@kuchinster — 2025-11-25 12:36:54
Speech by Joseph Stalin on the draft constitution, November 25, 1936. Extraordinary VIII All-Union Congress of Soviets of the USSR

The constitutions of bourgeois countries are usually based on the belief in the immutability of the capitalist system. The main foundation of these constitutions is the principles of capitalism, its basic pillars: private ownership of land, forests, factories, plants, and other means of production; the exploitation of man by man and the existence of exploiters and exploited; the insecurity of the working majority at one end of society and the luxury of the non-working but secure minority at the other end; and so on and so forth. They are based on these and similar foundations of capitalism. They reflect them and enshrine them in law.

In contrast, the draft of the new Constitution of the USSR is based on the fact of the elimination of the capitalist system, on the fact of the victory of the socialist system in the USSR. The main basis of the draft of the new Constitution of the USSR is the principles of socialism, its fundamental foundations, already won and implemented: socialist ownership of land, forests, factories, plants, and other means of production; the elimination of exploitation and exploitative classes; the elimination of poverty for the majority and luxury for the minority; the elimination of unemployment; labor as the duty and honor of every able-bodied citizen according to the formula: “those who do not work shall not eat.” The right to work, that is, the right of every citizen to a guaranteed job; the right to rest; the right to education; etc. The draft of the new Constitution is based on these and similar foundations of socialism. It reflects them and enshrines them in law.

...

Bourgeois constitutions tacitly proceed from the premise that nations and races cannot be equal, that there are nations with full rights and nations with limited rights, and that, in addition, there is a third category of nations or races, for example, in the colonies, which have even fewer rights than nations with limited rights. This means that all these constitutions are essentially nationalistic, that is, constitutions of dominant nations.

In contrast to these constitutions, the draft of the new Constitution of the USSR is, on the contrary, deeply internationalist. It proceeds from the assumption that all nations and races are equal. It proceeds from the assumption that differences in skin color or language, cultural level or level of state development, as well as any other differences between nations and races, cannot serve as a basis for justifying national inequality. It proceeds from the assumption that all nations and races, regardless of their past and present situation, regardless of their strength and weakness, should enjoy equal rights in all spheres of economic, social, political, and cultural life of society.

...

The distinctive feature of the draft of the new USSR Constitution is that it is free from such reservations and restrictions. For it, there are no active or passive citizens; for it, all citizens are active. It does not recognize any difference in rights between men and women, “sedentary” and “non-sedentary” persons, the wealthy and the poor, the educated and the uneducated. For it, all citizens are equal in their rights. It is not property status, national origin, gender, or official position, but the personal abilities and personal labor of each citizen that determine his or her position in society.

Finally, there is one more feature of the draft new Constitution. Bourgeois constitutions usually limit themselves to establishing the rights of citizens, without concern for the conditions for exercising these rights, the possibility of exercising them, or the means of exercising them. They talk about the equality of citizens, but forget that there can be no real equality between the master and the worker, between the landowner and the peasant, if the former have wealth and political weight in society, and the latter are deprived of both, if the former are exploiters and the latter are exploited. Or again: they talk about freedom of speech, assembly, and the press, but they forget that all these freedoms can become empty words for the working class if it is deprived of the opportunity to have at its disposal suitable premises for meetings, good printing houses, a sufficient quantity of printing paper, etc.

The distinctive feature of the new Constitution is that it does not limit itself to establishing the formal rights of citizens, but shifts the focus to the question of guarantees for these rights and the means of exercising them. It does not simply proclaim the equality of citizens' rights, but also ensures that the elimination of exploitation and the liberation of citizens from all forms of exploitation are enshrined in law. It does not simply proclaim the right to work, but also ensures its legislative consolidation by establishing the absence of crises in Soviet society and the elimination of unemployment. It does not simply proclaim democratic freedoms, but also ensures them by law with known material resources. It is therefore clear that the democracy of the new draft Constitution is not “ordinary” and “generally accepted” democracy in general, but socialist democracy.

These are the main features of the draft of the new Constitution of the USSR.

