So I think today we're here all for the same reason and the reason is that the one that we've discussed many times over during this weekend Today, we're living through one of the deepest crisis of capitalism ever The only thing that capitalism has to offer to millions of young people like me and you is a future of increased austerity of environmental catastrophe in one word is a future of misery and horror. I think given these conditions It's quite unsurprisingly that many young people and many workers are like are increasingly looking back toward revolutionary theories This is part of the struggle of our struggle to fight for a better war to fight against capitalism and for a better society Now I think that the two main theories that the majority of those consider themselves sympathetic to revolutionary theories, they get close to Our Marxism and Anarchism or in any way some sort of shades and combination between the two of them And the question I think arises quite naturally at that point comrades because at the end of the day We're our comrades fighting against capitalism, right? So why do we even have two different revolution two different revolutionary theories? What's the point of that? What's the difference between them and especially I think the most important question that we need to ask herself It's which one of the two or combination of the two perhaps is the best tool at our disposal to fight against Capitalism and for the overthrow society of of capitalist society and for the revolution the socialist revolution Because in fact on the surface Marxism and anarchism do look a lot similar at first glance You know, we're both anarchists and Marxists. We're all fighting against the state We're all fighting for a stateless society a society without class division a society without sexism without racism Without homophobia without transophobia a society that it's finally free from all oppression Exploitation and all of that crap that we have to witness every day But while the similarities between Marxism and anarchism might appear very striking at first glance In reality, these two theories are actually incurring irreconcilable theories. That's the word I'm looking for In fact, and I think and this is exactly the thing that I want to discuss today No, like there are many many many different ways in which you can discuss the difference between Marxism and anarchism Right, you could talk about Bakunin and Marx and the debates inside the first international You can talk about the CNT. You can talk about the McNovist You can talk about how about way to organize and not to organize and what's the best way at our disposal But the thing that I want to talk about really is the essence of Marxism and the essence of anarchism And what's the core difference between the two of them? In my opinion in my understanding the core difference between Marxism and anarchism is the following one And that is that Marxist theory tries to understand oppression and inequality on a material basis We ask ourselves where does oppression where does inequality comes from historically and materially and Starting from this understanding from the scientific understanding Then Marxist argue what's the best way to fight against this and what kind of society we're actually fighting for On the other hand, I think that anarchist theory Paradoxically in a way, it's a theory that rejects Historical analysis and scientific analysis and theory in general are some sort of intellectual kind of things And more usually calls for direct action and all of these kind of things But in fact rather than starting from an historical or a materialist understanding of society and the problem with society The starting point of anarchism It's it's it's usually comes from the individual itself Anarchism I think to the essence to the core is that rejection from the individual side from the middle Sorry from the individual point of view of all forms of authority Now over the weekend, I'm sure we have discussed many many times over what Marxism is what Marxism is not and all of this So I won't dwell on that too much. But what's anarchism is that? Well, first off I put a disclaimer now and that is that because of the nature of anarchism There are so many different shades of anarchism as probably there are anarchists in this world And all of them as some sort of small or big similarities between each other, right? But clearly there is something common about all of the anarchist theories. Otherwise, they wouldn't be called anarchist theories, right? There is there is something that that brings them together and I don't want to tell you like I don't want to improvise what that is but we can read it from anarchist texts There is this widely available pamphlet that you can easily find online It's a very nice speed actually if you're interested on the on the theories and what the anarchists argue for and it's called What is anarchism? There is like an introduction on the pamphlet and then there are some sort of extract from all of the difference main Anarchists theorists in the world like there is work of Malatesta, work of Kropotkin and all of this Anyway The point is that in this in this pamphlet in what is anarchism. Anarchism is defined as this The ideal of anarchism and I'm quoting here The ideal of anarchism is a society in which all of the individuals can do whatever they choose Except interfere with the ability of other individuals to do whatever they choose and I'm quote here So it is on this ground That anarchism rejects the state because the state limits the freedom of the individual It is on these grounds that anarchism rejects religion rejects class divisions reject sexism and some anarchist would even go as far as Rejecting the decision of the majority because all of these things they argue put limitations on the individual and on the freedom of the individual Fundamentally anarchism again is the absolute rejection of all forms of authority from the individual as those as these Authority is believed to be the source evils of all the source of all of the evils that we have in society today Now if you stop one second and you look the word around you today You see the police and the police uses their authority to keep the population into place You see the bosses that would you see the bosses and the bosses use their authority to force you to work when you are in the workplace You see the bourgeoisie state and the bourgeoisie state uses its authority to restrict the personal freedom of people You see all of this kind of example in which authority is used actually to Restricted the freedom of people and you might start to think that actually, you know the anarchist Kind of point-of-view have some sense. Maybe they do make some sense But in reality, I think that the simple observation that we're starting from is only scratching the surface So what is actually going on if I can use an analogy for example?  