Something i've been thinking about.

[StoneFrog]

I was hoping i could get some input on something that has been on my mind:

In the circumstances that a communist revolution took afoot, how well would the proletariat be able to cope with the dictatorship of the proletariat?

There are a few reasons that i asked myself this question, but mainly i thought of the mental tole of the revolution itself on the people. In my mind it is very doubtful that the revolution will happen in a peaceful transition away from capitalism, but end in violence. What are the impact of this be on those which are to take themselves into communism?

As we seen from many war zones there is a great mental tole which is inflicted on those who sore the events and took part in them. This is feel will also be the case in a revolution setting.

I would call my self more "libertarian" leaning communist, but i think this is something that will impact a movement that is more for direct democracy than a party lead struggle. No matter, each will feel the consequences.

[Broletariat]

Certainly not as bad as the stress of securing food for the next day.

[Savage]

This really isn't something that you should be worrying about.

[StoneFrog]

This really isn't something that you should be worrying about.

why is that?

[Savage]

why is that?
Counter-revolution is going to be inherent in a world wide socialist revolution, and it is something that could well deplete the proletariat's attempts to install it's power as a class. But if counter-revolution is overcome and the DOTP is established on a world scale, then mental degeneration is not something that I could fathom as being a major problem.

[Blake's Baby]

This will depend on many factors, but it is possible (probable even) that the horrors which will no doubt be visited upon us by the capitalists in attempting to protect their power (or just fuck up the revolution) will affect many people. As much as the horrors visited upon us already? Probably not. 6.5 billion people are already negatively affected by capitalism, already are trumatised by war poverty oppression crime and all the other ills of society, to a greater or lesser extent.

The class war will be won by solidarity, community and organisation, not by clandestine terrorist methods. So I don't think we need fear that a post-revolutionary generation will grow up particularly scarred by what they have done; but there will be many who are scarred by what has been done to them - to us, rather.

I confidently expect, 40 years after the revolution, those of us who were around before will be looked at slightly askance. We're damaged.

[Kronsteen]

how well would the proletariat be able to cope with the dictatorship of the proletariat?

It's a good question. The usual answer is that the process of making a revolution will forge the necessary qualities for running things afterwards.

It's certainly true that defects like racism and mysticism tend to get chipped away in a large, practical struggle for something important. It's hard to hate people of a different skin tone if you've fought next to them, and wooley thinking looks less attractive when it costs lives.


i thought of the mental tole of the revolution itself on the people.

Indeed, a shellshocked people may not be great at self-governance.

But again, solidarity and mass mutual interdependence counts for a lot. We're not talking about battle-scarred soldiers being hidden away in hospitals that don't know how to treat them in a society that's ashamed of them.

[Kamos]

Naturally, violence and war lead to suffering. However, the capitalist system, living off the lower class as they always have, is in my opinion the reason why such suffering is amplified to the degree we all know. In the post-revolutionary world, the mental and physical torment that the revolutionaries will have had to endure will surely heal faster as well. I do not think this is something we seriously need to be worried about.