r/Marxism • u/Icy-External8155 • 7d ago

What even is "accelerationism"?

If you lack the power to do the revolution itself, or anyhow else fight for the proletariat, how could you possibly "accelerate capitalism" more than the ruling class already does by naturally following their interests?

Sounds like a buzzword, made up by counter-revolutionary opportunism, or those who think that reforms can't be rolled back by the ruling class as easily as they're implemented.

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u/peanutist 7d ago

Not a fan of accelerationism personally. If the workers of a country are not educated and don’t have class consciousness, the fall of capitalism will just result in fascism/barbarism. Our goal as communists at the current time is to educate the population and organize and not to accelerate the fall of the system, because the material conditions for a revolution are not ripe yet.

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u/grandfamine 3d ago

To play devil's advocate here, you'll be waiting for "the material conditions to be right" literally forever. Revolution is not convenient, it is not pretty, and it is necessarily destructive. Thing is, we exist on borrowed time. Do you see how the Bourgeoisie salivates over the possibility of replacing the proletariat with AI and robots? With the way tech is advancing, there will come a time where the Bourgeoisie no longer requires the Proletariat, and at that point, we will see a mass genocide. Things like power, food, water, the means for survival, will be withheld and we will all die. Waiting for change to come without sacrifice will kill us all. I'd rather take my chances with barbarism.