>Communism is impossible in the West today, even if it lingers on in places like North Korea, academia, and online discourse. If you mean by "communism" and "today", establishing a socialist state in the near future, sure, because there is no organisation of the communists and the workers movements are very very weak.
>The organization of labour into effective groups for political agitation is a remnant of a bygone era; one of mass industrial production, and one in which it was totally normal to be employed at the same job for decades.Here is where you show you are historically illiterate. The phenemonon of long term employment at a single firm only happened in one period of history, from the 50s to roughly the 80s early 90s. Not exactly the height of communism in the west. Before that, it was far far far more common to live precariously. Europe was filled with slums up until they did social democratic rebuilding and building commie blocks in the 50s. You had no, absolutely no, security, people fought street battles with company security, there were shootouts between the army and unions. If you are so delusional to think that "people just worked at the same place for decades on end" you aren't even worth having a serious discussion with. Honest advice, go watch some documentaries on working conditions of the first half of the 20th century.
>The proletariat is a largely an illusion in the West, and is rendered all the more so a mirage in countries like the USA where the individual striver is more central to recent history and culture than collective bargaining.Whether or not people delude themselves into thinking they are temporarily embarrased millionaires doesnt change the fact the the proletariat as a class exists and is even larger than it was than at any point in history, both in absolute and relative terms.
>People want to escape from the proletariat!That was not any different. And just like the west pre-ww2, that is a pipe dream.
>Social Democracy remains a strong presence in the West, buttressed by government workers who routinely turn out to vote to continue such policies.Another delusional take. Social democracy has been either not in power or effectively dismantled for decades already. In the UK, the labour party was couped by neolibs in the 90s. Countries li
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