This is how the draft of the new Constitution reflects the shifts and changes in the economic and socio-political life of the USSR that took place between 1924 and 1936.

"Pravda" newspaper. November 26, 1936

aftershock.news/?q=node%2F1563…
#USSR #soviet #russian #economy #socialism #proletariat #bolsheviks #workerrights #humanrights #democracy #Stalin #constitution #history #СССР #история

@kuchinster — 2025-11-25 13:44:11
From the discussion of amendments to the Constitution proposed by the people

Next is an amendment to Article 17 of the draft Constitution. The amendment proposes to remove Article 17 from the draft Constitution altogether, which refers to the preservation of the right of the Union republics to freely secede from the USSR. I believe that this proposal is wrong and therefore should not be adopted by the Congress. The USSR is a voluntary union of equal Union republics. Removing the article on the right to freely secede from the USSR from the Constitution would violate the voluntary nature of this union. Can we take this step? I think we cannot and should not take this step. It is said that there is not a single republic in the USSR that would like to secede from the USSR, and that therefore Article 17 has no practical significance. It is certainly true that we do not have a single republic that would like to secede from the USSR. But this does not mean that we should not enshrine in the Constitution the right of the Union republics to freely secede from the USSR. There is also no Union republic in the USSR that would want to suppress another Union republic. But this does not mean that the article on the equality of rights of the Union republics should be excluded from the Constitution of the USSR.

#soviet #sovereignty by Stalin #1936

@tinjar shared The Atlantic article, “The Chinese EV Market is Imploding". It is propaganda from beginning to end.

Two fun quotes to juxtapose:
"In most economies, the market would sort out this mess by culling the weakest players. But China’s leaders don’t trust markets to achieve their national goals, so they readily intervene. In China, state support or ownership of automakers extends the life of struggling businesses."

and this doozy...
"President Joe Biden’s administration imposed a 100 percent tariff on Chinese EVs last year, which President Donald Trump has maintained, effectively shutting these vehicles out of the U.S. market. The European Union, Canada, Turkey and Mexico have also hiked duties on Chinese cars."

First, this list of countries interfering in the market, along with China, constitute 75% of the global economy, does it make sense to claim most economies let the market cull the losers? I guess Michael Schuman meant a literal count of countries that abide neoliberal orthodoxy (Probably also false but I don't want to figure out how many countries tariff Chinese EVs).

Second, the whole article is pushing a vauge "central planning is bad" the proof is Chinese over-investment and possible failure of some Chinese EV makers. As we all know, US private investment never fails catastrophically...like all the car companies unable to sell their EVs. It is also clear, Chinese EV investment would have been inline with global demand but China is unable to sell EVs to most of the car buying world because of illegal tarrifs imposed by the Western world. Why doesn't China appeal to the WTO? Because the US has been blocking appointments to the WTO Appelate Body since 2019 because reasons.

With this information, the slant of the story changes substantially. It would appear China made thoughtful investments in an important industry over 5 years, then the illiberal, protectionist economies of the West acted illegally to protect their uncompetitive producers. They have attacked Chinese solar panel production in a similar fashion.

Michael Schuman surely knows all of this as a senior China correspondent, but he wants China to look like the bad guy because it is propoganda to gin up nationalist hatred against our fellow humans.

#neoliberal #economy #China

How We Volunteered for Digital Slavery

Once upon a time, software was free — not in the “free trial” sense, but actually free.
It lived in the halls of universities, passed between curious minds on floppy disks, shared in the spirit of collaboration and discovery. Hardware was the business; software was the art.

Then came a young man named Bill Gates. Fueled by BASIC and caffeine, he learned to code thanks to that culture of openness — and then, he turned freedom into monopoly. Gates dropped out of Harvard, founded Microsoft, and declared that software would no longer be shared; it would be sold. The age of commercial code had begun.

Microsoft’s first weapon was MS-DOS, a text-based operating system that quietly took over the newborn PC world through IBM’s early machines. Then came Windows, the glossy illusion — a friendly graphical interface that promised empowerment while locking users into Microsoft’s walled garden.

