this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2025
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Lefty Memes
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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.
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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. 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.
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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).
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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.
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"Not my left" is some strong anti-solidarity phrasing for someone who thinks of themselves as left on this silly misrepresentational chart. What was the point that I'm missing? That you'll abandon the left when you don't like it?
Left is for liberation. If you aren't for liberation we don't have much to talk about.
But sure, some forms of solidarity with rightists can be valid.
Liberation from what exactly? I am all for liberation, but it's not liberation if not everyone can have it.
Oppressive political and economic structures. Not sure why you think I'm saying not everyone should get this, although realistically liberation is unlikely to arrive everywhere simultaneously.
+1 egalitarian liberation.
Free and free alike, beats free to unfree.
(I usually say that with regards to the bifurcation of Free Software licenses/philosophies, preferring copyleft [free and free alike] over permissive [free to unfree]... but it works here too [where the "alike" is more related to the egalitarianism, than the ongoing freedom assurance]. Heh.)
The issue is that you cannot enforce this equity when unequality arrises
"We are convinced that liberty without socialism is privilege, injustice; and that socialism without liberty is slavery and brutality." -- Mikhail Bakunin
Good reply.
Though...
Maybe all the more reason to talk, if the would-be conversational partner is not for liberation.
Seems all the more important to expose those minds to educations, pedagogy, of philosophies of egalitarian liberation.
Otherwise, leaves them festering more malignant in their unchallenged echo-chamber bias of anti-liberation philosophy.
Just before clicking reply, Daryl Davis sprang to mind. The black guy who speaks with KKK and Nazi Party members, and over 200 have left those organisations, and had a change of mind (and heart), thanks to being exposed to experience and information contrary to their ignorance and hateful authoritarian indoctrination.
Stuff like that great exemplar. :)
LOL.
Way to use "the left".
Also... where do you get the notion I'll abandon "the left" from this? See where my left is? What makes you think I'll abandon anything?
3 replies so far, and such fascinating interpretations of this, showing how limited my imagination of other people's interpretations may be.
Our other previous interactions, plus othering the other forms of leftism that are different than yours. "Not MY left," instead of just leaving it blank comes off alarmingly as "I don't do solidarity with leftists I don't agree with," which you then doubled down on by saying just that below.
What other previous interactions? Just here? (Can't be, since I've been offering refutations to that). Elsewhere? Where?
"Othering"... o_O
Well, that's not really the point of it, and also, again, I'm not forsaking the people, merely stating preference [Edit: of political philosophy]. I'm not really the one doing the othering, either. There are other philosophies. But I'm not doing any put-downs of them, so they can be mistreated. Let alone the people who hold dear to those other philosophies.
Fascinating interpretation.
Please use quotes to clarify where you think I doubled down on this. It's an interpretation so contrary to my meaning, in both the original piece (and its blurb and alt-text) and my contributions to the conversations about it here throughout, that it's beyond my reach to understand where you mean.
Still seems more like what you have in your philosophy, than what's in mine. See again, the invite to consider and introspect on if that's projecting. Hard to see, our shadows are.
[Edit [Edit, suppose I'll make this its own reply]: Oh, and... anti-solidarity? I'm all for helping everybody. I'm not falling for that psyop that I must be in solidarity with other philosophies. I was already never much a fan of the word "solidarity" (especially because of its etymology, and ease of misinterpretation by the uninitiated, itself creating a sort of in-group and out-group divide [Orwellian much?], not readily understood on first hearing as best intended, more suggestive of static crippling suffocating immobility, and thus easily usurped in service of forked tongues insidiously dividing and conquering). And then to see how you've just used it, further corroborates my point about it, and expands my dislike, seeing it used so.]
and there we have it. The greatest threat to all leftist thought is capitalism, and to be willing to stand against it in solidarity is what is needed before we devolve into attacking other leftists. Funny also that you're willing to question anyones leftiness if you don't agree to their flavor.
Fun cherry picking portions to pervert and misrepresent the original meaning by stripping the rest of it, losing more than context, and inverting the meaning, doubling down on fallacy. Fun misrepresentation putting words in my mouth and asserting what my will is, that's completely unfounded and untrue. Way to miss the point. Way to go off half-cocked and pointing fingers, projecting, oblivious to the three fingers pointing back, doing the very thing in the accusation. I merely said "not my left". I didn't do and would not do what you you insist I'm doing, like you're doing. Are we not allowed to have a particular perspective? Seems implausible. Like we're to have it all be our left... from kropotkin to stalin to half the purple party to hitler to marx, all the same? No. That's still not my left. Any of that not being my left does not mean I'm questioning anyone's leftness for not agreeing with my leftness. Especially where my leftness is. How would that be a tenable internally consistent logic to have such an authoritarian imposition from such a libertarian left position? See?
Also, methinks you may have typo'd a bit... hard to parse:
Damn I'm amazed I missed you listing Hitler as a leftist. Good luck with that.
B i t t e w a s ?!Or half the purple party?
Still missing the point about "not my left & not even left"?
Did you miss me saying "No." after that too? Like, the point being made there, is that's not my list. Never encountered those who believe the Nazi party propaganda mislabel and really believe it's "socialist"? Lucky you.
{the replies that make me laugh just keep coming. XD}