Here are my real time "social" media comments in days after the attack:
'Jesus, people here seem to have revolution confused with revenge. How revolting. Revolutionary communists don't fall for that sh*t… I have fantasized about shit like what the assassin did forever....but then I put my revolutionary thinking cap back on and return to my senses. You can kill all the capitalists you want – it doesn't matter: as long the mode of production and superstructure stay capitalist you are just pissing in the wind, waving your little guns around as the replenishing bourgeoisie steps up its security measures. Organize to take state power and implement a whole new and liberating way of living. Individual revenge is easy and the rulers are totally fine with it.
… Our suspicion that the killer was motivated by the insurance company’s practice of refusing to pay for essentially health care have been confirmed by the words on the bullet shell-casings. An overdue event... I’m surprised it hasn't happened sooner. Not to endorse murder as the way to respond to the pathology of capitalism, but how has this not occurred before? The insurance Mafia has long asked for such a crime…. A friend last year told me about a guy he knew who was in remission from prostate cancer because of an "expensive" drug that was saving his life. Came up on two years and his insurance company said "that's it, that's all you get. Two years is the limit." The guy was put back on a drug that didn't do the job and he died. Murdered for profit. There are zillions of stories like that. So of course somebody in a country loaded with guns is going to break down and do what the Manhattan Assassin did. I'm not down with Baader-Meinhoff/RAF/Weather Underground shit, not my thing at all, in fact I think it’s petit-bourgeois and backwards, but the event that occurred the other day was pretty damn inevitable and overdue. I feel the same away about this as I do about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and October 7: no love for what was done and the people who did it but, ummm, what on earth did you all expect with NATO provocation and the open air ghetto that was Gaza?
… Just to be clear all I meant by "overdue" above is that I was surprised something like the recent health insurance CEO assassination hadn't happened yet given what these companies do and all the guns out there. I agree with Bob Avakian: “The communist revolution is not about revenge, or ‘the last shall be first, and the first shall be last,’ but is about emancipating humanity, ending all exploitation and oppression throughout the world.” Revenge killings/maimings/enslavings and “the first shall be last” stuff (Bible shit) is just religious inversion, upside down-ism. You take state power and reconstitute society down to the mode of production and back up or you just get new rulers to hate and kill and maim....Individual revenge is easy and not productive. Revolution is hard and collective work. If you like blood the rulers will make sure there's plenty of it I'm afraid.
The dashing young assassin outed some real and very legit popular outrage out there but he's not the revolutionary class warrior I knew so many here were going to imagine he was in accord with the extreme difficulty leftish US-Americans have wrapping their minds around what an actual socialist revolutionary movement and uprising would be about and look like. Let's face it: many of us are desperate for any sign of something like revolutionary struggle against the parasitic ruling class and it's sick profits system. Now, there could be something proto- or pre- revolutionary about this story...the sort of thing that precedes real revolutionary movements as, for example, in late 19th Century Russia. That said, this guy appears to be nowhere near where the Narodniks were; closer to the Unabomber it seems.'
There's nothing to add here. The blind is leading the blind online. The jubilant reaction of baby Marxists to the CEO assassination is a dead giveaway that they've read precious little theory.
"In our eyes, individual terror is inadmissible precisely because it belittles the role of the masses in their own consciousness, reconciles them to their powerlessness, and turns their eyes and hopes towards a great avenger and liberator who some day will come and accomplish his mission. The anarchist prophets of the ‘propaganda of the deed’ can argue all they want about the elevating and stimulating influence of terrorist acts on the masses. Theoretical considerations and political experience prove otherwise. The more ‘effective’ the terrorist acts, the greater their impact, the more they reduce the interest of the masses in self-organisation and self-education. But the smoke from the confusion clears away, the panic disappears, the successor of the murdered minister makes his appearance, life again settles into the old rut, the wheel of capitalist exploitation turns as before; only the police repression grows more savage and brazen. And as a result, in place of the kindled hopes and artificially aroused excitement comes disillusionment and apathy.
The efforts of reaction to put an end to strikes and to the mass workers’ movement in general have always, everywhere, ended in failure. Capitalist society needs an active, mobile and intelligent proletariat; it cannot, therefore, bind the proletariat hand and foot for very long. On the other hand, the anarchist ‘propaganda of the deed’ has shown every time that the state is much richer in the means of physical destruction and mechanical repression than are the terrorist groups."
Not too long though. The cheerleaders for this violent act are focusing solely on their justifiable hatred for the insurance companies and failing to notice that this young man has thrown his life away for nothing.
