They explained it all pretty well imo

greeks set up colonies along the entirety of the mediterranean sea from the west shore to the east and from the north to the south. They were settler-colonising in this way from around the 400s or 500s BC until they got owned by the romans

GOOD post

i was excited (for more primary sources until i read

But he was expelled from the party the following year [1959] over his criticism of the Great Leap Forward, an industrialization program championed by Mao that led an estimated 30 million to 40 million people to die of starvation in three years. During his 20 years in exile, Li was imprisoned in a labor camp and spent eight years in solitary confinement.

He's not even there for the most interesting (and most in need of good contemporary primary sources!!!!!! Everyone and their mother has written about the civil war!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) period who cares about this guy

I do not think writing fiction for entertainment art is "falsifying history".

If the setting is "historical" or "realistic" it is imo, bc, as I said above, you have to present history reductively, as a compelling, coherent narrative and with the unknowns smoothed out or filled in by imagination. (And all that is assuming the writer has done research into the topic—most artists dont)

The history of knowledge of druids, witches, the middle ages, the middle east and more demonstrates how distorted views can become when the tendencies of capitalist media are allowed to run rampant. Anti-indigenous racism are more serious examples of how these distortions can be harmfulm.

More general fiction outside of "historical fiction" isnt what the post is about, so idk why youre bringing it up. If theres dragons, magic, etc and it doesnt take place in "real life" people are significantly less likely to confuse stuff in it for real facts about histories or cultures.

giving this entire entertainment sector to the capitalists to falsify history in the way they want it with literally no counter balance.

As I understand it, that's a large part of why the firewall exists isnt it? So that the western created ideological products dont become the cultural mainstream?

Im glad you liked it

"Falsification of history" (or science, etcetc) isnt a thing I get the impression the cpc wants to support (and frankly i dont support it either, but im just one poster)

"Cultural fight on this front" cultural fights to falsify history in the name of profit-driven consumer-entertainment dont sound like things historical materialists should be engaging in. Falsifying the history we're materially analysing is a recipe for disaster. Frankly the whole idea of a "cultural battle" that can be fought, lost or won reeks of the german ideology Marx was criticising:

It was a revolution beside which the French Revolution was child’s play, a world struggle beside which the struggles of the Diadochi [successors of Alexander the Great] appear insignificant. Principles ousted one another, heroes of the mind overthrew each other with unheard-of rapidity, and in the three years 1842-45 more of the past was swept away in Germany than at other times in three centuries.

All this is supposed to have taken place in the realm of pure thought.

Certainly it is an interesting event we are dealing with: the putrescence of the absolute spirit. When the last spark of its life had failed, the various components of this caput mortuum began to decompose, entered into new combinations and formed new substances. The industrialists of philosophy, who till then had lived on the exploitation of the absolute spirit, now seized upon the new combinations. Each with all possible zeal set about retailing his apportioned share. This naturally gave rise to competition, which, to start with, was carried on in moderately staid bourgeois fashion. Later when the German market was glutted, and the commodity in spite of all efforts found no response in the world market, the business was spoiled in the usual German manner by fabricated and fictitious production, deterioration in quality, adulteration of the raw materials, falsification of labels, fictitious purchases, bill-jobbing and a credit system devoid of any real basis. The competition turned into a bitter struggle, which is now being extolled and interpreted to us as a revolution of world significance, the begetter of the most prodigious results and achievements.

Idk if this is true or not, but if it's not true it should be imo

way too much 'common knowledge' of science, history, politics in the west (i've never lived outside it so idk what its like outside) is based on what people see on tv/fiction/twitter/etcetc, which is made 1. by people without expertise in the subject 2. by people aiming to entertain (and profit) more than to inform.

This creates extremely distorted views of history. It communicates outright wrong or fabricated information mixed (without distinction) with truths for extra confusion. It communicates idealist ways of thinking about history, as great man theory abounds because of literary requirements for characters and a compelling narrative. And then such media usually portrays knowledge of history as more complete/settled than it actually is, because long descriptions of theories and countertheories make sales plummet

Precisely how much worse must be the conditions of the average liberal before they convert, then? There is no bottom to the conditions of the working class, and there is no ceiling to exploitation. Things are ok in many places but they're becoming bad in a lot of the Western world, even in America, for average middle-class families.

