The Netherlands has the NCPN and its youth wing, but there is very little reading material on their stances apart from a measly selection of articles on their websites. And its not very encouraging either, they condemn the SMO in Russia and have a lot of annoying "Both sides bad" rhetoric. Although they are self proclaimed MLs, then again this is all I know from just reading about them online and occasionally coming across their posters in the streets.
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DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml 2 years agoI'm from the Netherlands as well and I live in Belgium now (where I joined the party). Which party did you wanted to join? I think BIJ1 is the most leftist party in The Netherlands but I don't know what they think of China. SP and PVDA have regressed to social democracy unfortunately. Maybe check if you can join ROOD jongeren?
I'm not familiar with an international party or even a Benelux one sadly.
commiewolf@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
I had never heard from them really so I had a look. You're not kidding lol. They have all these reasons why Russia did what it did and then go: but Russia also bad. No offense to them but they seem a bit 'all talk no action' if I glance through their website.
commiewolf@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
A lot of Dutch people are genuinely under the impression that Groenlinks is the farthest left party in the country. That's how little recognition real leftist movements get around here. They think a lukewarm milktoast green party is somehow the leftist core of their political spectrum.
DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
Groenlinks became an elitist party for progressive upper- and middleclass people. If that's your voter base you tend to lose the 'links' in the name a bit I think.
Weyland@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
Apart from Rood none of those parties is actually Communist though. I reached out again to the NCPN, but if I don't get a reply by next week I'm just going to let it slide. What I don't get: seeing as getting a communist party off the ground in the West that can actually get a controlling amount of seats in any chamber of government is futile until we have a multipolar world where the global south isn't merely used as a commercial spot to scam money from the lower classes: why aren't more of the directions of these parties directed abroad? Like the CPC was literally helped set up by Henk Sneevliet, a Dutch guy.
commiewolf@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
I'd advise you to be careful, I have my suspicions about the NCPN, they give off a hint of controlled opposition, all the visuals but no radical substance.
Weyland@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
Controlled opposition... Is getting involved in non-classist identity politics a common red flag?
commiewolf@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
That's more complicated, supporting intersectional liberation is no doubt an important part of any socialist movement. But if there is an overemphasis on bringing about attention to identity politics over class based conflict and inequality then that could be a problem.
I guess the best way to tell is how they propose this liberation is supposed to come about. If its the same pointless rhetoric you see from liberals such as pushing meaningless diversity quotas or supporting charities and whatnot, then they're approaching it wrong.
DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
I don't have a concrete answer for that I think. I think it's being a socialist party for your own people first and then focussing on other countries. It's sometimes hard to do both, especially when most marxist parties in the west don't have a majority in their governments or simply lack the resources for it. That being said, there are ways to help people in the global south. Supporting activists through Patreon for example or looking for organizations that do groundwork in developing nations. China is helping countries with their Belt and Road initiative.
Also, like you said yourself, there are not that many real, big communist parties in the west. A lot of leftist parties are socdem at best and they don't really have the intention to help the global south.
It's a shame really, but now that you mentioned it I will try to see if things can be done within my party regarding this.
Weyland@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
(Before COVID) if you put in the effort you could literally send a few dozen party members to study in China on the cost of the government without too much hassle (as long as they were below the age of 25). China has a quota for students of Western countries that never gets fulfilled. They literally set aside money that has to be spent on e.g. students from France, but if they only have 10 students from France while they budgeted for 100; guess what happens(ed). Those 10 French students get an inflated scholarship, and literally, get several times the scholarship someone from let's say Madagascar gets.
Want to become a climate activist lawyer? China has an English language degree for that. Want to become a doctor? China has a degree for that. And afterwards, you can speak Chinese and you have the contacts (if you didn't waste your time in university) that you could leverage to get business loans to set up companies abroad. Whether it be in the West or the global south.
Want to know what it takes to organize a political party? The Chinese don't care; they'll let you sit in on meetings and will spend their evenings looking up documents to give you a proper foundation. It was already a meme that the Chinese embassy/consulate would send a copy of the Governance of China to anyone who asked, but that's the thing: that's just the tip.
The CPC is there to help. But outreach has to come from outside. The CPC won't try to meddle in your affairs as that'd go against your right to self-determination. I've met people from Tanzania, Indonesia, Pakistan, Madagascar, Russia, and more who have taken them up on the offer. What's up with these moribund communist chapters in the West that feel like they've already won in the war of ideas and are merely dealt a bad hand? Last I checked none of these groups has set up a socialist publishing house, heck a book print on demand machine is $20k new. Did they and I read the same Marx and Lenin? Last I checked being able to print your own propaganda was pretty fucking important. /rant
DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml 2 years ago
Huh that's really cool actually. I'll definitely look into this and see what's possible. My party actually publishes (or helps publish, don't know the specific details really) books on socialist topics, I went to a presentation this week even.
But I agree. A lot of western communist groups lack action. I think some genuinly don't know how to start and some just like the aestethic of being a communist I guess.
Thanks for this information though, I had no idea all this could be done. That's definitely a thing I'm going to bring forward.