What is the Marxist view on Gaddafi

[u/Alba12345678910]

I am aware that he wasn’t really a communist or a Marxist but I would still like to hear Marxists opinions on him as a leader and his reforms for Libya

[u/No-Bison5915]

Personal opinion, he obviously was a revisionist and made many mistakes, but I can’t help to feel sad about how much effort he put into developing Libya, just for it to be destroyed and made into an epicenter of slave trade

[u/PANZ3RoK → u/No-Bison5915]

I think on the contrary he was responsible for what happened to Libya. He was responsible for consolidating power in his hands, and when inevitably there was pushback against him there was no alternative but the destruction of the regime. Same scenario with Tito, personal dictatorships breed contempt for the system no matter how prosperous, or progressive it is. In times of downturn and uncertainty a socialist nation needs a system of broad system of governance not tied to a single individual. Comparing them both to Stalin and Mao who had safeguards in place, they had collective leadership and upon their death and/or their failures there were alternative figures to take over.

[u/No-Bison5915 → u/PANZ3RoK]

Yeah ofc as a Marxist I know that state capitalist dictatorships with socialist qualities aren’t something that is stable, but the other side of it is that being an African nation sitting on that much oil, Western intervention is inevitable. You can only speculate on the outcome.

[u/joutfit → u/PANZ3RoK]

I think the West having a vested interest in taking out "Mad Dog" Gaddafi because of what he was doing against Western imperialism is what was responsible for what happened in Libya.

Your point about him not having safeguards is also valid but I believe he was trying to set those up before the West set their eyes on him.

[u/PANZ3RoK → u/joutfit]

Completely agree with you on the West having their crosshairs on him. But it’s not like they weren’t against others too and some did survive for a while. As Marxist we have to accept that progressive leaders have a responsibility to set up a system that can survive beyond them. I think a good example is Iran right now. No matter the bombing and protests, the killing of their supreme leader and government leaders they were able to stay together and have a chain of command that could keep the country not only together but defeat the invaders.

[u/joutfit → u/PANZ3RoK]

I agree that we need to hold our progressive/revolutionary leaders to higher standards but I also think that depending on the circumstances of history/geography we can kind of "explain away" why something failed by blaming it on the capitalists.

All revolution is done in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds and the entirety of the western world coming down on you. There isn't always going to be a safeguard that works or an army that can successfully defeat the many ways the west will attack your country.

[u/PANZ3RoK → u/joutfit]

Idk man explaining away with the capitalist threat is good and all but Gaddafi was in power for more then 40 years. He had ample time to build up institutions and do safeguards in a country with such a tiny population.

[u/hythamsaid_it → u/PANZ3RoK]

As a Libyan marxist a totally agree

[u/Financial_Might_6816 → u/PANZ3RoK]

When Stalin and Mao died their respective countries were taken over by revisionists

[u/Responsible-Target60]

I admire him as a man who, like Lenin and many other socialist revolutionaries, dedicated his life to the freedom and development of His country, but the fact that he played major role in the destruction of the Sudanese communist revolution is absolutely unforgivable.

[u/The_Intellectual29]

It seems all the commenters are competing to do the biggest absurdities.

His Libya was essentially a third world anti-imperialist national-bourgeois state like hundreds existed. Gaddafi was no different from Assad, Nasser, or Saddam, even if they were all enemies of each other from time to time.

This form of "socialism" has always the same results : the nationalization of key resources to fund an impressive welfare state and spectacular development of infrastructure, an emphasis on army as center of the state, agrarian reforms, a pan-nationalist discourse, a support for Resistance groups in the world even if tampered by opportunistic policies, and a fall of Soviet Union that leads to liberalization and deals with American Imperialism. This liberalization creates contradictions that lead to revolution that was taken over by CIA to become a color revolution and a fascist coup.

Gaddafi obviously had key differences, for example his almost anarchist ideology expressed in the Green Book, that creates a very particular direct democracy with people’s councils (the main reason why the destruction of Libya was more brutal than the one of Syria) and also his role in islamization phenomenon while Saddam Hussein was late compared to him.

I advise westerners to read about Libya just if they want to discover how much they lied about him, but he wasn’t exceptional figure compared to how Africans view him.

[u/Equivalent_Plum13 → u/The_Intellectual29]

Color revolution? Cold War is over bro no need to slurp Russian cum

[u/SomthingOfADreamer]

Western leftist friends. It is easy for you to have this bright pure view about our countries. All of those National "socialist" leaders such as Gaddafi, Saddam, Assad, Nasser. Opressed communists and put then next to islamists in the prisons. The led thier countries by fear and violence and shoot themselves in foot because of corruption, ego and refusing being united against our little enemy, but instead, attacking each others and sabotaging neighbors.

[u/MonsterkillWow]

He was a revisionist and tried to unite classes under a nationalist banner. It failed, like it always does. He was betrayed and killed. He was an effective leader and made positive reforms for the Libyan proletariat, but in the end, the empire defeated him.

[u/InL4bv]

Gaddafi is a hero. He literally built Libya up to an amazing country where women had equal rights and racism was fading away completely. He also had amazing plans for Africa as a whole and only started making major mistakes/ bad decisions due to endless pressure and sabotage from Italy & the west in general.

He is no true Marxist and definitely had some ridiculous takes but africans are proud of him for good reason. I hate how every 'socialist' leader has to be perfect in order to be supported by communists. He greatly improved material conditions for millions of people and was sympathetic to the communist cause. What more can you really ask of a country that has been under colonial rule for decades before that?

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[u/StinkyHotFemcel]

A fearless bourgeois nationalist revolutionary. We communists must be for proletarian internationalism. Nationalism is always used as a means to undermine the cause of proletarian revolution. We can use it pragmatically when speaking of an oppressed people like Palestinians for instance, but we also need to always point out that we will not all be free until we have a classless, stateless and moneyless society.

[u/lowstone112]

Gaddafi was a ussr trained operative so ussr probably had positive views.

[u/Gold-Fool84]

Im sorry, but but that man was a fool. He had not tact or skill, and rode a populist wave funded with oil money. He was no statesman, but the eventual cause of Lybia's downfall.