayonets@lemmings.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      What are the non-capitalist countries doing to fight climate change?

      Hunting and gathering, mostly. When the superpowers are capitalists, everyone is capitalist. Anyone who thinks China isn’t capitalist hasn’t bought anything off Amazon in the last decade.

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          Capitalism is basically when another private citizen or private company can take you on as a wage laborer.

          If you can go get “a job” which is when you can put known work for known money consistently, and the one hiring you is someone other than the government, you’re in a capitalist place.

          • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            2 months ago

            Capitalism requires state subservience to the market as well, which doesn’t exist in China.

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          Literally every corporation is an alternative to capitalism existing writhing capitalism.

          A corporation is a centralized command economy built in accordance with the credo “from each according to his capacity; to each according to his need”.

          Capitalism exists at the scale of an economy. It does not exist within companies, except in the black market for office supplies in the places that don’t supply enough.

          • J Lou@mastodon.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            Capitalism is a system of property relations and labor relations. It is conceivable to not have those property relations and labor relations in a firm. However, a corporation doesn’t do that as the employer solely appropriates the entire positive and negative result of production i.e. the property rights to the produced outputs and liabilities for the used-up inputs. In a worker coop, the workers jointly appropriate the fruits of their labor. Capitalist property relations aren’t present @memes

  • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    I would usually say this is going too far, but this winter didn’t seem nearly as cold as usual, and that was concerning. Feels like in the next two decades the planet might not have winter… And might have a deadly season that was formerly summer.

    • MystikIncarnate
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 months ago

      I remember when it was so cold out that my car overheated in the winter because all of the coolant (rated to below zero Fahrenheit), froze. Now, I’m damn near blasting the AC in winter because it’s so damn warm.

      Come change is happening. IDK how much more proof people really need… The argument of winter still being cold isn’t applicable anymore.

      • ilost7489
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        2 months ago

        Yeah, it was crazy how warm last winter was. I live in Edmonton which is the most northern city with 1 million people in North America, and even through December we would have no snow on the ground when regularly there would be a couple inches to a foot everywhere.

        The weather is also much more sporadic than I ever remember it being which is fun. It’s either unusually warm or stupidly cold. We had only about a week of really cold weather and heavy snow last winter

        • The Stoned Hacker@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          I live in a place that was known for its (less than Minnesota) horrible Winter, and growing up I remember blizzards and at least a foot of snow each Winter.

          My city doesn’t have Winter anymore really. We don’t have snow either. I miss the Winter.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago
        • Climate is changing
        • CO2 levels are rising

        The more reasonable people against many climate change response policies are skeptical of:

        • CO2 is the cause of the rise
        • Climate response policies will slow or reverse the warming
        • The dangers to humanity of increased temperature outweigh the dangers to humanity of the climate response policies
        • MystikIncarnate
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          I get what you’re saying here and bluntly, those people are not scientists. If you neither want to go and earn the knowledge necessary to be an authority on the subject, nor listen to those that are, then maybe you should shut the fuck up.

          I’ll be fair in saying that CO2 is not the only contributor to global climate change. The environment is a complex intermingling of a lot of different influences. With that said, this is something we know for a fact, at the very least, does not help. Alternatives exist for almost every case. Why stick with the “clearly not helping” method, than going with the “at least we’re trying” alternative?

          Disclaimer, I haven’t earned the title of expert in the subject, I just try to listen to those who have earned that title. I am not nearly as up to date on the subject as some others, so I invite someone to expand and/or correct any of my statements who knows the material better than me. Such is the scientific method. Lively discussion and debate culminating in studies and tests to determine who is wrong… (Spoiler, sometimes everyone is wrong)

          Regardless, IMO, anyone denying a change based on the stated reasons, is trying to serve their own interests. Whether that’s enabling them to contribute to make poor decisions, or maybe they have something to gain by trying to block any progress away from fossil fuels. Maybe they own stock in a petrol company. Who knows?

          To me, it’s just a bad faith argument.

          • intensely_human@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 months ago

            bluntly, those people are not scientists

            I’ll have to look up the names, but those people are literally climate scientists. I’ve heard them interviewed.

            I’ll read the rest of your comment later when I have more time but if that’s your starting assumption you can just reconsider your whole position now because the things I reported came from the mouths of scientists.

    • sweetpotato@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Yesterday 21th of July was the hottest day in recorded global history. This year’s February, April and June were the hottest respective months in recorded history. Just putting this out there

  • BudgetBandit@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    And you know why we’re fucked?

    A whole lot of food needs to be pollinated by insects. Those insects have a time when they get out of their eggs in spring. But what if the tree blossoms before the insects are here? No pollination. This means it dies a blossom, never to be turned into food. Continue this for some years and the insects die out, some more and the final plant will die.

    It’s always happened, yes, but it’s too fast.

    The people will die, the planet recovers.

    And what’s a planet if there’s no people to enjoy it.

  • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    3 months ago

    I keep clicking this thumbnail because bright colorful fluffy animals.

    I keep reading the text and not comprehending anything.

    • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      2 months ago

      - rich people paying powerful people to get what they want is bad

      - even without bribes/payoffs, powerful people in the USA have always only been rich people

      - did I say USA? I meant the whole world

      - we’re all gonna die if we don’t make sure people without money have a voice too, and convince powerful people not to keep polluting

      • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        we’re all gonna die if we don’t make sure people without money have a voice too, and convince powerful people not to keep polluting

        You cannot convince Capitalists to “do the right thing.” That was the common through-line of Utopian Socialist failures. I recommend reading Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

    • Obinice@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      That’s not a bad thing, we all come to new things not understanding them at first, especially topics that we don’t get a good grasp on until we’re into adulthood and no longer have a structured education system to guide us. Subjects like politics, economics, sociology etc.

      We all come to these daunting subjects with various levels of knowledge and ability, all we can do is try to dip our toes in to a subject that feels important to understand, get reading, watching videos, whatever works best for you, and go from there :-)

  • Vilian
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    12
    ·
    2 months ago

    The third one is dumb, not everyone is USA