Every once in a while ill go down a rabbit hole and recently I went down one on the May 4th movement. The topic pertinent to the discussion is Jiang Bingzhi/Ding Ling. She wrote feminist literature and was a part of the may 4th movement and the cpc. But she was purged during the cultural revolution and didn’t write much afterwards. But she rejected being a victim, and says the labor improved her.
Similarly there was Claire Lacombe, who helped form the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women during the French revolution. The group was extremely radical, and played a part at Marat’s funeral. But they would end up purged by the committee of public safety and herself denounced by the Jacobins. But she never denounced the Jacobins or Robsepierre, despite it being advantageous to do so at the time. [Although she would quit her political career and go into acting]
And like…idk. I read stories like this occasionally and I feel…things. It’s probably related to my own struggles with gender and sexuality, my tendency to idolize and split because of BPD, and other things. But…I can’t describe what I’m feeling. It’s not disappointment, or at least not just that. Idk, resignation maybe? Maybe I just wish for more and the world won’t give me it.
I think maybe the best way to describe it is what Han Suyin said in an interview in her later years. Something along the lines of “the CPC is worst when it is too Confucian.” I understand why, both materially and ideologically, these things happened, and I’m not going to obfuscate the genuine advancements women made during both revolutions. But…sometimes it just feels too Confucian…if that makes sense?
Not to undermine the point you are making, because i think it’s valid, but i do think you could have chosen better examples. At least in ML circles i saw immediate skepticism about Mamdani and fears of him becoming another AOC the moment he threw Venezuela and Cuba under the bus.
This happened precisely because people had already been burned by AOC, who was given much more benefit of the doubt, and socialists really only began turning on her when she was already in office and began behaving like a Democratic party loyalist, when she embraced opportunist Bernie-style pro-imperialist positions.
As for Hasan, i think the major difference between him and Contrapoints, even beyond Contrapoints being revealed as a liberal Zionist while Hasan has remained a principled pro-Palestinian advocate, is that Hasan for the most part doesn’t reject people who are much further left than he is, whereas Contrapoints has viciously attacked leftists while defending liberal positions.
Also, and i can only speak for myself here because i know opinions can be somewhat split on him even in ML circles and some still unfortunately engage in a lot of undeserved apologia on behalf of Hasan, i was immediately critical of him when he embraced pro-imperialist narratives on Russia-Ukraine and refused to even try and see the Russian perspective. I’m still disgusted with his position on the conflict and can’t stand to watch him speak on that topic any more than i can someone who defends liberal Zionism.
There are also a number of other really problematic positions that he holds, but i don’t want this to be a comment about everything wrong with this one American politics streamer. The point i’m making is that when it comes to highly public figures like this i think that serious Marxists and socialists can be objective and critical. The problems that i am more worried about are when this kind of thing occurs within organizations, creating a toxic environment for some comrades.
These sorts of internal issues get much less visibility than controversies over public figures but they can lead to severe problems of demoralization, splits, and general dysfunction within an organization which makes people much less willing to join.
Its about men being held to a lesser standard than women. Mayhaps a more “agreeable” example to you, would be how Lenin, Gagarin, Mao, Tito, Fidel and Stalin are praised while their female comrades such as Nadezhda Krupskaya, Valentina Tereshkova, Zhang Qinqiu, Jelena Ćetković become just “fun facts” or “wives”
Oh yeah, no that definitely happens with historical figures. I completely agree there. I find i have to often actively seek out historical information about women revolutionaries because the surface level presentation of history is dominated by men, even when women often played just as if not more crucial roles. That being said, i think most socialist societies do make an effort to try and overcome this bias and bring women to the forefront of history too. But it’s definitely something that still needs to be worked on.