That's that's not how it works if the doctor is not a charlatan It's probably gonna have a serious look at you perform some analysis or whatever come up with that diagnosis And then based on that diagnosis It will prescribe you a treatment to hopefully cure the disease that you have and I think that the matter of authority We should have the same kind of approach when talking about authority or when talking about any other form of Problems that have to do with society. We should approach the question on where do these things comes from? Why do they exist and what is that we can do about it? We shouldn't stop on the surface We should try to go deeper than that like a doctor does go deeper than just your surface look when it does analysis of you Sorry In fact, you might try to reject the authority of your boss But you still have a stomach you still have to feed yourself And that means you still have to go to work and get a wage and all of that You might try to reject the authority of the police But the police is a very material thing and as we unfortunately know very well today The police doesn't care if you as an individual reject it Now most anarchists so the key question that we have to ask ourselves is why do these people even have authority over us? Where does their authority actually comes from and fundamentally? Thank you. What is that we can do about it? How it is that we can fight their authority now most anarchist theory I think would subscribe to some sort of variation or what I would call what I would refer to as the theory of force Now the theory of force is the assumption that authority Basically comes from the direct use of force so that for example The authority of the bosses of the capitalist class over society comes from the fact that they have monopoly over the use of force of coercion over society today For example Charlotte Wilson, which was an English anarchist and a narco-communist I think and was a close co-oblator we crop up in at the time Stated that all society and states were constructed and held together by force so that force was the So the force was the basis of state power of authority and of the power of the capitalist class according to them But if you think about it You're not really answering the question in a way like this You're just changing the word authority with the word force. It was then at that point the thing we might ask ourselves Well, okay authority comes from force, but where does force comes from? Well, how it is possible that some people have forced and some other people have not you know if you watch Star Wars Force is this mighty thing that descends upon some people, right?  So the question stands Where does force comes from? What's the basis of force? This is the key question I think we have to answer ourselves and that most of the anarchist theory do not actually answer to this and I think Angles just to just to give some quotes at some point provided an answer to these questions in his polemic against during at the time Now during wasn't in self-anarchist But a lot of the theories and a lot of the arguments that during was making were very similar to the ones that anarchist would make Today and we can talk later about why that is the case actually But anyway here I'm quoting from angles on force and where does force comes from? So force this is angles is not merely an act of the will But requires the existence of very real preliminary conditions before he can come into operation These these conditions are these instruments the more perfect of which gets the better of the less perfect of these instruments But the instruments means weapons here Moreover these instruments the weapons the arms have to be produced Which implies that the producer of more perfect weapons or more perfect instruments gets the better of the producer of the less Perfect instruments of the less perfect weapons and that in a word and this is the key passage I think the triumph of force is based on the productions of weapon and these interns on production in general therefore on economic power On the economic situation on the material means which force as a disisposal Unquote so force comes from economic power and comrades I think this is the point of the question right if you want to rely for example on the authority of the police First you need to feed the police officers Then you need to to arm them to give them weapons and all of that Then you need to train them all of things which require Material means that require money that require wealth they require very material stuff Which are not simply an act of the will and by the way This is one of the problem with Star Wars right because like you look at the movie and like on one side You have capitalist production and all of these things on the other side It's kind of a feudalistic kind of society in which like there is this thing that descend upon them And they live like on this night's kind of thing Another movie which is instead is great is alien and in alien actually Authority comes from actually capitalism and the company has authority over their workers because they need to get a wage and all of that And also discusses how Capitalism put profits between be How to say in front of people in front of the interest of before people that's what I'm saying anyway That's not the topic of the discussion, but it is a great movie and a good critics of capitalism. I think So force Comes from the role that the capitalist class as in society It is through their economical power that they acquire force and not the opposite Which is what many anarchists would end up would end up arguing for the capitalist class today Through their capital estate that they control through their control of the economy have a monopoly over violence Precisely because they control the economy and not the other way around The state that is the armed body of men and women Which protects the power of the ruling class is an inevitable product of the fact the society is divided into classes Or the fact that are oppressed people on one side and oppressors on the other side This is a necessary product of the fact that That yeah, the society is divided into classes. Sorry. I'm repeating myself You see so rather than coming from force itself Authority these things that the anarchists argue against The darkest theories are not the artist has a basis on the material conditions of class as society And it is this that we have to take all if you want to do with state Authority and with authority in general and not a simple rejection of abstract authority in the abstract sense And in fact if you go on and look at the question historically, where does the state come from? Where does the authority of the state come from and you look at the Historical evidence and archaeological evidences and all of that and there have been there was a talk I think before this talk on this question. You see that actually the state Didn't existed for all of our existence in this planet actually is a very recent things It dates just a few a few thousand years ago The state as we know it it's very recent and the reason for this ultimately the reason for this is that prehistoric society Were characterized by such a low productivity that they could not afford the Possibility of maintaining a privileged stratum that would stand above society, which is what a state is Now this wasn't because of some great ideas and all of that It was a necessity It was the necessity of the time because each small community was organized in a much more egalitarian way And the reason for that is that Everybody needed to take part in production and that kind of little food that was gathered We kind of be spread equally among the rest of society at the end of the day, right? And the situation this situation of primitive communism of primitive egalitarian kind of society Changed drastically with Technologically innovation because of technological innovation that led to increased production and that happened a few thousand years ago It's a very recent in the in the great scheme of the history of humanity if you think about it And most notably the the great revolution was the agricultural revolution and the introduction of cattle farming Now when you hunt and gather as a way of subsistence you get what nature gives you, right? But with agriculture and cattle farming humanity started to have a degree of control over nature and these men that we started to having some sort of degree of control of a production and Productivity the amount of food that we produced and the amount of things that we produced changed very drastically at that time This was an incredible revolution that over the course of century changed forever drastically the way in which humanity inhabited this planet for the first time ever Humanity was producing a surplus was producing more than what it actually barely needed for subsistence, right? The key question of the future development of the whole history of society Centred around this surplus what to do with this extra