School shootings and gun control
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Posted under: culture, elections, fascism, news and current events, USA
School shootings and gun control
(llco.org)
Recently, there has been another school shooting in the United States. Twenty six people were shot in a Connecticut elementary school by Adam Lanza. The victims at the school were shot multiple times with a high-power rifle, some of them up close. All six adults were women. Of the 20 children, eight were boys and 12 were girls. All the children were 6 or 7 years old. He then killed himself. This shooting is one of many in the United States over the years, the most famous of which was the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. These shooting reflect the sick nature of imperial society. Violence is as American as apple pie. The United States is a society that wages war against the poor peoples of the world. It is no surprise that violent events like this occur from time to time in the heart of empire. Even though the First World society of the United States is extremely wealthy, it is sick, unhealthy and violent. These events are now being exploited by the Obama administration in an attempt to tighten the gun control laws.
Many in the United States see gun control as the first step by the state to enslave the population. This kind of view is often articulated by racists and other fascists who oppose the state from the right. Even though the imperialist system, including its state, has provided one of the most wealthy, liberal, hedonist societies in the world, fascists and social fascists see themselves and their First World privilege as constantly under siege. They traffic in all kinds of paranoid fascist propaganda, recycled anti-semitism, crackpot conspiracy theories, etc. These views have only increased in recent years. In recent decades, ideas once found almost exclusively on the “far right” have spread into anti-war and “social justice” activist circles. Along with this, the line between traditional “right wing” fascism and “left” social fascism has blurred in some respects. The “far right” and “far left” have much in common. They are both First Worldist. Both the “far right” and “far left” both attempt to agitate on behalf of First World populations. Both seek to preserve, advance and extend First World privilege, which they see as threatened by their state. So it is not surprising that there would be a crossover of rhetoric and ideas. This crossover can be seen with conspiracy theories about the Illuminati. Rhetoric and ideas once almost exclusively associated with White populist and racist organizations now find their way into hip hop music, for example.
Although there are various contradictions in First World society, including contradictions involving the state, the contradictions are not antagonistic. The First World state is part of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie over the proletariat of the Third World. The First World state is not out to enslave its imperial population. Rather the First World state is part of a system that delivers wealth and privilege to the vast majority of the imperial populations. To see the state as out to enslave and pauperize its population is a First Worldist misunderstanding of the nature of the global class structure. There is no significant proletariat in the First World, including the United States. Both the state apparatus and the general population of the First World are comprised of the class enemies of the global poor of the Third World.
Ultimately, all enemy populations should be disarmed, including the populations of the First World. Disarming enemies is part of the role of the New Power. However, these populations should be disarmed by the proletariat when, in the future, the proletariat has the ability to do so. The imperial state, by contrast, seeks to disarm its population in the name of social stability, ending crime, and preventing arms from trickling into the hands of revolutionary and resistance movements. In other words, the current state seeks to disarm its population as a measure to strengthen and protect First World society, not to destroy it.
The United States is the top exporter of arms. Many of these arms end up in the hands of puppet dictatorships and death squads in the Third World. However, this will continue whether or not the United States passes more gun control legislation. Such legislation will affect private sales, not state sales. At present, Leading Lights should oppose gun control for the simple reason that attempts to restrict arms trafficking will hurt revolutionary and resistance movements (especially in the Third World) that may acquire weaponry through the private marketplace. In other words, such restrictions also hurt the Third World proletariat’s ability to acquire the tools it needs to liberate and defend itself.
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“There are no circumstances imaginable, not even victory, under which the proletariat should give up its possession of arms.” — Karl Marx
Hey I don’t know if my last comment was too terse or still waiting approval or what, but I’d really like to know where Marx said that? thanx
k this is wrong you are taking an approach thinking these americans are proletariats. they dont live a bad life compared to the rest of the world.
