this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
502 points (97.5% liked)
Lefty Memes
6809 readers
239 users here now
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.
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. Please post agitprop here)
0.5 [Provisional Rule] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility
(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)
We require 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.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
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:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Queerphobia
- Ableism
- Classism
- Sexual assault
- Genocide/ethnic cleansing or (mass) deportations
- Fascism
- (National) chauvinism
- Orientalism
- Colonialism or Imperialism (and their neo- counterparts)
- Zionism
- Religious fundamentalism of any kind
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
A have a family member who is full MAGA and does exactly this. Then he will describe something that he thinks is a good idea, and when I point out to him that he is describing socialism he denies it. It is very frustrating!
Is it possible to direct these conversations away from semantics? It seems you two actually agree on stuff, but not on hou both of you call it.
Just don't call the stuff you agree on socialism and focus on how Trump actually fights against this.
I have tried, for sure. Certain things he seems rational about and can get some agreement. Then he will say something sexist, racist, and/or xenophobic which invalidates what we just talked about.
How does it invalidate the things you agree on? Or does it make you not want to talk to him nnymore?
Because you can explain why sexism/racism/whatever is counterproductive on a tactical/logical level without bringing morals into the mix.
I guess it mostly invalidates what he said previously. Like we can agree that the US government will take away people's rights if left unchecked by the people, but then he will say that the government needs to deport all immigrants without care for due process, lock black and brown people for protesting, and to keep women out of leadership positions.
I point out the contradictions, but he says it still makes sense to him.
First of all: kudos to you for still not having given up talking to that guy. I think I can imagine that frustration.
Maybe, instead of pointing out the contradiction, you can try to make him realize how the lack of due process, locking up protestors and keeping groups of people out of leadership positions will hurt him in the end.
Thanks for the kudos. I mostly keep in contact because we grew up close as kids all the way through college. He got wrapped up into the manosphere crap during the pandemic so for me it's a relatively recent thing.
I will certainly keep trying and give your advice a shot.
Please keep that in mind next time a democrat tells you they have to move further right to win voters. Your family member is very far from unique.
I found out a really good way to describe how I feel in these situations. Ball up your fist then in a single swing knock your family member to the ground. If you completed step 2 pat yourself on the back comrade
Forgdt the \s tag? (For our neurodivergent folks)
ewww backslash
Sometimes that becomes very tempting!
Communism. A system of government where the rulers use the media they own to keep the lower and middle classes fighting with each other while they . . the rich . . . run off with all the f*cking money.
Oh wait. That's capitalism. I don't know how I got those two systems confused.
Oh wait. That’s capitalism.
No no no. That's Communism, because of the big government.
Under capitalism everyone can do their own research and the smartest, strongest, bestest ones become the leaders through hard work. Then they become famous due to their natural animal magnetism, solve all of the problems, and spend their golden years pumping out hundreds of babies so that their righteous seed forms the foundation for the next generation.
Under communism, everyone gets tricked into thinking they're equal, which defies natural law. Government gets too big and destroys productivity. And then the trickster evil communists make all the babies. But those babies are weak, so the civilization fails.
That's why only the whitest civilizations are capitalist.
Common mistake
Communism is the one without a government.
It's a handy way to differentiate between them.
If all the profits go to the owner/shareholders, I don't understand the incentive to work harder than required
Thus one of the fundamental limits of capitalism.
Annual bonuses
It's not a bonus if you earned it - that's just called pay. You should be getting that money by default.
I don't get an annual bonus. I don't get benefits. I don't get health care. I don't even get full time hours.
Except A: Not all (or even most, realistically) jobs get that, and B: There's no real mechanism for those that do other than management goodwill.
more like anal bonus, amirite?
they used to show pics of soviet era public housing and nowadays it's way better than living in a tent in the midwestern winter
lefties are weird and counterproductive at times. We have house maintenance union which handles the renovation planning. at the same time, we have numerous lefty activists living in our apartment complex and they stand against this union because they consider it pathetic and think local government should handle everything. grade a hypocrisy
Do you feel the same about police unions?
there's a difference. our union is self-organized - literally just a bunch of home owners taking matters into their hands so to speak. police union is state-run organization and it's a money laundering clownshow on a good day.
We will be divided so we cannot stand.
Because human nature is first and foremost selfish and self serving.