wealth who was to get for themself this extra wealth and This was the beginning of economic inequalities the long story short This is a very interesting topic that I'm not gonna cover But I see here the regions of the family private property in the state and this is the thing to read about this In my opinion at least The long story short is that people that found themselves in a favorable economic positions Started to acquire incredible economic power with respect to all the rest of the population Now because it's it's a simple thing, right? If you have control of the over the economy, that is if you control the means of productions comrades Then you have a firm grip over society This is where your authority come from because if you control of the economy You can decide who has a plot of land and who does not have a plot of land You can decide who eats and who doesn't eat you can decide who has a job and who does not have a job and most importantly If you have more wealth than what you actually need You can also pay some guards to defend your eastern interests to defend your property and not just that You can also write books or have people writing books for you Newspapers and all of this kind of propaganda that is used to justify your role And in fact and but anyway since that time the state Hasn't been much but are tools in the hands of the ruling class to control the oppressed classes of society and to keep them into place In fact if you think about it today the situation today It is true that the state oppresses and is through the state our users authority to oppress people But it doesn't oppress everybody in the same way in fact Capitalists and even some petty bourgeoisie today some people some people from the petty bourgeoisie today. They feel very much Thank you very much. They feel very much represented by the current state Because this is their state This is the capitalist state that is there to defend the interest of the market the interest of private property And that's the interest of their class and the point is this that as long as classes with Completing interests will exist in society for example the patricians and the plebeian in the Roman times or the feudal lords and the serfs in the Middle Ages or today the capitalist class and And the working class as long as classes with conflicting interests will exist in society There is no way that these classes that everybody can happily come together and resolves all of their differences and Have some sort of rational plan to overcome all of the difference between all of us Because what is of benefit of what for one class for example a pay rise? It's detrimental to the interests of the other class For example if we get a pay rise it means they were cutting through the profits of the of the capitalist class So and state power this is because of it so and and this This is this conflict of interest which is the class conflict is the initiator is the regional reasons of state power State power is the inevitable results of this because we can't solve in any rationalistic way this class conflict is conflict of interests Society can't simply come together and find the best path out of this question and these this is where laws come from This is where the police come from this is where violence where coercions come from and all of the sorts of state Institutions that we have today comes from these contradictions built in within class society a Stateless society a society without a state cannot simply be conjured upon like some sort of wizard You know like exactly like the doctor thing is not a wizard that can simply kill you You have to go to the material roots of what is happening beneath them so if you if you like the the what's it the The medicine kind of the healthcare kind of metaphor here. It's like the state is the is the symptoms here But it's class divisions. There is this diseases of society. This is where things come from But so we so you know if you want to to to to get rid of the state You first have to get rid of class society first has to get rid of the inequalities that is coming from all of that But contrary to prehistorical conditions that we were arguing that during the prehistory People were not living in this kind of state society like we're doing now Back in the days that this egalitarian thing came from from ultimately came from scarcity and from the lack of food and from the lack of Surplus and all of that this is very different from today today. We actually live in a society of abundance We live in a society in which we have plenty of houses for everybody to live in we produce plenty of food for everybody I believe we produce something or we have the capability of producing food for 10 million people or something like that We have plenty of medicines. We have plenty of books We're really like if we really can produce whatever we want to produce really kind of if we if we put our mind to it But the problem is that this wealth this incredible wealth is in the hands of the capitalist class of the bourgeoisie And only when the working class will unite humanity together under a rational plan of production Only then we can take all of this wealth and we can put it Democratically to use to satisfy the needs of everybody so that no lasting antagonism between classes between nations Between peoples will last and only when the needs of everybody will get satisfied Only then classes will go away will wither away and only then we can pave the way for the future communist stateless society But how do we get there? What is that we first need to do? Well, I think first we need to fight against the capitalist class Because I don't know about you, but I cannot see Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk Just giving us the the keys to the office of Amazon or Tesla or whatever Elon Musk is doing nowadays because We need to fight against them, right and for the working class to fight and defeat a capitalist class It will require a conscious and political effort on our side It will require us to arm ourselves with our own independent Political weapons our own independent organization to struggle against the bourgeoisie and in the struggle to fight the class war the working class will be compelled to arm itself and to do all of these things and and build a worker state to fight and to defend the workers revolution and To be sure a worker state and a workers revolution governments are matters of authority. There is no way out of this What we are talking about is to defend ourselves is to take the keys of the Amazon offices or something like that And this is authority. It's us imposing our authority over the capitalist class We need to be careful when we talk about authority in general and now we're all against authority and all of these things Because there are certain things that if we want to have a revolution we do we do do we do need to do And I think angles expressed this quite strikingly again. I'm quoting from angles again He said and I'm quoting here a revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing that there is It is the act whereby one part of the population Imposes its will upon on the other part of the population by means of rifles bayonets and cannon Authoritarian means if there are any authoritarians mint at all Now I don't think we will use bayonets in the revolution because those are kind of outdated But the point stands that we need to impose our will on the other part of society It is not authority in the abstract sense that Marxist oppose We definitely oppose the fight against the authority of the bourgeoisie over the working class Why? because the bourgeoisie is Is How to say it's dooming us it's condemning us to a future of misery while destroying the planet in the meantime But we fight for a worker state We fight for the authority of the working class over the capitalist class for the authority of the working class over society and when anarchist when anarchist theory denounced