There have been and are real socialist states (not just nominally so) that were some of the most advanced countries in the world on queer issues, specifically East Germany before and Cuba now. I do kind of agree with you in a more general sense, because Hexbear as a whole doesn’t know how to deal with the concept of social discipline.
AES (the state) doesn’t seem to me to be socialist in any significant sense, though it is worth supporting in its struggle against the west on roughly the same basis as Iran. Parading Sankara’s corpse isn’t very compelling when he could barely be called a Marxist in his approach to begin with (as in his political practice, not his speeches), and they do not approach even him.
I think the anti-revisionists have a point that “Actually Existing Socialism” is a question-begging term, which makes sense when one remembers that it was popularized by the USSR after revisionists had seized power and was mostly used in the context of justifying what we now all recognize as revisionism in the USSR and elsewhere. Arguments about whether or not your approach is socialist are so much simpler when you start by assuming that you are.
The soy “A -> B, B -> C, therefore A -> C” vs the chad “C = C”.
He was installed by a military coup, not a popular revolution, and then enacted some positive reforms but fundamentally failed to produce anything remotely like a dictatorship of the proletariat, and was thereby ousted by the military who held the power the whole time. Sankara was genuinely benevolent in his intentions, but his approach to revolution was anti-Marxist and it created a warped state that was basically a military dictatorship when it decided to be (though he did not support such a thing, he ultimately did not stop it), because popular support functioned as a convenience rather than the actual mechanism of decision-making.
It was Mao who once said that the party should never move too far ahead of the masses, to quote:
Communists must never separate themselves from the majority of the people or neglect them by leading only a few progressive contingents in an isolated and rash advance, but must take care to forge close links between the progressive elements and the broad masses. This is what thinking in terms of the majority means.
This is also why Stalin (unfortunately) recriminalized Homosexuality after Lenin legalized it; because he recognized that the masses of the USSR were still mostly socially reactionary and moving too far forward socially risked tearing apart the nascent Soviet state and turn said masses against the party. And he was right: see how many soldiers in the Ukrainian SSR alone willingly joined the Nazis the moment they had a chance.
This is not to say a socialist state shouldn’t strive to push the masses towards social progress, women’s rights were advanced far more quickly in the Socialist bloc than the Capitalist world last century for example. But such social progress must be organic and done within a framework that will be appropriate to the material conditions of the socialist society. If Burkina Faso had their stonewall moment today this law would probably never pass. But they didn’t, because the masses aren’t ready for it yet.
see how many soldiers in the Ukrainian SSR alone willingly joined the Nazis the moment they had a chance
I was going to make a joke about history repeating but felt bad about the guys who were murdered on the frontlines, forcefully conscripted, because soylensky prevented them from moving somewhere safer so the west could have test subjects for their new weapons systems.
Not every AES state is social illiberal. Maybe laws are. But all the isms are very much prevalent in the west to an high degree as well. The “existence” of progressive neighbourhoods in Berlin, Cologne, London or San Fransisco does not erase this fact.
Mind that Burkina Faso nearly lost half the country to the Islamic state, these laws are there to keep Burkina Faso alive and appease/win back the muslim population.
The core contradiction of the Hexbear community is trying to reconcile AES with social liberalism.
There have been and are real socialist states (not just nominally so) that were some of the most advanced countries in the world on queer issues, specifically East Germany before and Cuba now. I do kind of agree with you in a more general sense, because Hexbear as a whole doesn’t know how to deal with the concept of social discipline.
AES (the state) doesn’t seem to me to be socialist in any significant sense, though it is worth supporting in its struggle against the west on roughly the same basis as Iran. Parading Sankara’s corpse isn’t very compelling when he could barely be called a Marxist in his approach to begin with (as in his political practice, not his speeches), and they do not approach even him.
I think the anti-revisionists have a point that “Actually Existing Socialism” is a question-begging term, which makes sense when one remembers that it was popularized by the USSR after revisionists had seized power and was mostly used in the context of justifying what we now all recognize as revisionism in the USSR and elsewhere. Arguments about whether or not your approach is socialist are so much simpler when you start by assuming that you are.
The soy “A -> B, B -> C, therefore A -> C” vs the chad “C = C”.
sankara could barely be called a marxist?
He was installed by a military coup, not a popular revolution, and then enacted some positive reforms but fundamentally failed to produce anything remotely like a dictatorship of the proletariat, and was thereby ousted by the military who held the power the whole time. Sankara was genuinely benevolent in his intentions, but his approach to revolution was anti-Marxist and it created a warped state that was basically a military dictatorship when it decided to be (though he did not support such a thing, he ultimately did not stop it), because popular support functioned as a convenience rather than the actual mechanism of decision-making.
It was Mao who once said that the party should never move too far ahead of the masses, to quote:
This is also why Stalin (unfortunately) recriminalized Homosexuality after Lenin legalized it; because he recognized that the masses of the USSR were still mostly socially reactionary and moving too far forward socially risked tearing apart the nascent Soviet state and turn said masses against the party. And he was right: see how many soldiers in the Ukrainian SSR alone willingly joined the Nazis the moment they had a chance.
This is not to say a socialist state shouldn’t strive to push the masses towards social progress, women’s rights were advanced far more quickly in the Socialist bloc than the Capitalist world last century for example. But such social progress must be organic and done within a framework that will be appropriate to the material conditions of the socialist society. If Burkina Faso had their stonewall moment today this law would probably never pass. But they didn’t, because the masses aren’t ready for it yet.
I was going to make a joke about history repeating but felt bad about the guys who were murdered on the frontlines, forcefully conscripted, because soylensky prevented them from moving somewhere safer so the west could have test subjects for their new weapons systems.
Not every AES state is social illiberal. Maybe laws are. But all the isms are very much prevalent in the west to an high degree as well. The “existence” of progressive neighbourhoods in Berlin, Cologne, London or San Fransisco does not erase this fact.
Mind that Burkina Faso nearly lost half the country to the Islamic state, these laws are there to keep Burkina Faso alive and appease/win back the muslim population.
I can only speak for myself but I always default to “none of us are free until all of us are free”.