The issue is that capitalism has made itself indissoluble. Capitalism is very good at co-opting any threat and integrating it into it. Like how you can buy Leninade in the US (which I hear is just mid). Well, except fascism lol (cf 1945).
Any revolutionary message can be made into a commodity to be bought and sold, reduced to its simple exchange value – which is something Marx talked about extensively.
Capitalism doesn’t need to jail people for speaking up against it. It can defang them completely and integrate their message in the pursuit of profit. Like how Just Stop Oil is being funded by an oil heiress. Was the USSR at a same developmental stage that they could allow people to “suggest” a completely different system?
And the proof this mechanism is working… is that we’re having this conversation. Vocal disagreement with capitalism is useless. It does not materially do anything against capitalism. Whenever we turn that disagreement into action and get slightly too close, that’s when the arm of the state comes up to ban our parties (authoritarian by your definition), jail us (authoritarian by your definition), close down our media outlets (authoritarian by your definition) and even sometimes team up with fascists to assassinate us (authoritarian by your definition).
But try suggesting in 1790s France that you should have a king again.
And the DPRK isn’t even communist it is a hereditary monarchy masking as “communist” where you cannot suggest a new leader within the party
The DPRK is led by a coalition of three parties; the Social-Democrats, the Chongdu party (religious), and the Workers’ Party. I dread to see what they teach you in your polisci degree because this is pretty fundamental stuff about the DPRK, even Wikipedia talks about it, it’s not like it’s some super obscure factoid.
The issue is that capitalism has made itself indissoluble. Capitalism is very good at co-opting any threat and integrating it into it. Like how you can buy Leninade in the US (which I hear is just mid). Well, except fascism lol (cf 1945).
Any revolutionary message can be made into a commodity to be bought and sold, reduced to its simple exchange value – which is something Marx talked about extensively.
Capitalism doesn’t need to jail people for speaking up against it. It can defang them completely and integrate their message in the pursuit of profit. Like how Just Stop Oil is being funded by an oil heiress. Was the USSR at a same developmental stage that they could allow people to “suggest” a completely different system?
And the proof this mechanism is working… is that we’re having this conversation. Vocal disagreement with capitalism is useless. It does not materially do anything against capitalism. Whenever we turn that disagreement into action and get slightly too close, that’s when the arm of the state comes up to ban our parties (authoritarian by your definition), jail us (authoritarian by your definition), close down our media outlets (authoritarian by your definition) and even sometimes team up with fascists to assassinate us (authoritarian by your definition).
But try suggesting in 1790s France that you should have a king again.
The DPRK is led by a coalition of three parties; the Social-Democrats, the Chongdu party (religious), and the Workers’ Party. I dread to see what they teach you in your polisci degree because this is pretty fundamental stuff about the DPRK, even Wikipedia talks about it, it’s not like it’s some super obscure factoid.