Like a corporate version of The Godfather, Microsoft “made offers” competitors couldn’t refuse. DR-DOS? Made intentionally incompatible. Linux? Targeted in internal memos. Internet Explorer? Forced onto every desktop “for your convenience.” The result: a near-total monopoly achieved not by innovation alone, but by control, coercion, and corporate muscle.

Fast forward to today. Microsoft’s empire no longer needs to hide its power — it runs your computer, your documents, your identity. Telemetry, the friendly name for mass surveillance, quietly records how you use your device. With Windows 11, you can’t even log in without a Microsoft account — the digital equivalent of Big Brother’s stamp of approval. Imagine Orwell’s 1984 rewritten for the 21st century: Winston Smith doesn’t fear the telescreen anymore. He bought it, installed it, and clicked “I agree.” Even students are being tracked through Microsoft Office. Their learning curves analyzed. Their data stored. Their digital lives quantified — all under the illusion of “productivity.”

Steve Ballmer once called Linux “a cancer.” But history, ever fond of irony, flipped the metaphor: Microsoft became the cancer instead — feeding on the open-source world it once despised. Today, Windows happily integrates Linux as a feature, commodifying the very freedom it tried to destroy. Microsoft didn’t defeat open source; it absorbed it. Like the Borg. Like the Matrix. Like capitalism always does.

Meanwhile, the cost of this corporate control extends far beyond money. Windows 11’s unnecessary hardware requirements have already forced millions of functional computers into landfills — a quiet environmental catastrophe disguised as an “upgrade.” The planet pays for your shiny new taskbar.

The illusion of control doesn’t stop at your desktop. As Edward Snowden revealed, Microsoft has shared user data with the NSA — turning your operating system into a global surveillance node. When the International Criminal Court made decisions the U.S. didn’t like, its staff found their Microsoft email access revoked. That’s not science fiction. That’s administrative reality. And it could happen to anyone. We once feared governments might use technology to control us. Instead, we let corporations do it — and we pay a monthly subscription for the privilege.

But not all hope is lost. There’s still the red pill — Linux. It’s not perfect, but it’s free, open, and community-driven. No forced logins, no corporate backdoors, no hidden surveillance. Just software built by people, for people. Switching to Linux isn’t rebellion for rebellion’s sake. It’s a vote — for transparency, for sustainability, for democracy. The blue screen of illusion can still be escaped.

All it takes is the courage to press “uninstall.”

#essay #history #software #digital #slavery #freedom #linux #microsoft #endof10 #windows #win10 #windows10 #surveillance #tracking #nsa #snowden #dystopia #economy #business #capitalism #foss #floss #opensource #gnu #backdoor #politics #humanity #future #humanrights #privacy #matrix #system #environment #climate #earth #bigbrother #bigtech #bigdata #BillGats #Gates

Remember kids: "Passive income" is a term used to describe wealth handed out to people by society, through our economic system, without doing any work.

Many people receiving a "passive income" are intergenerationally wealthy, as opposed to the working class and long-term unemployed people who receive social welfare payments.

Because of this, they're referred to as passive income /earners/ not passive income /recipients/. Conversely, we have social welfare /recipients/ not social welfare /earners/.

As a society, we've decided that Joe Heir and Jane Heiress deserve their wealth, even if they've never done a full day's work in their lives. And there are no income tests for this wealth, so they get these handouts even if they don't need them.

Conversely, we've collectively decided that welfare recipients are bludgers. Welfare payments are also vigorously means tested. The burden of proof is entirely on you to claim and prove you deserve these payments.

The one exception to this social welfare rule is when handouts go to the rich, whether that's in the form of subsidies or tax breaks.

Because there's one law for the rich, and another for the poor.

#capitalism #economy #economics #business

The real problem with AI-generated artworks...

First of all, I would like to assure you that I am completely open to and enthusiastic about #technology. I don't believe that Pandora's box can be closed again. However, #AI will change our #society forever, and I #fear that no one is aware of the real implications.

