Is there a leftist case for US balkanization or state secession? (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 days ago by LeopardShepherd@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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I was thinking about how the idea of some form of secession of states is always discussed in some really silly right-wing fantasy contexts but has there been any discourse in leftist circles about this? Especially in terms of the completely broken political system.

Otherwise is this a completely stupid idea on its face? Either way I'm just interested to hear about people's thoughts.

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[-] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 21 points 2 days ago

No, it’s never going to happen.

America has already exported its industries to the Global South. This is the price it has to pay for the ability to get “free ride” from all over the world simply through printing money. As such, all US states are bound together by the power of its currency - the loss of which will lead to severe plunge in purchasing power and living standards.

Not a single state in America - not even the richest state - can afford to secede without losing a large part of material privileges they’ve been able to enjoy all these years through exploiting labor and extracting surplus from the Global South.

Unless they’re willing to live like Brazil or Italy, but Americans would rather wage a war with the rest of the world than to willingly degrade their own material conditions like that.

[+] SSJMarx@lemm.ee 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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[-] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The USSR dissolved under the illusion that they were going to liberalize their highly industrialized economy and open up to the entire Western market.

The richest state in America, California, derives half of its tax revenues from capital gains e.g. stocks and bonds and various financial assets. If this is the economic structure of the richest state (I don’t even have to talk about New York property market), then every other state in the rest of the country is going to endure an even worse fate. Good luck seceding and immediately losing the privilege of having the strongest purchasing power in the world.

Any serious attempt at doing so will immediately find out this is impossible at the planning stage, because they first have to figure out how to run their economy independently from the rest of the country. Any talks about secession are mere rhetoric and can never happen in America as long as the dollar is king.

[-] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The USSR dissolved under the illusion that they were going to liberalize their highly industrialized economy and open up to the entire Western market.

Both things happened actually, but both liberalisation and opening market didn't meant investment, it meant looting. What were they even thinking though, west did that every single time they "opened" some place up and even revisionist socialists should have this covered in fucking school.

[-] SadArtemis@hexbear.net 15 points 2 days ago

and can never happen in America as long as the dollar is king.

Thankfully, this is going quickly down the drain. And the worries of the economy will only matter so long as the American economy meaningfully exists... inshallah that said, probably the best-case scenario is a civil war sometime down the road for whatever reason, I wouldn't expect the US to (relatively) peacefully dissolve like the Soviets nor let go of their 250-year reich without some blood shed (and better internal infighting amongst state elements than it trying to take the world or rebelling populations down with it)