Right on. I think it's going to come down to what technological advances are utilized for. On one hand the sociopaths are going to use it to enslave the mass of humanity for their own benefit(business as usual). On the other it will be used to create an interconnected global society free of the institutions that inevitably become corrupt(the nation state etc.), because that is what humans do in them. I believe that there are some in the upper classes that can be negotiated with, are intelligent enough to see the writing on the wall (that everyone loses here), and would participate in that transition if they were guaranteed safety and security in doing so. So I am personally thinking that maybe the whole armed revolution and clashes between one violent mob and another may be rendered obsolete. I know that's what humans do but I think we should aim for a better way. There is a lot to think about.
This is a very serious time and a serious topic for your presentation, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing several times, especially about 9 & half minutes in or so….
Imagining you wondering about hair and assassinations.
People would benefit from @bobavakianofficial and digging into the New Communism. The means do NOT justify the ends. And revenge is NOT the aim of real, fundamental revolution. It is the opportunity for humanity to transform itself through making revolution and creating a far better world in order for humanity to reach its full potential. Nothing short of this can save the planet and we're running out of time!
Yes, Avakian makes rejection of revenge and "first shall be last"-ism key parts of "the new communism." Revenge is not revolution and we need a communist-led socialist revolution ASAP. We need more leftish people to actually read Avakian ffs.
What was John Brown? Who are Hamas? Hezbollah? John Brown was the spark that started the Civil War. It isn't about nonviolent resistance. It's about a spark, the conversation, the anger.
well, at the end I think I said that the hatred of the parasitic capitalist insurance mafia and for-profit health care that was made so vocal after the murder might be seen as having a pre-revolutionary aspect...or words to that effect.
I think there are none that resemble anything humans have going now. That's why I think technology will be key to connecting and administering a horizontally restructured society without the institutions that are vehicles for corruption.
Here are my real time "social" media comments in days after the attack:
'Jesus, people here seem to have revolution confused with revenge. How revolting. Revolutionary communists don't fall for that sh*t… I have fantasized about shit like what the assassin did forever....but then I put my revolutionary thinking cap back on and return to my senses. You can kill all the capitalists you want – it doesn't matter: as long the mode of production and superstructure stay capitalist you are just pissing in the wind, waving your little guns around as the replenishing bourgeoisie steps up its security measures. Organize to take state power and implement a whole new and liberating way of living. Individual revenge is easy and the rulers are totally fine with it.
… Our suspicion that the killer was motivated by the insurance company’s practice of refusing to pay for essentially health care have been confirmed by the words on the bullet shell-casings. An overdue event... I’m surprised it hasn't happened sooner. Not to endorse murder as the way to respond to the pathology of capitalism, but how has this not occurred before? The insurance Mafia has long asked for such a crime…. A friend last year told me about a guy he knew who was in remission from prostate cancer because of an "expensive" drug that was saving his life. Came up on two years and his insurance company said "that's it, that's all you get. Two years is the limit." The guy was put back on a drug that didn't do the job and he died. Murdered for profit. There are zillions of stories like that. So of course somebody in a country loaded with guns is going to break down and do what the Manhattan Assassin did. I'm not down with Baader-Meinhoff/RAF/Weather Underground shit, not my thing at all, in fact I think it’s petit-bourgeois and backwards, but the event that occurred the other day was pretty damn inevitable and overdue. I feel the same away about this as I do about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and October 7: no love for what was done and the people who did it but, ummm, what on earth did you all expect with NATO provocation and the open air ghetto that was Gaza?
… Just to be clear all I meant by "overdue" above is that I was surprised something like the recent health insurance CEO assassination hadn't happened yet given what these companies do and all the guns out there. I agree with Bob Avakian: “The communist revolution is not about revenge, or ‘the last shall be first, and the first shall be last,’ but is about emancipating humanity, ending all exploitation and oppression throughout the world.” Revenge killings/maimings/enslavings and “the first shall be last” stuff (Bible shit) is just religious inversion, upside down-ism. You take state power and reconstitute society down to the mode of production and back up or you just get new rulers to hate and kill and maim....Individual revenge is easy and not productive. Revolution is hard and collective work. If you like blood the rulers will make sure there's plenty of it I'm afraid.
