UK Revolution In Theory And Practice

[rainbow]

Just don't go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao and you'll do OK.

In other news: Today, I read of a town in Ontario called Swastika. Why has it never been renamed?

[cronus]

Keep to topic. It is important. The US economy could fall over quite soon and make a weather bomb this side of the Atlantic too. Parody threads in the Pub.

[rainbow]

[cronus]

[pErvinalia]

Great. Is this now yet another scumple music bookmarking thread?

[JimC]

We are all revolting...

[mistermack]

That's quite true actually.
The world system of capitalism IS fucking up. The wealth is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, just like it did in the past.
The answer isn't revolution though. That's very unpleasant.
The answer is proper taxation, which isn't happening. The mega-rich play off one country against another, there's a Dutch auction going on, with the lowest taxes winning the privilege of getting your billions to use.
Who can blame the rich? I blame the governments, for taking part.

The solution is to tax properly, and tax inheritance EXTREMELY heavily. So you don't get a tiny clique getting richer and richer, just by being born rich, and the poor getting poorer and poorer, just because they started off poor.

You need a situation where you pay less tax while you are alive, but lose nearly all of it when you die. That rewards work and enterprise, not the good fortune of having wealthy parents.

[cronus]

No, the answer is not revolution when you are our ages. Realistically though only physical violence ever got the big changes to happen. Guess we don't choose those times we live in...

[pErvinalia]

That's quite true actually.
The world system of capitalism IS fucking up. The wealth is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, just like it did in the past.
The answer isn't revolution though. That's very unpleasant.
The answer is proper taxation, which isn't happening. The mega-rich play off one country against another, there's a Dutch auction going on, with the lowest taxes winning the privilege of getting your billions to use.
Who can blame the rich? I blame the governments, for taking part.

The solution is to tax properly, and tax inheritance EXTREMELY heavily. So you don't get a tiny clique getting richer and richer, just by being born rich, and the poor getting poorer and poorer, just because they started off poor.

You need a situation where you pay less tax while you are alive, but lose nearly all of it when you die. That rewards work and enterprise, not the good fortune of having wealthy parents.

This is why revolution is likely necessary. How do you imagine we will manage to tax people more? The reverse has been happening for 40 years. The political class and the corporate world is too entwined and entrenched to allow change. Already people's wishes regarding the environment, progressive taxation, open democracy, etc, are being thoroughly ignored by the political class. Incremental change in the progressive direction is almost certainly not going to happen. That's why revolution will probably ultimately be necessary.

[pErvinalia]

Realistically though only physical violence ever got the big changes to happen.

yep, pretty much.

[cronus]

Realistically though only physical violence ever got the big changes to happen.

yep, pretty much.

Yes, unfortunately or maybe not, the coming revolution will be a act of desperation, the 'let's roll' variety rather than one with a foreseeable replacement system.

[pErvinalia]

That's my feeling as well. It's going to be ugly.

[cronus]

That's my feeling as well. It's going to be ugly.

...and it could stall and go backwards like Egypt. Things worse than at the start. There is a need for a educated, thinking, decisive vanguard of the revolution - behind the scenes willing to slog it out to the bitter end. The new political elite forged by the people and for the people. Same with the US. It's a global system in crisis. It's The Hunger Games....

[pErvinalia]

Vanguards will fail as well. We're fucked, basically. Thankfully the less insane parts of the world (that is, outside the US) will be more likely to work cooperatively and not shoot each other. Thankfully there's a fucking big ocean between us and the US and Africa.

[Hermit]

There is a need for a educated, thinking, decisive vanguard of the revolution - behind the scenes willing to slog it out to the bitter end. The new political elite forged by the people and for the people.

That is how the revolutions in Russia and China succeeded. Faaaark. I think I prefer failure.