Lefty Memes
An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of "ML" (read: Dengist) influence. 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, discussion and agitprop/stuff that's better fit for a poster than a meme go in c/Socialism.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
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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. Please post agitprop here)
0.5 [Provisional Rule] Try to use alt text or image descriptions to allow for greater accessibility
(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)
We encourage alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if they’re too complex.
We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.
When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.
0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms
When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart
- ofc => OFC
- af = AF
- ok => OK
- lol => LOL
- bc => BC
- bs => BS
- iirc => IIRC
- cia => CIA
- nato => Nato (you don't spell it when talking, right?)
- usa => USA
- prc => PRC
- etc.
Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them
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" (read: Dengists) (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.
6. Don't irrationally 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:
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view the rest of the comments
I'm currently reading Zizek's "Less than nothing" and he criticizes Marx for not being Hegelian enough. Resetting my thermostat now
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/01/02/capitalisms-court-jester-slavoj-zizek/
Thanks. Very helpful.
But still to.be honest, Marx always feels 100% solid to me when explaining capitalism, but on much less solid ground when predicting the future.
How so?
"The revolution will definitely happen spontaneously."
"People actually want a fair system and definitely don't just wish to feel superior."
EDIT: Wanted to leave just thease two and be cynical but didn't want to be dick.
My counterarguments (from my limited philosophical education (never read Marx, but read Parenti and Žižek))
the small minority that actually doesn't hate communism needs to resist passively or aggressively to enact change (instilling class consciousness will never work because people still dream of being better than their neighbour (or more often the minority they don't like(since chauvinism still exists under different political system, the capitalists just abuse it (they didn't invent it)))) (ah shit, the second point). And no, voting only works in a limited manner. You can't really vote for anything farther left than the dem-socialists (AKA "definitely not the social democrats").
this is not a communism counterpoint. In my opinion communism is needed precisely because people are more often than not selfish.
To point out for anyone unsure: "The dictatorship of the proletariat" isn't an actual rule of the proletariat, it's a dictatorship which tries to repress the capitalists and the self proclaimed "capitalists" (without capital) and other reactionaries to try and make life better for the proletariat (at least if someone doesn't fuck up or the "that specific country" and it's allies doesn't sabotage it [ Parenti - To kill a nation ], also the Cuba blockade stuff.
This are my personal thoughts. And it's way too chaotically written (fuck).
Off the bat, this is bafflingly wrong in a few areas, but you seem to be aware of the problem already. Parenti is less a Marxist and more of a "pro-Marxist," he supports Marxism and revolution without being an actual scholar of Marxism. Žižek is a Hegelian, not a Marxist, and moreover is an opportunist clown that capes for western imperialism through a "left" angle. As such, you have a few critical flaws in your points.
This isn't the Marxist point. Marxism is not determinist in this manner, the point is that as the contradiction between socialization of labor and privatization of profits grows, revolutionary pressure will increase. Spontaneity can only get you so far, though, ultimately you have to organize for revolution, and create the vehicles for aligning the working classes. All successful revolutions have relied upon such mechanisms.
This is again, not a Marxist point. People's way of thinking comes from their material conditions, not any intrinsic human nature. This is well documented by Anna Louise Strong, a Statesian journalist that spent a great deal of time reporting on revolutionary governments in the 20th century:
I know it's a bit of a meme for people to say "ours" and "we," adding "comrade," but it genuinely is the lived experience of people living in socialist society. This was written in 1936, in a book titled This Soviet World. The important note here is that the way we think depends on the way we live, the way we produce and distribute. People want to get more than their neighbors not because of any intrinsic desire, but because capitalism molds humans to do so. Just as capitalism molds humans, so too does socialism, in a more communal direction.
The role of the vanguard is to educate the rest of the working classes, bringing them up to their level of political engagement and knowledge. This is why Anna Louise Strong said the Russian peasantry were learning better to organize and direct themselves, not merely to be led passively. This ongoing pedagogical obstacle is the chief concern of communist parties, and it actually does work.
As for the dictatorship of the proletariat, it's the dictatorial rule of a class over the rest. It isn't a dictatorship outright, in that it's democratic for the class in power. In capitalism, democracy extends to capitalists alone. In socialism, it's the proletariat that enjoys democracy, and its the landlords, fascists, and capitalists denied that right.
All in all, I know saying "read Marx" is a meme, a horribly ineffective one at that, but I do think that if you have problems with an ideology, you should actually visit the source.
I know that Žižek isn't an actual Marxist and I figured out that his writing is chaotic (also repetitive and hypocritical. (As a Slovenian) I also know about his affiliation with the "Levica" liberal party which is really far from a socialist party.
The text was a good read and very concerning. I thankfully never was a Žižek evangelist.
I know about the participary democracies like in Cuba and understand the people aren't actually living under a dictatorship (in the sense that rules are set by an uncontrollable force). I just tried to say, that the people don't actually vote their leader and the authorities in power, the position was (for example in Venezuela, when it wasn't fucked with by the US yet) inherited by the person the country's leader chose.
I'm confident to disagree with anyone on that point. Most of my relatives lived in Yugoslavia and still wanted private property (some people in SFRJ(/Y) still imported cars (because property made them feel superior) (even having to pay an outrageous after-tax price compared to a comparable VW Golf model produced in TAS or ... well a Yugo, but still). Their priority when buying a car wasn't their comrade's financial wellbeing or the worker rights of an employee in a capitalist country, but their own public image. Also, practically everyone imported clothes from neighboring countries and didn't give a shit about buying domestic. ... Or somewhat likely, I'm just traumatized and can't comprehend people being moral.
Fuck it, I have to read Marx.
Thanks for the stuff I need to research eventually.