Anti-imperialism - a pointless posturing?

[JimN]

A couple of observations:

It seems to me that the people arguing that third world countries are not sufficiently developed for socialist consciousness to grow are the same people who argue that the revolution in 1917 Russia was of a genuinely socialist nature.

Isn't it just possible that people in less economically developed parts of the world are actually better able to understand and organise for socialism.

[robbo203]

A couple of observations:

It seems to me that the people arguing that third world countries are not sufficiently developed for socialist consciousness to grow are the same people who argue that the revolution in 1917 Russia was of a genuinely socialist nature.

Isn't it just possible that people in less economically developed parts of the world are actually better able to understand and organise for socialism.

Thats a very good point, JimN, and it does expose a glaring contradiction!
Of course, you cannot have socialism in one country, capitalism being a global system of production entailing a global division of labour. But you are not going to have socialism in one country either given the way ideas spread in this era of global telecommunications. One one part of the world is ready for socialism then ipso facto every other part will be more or less ready as well

[Ned Flanders]

A couple of observations:

It seems to me that the people arguing that third world countries are not sufficiently developed for socialist consciousness to grow are the same people who argue that the revolution in 1917 Russia was of a genuinely socialist nature.

Isn't it just possible that people in less economically developed parts of the world are actually better able to understand and organise for socialism.

The idea that the workers need to experience bourgeois democracy and advanced capitalism, before they can lead a socialist revolution, was actually made obsolete by the october revolution. They actually can´t develop advanced capitalism due to their position within global capitalism.
Workers in third world countries today have generally a more advanced class contiousness and feel the ills of capitalism more acutely, so yes.

[JimN]

Thats a very good point, JimN, and it does expose a glaring contradiction!
Of course, you cannot have socialism in one country, capitalism being a global system of production entailing a global division of labour. But you are not going to have socialism in one country either given the way ideas spread in this era of global telecommunications. One one part of the world is ready for socialism then ipso facto every other part will be more or less ready as well

I couldn't agree more.
Socialism is a global solution to a global problem. This is obviously the case as it is a propertyless-society without nations, states or governments.
Also, I think that once the idea of real socialism starts to take hold it will spread across the world like wildfire.