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5 days agoI think what chloroken is getting at is “the key word here is ‘theory’” sounds like a dismissal in the same vein as “evolution is just a theory.” The sense of ‘theory’ in both “evolutionary theory” and “leftist theory” is the same, and in both cases it’s distinct from the colloquial sense. It means “body of conceptual academic work,” not “hypothetical belief.” In neither case does it imply dogmatism.
“Every state is authoritarian” is a pretty non-controversial claim in leftist political theory of any stripe. Comrade’s point was “China is authoritarian” is a non-sequitur from any leftist perspective, because China is a state so of course it is. Anarchist and ML theorists are going to disagree on the implications of that basic observation.
His point is that this is the same kind of critical support that MLs want to extend to AES states. MLs have a lot of criticisms of, e.g., contemporary China. They just think it is one of the better available realistic alternatives, and deserves qualified support over (say) the United States. MLs agree that a stateless society is the eventual goal (and that China is flawed), but believe that as a matter of practical real-world tactics, it is better to support China against the US in the same way it was better to support the US against Nazi Germany.