Accelerationism

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The term accelerationism has multiple definitions but here means the belief that the fall of capitalism should be accelerated, that the worsening of people's lives under capitalism will cause a revolution happen sooner than if the capitalism's end was forestalled by social democracy and/or a welfare state.

To be an accelerationist, one must believe that (A) capitalism should fall and B) that it's fall should be accelerated by the decline of material conditions.

I have always and still do believe in A but I have been rethinking B. I no longer believe in accelerationism for two reasons. One, I think worsening material conditions do not necessarily make people more revolutionary because people too preoccupied with survival needs often do not have time or energy to fight. I also think that worse lives will cause apathy and despair and leave people unmotivated to resist the system. The other problem is that there are fascists waiting to take over when the system falls, and if revolution were to break out under terrible conditions there is no guarantee the fascists will be defeated. A united left must confront fascism in the aftermath of late capitalism in the strongest possible position.

Are revolutionaries more capable under unchecked capitalism or social democracy? Would the fall of capitalism under current conditions more likely lead to fascism or communism? Will capitalism fall soon or will its death be exceedingly slow?

[The Reformed American Republic]

Unchecked capitalism, therefore the right should abandon neoliberalism and endorse common sense regulations and put more effort into winning the culture war. Communism will not be defeated by Conservative Inc.

[The Greater Ohio Valley]

I’d agree that accelerationism would cause significantly more harm than good, since you’re right on that if people’s material conditions are deliberately made worse through accelerationism then the vast majority of them would be more concerned with surviving than “rising up”.

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Unchecked capitalism, therefore the right should abandon neoliberalism and endorse common sense regulations and put more effort into winning the culture war. Communism will not be defeated by Conservative Inc.

I don't think the right can really win the culture war, only stall their defeat.

[The Reformed American Republic]

Unchecked capitalism, therefore the right should abandon neoliberalism and endorse common sense regulations and put more effort into winning the culture war. Communism will not be defeated by Conservative Inc.

I don't think the right can really win the culture war, only stall their defeat.

Not the mainstream right, but a right-wing that is willing to immediately go after big tech that promotes social progressivism, impose pro-working class economic policies, gut funding to universities who use that money to promote things like fat studies, punish corporations that make up woke capital, that right-wing can win. Not by promoting bullshit like "small government" but by using the power of the state to promote western values.

[The Supreme Vatican Caliphate]

Accelerationism of capitalism is more of a 20th century term, because we realized that if you accelerate capitalism, it won’t eventually fall to revolutionaries, rather, it just keeps on going and going.

[Nuroblav]

This:

I’d agree that accelerationism would cause significantly more harm than good, since you’re right on that if people’s material conditions are deliberately made worse through accelerationism then the vast majority of them would be more concerned with surviving than “rising up”.

[The Reformed American Republic]

This:

I’d agree that accelerationism would cause significantly more harm than good, since you’re right on that if people’s material conditions are deliberately made worse through accelerationism then the vast majority of them would be more concerned with surviving than “rising up”.

I don't agree. If people are desperate enough, people will not play by society's rules and instead play by their own, by going into crime and trying to overthrow society at large. People struggled to survive in pre-revolutionary France, which lead to the French Revolution.

[US-SSR]

There's a sort of parallel in Zen Buddhism: the way to cure suffering is to end desire, but throwing up all your material goods at once in an attempt to accelerate the process only leaves you obsessed with things like shelter and food rather than focused on ending desire...namaste...

[-Ra-]

"We should make people's lives miserable so they accept my political ideology."

Leftism is honestly monstrous.

[The Supreme Vatican Caliphate]

"We should make people's lives miserable so they accept my political ideology."

Leftism is honestly monstrous.

I guess you could say that you’re right.

[The Reformed American Republic]

"We should make people's lives miserable so they accept my political ideology."

Leftism is honestly monstrous.

They want to use capitalism against itself. Clever.

[The Supreme Vatican Caliphate]

"We should make people's lives miserable so they accept my political ideology."

Leftism is honestly monstrous.

They want to use capitalism against itself. Clever.

Unfortunately, capitalism is additive. It’s like shooting a water gun at an ocean.

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"We should make people's lives miserable so they accept my political ideology."

Leftism is honestly monstrous.

Most leftists aren't accelerationists.

[The Emerald Legion]

Unchecked capitalism, therefore the right should abandon neoliberalism and endorse common sense regulations and put more effort into winning the culture war. Communism will not be defeated by Conservative Inc.

I don't think the right can really win the culture war, only stall their defeat.

Not really no. The Left won by pointing out obvious inconsistencies in the American ideal. Leftists of generations past had a point when they said we weren't living up to our own expressed ideals.

Modern day leftists don't give two fucks about our ideals and mostly throw their lot in with international orders with their roots in Communist ideas. This is obviously going to fail.

[Khoronzon]

I no longer believe in accelerationism for two reasons. One, I think worsening material conditions do not necessarily make people more revolutionary because people too preoccupied with survival needs often do not have time or energy to fight. I also think that worse lives will cause apathy and despair and leave people unmotivated to resist the system.

