this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2024
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Lefty Memes

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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

Version without spoilers

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.



  1. Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:

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Does anyone have a cure?

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[–] MrWafflesNBacon@lemmy.world 79 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (9 children)

Does anyone have a cure?

Yea we do!

Pretty neat huh.

[–] HeadfullofSoup@kbin.earth 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

People think it's a jokes but that what non fascism American will have to do if they ever want another election in their lifetime

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Listening to the hosts of a lot of my podcasts talk about how “the next four years are going to be tough.”

Bro, you have children and LGBT friends, are you being serious?

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

The next rest of your life is going to be rough.

[–] ladicius@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That was clever and dark as most of his works.

[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It's not the original line.

E: it's the suggested cure for insomnia

[–] Lemjukes@lemm.ee 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Lemjukes@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

lol, all good, thanks tho

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

Yep, and Socialism is necessary to prevent it from cropping up again.

[–] BetaBlake@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Took the words right out of my mouth

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[–] ladicius@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Definitely not rare, more like malignant, aggressive, terminal..

But the cancer analogy does work, because you can't cure it with band aids (like elections), you have to cut the fucker out at its core, radiate the remaining tissue to make sure none is left behind (via education and a complete overhaul of how society functions, with zero tolerance for bigotry), and continue to get regular check ups to make sure it hasn't returned, and if it does, radiate the fucker again before it metastasises.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

We did it to Germany, but it probably needs another dose of chemo at this point, like a disturbing amount of places around the world.

[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

No one really did it to Germany at all, nor anywhere else, including the country Hitler got his inspiration from.

The truth is WWII wasn't fought over bigotry and hate and the fact that people were being exterminated on an industrial scale, it was fought so those in power could stay in power and maintain the status quo, and also make a handsome profit. War always is.

Fascism is capitalism in decay, we will never be rid of one, without abolishing the other.

[–] PunnyName@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Rare in that it doesn't happen that often here.
It's metastasized rather quickly, however.

It could be terminal if we don't get the right people to excise it quickly enough.

[–] Fandangalo@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

“Right people” might be how we got it. /rimshot

[–] kozy138@lemm.ee 35 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I think capitalism is the cancer. Fascism is just the symptom of late stage capitalism.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

100%. Fascism is a defense mechanism for dying Capitalism. Dr. Michael Parenti helps explain fascism's causes, interests, and characteristics in the first chapter of Blackshirts and Reds.

[–] hohoho@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago
[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's not that rare unfortunately. It's spread across more than half the globe.

The last time this happened we needed a world war to root it out. It's looking increasingly likely that we're gonna need another one.

[–] blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Nazis were copying the US practices towards blacks; was it really rooted out, or just some secondary tumours?

[–] NewDark@lemmings.world 9 points 1 week ago

Germany lost, fascism won

[–] alsaaas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

""rare""

you mean common symptom of capitalism :p

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

The cure is Socialism. Fascism is Capitalism in decay, ergo to prevent fascism we need to prevent Capitalist decay, and the only way to do that is to move beyond Capitalism and into Socialism.

For any new Leftists, I created a Read Theory, Darn it! introduction to Marxism reading guide, complete with a section on how to conduct yourself as a Leftist. It also includes a section on fascism, what causes it, and how we can banish it forever, right in the beginning with Michael Parenti's Blackshirts and Reds.

[–] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thank you for putting in this effort!

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

No problem, feel free to offer any input!

[–] CommissarVulpin@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This isn’t meant to be some kind of “hurr durr Stalin” kind of rebuttal or anything like that, and I hope it doesn’t come across that way. I’m as dissatisfied with everything as you are. But I’m not well versed in socio-politico-economics, so I’m genuinely curious: what is the plan for avoiding what happened in the USSR with a socialist nation? What pitfalls did they fall into that spoiled the word “socialism” for everyone else?

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That's an incredibly complex question, and if you aren't well-versed in economics, politics, sociology, etc then I promise you, you aren't going to be able to walk away satisfied from a Lemmy conversation. The best answer is that the USSR came with a ton of good, and a lot of difficulty in being the first Socialist state, including a great deal of bad, unfortunately. Additionally, there aren't really any states currently in the same conditions and predicaments with the same limited access to modern technology as 1917 Russia, so we can't make a 1 to 1 comparison even if we tried. The USSR was planned almost entirely by hand using good old pen and paper for its entire existence, and never fully embraced computers, which contributed to struggles as the economy got more complex, as an example.

I recommend you check out my reading list, and read the two books in section 1. Well, the essay and the book in section 1. Principles of Communism is very short and can help with terminology, and Blackshirts and Reds is a historical analysis of both fascism and Communism as they have existed, and their adversarial relationship.