A major problem with AI is interpersonal alienation. With every #online #communication, I can no longer be sure whether I am even talking to a #human being, and if so, how much AI that person is using. AI #advertising even shows us how to score points with the perfect AI responses during #dating. You can have the other person screened by AI and then respond perfectly to their wishes and hobbies. But is the other person even real anymore, or do they just want to manipulate me for quick pleasure and then throw me away?

Even when friends show me their #artwork, it could always contain AI. The perfect vacation photos or the painted picture. Even at #school, I no longer know whether the presentation is real or generated by AI. In the past, you could copy something, but you still had to make the effort to find good material. Today, AI does all the work, and I no longer know whether the funny introduction or the punchline is even real. Assuming that this is all real and true work, then I can no longer appreciate it because I consider it to be AI. This totally alienates me from my friends.

Our #society is based on understanding and interpersonal intimacy. To find your place in society, you need #feedback but also #acceptance. But if everyone optimizes themselves to the max with the help of AI, what is there left to accept? This will make society cold and apathetic, and more than “you have tried your best” is no longer possible. If someone does have a genuine flash of inspiration or develops something groundbreaking, everyone will just shrug their shoulders because they suspect it's the next AI #hype. This makes it impossible to reveal oneself to others or to understand them, which destroys a fundamental human requirement.

Before the AI era, #art was a form of communication for which words were insufficient. #Music, in particular, has the power to touch your heart. But today, I always find myself wondering: isn't this AI music designed to trigger these emotions in me in order to manipulate me, and isn't there actually a real musician expressing their heartbreak in this #song? In future films, I won't be able to tell whether humans were involved in writing the script at all, or whether humans even wrote the #lyrics for the songs on the new album in the charts.

We will be trapped in a #matrix where it doesn't matter whether you take the red or blue pill. Either something is clearly AI, or you can't be sure how much AI is in it. We simply won't be able to tell anymore. This is exactly what is intended. People are already falling in #love with AI or having #therapy sessions with it. The corporations at the forefront of AI want precisely this #dehumanization in order to #control us more easily and turn us into mindless consumer victims. #SiliconValley #ideology seeks immortality in artificial bodies, with the future of #humanity playing only a subordinate role as a means to that end.

#politics #future #mankind #science #problem #fail #apocalypse #doomsday #world #education #emotion #internet #dystopia #mindset #propaganda #fake #manipulation #power #economy #cyberspace #cyberpunk #warning #danger #news

We all build our own prison ...

First, they gave us a window. It wasn't perfect, but it made life easier. This window was then improved and made more convenient. This quality, but also mafia-like practices, allowed them to create a #monopoly. Ultimately, this led to a decline in quality and customers being forced to accept #surveillance, subscriptions, #AI, and #cloud services. In the end, the window was barred and made smaller.

But for those who didn't get too comfortable behind the window, a penguin named TUX has a #jailbreak ready. Floss is a jailbreak that allows you to always get free updates and continue to use old hardware. This helps the environment and your wallet. But #BigTech doesn't want you to know about it and wants to keep you in #prison and locked in dependency.

Ultimately, everyone must decide for themselves whether #freedom is more important to them than finding reasons to remain in prison of their own free will.

#linux #meme #foss #floss #endof10 #win10 #windows10 #windows #microsoft #os #software #privacy #license #opensource #tux #penguin #update #upgrade #jail #walledgarden #goldencage #society #future #economy #policy #capitalism

We are bombarded with too much advertising / propaganda.

How can profits still be increased in a saturated market?

You can show customers advertisements on the devices they have purchased. For example, on the display of a refrigerator. Then I just won't buy that kind of refrigerator anymore. The problem is that starting tomorrow, those are the only refrigerators available for purchase. Then I'll cover up the display. You always have to confirm the update on the display, otherwise the refrigerator will shut down and refuse to work. Then I won't connect the refrigerator to the internet. Then the refrigerator won't start up for security reasons. Only when it has downloaded the latest update from the internet and a bunch of ads is it ready for use.

