Morning.

[memoryhouse]

Good morning. I’m Thira, and it’s six am, a cruel hour to be awake by most standards.
I’m currently an inhabitant of midwestern America (Ohio, but not for long!).
I'm definitively a Socialist, and probably a Marxist, if you want to get picky. I’m a big fan of Marx, though I take minor issues with some of the philosophical aspects of his work. I don’t feel that history is predictable enough to break down into epochs. I think it’s relatively safe to surmise (though probably presumptuous) that he didn’t envision this delicate tower of global co-dependence when he was working with the idea of a communist society, and I am wont to wonder if he would have added another epoch or two into his theory.
I’m a Poli-Sci major. Maybe it’s idealism at its cheesiest, but I want to slice open the fetid underbelly of this disgusting hog of capitalism and help people. I want to make a difference in the quality of life in humanity. I want social programs. I want aid to those that need it. I want equality, and fuck me, I am going to try and get it.
And now that I’m all disgruntled, I’m going to go to bed.

[Sentinel]

Welcome to the board! :)

It's always nice to see comrades with a critical approach to marxist theory, as it shows some level of actual understanding of it.. While I myself think history can be divided in epochs, I'm of the opinion that the imperialist epoch could perhaps be divided in several.

Social programs? In the current society? :o Nah, I'd rather have a revolution.

Why settle with reforms, when we have a world to win, like Marx said? As long as capitalism in some form prevails, there won't be real justice. But perhaps you meant in the post-revolution society?

[memoryhouse]

Thanks :)

In regards to social programs in the current capitalist society- I think of them not in the same light as your average failed, underfunded piles of shit that are only effective in further oppressing those that need them. I think of them in terms of this:
I’m of the opinion that the way things are going, a revolution must be global.
To achieve such revolution, education (via social programs) must be global.
Those societies that have been smashed under the brunt of colonialism are especially ripe for revolution (as Che Guevara already noted).
It is, therefore, a necessary objective of anyone who wants a global revolution to reach these people and educate them.
The best way to educate someone is the construction of social programs in these places, programs for education and medicine and economics, but which are wholly run by the inhabitants of the society. Once people are shown that they have resistence, they really DO have choice about their government, that they don’t need to be ruled, and the idea of them being powerless is a lie imposed upon them by the ruling class, then can they choose to expel their capitalist oppressors and birth from themselves a self-sufficient society.

[Sentinel]

Ok, I see your point now, and I see that you are a leftist. :)

About places most ripe for revolution.. you, and Che, might be partially right, but even though "societies that have been smashed under the brunt of colonialism" might be closer to a revolution, I'd say the most developed, that is the imperialist countries, are historically closer to communism. I think the spark of the actual World Revolution is going to be lit in France, or maybe Spain or Germany, followed by the rest of Europe, maybe Canada and Australia, and finally the US..

Latin America might become an interesting counterweight to western Imperialism, as the new leftist alternative, but I'd say that it will be the technological superiority of the "west", both with it's benefits and its automation, outsourcing of jobs etc molding the living conditions of workers, that will bring about communism.

But enough of me playing "Nostradamus", welcome to the board, again. I'll see you around on the forums. :)