every forms of authority in the abstract there are two options either They're not being exactly clear of what they mean or They are de facto renouncing to the revolution They're de facto disarming us in the face of our enemy in front of the in front of the ruling class in front of the capitalist class And they're condemning us to the feet But the difference there is a clear difference There is a key difference between a worker state Which is what we are fighting for in the first place and the capitalist state Which is this monstrous thing that is destroying our planet and our lives today and And the and the difference is that in a worker state and in a worker's revolution For the first time in history It will be the majority of the population Using the state to defend their interests against the minority of the population But which I mean the oppressors the capitalists For the first time in history it will be the oppressed people deciding what to do deciding their faith and all of that democratically and together and The thing is these comrades. This is not Some some idea it's a it's in a sense It's a very scientific and beautiful ideas if you want But it's not just a beautiful idea as they came out of the mind of somebody it's reality imposing this on us in fact For all the denunciations that you can find in anarchist theories about authority and about the state and all of that Every time that the anarchists have been at the forefront of a revolutionary struggle They have been forced to throw away all of their theories about the state and build something that very much resembled some sort of central state authority for example during the Russian Civil War When Maknoff's troops and I don't know if if the if the name Makno is new to you Makno was this anarchist in the Ukraine that was fighting during the Russian Civil War that followed the Russian Revolution of 1917 and So during the Russian Civil War when Maknoff was an anarchist and his group was an anarchist group Well, every time the Maknoff army conquered a new town or a new city They would just put post-resol around the town stating again I'm quoting Maknoff army does not represent any authority will not subject anyone to any obligation whatsoever Which is all very anarchist and all of that, right? But what was the reality of the matter? Maknoff's were actually acting like a state for example Maknovists passed an enforced law for the for the redistribution of land They had a tight control over the press they ban every political party and organization, which was not the Maknovists They even set up a monetary policies and organize legislative conferences Not only that they even instituted something called the regional military Revolutionary Councils of Paysons workers and insurgents Which basically acted as a government in the regions that were occupied by the Maknovists When faced with the threat of the white army, which was the reactionary army the capitalist army Maknov enforced conscriptions for the defense of the revolution Now you can call these the workers consuls of Paysons workers and insurgents and all of that But what is it right if you like what is the way of saying it if it walks like a duck and it looks like a duck Then my friend. This is a duck right if you set up monetary policies if you have conscriptions if you have a government This is a state doesn't matter what you call it. It's it. This is what they end up for me now It's not like Maknov was this sort of dishonest anarchist or something What what other choices did he even have? Facing the threat of an enemy army. You had to have an army himself having an army yourself You had to feed the army You have to have a con if you want to feed the army You have to have economic policies to feed the army and you have to have a government to implement these policies There is just no way out of all of these those are material forces Which are independent of the kind of ideas which are in any single person kind of mind and in fact This is not a thing but cooler to Maknov even the CNT leaders did something very similar to this again The CNT was the major Anarcho-syndicalist trade unions that was operating in Spain during the Spanish the civil war against Franco against fascism It was a mass workers organization with the main workers organization in Catalonia at the time But after what what did the CNT did during the during the revolution during the civil war? After first refusing to form a government when they had the chance to do so alone and they refused because they were Anarchists later on they made a year-turn and joined the popular front government Basically, they refused to form a government by themselves and ended up joining a bourgeois government after that Now one of the leader of the CNT at the time justified the decision with the following statement The entry of the CNT into the central government is one of the most important events in the history of our country That's some betrayal of revolution. It's very important in fact The CNT has always been by principle and conviction anti-state and the enemy of government but Circumstances have changed the nature of the Spanish government and of the Spanish state unquote now we have to ask ourselves if we're honest What good is a revolutionary theory? If it doesn't hold through during a revolution because circumstances change The whole the whole meaning of the word revolution is actually changed right like what what other things are gonna happen here Of course these circumstances are gonna change during evolution And again it was the reality of the events that forced the CNT leaders to abandon the previous theory and to join the government and The reason for this I think Fundamentally lies in their theories or lack of theory in the theories of anarchism. I think Trotsky Compared anarchy's theory to an umbrella with holes. It's useless exactly when you need it Theory is worth nothing if it is not a guide to action and exactly at the moment in which the CNT and the Makno and Makno leaders Needed a guide to action that is during the revolution their theory betrayed them their theory left them completely unarmed and Instead of carefully planning ahead. They just had to improvise really Now don't misunderstand me I'm not trying to justify what the CNT did because the CNT did betray the revolution when they entered the bourgeois government Exactly like I'm not trying to justify what Maknof did because Maknof did build a Personal dictatorship of the Ukraine the difference between the forms of state the Maknof and the the CNT ended up forming or joining and The Marxist understanding of a worker state and in fact very significant I think a worker state needs to be something very different from a capitalist state from the state in which we are living in Instead of standing above society a worker state would be the expression of the majority It will be used by the majority to defend itself from the oppressing minority, which are the capitalist It would be comprised of democratically elected neighborhood and workplace Committee and this would be linked up locally regionally and then nationally and then even internationally at some point These things would be based on the election and recall of all public officials at all level with no official to receive more pay than a skilled Worker and positions would be rotated regularly Finally instead of a minority of specialized oppressor a worker state would have the armed masses themselves Armed elected and accountable in defense of the revolution These kind of organs that we're talking about again are not the beautiful invention of Marx and Engels one day And yesterday we had an amazing talk I think about the Paris commune and what happened in the Paris commune She had things that Marx is to learn a lot from on the concept of the worker state and the dictatorship of the proletariat This kind of worker state this kind of workers organizations arise every time that there was a Revolutionary