An insightful question. A comparison of the conditions of the western working class (as we've observed in our lives and studies) to those of the English proletariat in Engels' and Marx's time would be illustrative as to "how much worse must be the conditions" before the liberals stop liberalling so successfully among the workers.

Mostly from Engels, Conditions of the Working Class in England. I'll type up some highlights in addition to the full images.

Living conditions: Literally bailing the river water out of your dwelling every morning

20 people to a 2room+attic+basement residence. 120 people to a sometimes nonfunctional privy. Ireland was even more crowded.

food in stores: Old, rancid, rotting meat. Rotting vegetables. Mouldy cheese.

Soap-refuse mixed in with sugar. Dirt and sheep fat mixed with cocoa.

From Capital; cobwebs, cockroaches, sand and alum in bread.

Vagrants, tramps, homeless, beggars and the like Poor rounded up and thrown into workhouses with conditions similar to or worse than prisons. Families broken up. Hard labour (harder than regular wage labour) but useless (so as not to distort the market). No visitors, gifts, leaving, etc without permission from the inspector.

Some choice examples of conditions in the workhouses include children being locked in dark rooms with corpses as a punishment for bedwetting

Such punishments were common, and the rooms crowded, cold, filthy, and the punished youths often stripped naked

As for treatment of the old and the dead?

As for working conditions, I'll just post one screenshot from working class bc this is getting long

jumping on the "also autistic, this describes my experience" bandwagon

doesn't invalidate his previous work, but damn that sucks

This is what Howard Adams (a metis man, also a marxist) says about Riel in his book about the Metis A Tortured People.

I don't have much more to add other than to note that in discussions of the 1885 Rebellions I've read (Loyal Till Death, Cree Narrative Memory and Clearing the Plains) economic stuff has basically never come up wrt Riel, neither has the working class. His focus seems to have been political rights for metis and recognition of their claims on land. He was also racist towards "full natives", which is part of why (despite what wikipedia says) the Cree didn't join his war (they did however loot a few towns bc they were hungry).

Ironluck is real

I already have full infinity so it wont be used, buts its neat to have

picard isn't nearly cool enough to do that (he is a loser bureaucratified careerist elitist shitstain). He would be too afraid of the damage to his career

Kirk otoh would personally punch every head of state in the face before arming the dispossessed with laser pistols (as he does in ::: spoiler spoiler "The Cloud Minders") :::

the more i read about history the more convinced i become that 'fascism' (merger of economic and political power for bourgeois ends) is the default state of capitalism

Too real

He tried, but if he spoke plainly he got beaten up and if he spoke in parables no one understood

holy shit paul is the nereveraine

5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

Story says he knew how to write (historically, more dubious)

34 “Do not suppose that I [Jesus] have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34)

36 [Jesus] said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. (Luke 22:36)

In the story he tried, didn't work unfortunately

They weren't meant to be stayed in much besides sleeping / waiting out rain afaik. If it were warm enough, highlanders generally preferred staying outdoors (sometimes even sleeping outdoors). Sheiling dwellings could apparently be downright cozy though, given a fire, some blankets and stories.

Where herders lived in the non-winter months generally

ah true ty for the correction

‘We will have peace,’ said Théoden at last thickly and with an effort. Several of the Riders cried out gladly. Théoden held up his hand. ‘Yes, we will have peace,’ he said, now in a clear voice, ‘we will have peace, when you and all your works have perished – and the works of your dark master to whom you would deliver us. You are a liar, Saruman, and a corrupter of men’s hearts. You hold out your hand to me, and I perceive only a finger of the claw of Mordor. Cruel and cold! Even if your war on me was just – as it was not, for were you ten times as wise you would have no right to rule me and mine for your own profit as you desired – even so, what will you say of your torches in Westfold and the children that lie dead there? And they hewed Háma’s body before the gates of the Hornburg, after he was dead. When you hang from a gibbet at your window for the sport of your own crows, I will have peace with you and Orthanc. So much for the House of Eorl. A lesser son of great sires am I, but I do not need to lick your fingers. Turn elsewhither. But I fear your voice has lost its charm.’

