democracy

[Global_Justice]

real democracy that is. i'm not all that learned about communism, but why do so many people support people like mao and stalin who weren't democratic. how can a communist support mao when he said political power comes from the barrel of a gun? or am i using that quote out of context?

[Cheung Mo]

Many people in this world who wield power don't give a flying fuck about thepeople they wield power over: If you think flower power and pacifism is going to a damn thing to defeat them, you're giving humanity too much credit.

[Janus]

how can a communist support mao when he said political power comes from the barrel of a gun?
Mao meant that political power had to be gained through violence or a revolution.

Maoists and Stalinists support Mao and Stalin because they believe that centralization is necessary to achieve communism. They think that the people can't decide and organize by themselves and that without a powerful,hierarchical, and centralized state, the revolution would never succeed.

[Ander]

Many of these people don't support the violence and atrocities committed by these two though I am assuming..

[Global_Justice]

Originally posted by Cheung [email protected] 11 2006, 09:35 PM
Many people in this world who wield power don't give a flying fuck about thepeople they wield power over: If you think flower power and pacifism is going to a damn thing to defeat them, you're giving humanity too much credit.
i mean after revolution though. surely the whole point of communism would be failed if there wasn't real democracy :unsure:

[Janus]

surely the whole point of communism would be failed if there wasn't real democracy
Without true democracy, another despotism would simply arise.

[redstar2000]

You will find many threads here that discuss this question.

Once the despotism of capital is overthrown, how can we keep a new class of despots from arising?

There are still some people here who believe in "enlightened despotism"...they think Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao, etc. were "on the right track" even though they "made many mistakes".

Most people on this board are having none of that! Whatever forms of post-capitalist society are established, power in the hands of some self-appointed elite is flatly unacceptable!

We don't want that and refuse to lift a finger for any kind of "revolution" that simply swaps one group of bosses for another.

All bosses are bad! :angry:

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[OneBrickOneVoice]

I think that in order for a revolution to be successful, it needs planning. It doesn't need to be one leader, it could be a council. Then after the revolution there should be democratic centralism. i personally think that the communist league action platform is dead on.