"Progressives should not make the same mistake that Ernst Thälmann made in 1932. The leader of the German Communist Party, Thälmann saw mainstream liberals as his enemies, and so the center and left never joined forces against the Nazis. Thälmann famously said that ‘some Nazi trees must not be allowed to overshadow a forest’ of social democrats, whom he sneeringly called ‘social fascists.’

After Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933, Thälmann was arrested. He was shot on Hitler’s orders in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944."

  • TachyonTele
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    2 months ago

    What tf does God have to do with anything, are you mental? Your entire comment is ridiculous.

    What you’re “understanding” is make believe.

      • Dagwood222
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        2 months ago

        Please read the entire thread.

        Maeve said that history wasn’t people, it was an inevitable process. I pointed out that they were making history into G*d.

        • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          There’s a difference between history being people and history being Great Men tm. They are including people in material reality and saying that material reality is what creates the basis for the procession of history, not the appearance of great individuals who stand outside it and move it unilaterally.

          I don’t understand why people are even arguing against this. It’s widely understood even in popular liberal academia that Great Man Theory is primitive, idealist, childish, and absurd and that you need to look at material circumstances, class interests, popular movements, and so on to understand why things happen.

        • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          That isn’t what happened at all, by the way.

          1. I said history is the course of physical reality, not Maeve, Maeve merely added on because you weren’t making any sense

          2. Humans and their actions are a part of physical reality, I did not at any point say otherwise

          3. I was not making history into god, nor saying it was an “inevitable process.”

          What did happen, was I was pointing out how you follow Great Man Theory even if unintentionally, which I firmly reject as idealist, and instead was trying to explain Historical Materialism. You then went off on a million tangents and never grasped what I was saying, making it useless to continue.

          • Dagwood222
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            2 months ago

            So, you know a lot about history, but were amazed to find out about the 90% tax rates?

            I suggest you forget about unprovable theories and concentrate on the facts that did occur.

            • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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              2 months ago

              So, you know a lot about history, but were amazed to find out about the 90% tax rates?

              No. You said we could have 90% tax rates tomorrow if we voted for it, I asked when that was on the ballot. You then went on and spoke about Eisenhower, a long dead President. This is more Great Man Theory, ie you believe the 90% tax rate was because of Eisenhower, and not because the greater political context at the time required concessions. Eisenhower was president right after WWII, where the US was becoming a superpower. If Eisenhower was President today, he would not make a 90% tax rate.

              What you can vote for is limited by the context of the political environment, not random heroes influencing history.

              I suggest you forget about unprovable theories and concentrate on the facts that did occur.

              Again, what on Earth are you talking about? If I throw a rock right now, do you think it will never land? Events have context, they are not random, chaotic people making big moves.

              I’m disengaging, you clearly aren’t operating in any kind of good faith.

              • Dagwood222
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                2 months ago

                I don’t feel like you were ever actually engaged.

                If you were, you would have noticed that I never said I believed in the ‘Great Man Theory,’ just that I believed that there are no solid rules in history and that people make their own choices. One civilization creates the wheel and another does not. One island nation isolates itself and another builds a giant navy.