To add on my previous response, i think this quote by Mao Zedong from the time of the japanese invasion of China is quite relevant on this:

"Can a Communist, who is an internationalist, at the same time be a patriot? We hold that he not only can be but also must be. The specific content of patriotism is determined by historical conditions. There is the “patriotism” of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler, and there is our patriotism. Communists must resolutely oppose the “patriotism” of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler. The Communists of Japan and Germany are defeatists with regard to the wars being waged by their countries. To bring about the defeat of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler by every possible means is in the interests of the Japanese and the German people, and the more complete the defeat the better. For the wars launched by the Japanese aggressors and Hitler are harming the people at home as well as the people of the world.

China’s case, however, is different, because she is the victim of aggression. Chinese Communists must therefore combine patriotism with internationalism. We are at once internationalists and patriots, and our slogan is, “Fight to defend the motherland against the aggressors.” For us defeatism is a crime and to strive for victory in the War of Resistance is an inescapable duty. For only by fighting in defense of the motherland can we defeat the aggressors and achieve national liberation. And only by achieving national liberation will it be possible for the proletariat and other working people to achieve their own emancipation. The victory of China and the defeat of the invading imperialists will help the people of other countries. Thus in wars of national liberation patriotism is applied internationalism."

Source: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_10.htm

As you see, Mao clearly states, as indicated by the “” around the word “patriotism”, that the so called “patriotism” of the imperialists is false, that not only do the invaded and oppressed have the patriotic duty to fight back, but also the working class of the invader countries has the patriotic duty to fight back against their own government, since the war doesnt benefit them either. Thus, as Mao states, “[communists] not only can be [patriots], but also must be [patriots]” and this is fully compatible with internationalism. And this makes sense, the workers of the world have the same interest, to achieve socialism and then communism, so it only follows that by fighting for the interests of your countrys workers, thus being a patriot, you are also fighting for the interests of the workers of the whole world, thus being an internationalist.

Patriotism has nothing to do with “being proud” of anything. Were the CPC and the KMT proud of anything when they started the reunification wars? Ofc not, and thats exactly why they started those wars. Patriotism is about loving your country, and, despite what fake patriots (meaning the bourgeoisie) would want you to believe, your country is made up of its people, its not an abstract idealistic idea of “America” or any other country. China was in shambles, and it was the CPCs patriotic duty to rebuild it and save the chinese people.

This idea that “you cant be patriotic of imperial core countries” and that if you do you are proimperialist is ridiculous and doesnt exist outside of the USA. If you dont believe me, read the party programmes of european communist parties and what they have to say. A good example is the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), an ML antirevisionist and very big party that led the fight against the austerity imposed on Greece by the EU after the 2008 crisis. The KKE openly says that they are patriots, and that its their patriotic duty to oppose the EU and its global imperialism. Most european communist parties say the same thing, and the few that dont tend to be the most proiimperialist liberal and eurocommunist ones.

You americans keep repeating this lie, but its false, and all you have to do is look outside your borders to see im right. Idk why you are so obsessed with this idea, maybe its a reaction to the toxic jingoism you have over there, which calls itself “patriotism” but is not. There is nothing patriotic about joining the US military and drone striking afghan children. In fact, i would say its the opposite, its every americans patriotic duty to NOT join the US military, since the only thing that allows US capitalists to mantain their power is having enough cannon fodder to fight for them in the military.

Also i dont understand what your last sentence is about, i said nothing about nationalism.

I dont know why, but many people here (mostly americans in my experience) are rabidly allergic to the word “patriotism”. They seem to believe it means “jingoism” or “reactionary nationalism”, when in reality those bourgeois ideas are completely antipatriotic and treasonous. There is nothing more patriotic than being a communist, fighting for the people of your country. How are you not a patriot if you love your people and want them to have the life they deserve, instead of the misery imposed on them by capitalism?

I would say most people here are proud patriots of their respective countries, but if you tell this to many american comrades here, theyll get up in arms about how actually patriotism is reactionary and they arent patriots, even though they are indeed patriots, they just dont admit it for some reason. It reminds me of some self described anarchists whose beliefs are basically marxism leninism, but theyll deny being MLs because “thats a bad tankie word”. Truly a mistery why. Maybe its a reaction to the pervasive jingoism maskerading as patriotism in the USA idk.

Edit: To all the americans downvoting this, please read about the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), a very based party from an imperial core country which clearly states that they are patriots and that its their patriotic duty to oppose the EU and its imperialism.

Edit 2: Here are just 2 articles from the KKEs newspaper discussing patriotism and how its fully compatible with internationalism with quotes by Lenin:

https://www.rizospastis.gr/story.do?id=209459

https://www.rizospastis.gr/story.do?id=329397

Its in greek but just use google translate.

