this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2026
159 points (81.9% liked)

Late Stage Capitalism

3874 readers
911 users here now

A place for for news, discussion, memes, and links criticizing capitalism and advancing viewpoints that challenge liberal capitalist ideology. That means any support for any liberal capitalist political party (like the Democrats) is strictly prohibited.

A zero-tolerance policy for bigotry of any kind. Failure to respect this will result in a ban.

RULES:

1 Understand the left starts at anti-capitalism.

2 No Trolling

3 No capitalist apologia, anti-socialism, anti-communism, or liberalism, liberalism is in direct conflict with the left. Support for capitalism or for the parties or ideologies that uphold it are not welcome or tolerated.

4 No imperialism, conservatism, reactionism or Zionism, lessor evil rhetoric. Dismissing 3rd party votes or 'wasted votes on 3rd party' is lessor evil rhetoric.

5 No bigotry, no racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or any type of prejudice.

6 Be civil in comments and no accusations of being a bot, 'paid by Putin,' Tankie, etc. This includes instance shaming.

Introduction to Socialism (external links)

Wiki

Marxism-Leninism Study Guide: Basic Course

Marxism-Leninism Study Guide: Advanced Course

Audiobooks Read by Dessalines

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 19 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] lobut@lemmy.ca 9 points 49 minutes ago

They should still vote. Not sure why that's off the table entirely.

[–] Gladaed@feddit.org 11 points 1 hour ago

Voting between dissimilar options seems like a good way to make your voice heard.

Sure, democracy ain't perfect, but civil war ain't either. And not voting blue this November might worsen it.

[–] hayvan@piefed.world 21 points 2 hours ago

America when kids are literally murdered at shool: "the soind of children screaming has been removed"

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 14 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

lol, the downvotes.

"They're calling us out as pussies! We know how to deal with that!" doots an internet icon. waits for reward. forgets what's going on because back in the feed.

[–] punkisundead@slrpnk.net 16 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

No I downvoted because americans have had plenty of inspirational riots, even just in the last few years. Like the George Floyd uprising or J20 or standing rock. Its just annoying when people seem to forget or ignore history. And when they compare the actions of liberal parties and youth/left wing protestors. Of course those are not the same...

[–] thru_dangers_untold@lemmy.world 7 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Hey, now. The US has underfunded schools, too!

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 2 points 30 minutes ago

Actually, most of our schools are very well funded, receiving more funding than schools almost anywhere else in the world.

The problem is that much of the funding is squandered on administration, athletic programs, and poorly thought out capital expenditures ... while leaving some of the most important fundamentals -- like teacher salaries and basic academic supplies -- still chronically underfunded. There are many problems with American schools, and very few of those problems could be solved by dumping more money into the schools without making any other changes.

[–] Canajan@piefed.ca 9 points 3 hours ago

Also write a very sternly worded letter, that’ll get their attention.

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (7 children)

I get where this comes from but... What do you expect rioting to accomplish? It doesn't exactly have a track record of changing much in the US.

Edit: as a response to all the comments, it doesn't have a great track record in the current media landscape.

[–] apiaceae@quokk.au 3 points 57 minutes ago

It is a cruel irony that this great promise of democracy is rarely realized in practice. Most of the great political reforms of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been accompanied by massive episodes of civil disobedience, riot, lawbreaking, the disruption of public order, and, at the limit, civil war. Such tumult not only accompanied dramatic political changes but was often absolutely instrumental in bringing them about. Representative institutions and elections by themselves, sadly, seem rarely to bring about major changes in the absence of the force majeure afforded by, say, an economic depression or international war. Owing to the concentration of property and wealth in liberal democracies and the privileged access to media, culture, and political influence these positional advantages afford the richest stratum, it is little wonder that, as Gramsci noted, giving the working class the vote did not translate into radical political change. Ordinary parliamentary politics is noted more for its immobility than for facilitating major reforms.

We are obliged; if this assessment is broadly true, to confront the paradox of the contribution of lawbreaking and disruption to democratic political change. Taking the twentieth-century United States as a case in point, we can identify two major policy reform periods, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. What is most striking about each, from this perspective, is the vital role massive disruption and threats to public order played in the process of reform.

The great policy shifts represented by the institution of unemployment compensation, massive public works projects, social security aid, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act were, to be sure, abetted by the emergency of the world depression. But the way in which the economic emergency made its political weight felt was not through statistics on income and unemployment but through rampant strikes, looting, rent boycotts, quasi-violent sieges of relief offices, and riots that put what my mother would have called “the fear of God” in business and political elites. They were thoroughly alarmed at what seemed at the time to be potentially revolutionary ferment. The ferment in question was, in the first instance, not institutionalized. That is to say, it was not initially shaped by political parties, trade unions, or recognizable social movements. It represented no coherent policy agenda. Instead it was genuinely unstructured, chaotic, and full of menace to the established order. For this very reason, there was no one to bargain with, no one to credibly offer peace in return for policy changes. The menace was directly proportional to its lack of institutionalization. One could bargain with a trade union or a progressive reform movement, institutions that were geared into the institutional machinery. A strike was one thing, a wildcat strike was another: even the union bosses couldn’t call off a wildcat strike. A demonstration, even a massive one, with leaders was one thing, a rioting mob was another. There were no coherent demands, no one to talk to.

James C Scott, Two Cheers for Anarchism

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 4 points 1 hour ago

Meanwhile the entire country fellates slave-owning tax dodgers who started such a big riot it turned into a civil war.

[–] jsjskt@jlai.lu 4 points 1 hour ago

I recommend reading "A People's History of The United States" by Howard Zinn. Great book! And still relevant today

[–] cmbabul@slrpnk.net 22 points 3 hours ago

This is not actually true, a great deal of credit for the passing of the Civil Rights Act can and should be attributed to nationwide riots that took place in the week directly following Martin Luther King Juniors assassination. Known as the Holy Week Uprising. The American public education system purposely doesn’t talk about this and pushes the peaceful protest angle to prevent any meaningful organizing. It can easily work here too

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 7 points 2 hours ago

Edit: as a response to all the comments, it doesn't have a great track record in the current media landscape.

It never does. Haven't you seen what the French government is now trying to do? They're claiming it's leftist separatists doing this and it has nothing to do with schools. They will try everything to delegitimize instead of doing the right thing. Cost benefit analysis will be run later and they might learn a thing, but mostly don't.

[–] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 18 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

EVERY SINGLE right you have right now is the result of violence and riot.

[–] kingofras@lemmy.world 1 points 7 minutes ago

I saw you are anti electoralism. I’d love someone to explain you want violence but not the non violent way too? Why is that mutually exclusive to you?

Voting now does not exclude burning down the place afterwards? The Jan 6ers voted twice prior to taking a shit on a desk. If they can do it, surely we can too?

[–] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 hours ago

That's because Americans do it wrong. The people in charge know that there is no real solidarity amongst the population, so they can just wait it out. The riots won't spread, won't last longer than a week or two at worst, and everything will go right back to the status quo once the new shiny distraction comes out.