If you think I just made this up and that it's a nice Halloween horror story, you're being pretty naive.

look: arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/1…

#advertisement #economy #capitalism #online #update #samsung #fridge #problem #future #customer #fail #bigtech #news #online #internet #smart #refrigerator #warning #propaganda #orwell #surveillance #bigbrother #wtf #omg

#Microsoft wants to force #users to create an #online #account when #installing #Windows 11. 👎

Microsoft writes in its blog: blogs.windows.com/windows-insi…

Local-only commands removal: We are removing known mechanisms for creating a local account in the Windows Setup experience (OOBE). While these mechanisms were often used to bypass Microsoft account setup, they also inadvertently skip critical setup screens, potentially causing users to exit OOBE with a device that is not fully configured for use. Users will need to complete #OOBE with #internet and a Microsoft account, to ensure device is #setup correctly.

We must fight back against large corporations such as Microsoft abolishing our #privacy with #bullshit justifications like: "Users will need to complete OOBE with internet and a Microsoft account, to ensure device is setup correctly."

Anyone familiar with the command #console and the OOBE #command can be trusted to add critical #updates and drivers themselves after #installation, and even if they don't, the #update process will do so automatically after a while. Microsoft is just trying to use fancy words to hide the fact that forcing users to go online allows it to better #spy on, #track, and #monitor them. It is outrageous to justify this disregard for privacy by claiming that it is concerned about users and their #security. All large global corporations use similarly stupid wording to justify collecting #data about users.

#news #future #problem #os #software #economy #fail #humanrights #policy #omg #wtf #update #cybersecurity #bigdata #orwell #bigbrother #surveillance

Why artificial intelligence is not intelligent at all and is only called that for marketing reasons.

Admittedly, today's AI models not only consume a lot of electricity but also deliver results that surprised me, but also absurd errors that are trivialized as hallucinations. One fact that is often overlooked, partly due to good marketing, is that today's AI models are based on calculated probabilities. The AI does not really understand what it is doing, it only calculates probabilities. Admittedly, it often does this very well until a “hallucination” occurs. This means that AI can only reflect human knowledge, human perspective and human bias and racism. Everything is based on human training data and the AI calculates with which probability the human user would like to have which knowledge. Wouldn't you expect much more from real intelligence? I just wonder how people can attribute intelligence to this well-calculating machine? There are people who even fall in love with today's AI models or see them as real artificial life. Fueled by marketing that promises us a real super intelligence in the near future in order to get even more venture capital to maintain the whole hoax, which devours vast sums of money in data centers and electricity. Another more serious problem in my view is that today's AI models are destroying the jobs that we need to continue creating good training material for AIs. Today's AIs can easily replace graphic designers, translators, authors, musicians and poets. As a result, the internet is already flooded with AI-generated content. This will eventually become the new training data, which will further reduce so-called intelligence. How a superintelligence will ever emerge from this is a mystery to me.

#ai #technology #training #internet #user #marketing #economy #money #business #future #humanity #problem #ethics #philosophy #fail #knowledge #science #intelligence

The companies and venture capitalists therefore believe they can make a higher profit with AI than by protecting the location factor earth and thus the future of humanity.

They burn billions that are more harmful to the climate, as AI consumes a lot of energy and water. They are driving climate change in the misleading hope that AI will eventually generate profits. I don't think this absurdity can simply be explained by stupidity.

Please realize that money is being invested and burned here like never before in human history. However, they are not being invested in fighting hunger, stopping illiteracy or the climate crisis, but in the very deceptive hope of making a profit.

I don't believe that Pandora's box can be closed again. But the bug in capitalism is obviously that you can make a profit by ruining the environment. There should be a profit for the common good and environmental protection in order to ensure the survival of humanity.

please read: theregister.com/2025/08/18/gen…

Maybe you can share this with your friends, the companies and politicians and start a discussion about this negative destructive behavior and why nobody is willing to save our planet?

#ai #technology #capitalism #future #humanity #finance #profit #money #earth #climate #energy #water #crisis #politics #education #hunger #humanrights #economy #business #emissions #co2 #intelligence #discussion #problem #news #fail #share #system #matrix #survival #environment #nature