struggle on the part of the working class against the bourgeoisie We see this as I just said on the Paris commune. We saw these things in during the Russian Revolution in 1917 We saw these things in Italy in 1919 and 1920 during the the the two red years, which was a betrayed revolution We see these things in Bavaria in Germany during the the failed revolution in there We see these things in Spain. We see these things everywhere in which the working class is struggling for power for political power and This is the point right that the Marxist understanding of authority the Marxist understanding of state the Marxist understanding of a worker state It's not does not come for from the genius Mind of Marx and Engels or something like a bitch by by any means they were probably very very incredible genius thinkers and all of that But it comes from lived from historical experience. Thank you Instead the anarchist theory and this is the paradox here because Anarchist would argue that we need to live in the real anarchist theories I don't talk about our Anarchist theory would argue that we need to live in the real world We need to have two things by itself and all of that But in reality anarchist theories are to be the product of the mind of a single person May this person be Prudhon Bakunin or Steerner or any or Chomsky or anything like that Is these people thinking what they think the ideal society is and wanting to implement that? It doesn't come from the lived experience of the working class It doesn't come from history in any direct sort of way at least it comes from the mind from the theory of a single person from the ideas of a single person and Really, this is the main problem of anarchist theory. It's abstract When faced by events it soon clashes against the reality of the evolutionary situation and forces anarchists Leaders to act differently from their theories for all their current similarities This is the ambridgeable gap between anarchism and Marxism Anarchism is abstract is an idealist philosophy It's based on abstract ideas of freedom of individuality and of authority Marxism instead is a concrete philosophy based on the material world from which he takes inspirations and learns lessons If you think about it for a second the main slogan of anarchism Are not really different from the slogans of the great French Revolution liberty equality in fraternity Which was a bourgeois revolution and the point of this is that Anarchism is a bourgeois is a petty bourgeois ideology nowadays It builds on the individualism in Dean. Sorry. It builds on the individualism of the petty bourgeoisie For example there elect the rejection of leadership and organization that many anarchist theories have Kind of reflects the role that the petty bourgeoisie holds in production today under capitalism There is not a single honest worker that has ever taken part in a strike That came down for a second the need for working-class unity in the class struggle The need for fighting against and for fighting together against the bourgeoisie for imposing their authority On the rest of society Workers in a picket line actually have a war to describe the individuals that reject the decisions of the majority and they call them scubs They call them class traitor and this this is what anarchism actually very often ends up arguing for This is the difference. This is the key difference between a true proletarian Revolutionary Marxist standpoint and a petty bourgeois and individualistic the anarchist theory argues for and You know like what I want to make clear here is that what I've talked about is about anarchist theories I don't doubt for a single second and actually It's very inspirational think the anarchist movement has produced the most inspiring Revolutionary fighters ever that we talk about the leaders of the CNT, but what about the rank and file of the CNT? I think the rank and file fighters of the CNT Demonstrated the heroic efforts when and sacrifices in fighting against fascism They gave their lives fighting for the cause of the international socialist revolution And they did this when the whole of the world was against them including their leaders by the way And I think if we want to honor them Along with all of the other people all of the other workers all of the honest people and fighters They gave their life to the cause of socialism in my opinion. I think as revolutionary It is our duty today to learn the lessons from the pasts and there is also Including learning the lessons from the anarchist movements and unfortunately I think I have to say we learn from their struggle We learn that sacrifice and willingness to fight alone are not enough to win are not enough to win the revolution We also need a correct program that goes through the understanding of what authority is and what authority is not What a state is and what a state it is not and especially that goes through an understanding of what is that we have to do to fight against capitalism To overthrow the capitalist state Replace it with a worker state and pave the way for the future communist stateless classless society of tomorrow and comrades Marxism is the crystallized experience of the working class struggle fighting for the socialist society We build from the past history and we learn the lessons from it So that we can avoid making these same mistakes over and over again in the future And this this is what we are trying to build with the marxist student federation This is where we are trying to build with socialist appeal And this is what we are trying to build with our comrades from the international marxist tendency So if you if you want to fight against capitalism If you want to fight for the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist society and for socialism then you should join us in this fight Thanks


Alright, so hello and welcome back to another video from us. My name is Kwame and this is my wife. Elaine, hi. And it's been such a long time since we've done a video, but I'm happy to be back and for an interesting reason because I saw something on Instagram on this page that I'm going to leave in the link below. And it just spoke to me, it just spoke to me about the title of this particular video right now. And I shared it with Elaine, so what we're going to do right now is I'm going to read them out and tell them the reason why these things happen. And then she's also going to react to it, ask her how we actually exist together, right? And so yeah, so these are some of the things that men wish that women knew. So it's comments from people on Reddit. I think that was where the comment, the question was posed and people have their comments here and they are so relatable, at least to me.  And before we even go into that, YouTube guru, friend of mine, also suggested that we start a separate channel for our couple conversations and experiences. I don't know how I feel or we feel about that. You think it's a good idea, but I'm putting you on. Yeah, you're putting me on this one. So if you guys feel that it's necessary or it's not necessary, you can also comment because, well, we don't often do these videos and I don't know. So yeah, let's get into these things that men wish that women knew. And the first one, I mean, all of them hit home for me, not all of them. We're going to go through a few. But the first one is just because I'm not talking, doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying my time with you. And this happens all the time. I'm almost always like in my head, I am doing my own things and like I like to be in the same space as you, exist in the same space as you and I like it actually when she's around, but not necessarily us doing something together, but just seeing that she's there while on my phone, just being myself is enough of me. And it's something that I really, really enjoy, but she doesn't see the same way. Well, I mean, I'm learning to just be together, but I'm always used when I'm around