It can’t be slave labor if they’re paid a few cents! /s

So you’re acknowledging that there’s a general consensus among historians and political scientists and rejecting it anyway?

Well, you do you I guess.

Red fascism is more or less something ginned up in the early stages of the Cold War as a way to conveniently carry the fight through to the new enemy.

Stalin was not fascist, nor is Stalinism related to fascism. Stalin was a fucking monster regardless of whatever label you prefer, though.

If we look at other cited regimes, your footing is even weaker. Mao wasn’t a fascist, and none of the leaders of the PRC since then have been. Same for Castro and Cuba. Pol Pot was one fucked up dude, but he wasn’t fascist.

Stalin is certainly the closest comparison, but he’s still not fascist.

Given that, so far, precisely none of the Marxist-Leninist states have successfully transitioned into a classless system (or even tried to), I’d say that the last bullet point is especially relevant.

It’s awfully tempting to retain that total power over others, once given it. There’s only been a handful of people throughout history that have willingly handed the reins of power back after the crisis was resolved.

I’d be surprised that anyone would want to stop at the SocDem phase of things. Like if you actually get that far and things are going well, wouldn’t you want to take that next step? I guess it depends on perceived risk?

So… do you understand that authoritarianism isn’t necessarily fascism? You’re listing authoritarian regimes, but none of those were fascist. At an extreme simplification, authoritarian/libertarian is an entirely separate axis from left/right.

Stalin is one of the most evil men in history and committed atrocities against his own people but he and his regime were most emphatically not fascists.

Good luck getting that motley crew to get along. Everyone can agree on anticapitalism but that’s basically it. How exactly to go about it is going to vary widely. It’s hard to see Marxist-Leninists wanting to play ball with reform advocates.

It’s still a good idea worth trying. I’m just skeptical of lefties ever turning into a cohesive force since there’s such a wide array of leftism and some of the particulars of given ideologies are mutually exclusive.

Ahhh, okay. Yeah 3 grand would get you a beast. Or, you know, like a car or something.

I think people willing to pay that much are idiots that don’t deserve the money they have, though. Somehow I don’t think that’s a mom or dad wanting to get a Nintendo for their kids or whatever.

Not by much less. I’d say you’d need at least $800 to be sure to run most games at at least 1080p60. I’ve been playing with pcpp lately, using Belmont’s Curse as an upcoming game with fairly tame recommended specs (10th gen Intel and a 3060), and I couldn’t really come in under $800 after case, reliable PSU, etc were all factored in. Maybe if you went for specifically used/secondhand parts but I limited my choices to just new or manufacturer refurbished since used inventory will vary widely in availability and price from area to area.

Of course, the minimum requirements are like an 8th gen Intel and a 1650. So you can probably hit 1080p60 with a lot less than the recommended.

I’m curious how low we could go, requiring all parts be new or manufacturer refurbished. I tried for $500 but couldn’t get anywhere close.

Even as grim as things are getting there’s still a lot of people with far more money than they deserve.