this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2025
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TankieJerk

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Dunking on Tankies from a leftist, anti-capitalist perspective.

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[–] nagaram@startrek.website 38 points 5 months ago (2 children)

And also like, they are?

Maduro is holding office by force right now because of (reasonable) suspicions that there's foreign influence in the election system.

I don't know about Cuba currently, but historically they were a dictatorship for the same reason.

Like a dictatorship is just a form of government. Its wild that we assume describing things accurately is a negative statement about the country.

How the fuck else does someone describe these structures?

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 24 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I don’t know about Cuba currently, but historically they were a dictatorship for the same reason.

It might be more accurate to describe it now as a one-party oligarchy, or a strongman regime, but honestly such nuances are often drowned in American mass politics. In any case, it's not a commendable situation, even though Cuba is not quite as repressive as it used to be.

The tankies throwing a fit about this, of course, are not interested in nuance, but in bootlicking the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes.

[–] nagaram@startrek.website 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I didn't even realize that was you PugJesus.

Deeply based in many ways.

I bought a book a lifetime ago about Cuban history from Haymarket books. Maybe its time to read it.

[–] eatCasserole@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Cuba is so interesting, that's probably a great read. It might even change your mind about the "dictatorship" thing.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 8 points 5 months ago

A dictatorship is still a dictatorship if it's painted red.

A dictatorship is still a dictatorship if it replaces another dictatorship.

[–] Skiluros@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

What does that mean?

Is Cuba not a dictatorship?

Do you live in a democracy (flawed or otherwise)? You seriously want to live in a country without real elections?

[–] eatCasserole@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Cuba's system of governance does not conform to western liberal norms, but that doesn't make it bad, it's just different. The Cuban people have a remarkable amount of input into their own governance.

I know tankiejerk is the wrong place to be saying this, and if all you want to do is jerk, have fun. But if you're legitimately curious, "We Are Cuba" by Helen Yaffe is a cool dive into kind of how Cuba works in general.

[–] Skiluros@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Have you ever met a Cuban person in real life? In what context? What was their position in Cuban society? Perhaps you can provide a different perspective from my experience, I am genuinely curious.

I will have to repeat myself:

Do you live in a democracy (flawed or otherwise)? You seriously want to live in a country without real elections?

There is a beautiful irony about your "all you want to do is jerk, have fun" statement.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

obama tried to improve relationship by removing embargos, sanctions, but TRUMP immediately reinstated those embargos, because it would upset the floridian, texas? cuban voting base that usually votes hard R.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 27 points 5 months ago (3 children)

On a brighter note, FUCK YEAH, MAMDANI VICTORY IN NYC, POP THE NON-BOURGEOIS EQUIVALENT OF CHAMPAGNE

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

THE NON-BOURGEOIS EQUIVALENT OF CHAMPAGNE

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 32 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I take it back, bring champagne

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

NYC is USA. Please peruse Sparkling Wine instead

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Fuck that, we have mezcal, moonshine, and maple syrup, we don't need grape juice.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

Alienation's for the rich, and I'm feeling poorer every day

[–] Plum@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Two buck Chuck? is that still a thing?

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 2 points 5 months ago

I feel like I wake up to bad news from the US most days, and yesterday had a shocking amount of good news (NYC, VA, CA prop 50). It was almost disorienting, having hope.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago

Its fine. Those people don't vote, and I still want them to live in a world which is affordable, where they have dignity, where they can enjoy an expanded sphere of human rights and democracy.

[–] Skiluros@sh.itjust.works 12 points 5 months ago

Cuba and Venezuela are indeed dictatorships.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Also.... Isn't the "dictatorship of the proletariat" a "necessary" part to ensure the path to communism? Wouldn't they want this to be true?

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 18 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The answer to that is unfortunately complex.

The actual original meaning of 'dictatorship of the proletariat', as used by Marx, is that of a workers' democracy. For comparison, bourgeois democracy (ie democracy as was and is largely practiced in capitalist nations) was regarded as a 'dictatorship of the bourgeois'.

Unfortunately, Marx's high-concept language is sometimes taken at face value, or the notion of metaphorical 'dictatorship' taken much further than intended. What Marx meant was that one class held all the (functional) power by the construction of the institutions.

For that reason, you have both uneducated pro-and-anti-communists clamoring that socialism means dictatorship.

To make things more unclear, tankies, while taking 'dictatorship of the proletariat' further than intended (ie by suppressing the voice of the fucking proletariat), also believe that their favorite dictatorships are actually super democratic and not dictatorships, and the 99% approval rating in elections are just proof of how much the proletariat loves a fascist boot painted red.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 3 points 5 months ago

Thanks for the clarification! That definitely makes a lot more sense

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 7 points 5 months ago

mamdami is not left enough for tankies, they want thier PUTINS, and Xi jinping equivalents.