Alternatively, I recommend the "Yellow Parenti" lecture in section 1 from the same author as Blackshirts, though I won't stop you from reading and listening to all 3. I invite you to read them with a critical eye and question whatever seems off.

I apologize if this is unsatisfactory for you, but analyzing AES properly takes a great deal of myth dispelling and contextualization in a world dominated by the US, which has material interests in slandering AES states at every single opportunity. That does not mean AES states are perfect, but that they are real, and come with real problems and real victories.

Hope that answers your question in a semi-satisfactory way, at least! You can also ask questions in the linked thread, which would selfishly be beneficial because common questions can be answered in one space that I plan on linking whenever it's relevant, and having readers capable of seeing questions answered in the comments I think would be a good thing for my list 😉

I really did put a lot of thought and effort into picking works that answer questions just like yours right off the bat, this is like iteration 5 or 6 of the same initial list, finally ready for release after a lot of feedback from comrades around the world, designed to be accessible as possible with the inclusion of audiobooks for every work (except 1 for now) and a focus on intersectionality, decolonialism, LGBTQ+ rights, history, and more.

You'll find that some of your questions are likely already answered there (among the jokes and jests from fellow comrades).

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

WWI complicated things, eg Ukraine was given up as part of the deal to get the Leninists out of the war. WWII probably didn't help, at least in some ways. It did help with unity but a lot of Soviets died, either directly in combat or as part of the Nazi purge (Slavs/Russians weren't seen as much better than Jews by the Nazis).

There were several factions in a civil war (Leninists, other communists, anarchists, capitalists) and all the alliances and betrayals that goes along with that. Plus outside capitalists didn't want to see socialism or communism succeed and played interference, though I don't think that ramped up that much until after WWII, where wars were fought to stop the spread.

Stalin had a bias for "communist-like" scientific theories, and there was one about how to grow food that came up just as a lot of farm land was being reallocated from long time landowners to people who didn't have much experience farming. These theories weren't very successful but those involved had a personal vestment in making others think it was working rather than failing (because gulag vs living nicely). So reports said there was tons of food being produced while there wasn't, leading to famine, which makes it harder to bring up a brand new economy.

China also fell for those false reports and adopted the fake science themselves, which contributed to their own famine.

I don't recall a lot of the details of that fake science, but a couple of the ideas I do remember: fit as many seeds/plants as possible into any given area because the plants will work together to strengthen their comrades. If you store seeds in the cold, it will make them more cold resistant, allowing crops that wouldn't normally grow in some areas to thrive there.

Just those two things plus the land redistribution resulted in people who didn't know how to farm trying to grow more crops than the land would support, sometimes picking a crop that wouldn't even grow in that area over less desirable ones that would.

And of course it didn't help that the Kremlin still feasted while (false) reports said there were tons of crops being produced, which were also taxed as if the production numbers were valid, so those farmers were also starving, which killed the public support momentum and they had to deal with Stalin's brutality on top of that.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Trotsky's Permanent Revolution actually describes what has happened in the United States.

The few mega-rich will bend the national discourse with money to capitalist decay and avoid the dictatorship of the proletariat. The likes of Bezos and Musk fit that bill to a T.

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

That's a myth, it's actually quite common.

[–] Moah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 week ago
[–] atro_city@fedia.io 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Best not vote! That'll fix it.

[–] Isoprenoid@programming.dev 5 points 1 week ago

Yes, exactly. It's best to just not have your voice heard. Don't vote now, and don't protest later.

[–] NewDark@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago (5 children)

If you think the leadership in the Democratic party currently isn't like 80-90% of the way there already, please wake up.

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[–] Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Seriously, it's time to quarantine the US and seriously purge Europe before it gets any worse

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Cancers aren't contagious, which means this is a pox.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Unless you think of earth/humanity as one organism.

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago
[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Are you sure It's not low information voters who spend most of their time politically deactivated, feel disenfranchised from the economic controls that rule their lives, and have poor media literacy?

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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

For that diagnosis, that will be $28,865.89 and an additional $56.76 per day of none payment.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

Laws do not apply to the terminally ill.

[–] FloppyFlounder8@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I've been mulling over getting some "I DID THAT!" stickers of an ass oh.. I mean Trump pointing with that text above his head for when he inevitably raises prices of everything.

[–] zephorah@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I cannot emphasize this enough. Do NOT make it trump. His health will likely take him out before that.

Bring it on to point directly at 2 people: Musk and Vance.

We actually will see those two in 2028. Stop focusing on the distraction. All Trump is right now is a distraction.

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