somebody, like I'm talking, I'm interacting, I'm telling stuff, my experiences and you are more like to yourself in a way. So then it's sometimes difficult to guess what is happening. And for the most part, it's nothing, it's nothing serious in the person's head or whatever the person is thinking. But it doesn't sit well with you, why? Oh, sometimes, I mean, when we, it depends also when, because if we've already spent some time together, we had, you know, we talked about things, like we've been together, then it's easy, but when I come from work and you're still in your zone, then it feels a bit like... You don't want to spend time together? I just came home, like let's talk a bit, you know, for me that's part of coming home. Okay, I can understand this as well, I can understand. And the second one is, we actually really want to be complimented too. This comment says, a 60-year-old woman complimented me five years ago and it still makes me feel good, which just shows how little we get compliments. For this one, I cannot necessarily fully agree to it. I mean, it's nice, it's actually really nice when you get complimented by a lady or when you're moved to by a lady or when the woman takes some kind of action. It's really, really nice, but it's not something that I crave most of the time. But also maybe because I already do it. Yeah, and also when you compliment me, I don't know what to do with myself. Yeah, that's mostly... So when I compliment him, so sometimes he looks really handsome. Sometimes I look really handsome. Or then sometimes I notice it.  Yeah, I'm not used to it. Where is it coming from? But I think it's important to still compliment your partner. When they look nice, just... I mean, when they, for example, you go somewhere and they look nice, you can compliment them because it's nice to be affirmed and complimented. Yeah, okay, so yeah, it does make sense as well. This one, I'm not sure I even want to go into it. The third one, it's hard to get over you after a breakup. We don't really have emotional support systems in place to rely on. And a lot of men have small social circles. So losing someone means a lot to us. Well, you cannot answer that because, well, that's not the situation now. But in my experience, yes, it's actually true. Most of the time, when men lose someone or go through a breakup, because we have been conditioned so much to just be the ones that do the breaking up and move on quickly because we are the men, it's difficult to actually even go and tell your friends about it because chances are you're not going to get any good support from them, like, you know, emotional support because men often, often, I'm not saying all of us, see that kind of emotion as unnecessary and soft. So, yeah, I mean, it is difficult. I haven't gone through too many of those, thankfully. But, yeah, it's true. It's actually really true. But it also depends because I know, for example, for my brother, he really talks to his friends. So he has a small group of really good friends that know him for a long time. And it was a similar situation, not like a breakup, breakup, but he stopped seeing somebody. And when I was talking to him, because I didn't know, I wasn't aware that, like, they were separating. And then he said, yeah, yeah, I already talked to these people before I made the decision. And then I think, yeah, everybody said, so it really depends on how vulnerable you are with your friends and... What it has been from the beginning, because for most of us, it's also, like, just hanging out and having fun. You usually don't have these deeper relationship emotional connections with a lot of guys. Yes, but it also, I mean, it takes one person to... Break that cycle. Yeah, bring that level of trust and vulnerability. So, yes, I understand. But it's a bit of a generalizing thing that men can't have deeper connections, which I don't think that is a gender thing. So it's not that we can't have, we often don't have. It's not that we can't have, we often don't have. Because you... Yeah. But it's also a way you... something you should nurture yourself by showing up and putting in the work. I mean, being vulnerable, yes, it's difficult, but it also gives you a lot if you can connect better to friends or family. It's a two-way thing. Okay? This one says we aren't great at hints. Communication is king. Which is very true. Sometimes, I mean, a woman would want you to notice something or feel it or act on hints.  Then that thing can stab you in the heart. Oh, my God. So, yes, if it's not explicit in the same way, in the same way when it's like you're moving on to somebody and they say, no, if you're a man, stop. So when it's explicit and a person says, no, I've even done a video on this before. When a woman says, no, only for you to chase. Bro, if you don't feel like chasing, you are right in your way. Let them be explicit. Communication is king. As in my opinion. Yes. But I think we're already doing that now. No, it's not about us, really. I'm just... No, I'm just saying that with us, when we want something, we try to ask for it nicely. So if I need help with some chores or I don't know how to tackle a certain problem, I ask you, like, can we talk or could you please do the dishes? Because it doesn't make sense. I can leave it, but then I'll still wonder when you're going to do it or if I'm not explicit, then it will just get frustrated. So for me. Okay. So she doesn't have that issue then. So I guess I can't, you know. Well, I mean, we came from far. I mean, in the beginning, yes, it's also difficult to communicate because you're not sure how the other person will take it and all these things. So, I mean, we're still learning how to communicate. I don't think it ever stops because life throws new things. So you have to get up to speed with how you feel about that and how you can go about it. It never really stops. So these comments are a lot. I don't think we can go through all of them, but we'll go through as many as we can and then we'll take it from there. So when we tell women that we don't know how we feel about something, it's usually true and we generally don't know and don't understand how we are supposed to feel. I personally wasn't allowed to express emotions growing up and it turned me into not being able to understand my emotions. This one, I don't even want to go further into talking plenty. This is me. That's it. Most men growing up, especially in our generation, were told emotions are... Especially the ones we consider the vulnerable ones, the soft ones are necessary. So it's difficult to express your emotions about certain things and how you feel about them, to actually say how you feel about them or even understand how you feel about them and communicate it effectively. So this one is really true. So sometimes when we say we don't know how we feel about it, it's true. We just don't know how we feel about it and it would take time for us to make sense of it. But I think, thankfully, Chi is able to help me unpack the layers and poke certain questions and... Okay, so this is so good. I'm just saying, it's not bad. I'm just saying that you're able to... I won't say force it out of me, but you gradually help with... Yeah, and I think with this statement, what I'm missing is that you could say, yes, I feel a certain way about it, but I'm not sure yet.  