This is the critique from leninists, he isn't letting his alleged politics be in command - but since he isn't a leninist why would we expect this? The critique is valid of communists but he isn't a communist. Every Democrat and bourgeois candidate, mamdani included, says shit to get elected and usually backpedals a majority of it. He is doing what is expected but because he identifies as a democratic socialist it feels as if he should be held to a standard higher than he really deserves to be held to. I don't think it's fair to expect a liberal to be a communist, even if they think they are. What's more annoying on this forum for me is the Democratic socialist members here acting like he isn't a liberal, more so than the ML members acting like he should be a communist.

[–] ratboy@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is a good take. I recognize that he wasnt going to be a full on communist in terms of policies, but i think it is important to think of these things and name them here. How many people here proclaim to be principled communists, quote Lenin, but are aggressively going to bat for the dude? Like, insulting other people/engaging in personal attacks kinda aggressive? Perhaps I had the wrong impression thinking that more people here were a tiny bit more militant in their beliefs.

Its more about the people and their positions more than the man, to me. and it kinda feel like its a bad faith reading to assume that everyone is either saying he MUST be one or the other, end of conversation, but that seems to be the way most people are interpreting comments.

[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago

I said it in the last news struggle sesh on this topic but I do see a lot of people here with principled takes on the subject, which really makes the kinds of responses you are describing stand out to me. I think there is an underlying dialectic of bloom/doom (optimism/cynicism) mentality where some people just need to feel like the left is having a win and so get invested into being very hopeful and positive and that means that any critique which undermines that position is automatically "doomer." Whereas I think many here can have a materialist take outside of this dialectic like "he is exactly what the has always been, a radlib, and he is doing nothing unexpected. There is also no reason to desire his loss because everyone else is worse and it will be good to see what happens if he wins whether he does better or worse than expected"

The one user here who worked on the campaign and is super invested because of it is being extra which I get on some level because it's not just an abstract thing but a personal project that dozens of hours went into which affects the place he lives. There's a lot of reason to take it personally for him, but I think being rude and insulting out the gate isn't doing any favors or displaying a comradely debate style. I get clapping back when someone starts it tho