Liberal protesting won't work. What's needed is organised action by workers of all countries standing in international solidarity. Protests might be one tactic in that movement, but not the only tactic. When it is the only tactic, like with Iraq, it creates the impression that protests are useless. The perception of that uselessness is now built into the narrative. But don't lose heart. We can create a new narrative. We have a world to win and we can win it.
It's not just millennials lol.
I also dislike the military-industrial complex. But that seems to be a different point to the one you made at first. Making it seem as though Russia is at war so that Putin can build a palace doesn't seem accurate.
Russia is not at war to glorify Putin. Although, his estimation does seem to be rising in the eyes of the global south because he is fighting the imperialists who have long oppressed them.
Again, the point you replied to seemed to be talking about indebting Dutch and Danish taxpayers to pay for a war they're not part of. Russia is at war, so it would make sense that Russians will be taxed to pay for it. I agree that this is tragic. Much better for that money to be spent on public services.
But in response to your reply: in general, Russians have very little choice because Russia was forced into a corner by NATO. I'm not sure what you mean by outdated equipment. Outdated by whose standards?
In what way are Dutch and Danish taxpayers being forced to fund said palace? The point of sicaniv's screenshot seems to me to be that western taxpayers are being given no choice but to fund a war they aren't involved in, after 10–40 years of austerity and being told the state can't afford basic services, suddenly there's a bottomless well of cash for tanks.
Europe's leaders have forgotten the lessons learned by French and Russian monarchs. I mean, the virtue-signalling sanctions against Russia were bad enough but at least they could source gas through China or from the US. If they sanction China, there's nowhere else with the production capacity to replace what will be lost. Maybe we're watching a live show of state-Darwinism, where Europe accidentally degrowths itself out of existence and saves the world from climate change.
Welcome to the 'grad.
I'll make a few points to be helpful, but I think it would be more useful for you to answer your question yourself as it will make you a stronger Marxist critic. Why don't you pick a couple of points from the text, then (1) summarise it, (2) explain a/the relevant Marxist concept (this may involve some additional reading or you could stick with what you know), (3) applying the Marxist concept to the summarised point, and (4) deciding (concluding) whether it is pseudo-Marxist/idealist. There are worse ways to make notes. You could do that here and see what others say.
Simone de Beauvoir does have a chapter on historical materialism in The Second Sex. That may be worth reading to see what she thought of Marxism.
The screenshot you posted above includes some good questions. The statement/implication that Marxists are deterministic is open to challenge. This may come from the view that Marxists say revolution is 'inevitable'. If so, the statement is based on a misunderstanding.
'Inevitability' is not used in a teleological sense, as if history is marching towards a single goal of communism. Instead, it is an optimistic catchphrase that accepts that change is driven by the struggle between interconnected opposites. With the knowledge we have available, that struggle could lead to socialism/communism or barbarism and we hope for the former. Once there, new possible futures will be revealed.
Alternatively, it could be a reference to Marxists like GA Cohen and to the 'vulgar' view of Marxism as technological determinism. If that's the case, Cohen doesn't represent all Marxists. So a full analysis must consider the Marxists who disagree with Cohen before implying that they're all determinists. Personally, I think dialectical/historical materialism and determinism are incompatible, but that could be a good discussion to have.
In general, if you're interested in Marxist literary theory, you might enjoy Terry Eagleton. I disagree with some of what he says, but he's a good place to start.
PS I'd be careful uploading course materials, wholesale. There's almost certainly something in your student charter that prohibits it and it could make you liable for some kind of academic misconduct.
Even it's new stuff falls apart, if it survives the endless ~~money-pit~~ development stages.
The hundreds of millions of people lifted out of poverty in China probably disagree with you.
Yep. It's all directed by secret services in a dialectical relationship with the haute bourgeoisie. They don't even hide it. They just gaslight us and say that even though the CIA and a handful of billionaires own and run so many media outlets, they're all independent because a watchdog they set up said so.
seemingly inevitably adopted
There's no need to shy away from it. It's by design: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/10/authority.htm
When one's own income depends on closing one's eyes to capitalist brutality, it becomes easier to assume that one's ideological enemies are doing the same thing: ignoring atrocities for a pay cheque.
This is a subtle point throughout Hayek's writings. He's always expressing concern for minorities and at first it's like, I thought this guy was supposed to be a neoliberal? Then it slowly dawns on you: the only minority he cares about is the rich.