I’m now imagining a gathering of Important People, who don’t hold the true power and just don’t know what’s going on - out of depth useless liberals, essentially. The adults at the big dinner table are squabbling over petty xenophobia and debating “obviously this nation’s problems aren’t our fault, and we all think the Soviets are still responsible somehow, but we can’t admit we still haven’t recovered from the Cold War and the people are starting to not buy “it’s the USSR’s fault” as much all these decades later, so who do we blame now?”
Meanwhile at the poorly supervised kids’ table… “My dad keeps comparing the President to Joseph Stalin. So I read some of Stalin’s books. And I don’t get the comparison. Stalin was way better at governing than that bobblehead.” “Yeah, that’s because your dad’s an idiot who can’t tell a communist from a fascist. Just like my mom. Useless, the lot of 'em. Here, you’ll like this.” “State and Revolution?” “Yeah. Lenin’s a good writer, and to understand why our parents say such silly stuff, you gotta learn to see things the way a state does, and that’s a good explanation of the principles involved.” And so on. “So, has anyone here actually read Capital and understood it?” “All I got is that Mom’s best coat is probably worth more than the contents of our linen cupboard and it has something to to do with labour and use value.”
(I’m also seeing a ten year old Lenin, and a bunch of kids on a playground waving signs, and a protest about a silly kid thing getting out of hand. It’s an adorable image. Little Bolsheviks are the cutest thing!)
Where are the kids in the room when we need them?
I’m now imagining a gathering of Important People, who don’t hold the true power and just don’t know what’s going on - out of depth useless liberals, essentially. The adults at the big dinner table are squabbling over petty xenophobia and debating “obviously this nation’s problems aren’t our fault, and we all think the Soviets are still responsible somehow, but we can’t admit we still haven’t recovered from the Cold War and the people are starting to not buy “it’s the USSR’s fault” as much all these decades later, so who do we blame now?”
Meanwhile at the poorly supervised kids’ table… “My dad keeps comparing the President to Joseph Stalin. So I read some of Stalin’s books. And I don’t get the comparison. Stalin was way better at governing than that bobblehead.” “Yeah, that’s because your dad’s an idiot who can’t tell a communist from a fascist. Just like my mom. Useless, the lot of 'em. Here, you’ll like this.” “State and Revolution?” “Yeah. Lenin’s a good writer, and to understand why our parents say such silly stuff, you gotta learn to see things the way a state does, and that’s a good explanation of the principles involved.” And so on. “So, has anyone here actually read Capital and understood it?” “All I got is that Mom’s best coat is probably worth more than the contents of our linen cupboard and it has something to to do with labour and use value.”
(I’m also seeing a ten year old Lenin, and a bunch of kids on a playground waving signs, and a protest about a silly kid thing getting out of hand. It’s an adorable image. Little Bolsheviks are the cutest thing!)