Edit 3: Article by the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) discussing revolutionary patriotism. The PCE is quite liberal and opportunist, but even they recognize that patriotism and communism go hand in hand. How much more evidence do you need?

https://www.mundoobrero.es/pl.php?id=10161

I mean, i still think tho that we shouldnt supress religion, we should control it, like in China. Religion will fade away with communism, but until then we must deal with it somehow. Supressing it doesnt work (as a pole you sure must know) and its wrong. By controlling it, we remove cults and reactionary branches of mainstream religions and put in its place religious leaders loyal to the Communist Party. China did this great in Tibet. They replaced the proUS Panchen Lama with a prochinese one, and as soon as the Dalai Lama dies the same thing will be done, and it will be the end for the US funded tibetan opposition. Same in Xinjiang, they have religious leaders who respect secularism and are loyal to Beijing. I also think we shouldnt ban religious people from joining the Communist Party as long as they can separate their faith from reality and do a materialist analysis (meaning no creationist type idiots). Thats what i think.

Even if they claim to be ML its bad. Here the Communist Party of Spain claims to be ML but its 100% liberal. They are in coalition government with these Podemos idiots and the socdems. They love Zelenski, say pootin man bad all the time and support sending weapons to neonazis. While many members of the party are based the leadership are a gang of corrupt opportunists and are destroying the party. Although imo the party was killed in 1975, when they rejected revolution in favor of liberal democracy. Honestly i think the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) is the only mainstream communist party in western europe that isnt 100% social imperialist.

Same here in Spain. A lot of talking about “we must leave NATO and the EU” and “America bad” but then when push comes to shove, like now with the Ukraine War, they all rally behind NATO and support the NATO narrative. The Podemos motherfuckers (which includes the Communist Party, yes its that revisionist, eurocommunism killed it) literally did a standing ovation for Zelenski the piece of shit nazi. We are sending millions of euros in weapons to neonazis, but its ok because russia man bad. Oh whats that, you need welfare to not starve? Sorry, no money left for that. Fucking social fascists. Where are you from?

The Great Purge was real, but not how the west claims. At that time, the USSR was under threats from all sides. Nazi and polish intelligence had infiltrated the highest ranks of the soviet state. Same with reactionary groups, such as anticommunists, mensheviks and trotskists, who often collaborated with nazi and polish intelligence. First Sergei Kirov was murdered, which launched The Moscow Trials, which uncovered a vast network of spies and trotskists trying to destabilize the USSR. Seeing this, Stalin ordered NKVD head Nikolai Yezhov to begin purges to root out all these enemy elements. Keep in mind that the USSR was preparing for the eventual war with Nazi Germany. The problem was that Yezhov himself was a nazi and polish agent. He decided to begin mass purges, forced confessions and extrajudicial executions against innocent people in order to create popular anger against Stalin and destabilize the soviet government. This went on for about a year, until Stalin found out about this, removed Yezhov as head of the NKVD and appointed Lavrenti Beria, who prosecuted all those involved with this including Yezhov and stopped the purges. So yes many innocents were killed during The Great Purges but not on Stalins orders. Also many guilty people were killed to protect the USSR and socialism.

To learn more on this i recommend Grover Furr’s books, he debunks many of the “stalinist crimes”. “Yezhov vs Stalin” by Grover Furr is specifically about the great purges. Then you also have “Blood Lies” and “Khrushchev Lied” also by Grover Furr, which debunk more general antistalin myths, including also the great purges but in less detail. You can download all of Grover Furrs books, including the 3 i mentioned, in ebook (epub) format for free here: https://it.es1lib.org/book/12078299/732fa9

He isnt facing any consequences, read the article. He has been sentenced in absentia, Compaore is free and well in Cote d’Ivoire. I doubt they will extradite him. Still, this is good news.

I agree. They dont know what imperialism is. Projecting power in other countries isnt imperialism. Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism, its global monopoly capitalism, its the wholesale export of capital from the global north to the global south. Russia hasnt reached that stage yet, nor will reach it anytime soon, due to being unable to compete with the much stronger and much more developed US/EU imperialism.

Exactly. Supporting Russia is the correct line, because Russia is an invaluable member of the modern day antiimperialist bloc led by China. If this bloc didnt exist then sure, its a conflict between 2 bourgeois states. But thats not the case, this is a conflict between the US, leader of the imperialist bloc, and Russia, ally of China, a socialist state, and member of the antiimperialist bloc. This is much more like WW2 than WW1, in that we should support a bourgeois state because of them being in alliance with socialist states.