I don't really blame people for being upset at China not taking a more proactive role in assisting Iran in a way where we can see it obviously, but I do think there was a lot of doomerism with respect to China that happened far too quickly. Iran seems to have a handle on things, and wins if the war is drawn out, arguably even if the US gets involved, so China's involvement seems to be more in the background for now.
Obviously, the situation can change, but for now I don't see reason to write China off as entirely passive either.
The People's Republic of Korea was a quasi-Socialist government over the entirety of Korea that formed after liberation from Japan, before the establishment of the US dictatorship preceding the modern ROK and before the establishment of the DPRK. Korea is one nation with 2 governments, as we all know, and this is further cemented by the fact that collective people's councils formed a new government before the US made them illegal and formalized the 38th parallel as state lines.
Prolewiki seems to be down, but here is the article on the PRK. Without US intervention, there would be no DPRK or ROK, just one PRK.
It's probably hopium on my part, I know. I just hope the way it's resolved is via internal ROK revolution, rather than armed conflict between the DPRK and ROK, as the latter would be far bloodier and far more devastating for countless innocents, especially if the US Empire is still in power at the time of conflict.
The more I read about the history of the Korean people the more heartbreaking it is.
For now, 2 seems highly unlikely to be provoked in the near future unless the US loses against Iran and tries to provoke something. 3 is probably at least a decade away. 1 is the option I'm most curious about, I know conditions are sharp in the ROK but I don't know much about labor organizing on the ground.
Call me a lib, but the US Empire's decay leading to the re-establishment of the PRK that the US Empire strangled in its crib without the necessity of all-out war seems like the best-case scenario for a return to one Korea, and Socialism in the south. The chaebol will have to be overthrown, but I genuinely think there's hope for a peaceful reunion in the long-run. I dunno, maybe that's me getting high on hopium, but the division of Korea is heartbreaking.
Hey news heads, does anyone have any predictions about DPRK-ROK relations changing with Lee Jae-Myung as president? Seems to be very lib economically but pushing for less Japan/US reliance and more PRC/DPRK relations, though that's compared to Yoon. Are we predicting more of a sunshine policy kind of shift, or something further as the US Empire is clearly declining? What's the status on the ground in the ROK as the economy falters and the contradictions in class society sharpen?
The appendicies are quite in-depth and add a lot! I appreciate that they sort of bridge volume 1 to 2, it serves as a primer for our next venture! I'll save my overall thoughts for next week's thread.
I read your program, it seems very much in the flavor of Social Democracy, and as a consequence erases Imperialism as the biggest factor in the United States economy. Some of your conclusions, like simply taxing the US to end global poverty, ignore the entire mechanism by which the US Empire runs, cheap labor in the Global South kept dependent on US dollars and foodstuffs.
Further, you reach out to the 1% as the target demographic for this movement, rather than the working class. Next, there's a lack of Materialism, you place far more value on money than on actual production. All of these flaws absolutely cripple your analysis. Finally, the most damning, is a reliance on simple policy changes being possible in a system dominated by the Billionaires you claim as the enemy, the only way to actually wrest control from them is revolution.
I highly recommend you engage with political theory. I'm a Marxist-Leninist, so I keep an intro Marxist-Leninist reading list. Without understanding the how and why of the system, you can't learn how to end it. Capitalism cannot be reformed to save it, merely delay collapse while still depending on Imperialism like European Social Democracies. We need Socialism, and revolutionary organizing to overcome the evils of today.
![Cowbee [he/him, they/them]](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/ae0d391c-ebf2-4804-94cd-0122ea668b74.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=128)
What a shame she wasn't living in it at the time.