So..I'm relatively new to Communism in general. So far I've read up on a few works including Critique of the Gotha Programme and of course the Communist Manifesto. I've also learned a little bit about Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin here and there.
I've got a YouTube account and recently got into a discussion about how to bring about Communism. It's gotten as far as agreement that Communism has noble goals and such, but one question which I repeatedly face is how exactly this will be done. My opponent, however, managed to use Marx himself against me.
"Philosophy can only be realized by the abolition of the proletariat, and the proletariat can only be abolished by the realization of philosophy." Mirroring this to Orwell's "Until they are conscious they will never rebel, and until they rebel they will never become conscious". How does one solve this paradox?
For any who've read the book it was also brought up that the Middle class would merely manipulate the Proletariat and become the new bourgeois themselves, leaving the "Proles" where they were to begin with.
How exactly does one respond?
There was also mention of the "lack of support" for Communist parties but I can handle that. First of all, no third-party does well in the United States and there are reasons for this that surpass mere policies. Second of all there is much ignorance in the West about the true fundamentals of Communism (such as the belief that places like North Korea are the ideal end result of a workers' revolt against the bourgeois, or essentially that bureaucratic collectivism is Communism). Thanks in advance to any who respond.