On Fri, Aug 28, 2026 at 12:57 AM, Patrick Bond cited Gorden Mayo: > > Bond is right in describing the BRICS as subimperial powers that ‘talk > left but walk right.’ In fact, the BRICS are loud in their > anti-imperialist rhetoric while behaving like typical global capitalists > in their business and commercial transactions.
They’re the analogue in relations between states to the social democrats in relations between classes. They arose from anti-imperialist national struggles and soon found themselves forced to operate within the context of a global capitalist system shaped and dominated by imperialist states, primarily by the US since WW II. Their leaders in South Africa and elsewhere had to adapt to the pressures of market forces at home and abroad in order to retain power in the same way the social democrats in the imperialist core were only allowed to govern only on condition of abandoning their socialist programs and administering the system in the interests of the capitalist ruling class. Those anti-imperialist forces in China, Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere which took power through armed struggle and refused to capitulate were slowly squeezed by the same interrelated international and domestic pressures and were also forced to adapt by restoring capitalism wholly or in large part. Marxism’s original insight - that the world socialist revolution had to begin in the most highly developed economies in order to endure and advance - which had been shelved by the Russian Revolution has been grievously vindicated in the history of the past 35 years since its demise. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#43198): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/43198 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/120952698/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
