My parents are landlords of a medium apartment with a family of 4 living inside it. Is it hypocritical for me to be a Marxist-Leninist when my parents are landlords? especially considering what past revolutionaries have done to landlords (Mao). To clarify things, i do not agree with the concept of landlord-ism and how my parents (and me too from a broader view) are benefiting from someone else’s income while doing nothing except owning basic human needs

  • albigu
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    1 year ago

    Is it hypocritical for me to be a Marxist-Leninist when my parents are landlords?

    Definitely not.

    First off, you have no choice on what your parents do, that’s outside of your control. But even after that, divesting yourself of your class voluntarily is what liberals love advocating for, but has very little actual impact. If you look at many prominent socialists throughout time, you’ll see that they had the time, resources and privilege to advance the cause in large part because of a good material condition. Neither Marx, Engels nor Lenin would have had so much time to dedicate to developing socialism if they were labourers or lumpenproletarians. All that is asked is that when the time comes, you’ll fight so that landlords cease to exist as a class, rather than resist change for some attachment to your privilege.

    My recommendation is instead for you to look into ways of making your “landlord-ism” the least exploitative you can. In the grand scheme of things, a single apartment of 4 is not gonna change society and still leaves you far away from the higher capitalist class, no matter what they tell you. And on the other hand, using that privilege to further the cause, educate yourself and fight the good fight can do a lot of good. You’ll probably have to figure out how to balance these ideas on your own, but beating yourself over it without a plan won’t do you any good.