What do I need to read in order to understand this?
I've just seen an discussion online where a man and a woman were discussing some point of marxism/socialism and then suddenly the woman basically accused the guy of mansplaining ("steaming in" to correct a woman were her words) and then a dogpile began where another person said that the guy should be paying for the educational labour of the woman, then another person telling them to "shut the fuck up".
I just don't get it. what causes socialists (or people that claim to be) to be so toxic and mean to each other? Is there a social/psychogical explanation? Has there been much written about this?
It is some retarded fashion now to cry about mansplaining, privileges etc. Most of these are just radlibs and not real socialists. We must get rid of those posers.
This is true. Identity politics divides the workers by separating them into worth based on their sexual preferences, race and culture, and fundamentally empowers the bourgeoisie. That image is extremely fucking gay, though.
William Peterson
Leftist parties ALWAYS attract young identitarians and ultras, and if you're experienced in this world you know that they need to be fought from day 1, otherwise their little attempts of "colonizing" you will work. And it won't work because they win debates and arguments, mind you, but it works because a few of their antics is enough to get all the serious people thinking "er, this isn't for me" and either leaving or becoming too discouraged to do anything. They're also very good at bullying others and knowing where the pressure points are to get people expelled or marginalized, and what the positions of power are so they create informal hierarchies to promote their views.
So what you witnessed is probably some regular identitarians, who tend to behave like this, and some people who have learned, in the past, not to take their shit. And if you think I'm being biased, start paying attention to what sides are involved when you see the most vicious fights. I can guarantee you that one of them is always either identitarians or ultras (left-communists, abstentionists, anarchists, "let's do nothing"ists in general). So it's not a problem of the Left in general, it's a problem with these people. Conflict exists all the time, yes, but only a few groups are proper wreckers. I dislike and have fought Reformists many times for example, but I would never say that Social-Democrats, as a group, have a tendency to be aggressive and destructive.
Christian King
I agree with a lot of this, but in this case the person seems to be a corbynite and does know quite a bit about socialism..it's just that she seems to cherrypick this feeling of victimisation to bully others when it suits her
Jonathan Reed
just to add on, I think we all know of the problems with people using Idpol as a shield, but I'm wondering are there any in depth discussions on this and bullying, power dynamics in left organisations ?
Bentley Moore
This isn't in any way limited to leftist organizations. Internal power struggles exist in virtually all organizations, from businesses to political parties to your local home-owners association or whatever. Even the smallest and weakest cleavages can be exaggerated and utilized by opportunist fuck-faces who seek power
Caleb Reed
Also, to answer your question, there exists a ton of research on power dynamics within organizations. People I know who studied business economics told me one of the courses was about exactly that, the study of power division inside a business/organization and how division of power can radically impact a business.
Hudson Miller
You are hitting the nail on the end. Additionally, if you are in a proper socialist/anarchist/communist org, the "SocDems" you encounter are just SocDems because they still have wrong conceptions about socialism and communism which are holdovers from their liberal past. There is nothing deliberately vicious about them. On the other side ultras very well know what socialism is but decide to wreck the hell out of the org - these people don't understand the classic Marxist and later Leninist approach of a multi-angle agitation, involving building dual power but also electoral politics in a combination. These people are nothing but spooked if they identify action outside of parliaments as authentic but spaz out when there is a communal election because muh scary bourgeois ballots and shit. Communist parties that focus only on elections are useless, but so are communist parties that dismiss electoral politics all-together.
In regards to identitarians, most of them have a narcisstic personality disorder. They barely have any redeeming qualities, nobody likes them, nobody wants to be their friends because nobody can keep up with their entitled mannerisms. So they enter the left where their toxic flaws are actually appreciated by deluded folk, just check all these Twitter bios that include all kinds of sexual deviances and shit that's literally just your personal life that shouldn't be used as a leverage to demand from others to check their privilege.
