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Learn we must
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this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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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
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)
0.5 [Provisional Rule] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility
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.
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
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
How about everyone learn to organize and actively disconnect from the capitalist system .... boycott, boycott, boycott.
First organize and boycott one sector, with one company and complete ostracize them. Make the one company completely fail. Then move onto the next company and on and on.
There was a movement here in Canada in the 2000s when the price of gas rose. Gas was consistently at about 0.60 cents (or there abouts) at the time. When it rose one or two cents, people were enraged. When it rose by five cents, people started organizing. Groups started forming and suggested that everyone spend a week and boycott onto PetroCan stations .... then the next week boycott Esso ... then the next week Shell ... and so on. It had an effect because prices leveled out for a while and there was an outcry to get rid of those organizing groups. Shortly after, all those groups on FB, Twitter and every where else started dying off from internal bickering and arguments and all those ideas of boycotts just slowly faded away. Then everyone just gradually accepted rising gas prices and it became normalized to have the price of gas rise and fall by ten cents in a week. Now it's all just normal.
Boycotts actually work and if everyone organized and just targetted one company, we could maintain our level of comfort and what we enjoy while at the same time dealing a death blow to one company. Then when we've taken that whale move on to the next one and on and on.
Capitalist don't react to anything ... they don't care about people, health, welfare, humanity or decency ... the only thing they fear and respond to is if you threaten to take away their money and wealth. And the amazing thing about this stand off is that we .... everyone ... supplies these wealthy overlords with the power to hold over all of us. We actively give away our power to allow them to control our lives.
Just to have a more positive story next to this, basically the same thing happened with Croatia and price gouging grocery stores a month ago.
Except there, the boycott won out. Prices went back down to normal inflation levels.
Organizing means getting people together and educated to take action. To use strength in numbers. Boycotts are nearly always done as individualistic moralizing campaigns. They are not organizing and they are vulnerable to PR, as their primary basis of communication is already basically PR.
They can have good effects and can help agitate, but you are absolutely, 100%, not going to take on the haute bourgeoisie with a boycott. It will register as decreased demand and then a recession, something they are happy to preside over. A recession means they, being the people with money to weather the recession while smaller businesses fail, get to cut wages, discipline labor, and then finally expand or buy up failed businesses as the recession recedes. Many of these effects are why BDS is a good idea for impacting "Israel", as it needs to sell itself as a safe and attractive market for people to move and stay there as colonists.
To overthrow the bourgeoisie you need a revolution. This is not because anyone just loves fighting, but because the bourgeoisie will not leave you any other option. To organize for revolution you must join and contribute to a revolutionary organization.