You are misreading the article. It states: “There is no significant proletariat in the First World, including the United States. Both the state apparatus and the general population of the First World are comprised of the class enemies of the global poor of the Third World.”
aks are better than m-16s though
I am not sure that is true. Although I have more experience with the AK and SKS, I recently had the opportunity to use a AR15. Since I was used to an AK, it surprised me how light and accurate the AR was by comparison. The AK, of course, requires less maintenance and can more readily fire when dirty, but a maintained AR is more accurate and much lighter. I prefer the AR.
i understand what you mean. however the main advantage of the ak is reliability. an accurate lightweight rifle is only useful as long as it works rain or snow.
I agree with your perspective that real revolutionaries who oppose AmeriKKKa from within should have the right to bear guns. AmeriKKKa is a Monster that should be opposed from both the outside and within. While it’s true the objective basis for Revolution in the US is narrow, real revolutionaries armed with a correct perspective could and should keep the enemy busy at home in order for Third World revolutionaries to deliver the decisive blows abroad. Just compare LLCO’s perspective with that of “World Socialist Website” (WSWS) and see how silly their “arguments” are, a mixture of reformist, pro-labour aristocracy, pacifist and ultra-left that is hard even for a Trotskyist to come up with!
The World Socialist Website is an Anglo imperialist organization masquerading as Leftist internationalism.
Cut through their propaganda, and their politics is about maintaing and expanding the living standards of the Labor imperialist classes in the leading Anglohone nations of America, Britain, Australia, etc–in other words, the nations in which WSWS members are (surprise, surprise) predominantly citizens of.
WSWS claims to champion the global working class but in reality only champions their own national working class by obscuring and denying the reality of the fundamental differences between the First and Third World.
That is what their “Socialist” defense of First World privilege, wealth, and power amount to.
The World Socialist Website is an Anglo imperialist organization masquerading as Leftist internationalism.
Cut through their propaganda, and their politics is about maintaining and expanding the living standards of the Labor imperialist classes in the leading Anglophone nations of America, Britain, Australia, etc–in other words, the nations in which WSWS members are (surprise, surprise) predominantly citizens of.
WSWS claims to champion the global working class but in reality only champions their own national working class by obscuring and denying the reality of the fundamental differences between the First and Third World.
That is what their “Socialist” defense of First World privilege, wealth, and power amounts to.
the black panthers were always against gun control
Trotsky was in agreement with the labor aristocracy theory that was put forth in Lenin’s ¨Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism.¨ This can easily be verified by reading Trotsky´s “Trade Unions in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay.” However, certain revisionist tendencies, beginning with Tony Cliff, attempted to refute Lenin´s correct analysis in order to advance parcellary interests and open the door to the crassest forms of opportunism.
Various authors, including Marx, Engels, Lenin, etc., touched on the issue in various ways. However, their writings on the topic are usually inconsistent and muddled. It would not be surprising if Trotsky too, at some point, hinted or stated that the workers of some countries had become bought off. Even so, the overall thrust of Trotskyism is First Worldist, even if Trotsky was inconsistent. Until Leading Light, the overall line of the communist movement — as represented by the Leading Lights Marx, Lenin, Mao — had been First Worldist. Prior to the development of Leading Light Communism, there had been various organizations and authors that had hinted at or developed rudimentary Third Worldist positions. Even today, there are organizations and authors that muddle First Worldism and Third Worldism. One of the breakthroughs of the Leading Light was to brush aside all First Worldism once and for all. There is really little point in beating the dead horse at this point. It isn’t like we are going to win people to the Leading Light by providing yet more proof that the First World is bought off. This fact should be obvious by now. We win people by developing the organization, discipline, practice to really win.
I will also add that in many ways, the attempts to develop revolutionary science of the past, whether called “Trotskyism,” “Marxist-Leninism,” or “Maoism,” often suffered from dogmatism, especially First Worldism. Despite their violent disagreements with each other, they often had more in common than they realized. Leading Light, as the new stage of revolutionary science, is more forward looking. Leading Light is more concerned with defending the truth than with upholding past icons. If Trotksy hit upon some truth here and there, that should be upheld just as much as if Marx, Lenin or Mao did. Leading Light is truth, revolutionary science.