Because that on itself, if I have to take you as an example, could be the first step. Because sometimes I feel that there's something going on, but you yourself are distracting yourself or you're not trying to give into it. Well, if you can acknowledge that, yeah, there's something going on, trying to figure something out, but I'm not sure yet and I'll come to you when I'm ready. That could already help me, like, okay, let me be mindful or even more mindful when, you know, be there in a way, not only asking every five seconds, but just like keep an eye on you, check in on you, you know. So that I miss a little bit in, it's fine if you don't know how you feel, but can you at least acknowledge that there's something that you're trying to figure out or something that you're not struggling with, but you're trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Yeah. Okay, then. And the next one is, I really like to hang out with my friends because I love them, not because I don't want to spend time with you, I don't think we have that. I think it's the other way around. Because Kwame is really like to himself, so sometimes I feel it makes him sometimes hyper-focused on his work, which is great because your work is also, your passion, but I feel that the magical thing with friends is that they can get to a different perspective, they can, they bring... My circle is very small. I know it's small, but... Yeah, very small. I know it's small and intimate. I'm not commenting on the size, I'm just commenting on that sometimes you get into your zone and then you kind of leave the outside world for what it is, but the magical thing of friends is that they bring the outside world in, they bring in different experiences, they talk about their own lives and that can also give you some inspiration or some new insights or... Yeah, lots of things. So I think for us it's the other way around. Because I see my... I do need to see my friends, otherwise I will... Isn't it a cultural thing? It's how you were brought up? How generally... It's possible. Dutch people make time or they fix that social encounters or social gathering, the necessity for that into their way of life. I think that's what I saw at least when I went to the Netherlands a couple of times that I did. Maybe, but it's just... It's literally something that you guys consciously do. I don't know, I only know for myself that if I don't talk to my friends, I will... Yeah, it's difficult for me. I need to bounce off ideas and talk about things that happen to me and I want to know what they're up to. So for me it's... Yeah. It's not only social, it's also calling them and being in touch. I'm going to be jumping some of these comments because when I go through them, I either can't relate or don't feel like we should tackle all of them. So, yeah, I'm going to go next. Yeah, we don't know where we want to eat, either. Yes, and that's me. That's me. Mostly, I don't know. I seldom have a particular craving in a place I want to go. 99% of the time, I don't know what to eat or where. But most of the times, I come up with where we eat. Which is a weird balance. It's rather the opposite.  Yeah, but it's also because I have a lot of cravings. I can literally, one time, I craved an Oreo milkshake for five days before I went to get it. Like, it just sticks with me. If I have an idea, like, oh, I really feel like I really want to eat this, then... Like, I'm very particular about what I want. I think last time we went for a burger because I wanted to have, like, a burger in my hand and, like, take that bite and sweet potato fries and... You just like food. Yeah, also, like, for the best, I think. You just like food. Okay, um... This one says we like random gifts, random hugs, and random signs of affection and love. Sometimes just a cup of coffee in my favorite mug is enough to convince me it's going to be a good day. Nah. I think that one is better for me. I would love you to make my coffee in the morning in my favorite mug, the small mug. That's not me. That's not me at all. That's not me, yeah. But I do... Yeah, I try to give you... Well, you always say you don't need anything. I mostly don't. I... So it's difficult for me to do small gifts. But I do bring food home and sometimes I try to spoil you. Yeah, and those times are, you know... Not so often, so it's nice. Like, it's nice. It's not like an everyday thing. So it's unexpected and it's nice. It's good. Yeah, but most of the times you are a bit... ...awkward about it. Really? Like, with... Okay, so with Father's Day... I mean, with Mother's Day, you always celebrate all the important women in your life, right? But with Father's Day, it's only with fathers. I don't know why.  And then I gave it and he was like, But it's Father's Day! Like, why are you... Why do I get this? I'm like, it's nice. I wanted to do something for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's... And it was like awkward for like five minutes. And I was just like, yeah. Five minutes is too long. She's lying. She's lying. It was awkward for that long. Let's move on, please. Okay. Good. This one says, A boatwreck doesn't always mean a morning. Sometimes it just falls out of nowhere. Which is true. Women don't get that, you know, the penis, you get hard for no reason. I never get hard, yeah. But it's also because... Have you heard the saying? No.  Sometimes it just gets hard for no reason. Yeah. Yeah. So... I guess I knew, but it's difficult because I don't have the same organ. So for me, how it...  Yeah. So I think that's also something that comes back to the communication point that... Talk about these things. Because I mean, I guess I knew somewhere that that was what it is, but because I don't have it myself, it's hard to, you know, understand it. Yeah. I literally don't have the same body. So it's good to talk about it. Anyway. This one says, when we say we're thinking about nothing, the majority of the time we're actually thinking of nothing.  It's true sometimes.  And it's not because, like, I am deep in thought about something serious that you should be concerned about. Sometimes it's just nothing. Okay, I never think about nothing. You always think.  It's not possible that it's nothing, but it's not something serious. It's not something necessary. I like to ask sometimes, like, what are you thinking of? Because it gives you a bit more insight into the person. So when you're randomly asked, like, what are you thinking of, it can lead to a conversation that you otherwise would not have had. Yeah. So I like to use it from time to time, but I understand. I mean, we're not always making sense, and that's also fine. Yeah. Okay, so men love being the target of a romantic gesture. It was the same as the gift. Yeah, okay. But it just makes so much sense that men love it too. This one is also very similar. Please ask us out. It makes us feel wanted and loved. Yes, it's the same as romantic. I think I've done that. Yeah. Yeah, and this one is very, very, very true. The video on it as well. Playing hard to get does not work at all, at least not for me, not in this new age. Like, if you want something, just say yes. If you want this relationship, just say yes. Don't play hard to get, although she did play hard to get. I didn't play hard to get. Not in its, like, direct sense. I know, I wasn't playing any game. I was figuring out whether this is what I wanted and whether I could say yes to the relationship as a whole, whether it would be long distance or here. So I don't think this one applies to me. No. OK, OK.  We want to cry and be held at times too. Being told by one of my exes that real men don't cry when I was at a really low point. Only further push me down the dark hole. Please don't do that. That hurts. Yeah.  Yeah, it makes the, I mean, that's just a fact. Please don't tell men not to. I mean, this is what we're even talking about, the essence of this whole video, that we try as much as possible to express our emotions and be allowed to do so. You get it? Yeah. And I know for you that there's a way mentioned be when it comes to emotions or communicating their emotions. So don't do that if you do that. Men are not supposed to be tough. No, but that's also the thing with the gender stereotype because as a man, you still feel all these things. But society programs you to not express these things. So I think, yeah, for me, it doesn't really make sense.  Whether you're a guy or a girl, just try to voice out your feelings so they can find their way to what they're supposed to do or mean.  