Capitalism requires a degree of material luxury to function properly. If the masses are starving, who's going to keep buying goods? Who's going to maintain the consumer economy? Besides that, who do you think is more likely to oppose it - someone with nothing left to lose, or someone being kept pacified by comfort? Yes, poverty means more effort being put towards mere survival, but that process breeds discontent in a far more tangible way than abstract theorising about Marxism. Not everyone will even think to rise up no matter which option happens, but under worsened material conditions, more people will have obvious reasons to be dissatisfied.

The other problem is that there are fascists waiting to take over when the system falls, and if revolution were to break out under terrible conditions there is no guarantee the fascists will be defeated.

Of course, if you manage to topple the capitalist system, there's no guarantee that whatever emerges afterwards will be your perfect utopia. That's not the point. What is guaranteed is that regardless of whatever ideology holds power in the aftermath of this hypothetical, it would be easier to overthrow than what preceded it. Fascism (or just [insert ideology you don't like], for that matter) really isn't a concern. Yes, it will most likely become more politically prominent should liberal capitalism get taken out of the picture and other ideologies become able to actually compete, but no post-revolutionary ideology would have nearly as much of a foothold. Realistically, accelerationism isn't about making your ideal society in the aftermath of capitalism's fall, it's just about making capitalism fall so that whatever comes afterwards is easier to remove or shape into a better direction.

[The Reformed American Republic]

I don't think the right can really win the culture war, only stall their defeat.

Not really no. The Left won by pointing out obvious inconsistencies in the American ideal. Leftists of generations past had a point when they said we weren't living up to our own expressed ideals.

Modern day leftists don't give two fucks about our ideals and mostly throw their lot in with international orders with their roots in Communist ideas. This is obviously going to fail.

It will fail only if we make it fail. We must pull the rug out from institutions influenced by cultural marxism.

[The Emerald Legion]

Not really no. The Left won by pointing out obvious inconsistencies in the American ideal. Leftists of generations past had a point when they said we weren't living up to our own expressed ideals.

Modern day leftists don't give two fucks about our ideals and mostly throw their lot in with international orders with their roots in Communist ideas. This is obviously going to fail.

It will fail only if we make it fail. We must pull the rug out from institutions influenced by cultural marxism.

Cultural Marxism? No I mean plain old ordinary Marxism.

[New yugoslavaia]

"We should make people's lives miserable so they accept my political ideology."

Leftism is honestly monstrous.

Most leftists aren't accelerationists.

I think he missed the fact that
A: You were denouncing accelerationism as viable method to fight capitalism.
B: Not all the leftist are accelerationists.

Also, accelerationism can be right-wing (or at least far-right) too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerationism

[Duvniask]

Not really no. The Left won by pointing out obvious inconsistencies in the American ideal. Leftists of generations past had a point when they said we weren't living up to our own expressed ideals.

Modern day leftists don't give two fucks about our ideals and mostly throw their lot in with international orders with their roots in Communist ideas. This is obviously going to fail.

It will fail only if we make it fail. We must pull the rug out from institutions influenced by cultural marxism.

Stop peddling Nazi conspiracy theories.

[The Reformed American Republic]

Also, accelerationism can be right-wing (or at least far-right) too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerationism

To be honest that's what I think of when I see the term. A bunch of violent psychopaths who mix neo-Nazism (which is bad enough by the way) with a form of Satanic death cultism, which is what many modern Accelerationists are.

[The Emerald Legion]

It will fail only if we make it fail. We must pull the rug out from institutions influenced by cultural marxism.

Stop peddling Nazi conspiracy theories.

Stop peddling communist conspiracy theories.

[Southeastern Xiatao]

Yeah Accelerationism pretty much does a lot more harm than good if anything. Seeing how plenty of people in the alt-right have been using it for motives to cause mayhem.

For instance the guy who did the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings did in fact embrace accelerationism. And there are plenty of other monsters like James Mason who used accelerationism to simply try and start a civil war in America.

Now that I think of it... I can probably argue that Charles Manson was a far-right accelerationist too seeing he wanted to start a race war and thought that killing a bunch of celebrities would do the "trick".

Bear in mind there is left-wing variants of accelerationism, but then there is right-wing accelerationism. And then there is far-right accelerationism which is what I just was talking about.

[Bienenhalde]

Accelerationism is really a horribly bad idea. On one hand, brutal unchecked capitalism is really bad, and on the other hand we know from historical experience that communist revolutions don't produce very desirable results either.

[-Ra-]

"We should make people's lives miserable so they accept my political ideology."

Leftism is honestly monstrous.

Most leftists aren't accelerationists.

Accelerationism is one of the final stages of leftist thought. Many leftists actively encourage economic collapse because it will advance their political country. I would call the type of person who wants people to lose their wealth and income security just because it will make their ideas more palatable to the common man is sick at the heart.