It's such a good speech outright condemning imperialism and the movie BUTCHERS IT

imo the only members of Saruman's army were "in the right" are the Dunlandfolk and Woses who have been tricked into thinking that Saruman will kill the Rohirrim who they (rightfully) hate for taking their land. But both live subsistence lifestyles so i don't think it'll go well for either them if Saruman the clearcutting riverpolluting enthusiast won either

Based, Uruk's very cringe (basically Sauron's sergeants and middle manager-soldiers who oversee the less willing conscripts and slaves) and Uruk-Hai are made even more evil by Saruman by feeding them human flesh.

Also very cool and not much more fantastical than stuff that Legolas actually does do in the books (e.g. Legolas doesn't sleep, is light enough to walk atop grass or snow). Of the issues with the movie (e.g. cutting out the best parts of Theodan's speech to Saruman even in the extended cut) this is a relatively minor one imho

GOOD post

retvrn to tradition

the most horrifically comedic manifestation of this i've seen has been "sailor on a slave ship bound for the Caribbean writing in his journal about how horrible and fucked up it would be if pirates attack and sell him into slavery"

Jokes on you i was already doing that 🤓🤓🤓

Screenshots from Fidel's autobiography, tldr (at least as I read it) is that Fidel wanted Cornman to nuke the US if there was any invasion of Cuba.

Fidel wrote to cornman on 26 october (27 october in russia) telling him to send nukes if he thinks an invasion is going to happen

Cornman wrote back on the 28th, basically telling fidel to chill bc he wants peace

And Fidel wrote again to Cornman the same day telling him that he will not chill cuba is in danger

Cornman replied on the 30th with a lotta platitudes (Cornman thought he won the missile crisis lol) but most relevant here is him saying fidel's "send the nukes" idea was wrong

Fidel's reply (Oct. 31) shows what he thought of Cornman's 'victory':

Fidel wanted to but cornman was a coward

The man in your pfp used the power of violence to crush fascism and try to fold the sucdems into actual socialists. Didn't work, sadly.

If you're rly interested I'd suggest reading Cope's book, as he lays out the figures and even the movement of the money better than I can with more citations than I can. As you suggest, it's about the aggregate motion of capital. Take your restaurant example:

The restaurant isn't losing money so long as imperialism persists, because they're selling e.g. burgers for inflated prices. The burgers can be sold for inflated prices because e.g. construction worker is paid inflated wages. Construction company can afford to pay inflated wages because it's buying artificially cheap materials and because it's being paid inflated fees by e.g. a bakery. Bakery can pay the inflated fees because it's buying artificially cheap materials and because it's selling e.g. cakes at inflated prices. The cakes can be sold for inflated prices because e.g. tech employees are paid inflated wages. Tech companies can afford to pay employees inflated wages because e.g. government buys new windows hardware at inflated prices. Government can afford those inflated prices because a. the global south governments pay them yearly debt repayments or b. because they tax superprofit made in the global south.

why do business hire anyone?

1. So they can sell shit to them 2. Because they still have things that need doing 3. Because trade unions fought for higher wages (cf. Emmanuel Unequal Exchange) for more detailed examination.

And if all business in the core are inherently unprofitable, what is the mechanism that keeps them afloat?

Cope argues superprofits from imperialism

I can't say I've ever heard that definition of value of labor power.

It's the definition Marx uses in Capital. The difference between value of labour power and the value of the products of labour is the source of surplus value. Marx himself invented the category of labour power; earlier economists thought that the employer buys labour.

Why would capitalists pay these workers as much as, or more than, the value of their labor?

First off so they can buy the commodities and avoid the horror of warehouses full of unsold goods. Second off because the trade unions won higher wages. Arghiri Emmamuel's Unequal Exchange looks at how that came about over the the 1860-1920ish period, then intensified after ww2.

in other words, the capitalist is either not making money or is actively losing money by employing them.

This is exactly Cope's point; businesses in the global north are not profitable unless kept aloft by the superprofits

Costs of living are actually lower in terms of percentage of wage in the imperial core, as I said in original comment (as as Cope shows with numbers both for wages, costs of necessities and hours of labour to earn necessities)

Cope has read all three vols of capital and cites and engages with them extensively fwiw. He is aware of Marxs arguements and in fact cites Marx extensively to support his arguments. I would suggest reading the Cope book bc, tbh, you could probably follow the maths better than I could. He takes all your points into account and directly refutes them (some of them even in the two prefaces). It felt like reading Marx, in terms of his thoroughness.

