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.
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] 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:
- 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
view the rest of the comments
I get why you think of it as a direction and not a concrete definition. Seems like most people think of it that way, like when the government does stuff it's socialism and when it does alot of stuff it's communism.
Kills me that that's the way people think of it because of how unproductive it is but I get it...
I don't think anything is bloodless. Staying status quo and voting is super bloody with all the conflict and genocide going on too. I would like an end state that creates a better world for workers.
I'd argue the USSR was socialist and that they improved the lives of workers dramatically. That can be compared to the previous feudalist monarchy they had their bloody revolution against or the clown show capitalist country that took their place after.
I'm not saying the USSR was perfect and didn't commit any atrocities but I'd say they were one of the better countries for their time. I think there's a lot of propaganda, especially on the English internet about them. This is something I found a couple years ago that the CIA declassified mentioned Stalin not being a dictator and explained a bit of how the actual politics work.
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A006000360009-0.pdf
I don't think me and you were going to get to the bottom of it, but if you weren't aware historians really contest whether or not the holodomor was intentional. What's funny to me is almost nobody knows about the Bengal famine which was done by Britain. Around the same time. It was racially targeted at Indian people and it killed nearly as many people but no one ever talks about it. Only bring it up to say the holodomor wasn't good. It was an atrocity regardless of if it was planned or incompetence but it's weird to me. How much we let it influence the legacy of the USSR as opposed to other countries with other atrocities.
In case you don't believe me, it's very contested:
https://husj.harvard.edu/books/contextualizing-the-holodomor-the-impact-of-thirty-years-of-ukrainian-famine-studies
I'm curious what you have against Xi?
As far as the uighur genocide, have you considered how weird it is that the same countries that are supporting Israel's genocide in Palestine are the ones calling out China for this?
At the same time there is shit like the link below that makes me wonder if genocide is apt or if the treatment of uyghurs is more similar to how black Americans are treated in America. It seems like there is extra prison time and use of Labor in prison, but it doesn't seem like a wholesale slaughter or cultural erasure.
https://youtu.be/AgtbZGrO3S0?is=FsbGx5cvt7nP7Pth
"Anyone with a different opinion is stupid. Watch, I'll twist their beliefs into a very stupid version of it."
Sure, buddy.
Yeah, I get it too, you don't like when people aren't tankies.
What are you talking about? Glancing at a cloud is bloodless.
Literally everyone discussing politics says that the world should be less violent and better for the working class. Save your platitudes for someone they will impress.
Suddenly you trust capitalist imperialist western propaganda when it supports your argument? Or would you say the CIA is a trustworthy source more broadly?
Subtly not capitalizing things to downplay/dismiss them to aid in your propaganda efforts. I see you.
For the record, nobody should care how intentional genocides are. If you do, that's a you problem.
Literal Whataboutism right out of the tankie playbook.
Second Whataboutism.
If I misunderstood how you think about socialism please correct me. Just sounded like what I've heard before.
When I said nothing is bloodless I mean politically. If you let the last status quo be and just gaze at clouds there will still be blood and suffering.
Does everyone say the world should be better for workers? Doesn't seem that way to me but I grew up around rich Republicans so maybe that's just weird.
I trust when any source tells me something that goes against the narratives that would benefit them. That includes the CIA saying nice things about enemy countries. I figured you would trust western sources more, would you prefer other sources?
I'm bad at spelling and grammar lol, I'm not capitalizing to manipulate you. I'm just shooting the shit with you although you came off so hostile this time I should probably call it quits but here I am typing away like I'm still emailing for work😵💫
Actually intent is a part of the definition of genocide so you are incorrect
https://www.un.org/en/genocide-prevention/definition
"Committed with intent to destroy" ....
I'm not doing whataboutism... I was drawing parrells to other real world events to compare the holodomor and what is happening to the UYGHURS in china as I don't think those events where genocide but I do think they were horrible.
Hell let me put it this way chattel slavery in the USA was horrible but it wasn't genocide either. Do you get what I'm saying?
That's a high word count for "I employed a straw man;" you padding for length?
Nah, if everything in politics is bloody then dropping nuclear bombs on every city center is the same as saying "Hello" in a city council meeting. You're being ridiculous.
Yes, Republicans have always said they "fight for the working class." For someone who thinks themselves as pretty politically aware, you're pretty politically unaware.
Yeah you did a whole bunch of tankie red-flags in the last comment, and I don't like tankies.
Cool. Enjoy your pedantic victory. You want to say "the negligent deaths of a great many people" to pad for more length, you go right ahead.
You were. You either don't think you were doing a Whataboutism because you didn't mean to, or you want others to believe you weren't doing a Whataboutism. Either way, you were.
Yep, reading your pedantic point loud and clear.
Ok dude, sorry the info I was giving you hurt your feelings. I'll enjoy the victory in peace like you suggested.
Enjoy the rest of your day. ✌️
Oh yeah you definitely had the dictionary locked in better than me, no question.
It's too bad that's not what we were really discussing, and it's too bad tankies can't stand on their own without bad faith tactics.