Reddit reviews Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism

+1 for reading Blackshirts and Reds, it should be required reading on the subject of fascism.

prove it

That's actually a pretty good question. It has to do with the destruction and relentless and ruthless exploitation the vast majority of people have to endure under capitalism. Here is a great book that covers this topic with clear and detailed historical documentation:

https://www.amazon.com/Blackshirts-Reds-Rational-Overthrow-Communism/dp/0872863298

I'm reviewing parts of Michael Parenti's Blackshirts and Reds, specifically the chapter on "Left wing Anti-Communism" where he reviews how many "leftists" tend to bash actual attempts at building socialism and why those attempts are a big problem. A good chapter to review as we have "socialists" bashing the Venezuelan movement while it's under attack by the right wing.

this is from Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti it's an excellent book I highly recommend it

> I also honestly think he is more left than even his policies, which is why he calls himself a socialist, but that's just me.

I think Bernie may be more left than his policies, but I also think Bernie has moderated relatively over time. You might find this interesting but Bernie used to be friends with Michael Parenti, who is somewhat of a Leninist. If you're not familiar with Parenti think of him like an angry and more radical Noam Chomsky, and is little known outside the left. Incidentally, Parenti wrote a very good book about fascism called "Blackshirts and Reds" if you're interested in the role the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies played in supporting fascist regimes during the Cold War along with neo-fascist "stay behind" networks.

>People have asked me what I think of the Bernie Sanders campaign. Bernie and I used to be close political friends up in Vermont in the early 1970s. We ran together on a third party ticket (the Liberty Union Party). I ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and Bernie ran for the U.S. Senate. (I got 7% of the vote; he got 3 or 4%--but who's counting.)

>Bernie stayed in Vermont. I wanted to write rather than run for office in one-sided campaigns. So I spent the years writing books, articles, teaching courses, giving interviews, doing guest lectures all over the country, and marching in demonstrations. But I remained good friends with Bernie. I gave him moral and monetary support in his successful campaigns for Mayor of Burlington, then U.S. House of Representatives.

>But I eventually broke with him because of his position on the Yugoslavia war, the "humanitarian war" as Bill Clinton and his national security state people called it. As did many liberals and some Trotskyites and anarchists, Bernie stood shoulder to shoulder with NATO and the CIA and the Clinton White House in the destruction of Yugoslavia, the 78 days of bombing, drenching Serbia in depleted uranium, leaving Serbia with the highest cancer rate in Europe and breaking up Yugoslavia, one of the best social democracies in Europe, though not without its serious blemishes.

>Today, I wish Bernie the best. He is a Democrat although he calls himself a socialist and an independent. But he takes very good stands on Social Security, human services, and curbing the banksters. However, he has voiced not a word about what his foreign policy might be. I suspect it has not improved. I will most likely not be voting for him. Probably I will support some third-party candidate who will run a hard hopeless campaign---of the kind we used to do in Vermont years ago. ----MICHAEL PARENTI

Yes it does. If the commoners don't stay in line with the oligarch agenda they'll put in an autocratic leader so they stop resisting.

https://www.amazon.ca/Blackshirts-Reds-Rational-Overthrow-Communism/dp/0872863298

Minor restrictions on capitalism are throwing bread crumbs to protect the bakery; it's the same reason the voting rights and civil rights acts were passed. They want to prevent the population from radicalizing so they appease them with minor concessions. However now that the Soviet Union isn't around they don't have as much of a reason to fear the radicalization of the public, especially since the CIA and FBI did such a great job of shutting down every radical organization in the US (Most notably the Black Panthers as well as the Young Lords).

One of the biggest aspects of capitalism is owning private property and gaining profit from it without doing any actual labor, and the way the homes and apartments are owned is the biggest part of this and is why radicals absolutely despise landlords; they profit off of something that should be one of the most basic human rights.

https://www.amazon.com/Blackshirts-Reds-Rational-Overthrow-Communism/dp/0872863298 Here's a good book if you're interested.

I've been labeled a stalinist, trotskyist and an anarchist in the space of half an hour!
I'm re-evaluating quite a bit after having read this, if you are a bit cheeky you can get it here