Lefty Memes
An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
Serious posts, news, and discussion go in c/Socialism.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low-quality!
Rules
0. Only post socialist memes
That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme)
1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here
Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.
2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such
That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.
3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.
That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" seen on lemmygrad and more specifically GenZedong (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).
4. No Bigotry.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
6. Don't idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.
- Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Queerphobia
- Ableism
- Classism
- Rape or assault
- Genocide/ethnic cleansing or (mass) deportations
- Fascism
- (National) chauvinism
- Orientalism
- Colonialism or Imperialism (and their neo- counterparts)
- Zionism
- Religious fundamentalism of any kind
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The two biggest things you can do are to get organized and read theory. All the Leftists in the world thinking really hard won't make a difference if they don't organize. If you're interested in Marxism, I have a "Read Theory, Darn it!" introductory reading list you can check out if you want.
Honest question, how important is reading theory? Won't we need to build our numbers beyond where it's reasonable to expect everyone to have read theory? Especially given that much of it is written in an academic rather than a narrative way. Obviously there should be those in the movement who are versed in theory, but shouldn't the movement be open to as many as possible? And assigning homework as soon as they want to join seems like a good way to discourage engagement.
Lenin said it best: “Without Revolutionary theory, there can be no Revolutionary Movement.” That's why I open up my list with that quote, to instill its necessity. You ask a good question, why is it that we need to read theory? The answer is that theory guides practice. This applies to Anarchism as well as Marxism.
To use an example, is it sufficient for surgery to be performed by the untrained but well-intentioned? No. Must all nurses be trained in neurosurgery? Also no. What you are describing is a vanguard structure, an element of the Working Class movement made up of the most well-read and well-practiced revolutionaries that can help "guide" the working class as a whole, the vanguard being akin to a spearpoint that the great masses of the working class push forward. The only way for the Working Class to accept the vanguard is for the vanguard to do good work for the masses, connected to the masses, by the masses, for the masses. This is what the Black Panther Party did when feeding children, as an example. They solved real problems in their community.
However, not everyone agrees with such a structure. That's why it's important for as many people as possible to read theory, because this not only creates more teachers of theory, but allows more discussion surrounding theory. To that end, it is not necessary for everyone to read theory like it is necessary for everyone to get organized, but reading theory is paramount to improve the effectiveness of organization. It does little good to have a bunch of well-read individuals who endlessly critique society but never work to improve it through organizing, just like it does little good to have aimless organizing guided by vibes and no theory.
My introductory list is just that, an introduction. You won't come out of it some grand Che Guevara style revolutionary figure. However, you will be equipped to deal with important questions and problems you come across when organizing, and how to overcome them.