If you're angry, you're angry. That's fine. That's all part of life. So I find it hard to not... I don't know why anybody would say that to anybody. When somebody is truly sad and you say, real men, don't cry. It can happen. It can happen. I mean, the fact that you can't relate doesn't mean it doesn't happen. No, I'm not saying it's not happening, but the fact that somebody is really sad and then you add more pressure to it. To it, yeah. Yes, I don't understand. What I would like to know if you're sad, like, what can I do? Do you want to talk about it? What do you need? Do you want to hug? Like, that's where I would go. Like, you try to give the feeling space and then maybe afterwards, you can talk about how to solve it, but you don't just say... Cap it and don't make it back, yeah. Like, don't bring it here, please. Yeah. That's nice. Um, this one says, if you don't want to hear the truth about something, don't ask me to tell you the truth because I'm going to tell you the truth every time. Yeah, but that's what I like. Good. That says also that I don't even want to go further, because I'm very direct. Yeah, but same for me. I think... But, yeah. This one also is similar to the one that we talked about sometimes. We just want to be by ourselves. Um, this one says we can be uncomfortable with unwarranted physical contact as well. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yeah, that's again like a stereotype that guys always want physical contact, always in the mood. That's also one thing that is not true and that should also get more space to be expressed. Again, it's weird that it's... Tell us more about what you like in bed. Yeah, I, for one, will ask. I'm not the person who's going to think that I know everything, so I'm going to ask. And every situation even in bed is different every single time, so it's not every day that you do this particular thing that works. Sometimes you just don't want that thing that time, so I think communication in bed is really, really important. Yeah, and also if you're trying out, even if you're in a long relationship and you want to try out something new, it's really important to ask for consent. And like, are you okay? Are we doing this? Yeah, we do talk about things. Yeah. This one says, we don't really care about makeup and just want you to be healthy and happy.  Yeah. That's me, me, that's me. I agree with this one like 110%. I don't really care about makeup. I'm more attracted to you, your face as it is. If you look nice without it, chances are you look better with it, so I prefer to see you without it. And that's for me, it works. I don't really care about makeup at all. For me, I think it's one of the biggest, for me personally, it's one of the biggest myths that women wear makeup for guys. I wear my makeup for myself. Yeah, I know. If you find it pretty cool, but it's not... I didn't say, okay, let me clarify again. I wasn't saying women wear makeup for guys, no. But it's not the reason I would talk to anyone. Yeah. That's not where my attraction is. It's not the reason I'll talk to anyone. And it's not something I would demand the person I'm with to do because if they don't, I don't find them attractive.  And secondly, me, I don't really care. Yeah. Okay, this one is also the same.  Just because I joke about my emotions doesn't mean I don't want them to be taken seriously. Okay, that one is also true. And finally, sometimes we want to be the little spoon. I am more the big spoon than you are. I am more often the big spoon. Yes, yes, yes. And you are tolerant. No, but that has nothing to do with size. Oh, okay. Oh, it's just, yeah. It's just nice to comfort you from time to time, even though you're not necessarily needing of it, but just to support, literally, as the big spoon. Okay, so that's actually all of it. I jumped a few of them because they were quite similar. And yeah, so these are some of the things that men wish women knew. And if you have other ones that probably were not mentioned in these comments, because this was actually from a particular source, commented in... Yeah, that would be nice if we can find one for things that women wish that men knew. Because there are lots of... Yeah, I think maybe that's what we should actually get women to comment so that maybe we can react on it as well. Yeah, so if you have something the other way around, you can let us know and then we can... Also react on it if it's the same. Yeah, or if you have a source, similar source, we can do it the other way around. Because, yeah, I mean, yes, there's some things true in gender stereotypes, but most of the times you have to look a bit further to get to the truth. It's good to break it down. So that we can open the same... I'm also curious what people will say. Yeah, so if you like this video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. And if you also think that we should start our own channel separate from this one, you can also let us know. Amazioji... I'm a bit shy, that's why. I find it a bit shy. You see how this is... Yeah, convincing has to happen a lot of times before we can do this. Okay. So, yeah, we're gonna end it here and we'll catch you in the next one. Hopefully sooner than this one. Yeah. That's a subtle hint. I'm just saying. From his side. I'm just saying. Communication is king. Yes. No, I'm saying that hopefully sooner. It's not a hint. Okay. We'll see what we can do about it. So adios for now and we'll catch you in the next one. Peace.


Hi, this is Kristen Brooks reporting live on the Green Carpet at the 2018 Stevenson Gala and this is Adam, he's a senior. And what two sports, dual sport athlete? Yeah, men's soccer and men's track and field. That's great. And are you enjoying it? How's the season been this year? Definitely, the season's awesome. Both seasons. Yeah, both seasons. Both seasons were awesome. You know, not too lucky with soccer, but we were able to tune it up with track and field and actually bring it back home and match championship. So our very first one, so that was very, very exciting. That's awesome. And so you have two different teams, two different team dynamics. Where do you fit in? Do you have a senior leadership role? Oh, definitely. Definitely. That kind of has been one of my jobs from, you know, the first day I got in from preseason.  You understand the culture. So it's up to you to really coach the younger guys and build them into that Stevenson way. That's great. And how do you feel like that Stevenson way is here, especially with the athletic department? What do you feel like our culture is to you? Oh, it's definitely awesome. I, you know, the culture from, you know, the focus on academics, you know, which is really why I came here in the first place. I really got the academic portion of it and also a great athletic experience. So that Stevenson way, which has that, you know, that emphasis on academics definitely works perfectly. That's great. So just, is there a game or a moment with your team that sticks out with you that you're going to hold past when you graduate? Oh my God. There's probably so many, I know. It's so many, but I'm just going to go with one from eSport. So the main one would be, you know, tying Messiah my freshman year. And they're definitely like number one in the country. And we tied them to a double overtime game. So that was definitely exciting. And for track and field, definitely winning the Mac championship. So yeah, that's great. Two huge wins. Yes, ma'am.  Somebody you want to thank that's made your Stevenson career here so great. Oh, definitely. It's quite a couple of people. So first of all, I want to thank God. Thank my parents. Thank my mom. Thank my coaches, both soccer and track and field, and definitely thank the athletic training room.  And, you know, they've definitely helped me a lot and they've always, you know, gotten me back on the field or on the track. So definitely appreciate them a lot for what they do. Great. Well, thank you for being here and I hope you enjoy your night. Thank you very much.