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It's over. Hexbear in shambles.
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this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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One thing I hate about the China discourse is "Oh but the living conditions outside the big cities are the REAL China." And it's like, uhh, yeah, it is a developing country??? Fucking assholes
Yep, and because the CPC is actively trying to address the very real urban/rural gap, it's merely a matter of time and effort before this gap is narrowed even more, to eventually eradicated. Even if you point this out to liberals, though, they often take the stance essentially opposing the China of the present for not being the China of the future yet. Their tremendous, rapid development still isn't rapid enough, since China is socialist and socialism is treated with religious purity by westerners it must be perfect instantly or else it's sinful.
This is why dialectics are core to dialectical materialism, and vulgar materialism ends up being similar to idealism.
I know this has probably been asked a hundred times here but are these "easy" introduction to dialectics? I hate how much of my world view is vibes based
Sure! I wrote a post that serves as what I hope is a concise introduction. I also have a basic ML study guide I made, the section on philosophy contains this:
3. Philosophy [~2.5 hr]
In order to better understand the later sections, we must understand Marx's materialist outlook and dialectical method.
Webpage/.epub | Audiobook [~1hr / 1hr 42 min]
A clear summarization of the fundamental components describing the materialist outlook, the dialectical method, and applying both to analyze the arc of history.
Webpage | Audiobook [~30 min / 1 hr 9 min]
One of the best primers on the Marxist-Leninist theory of the unity of theory and practice to inform correct understanding.
Webpage | Audiobook [~1 hr / 1 hr 57 min]
Mao explores and elaborates on one of the most fundamental concepts in dialectical materialism, the contradiction.
Checkpoint
What are some examples of idealist explanations, and what would the materialist explanation be?
What are some examples of metaphysical thinking, and how does the dialectical method improve upon it?
How can you apply dialectical and historical materialism in your daily life?
Finally, I also really like Maurice Cornforth's Materialism and the Dialectical Method, if you can ignore the Lysenkoist view of genetics that was popular at the time. This will be more comprehensive than my reading list on the side of dialectical materialism, bur won't explain historical materialism much at all, while the reading list does both.
Good luck!
That study guide is very well put together, even the introduction cleared up some things I had no words to describe/define. Suppose I will see you in 2 months.
Thank you for all your effort o7
No problem! Glad it's useful for you, and I'd love feedback if you follow it!
This is probably really in the weeds, but what was the deal with Lysenkoism? As I understand it, there was a tension between notions of individual genetic traits and competition, and vulgar Marxist interpretations of that as being somehow bourgeois.
I feel like the more reasonable approach to this, is to take a page from Kropotkin and assert that, in the process of natural selection, there's a dialectic between individual competition and cooperation between species (mutualism, symbiosis, etc.)
But obviously Lysenkoism doesn't really do that, so what was the explanation given, instead?
Lysenkoist views of genetics thought, to my understanding, that you could change one species to another, and do other odd pseudoscientific stuff, based on a vulgar view of dialectics. Lysenko had some backing and wasn't a pure crank, but the genetics aspect has been proven false and the gene does indeed exist.