Becauase the prices of those commodities, produced in the global north, are generally kept high bc the wages paying the people doing are kept high. In addition, theres a lotta expensive equipment thats much more availible in the north than south, and anyone caught doing medical treatment below these high, expensive, standards (or without a license) is imprisoned.

Also bc, yknow, in socialist countries that welfare is actually a concern. But you'll also note that AES puts a lot more emphasis on preventative care than expensive treatments, when possible, because unlike in capitalism the goal isnt to wring out as much money as possible.

I'd also note as this is the marxism comm, "healthcare" isnt rly included in "value of labour power". Value of labour power is the value required to allow the proletariat to exist, not to exist healthily. If the proletariat, as a class, continues to exist i.e. can afford sufficient food and shelter to not literally die—that is what capital considers the minimum value of labour power.

The vast majority of the work done in the belly of the beast involves the destruction of that beast, not the enlargement of the consumer class making up the beast's stomach. That doesn't mean all the work; there are very oppressed people in the US and there are ways to help them (e.g. seizing empty properties to house homeless people, forcing cities to allow empty spaces to be used by homeless people and/or for community gardening) that don't rely on more exploitation (e.g. "build more houses using cheap materials from the global south and high wage construction labour in the global north").

That said i wanna re-emphasise the degree of international inequality in hellworld.

In Divided World Divided Class Zak Cope maintains that there's no legally (illegally, yes, but if one is paid min wage and working legal hours, no) exploited workers in the global north. He is using the marxist definition of exploitation i.e. "being paid less than the value of the products of your labour", so he isn't arguing it doesn't suck to work a min wage job, but he is arguing that anyone paid the legal minimum wage is paid over and above the value of the products of their labour (if they are even a productive labourer). Cope shows that this inflated wage is largely paid through superprofits and their various redistributions.

Cope shows the degree of the inflated nominal and real wages relative to the South, and he argues that the source of these living standards is redistributed superprofits from imperialism. He lays out his numbers, sources and methodology for his calculations fairly upfront, alongside more detailed statistics in his appendices. He concludes that the Global North extracted around 8 trillion dollars of surplus value from the South in 2008 alone, which re-appears in the North in various amenities, social services, cheap goods, and high wages (3.4 to 3.7 times higher (in terms of purchasing power) in the OECD countries). These wages ofc exist so the capitalists have someone to sell their products to so they can realize the surplus value and prevent crises of overaccumulation through ever increasing consumption--but without the superprofits the capitalists would not have any money to pay this consumer class; every single global north company with legally employed global north workers would go bankrupt.

Even as the majority of people's wages, livelihoods, etc become more stressful and precarious in the North over the last 30 years of neoliberalism(I've heard this called structural reproletarianisation, book was written in 2013 so is slightly dated regarding specific numbers), Cope argues living standards have been increasing; in the late 90s food, electronics, clothes, etc were all cheaper than they were in the early 70s and all sorts of novel luxuries became increasingly prevelent even in poor households. At the same time, wages accross the global south were being slashed, social programmes destroyed, environmental regulations voided, governments toppled, food prices spiked, etc. Wages in the north stagnated and jobs became more precarious and often shittier, but cost of living fell and continued to fall basically until the crash we're in rn afaik.

Cope maintains that while it sucks to be a worker in the US, Canada, etc, it sucks much much more in the global south and the relative unsuckiness of work in the North is paid for by superprofits in the global south. Increasing wages in the north or demanding more equal sharing of the superprofits from imperialism are both demands that reinforce the citizen's privileged position wrt the international working class.

That said, Cope doesn't make the point that people in the north are to blame, or responsible for things (he is a marxist, not a moralist). His point is, that, much like the petite bourgeois as a class have property to reinforce, the citizens of the global north have a property (their entitlement to welfare, "safety", cheap goods, political rights) that they don't want taken away, which Cope argues is a key reason why, like the petite bourgeois, we often see the citizen working class of the global north turn towards fascism.