The dashing young assassin outed some real and very legit popular outrage out there but he's not the revolutionary class warrior I knew so many here were going to imagine he was in accord with the extreme difficulty leftish US-Americans have wrapping their minds around what an actual socialist revolutionary movement and uprising would be about and look like. Let's face it: many of us are desperate for any sign of something like revolutionary struggle against the parasitic ruling class and it's sick profits system. Now, there could be something proto- or pre- revolutionary about this story...the sort of thing that precedes real revolutionary movements as, for example, in late 19th Century Russia. That said, this guy appears to be nowhere near where the Narodniks were; closer to the Unabomber it seems.'
There's nothing to add here. The blind is leading the blind online. The jubilant reaction of baby Marxists to the CEO assassination is a dead giveaway that they've read precious little theory.
"In our eyes, individual terror is inadmissible precisely because it belittles the role of the masses in their own consciousness, reconciles them to their powerlessness, and turns their eyes and hopes towards a great avenger and liberator who some day will come and accomplish his mission. The anarchist prophets of the ‘propaganda of the deed’ can argue all they want about the elevating and stimulating influence of terrorist acts on the masses. Theoretical considerations and political experience prove otherwise. The more ‘effective’ the terrorist acts, the greater their impact, the more they reduce the interest of the masses in self-organisation and self-education. But the smoke from the confusion clears away, the panic disappears, the successor of the murdered minister makes his appearance, life again settles into the old rut, the wheel of capitalist exploitation turns as before; only the police repression grows more savage and brazen. And as a result, in place of the kindled hopes and artificially aroused excitement comes disillusionment and apathy.
The efforts of reaction to put an end to strikes and to the mass workers’ movement in general have always, everywhere, ended in failure. Capitalist society needs an active, mobile and intelligent proletariat; it cannot, therefore, bind the proletariat hand and foot for very long. On the other hand, the anarchist ‘propaganda of the deed’ has shown every time that the state is much richer in the means of physical destruction and mechanical repression than are the terrorist groups."
Not too long though. The cheerleaders for this violent act are focusing solely on their justifiable hatred for the insurance companies and failing to notice that this young man has thrown his life away for nothing.
That was great! Shooting the CEO is like having a Cinnabon after doing your daily mall walk. Self defeating and shame filled.
Right on. I think it's going to come down to what technological advances are utilized for. On one hand the sociopaths are going to use it to enslave the mass of humanity for their own benefit(business as usual). On the other it will be used to create an interconnected global society free of the institutions that inevitably become corrupt(the nation state etc.), because that is what humans do in them. I believe that there are some in the upper classes that can be negotiated with, are intelligent enough to see the writing on the wall (that everyone loses here), and would participate in that transition if they were guaranteed safety and security in doing so. So I am personally thinking that maybe the whole armed revolution and clashes between one violent mob and another may be rendered obsolete. I know that's what humans do but I think we should aim for a better way. There is a lot to think about.
This is a very serious time and a serious topic for your presentation, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing several times, especially about 9 & half minutes in or so….
Imagining you wondering about hair and assassinations.
Oops.
Note to NSA: I am unarmed.
My reflections oh the kind of assassin I'd be are perhaps worth a chuckle or two.
There was some righteous repolarization and energy going on in Seoul, no?
Role model of mass protest to significant degree.
People would benefit from @bobavakianofficial and digging into the New Communism. The means do NOT justify the ends. And revenge is NOT the aim of real, fundamental revolution. It is the opportunity for humanity to transform itself through making revolution and creating a far better world in order for humanity to reach its full potential. Nothing short of this can save the planet and we're running out of time!
Yes, Avakian makes rejection of revenge and "first shall be last"-ism key parts of "the new communism." Revenge is not revolution and we need a communist-led socialist revolution ASAP. We need more leftish people to actually read Avakian ffs.
Yeah you can't have a human right under capitalism. Profit reigns supreme.
What was John Brown? Who are Hamas? Hezbollah? John Brown was the spark that started the Civil War. It isn't about nonviolent resistance. It's about a spark, the conversation, the anger.
well, at the end I think I said that the hatred of the parasitic capitalist insurance mafia and for-profit health care that was made so vocal after the murder might be seen as having a pre-revolutionary aspect...or words to that effect.
I'm wondering, if the adage 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' is true, what structures could the communist revolution put in place to check this?
See https://revcom.us/socialistconstitution/SocialistConstitution-en.pdf - designed for a dictatorship of the proletariat that learns from the mistakes as well as the accomplishments of the first two socialist states.
I think there are none that resemble anything humans have going now. That's why I think technology will be key to connecting and administering a horizontally restructured society without the institutions that are vehicles for corruption.
How are we going to make it happen is a question to answer.
As Chomsky would say, the same way all movements start. With a small group, building and joining other movements. Like the RevComs.