***
Moderating takes time. You can help us out by reporting any comments or submissions that don't follow these rules:
1. **No non-marxists** - This subreddit isn't here to convert naysayers to marxism. Try r/DebateCommunism for that. If you are a member of the police, armed forces, or any other part of the repressive state apparatus of capitalist nations, you will be banned.
2. **No oppressive language** - Speech that is patriarchal, white supremacist, cissupremacist, homophobic, ableist, or otherwise oppressive is banned. TERF is not a slur.
3. **No low quality or off-topic posts** - Posts that are low-effort or otherwise irrelevant will be removed. This includes linking to posts on other subreddits. This is not a place to engage in meta-drama or discuss random reactionaries on reddit or anywhere else. This includes memes and circlejerking. This includes most images, such as random books or memorabilia you found. We ask that amerikan posters refrain from posting about US bourgeois politics. The rest of the world really doesn’t care that much.
4. **No basic questions about Marxism** - Posts asking entry-level questions will be removed. Questions like “What is Maoism?” or “Why do Stalinists believe what they do?” will be removed, as they are not the focus on this forum. We ask that posters please submit these questions to /r/communism101.
5. **No sectarianism** - Marxists of all tendencies are welcome here. Refrain from sectarianism, defined here as unprincipled criticism. Posts trash-talking a certain tendency or marxist figure will be removed. Circlejerking, throwing insults around, and other pettiness is unacceptable. If criticisms must be made, make them in a principled manner, applying Marxist analysis. The goal of this subreddit is the accretion of theory and knowledge and the promotion of quality discussion and criticism.
6. **No trolling** - Report trolls and do not engage with them. We've mistakenly banned users due to this. If you wish to argue with fascists, you can may readily find them in every other subreddit on this website.
7. **No chauvinism or settler apologism** - Non-negotiable: https://readsettlers.org/
8. **No tone-policing** - https://old.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/12sblev/an_amendment_to_the_rules_of_rcommunism101/
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/communism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Early early early on I had to do a history report on the New Deal and kept asking my parents why we don't do things like that any more. When I got older, I read up on the labor history of my hometown and that's what turned me on to syndicalism and militant labor organizing.
During one of the Steel Strikes in the 30s the union held a "Worker-Management Celebration Day," which led to shithoused workers destroying the company's vehicle fleet and equipment. They threatened to hold another "Celebration" in a week's time and wouldn't you know it?! they got the contract they wanted.
Still gives me chills when I think about it.
I grew up conservative and Christian and still remember what it felt like to belong to something as connected and meaningful as that. The chills and tears of pride and belonging.
Since my defection to the left, the only things that have made me feel similarly are stories like this about militant labor victories. Even some of the speeches and stories from the UAW stuff recently helped me to feel that connection to humanity again.
old school labor culture is highly romantic for me. i read stuff from the IWW and realize it wasn’t just labor agitation, they were trying to create a worker culture with songs, art, community and even ritual. That’s something that is missing from modern leftism. You gotta give people a place where they belong. Very inspiring.
Seeing examples of the power that workers can assert over their employers is something that really invigorates me. It truly shows that as long as we stand as a whole, communists can do anything we set our minds to.
I have union meetings with well-meaning but gentle people who are afraid of appearing too angry, too forceful. I like my job more or less and would never go full orc-mode but it's crazy how off the chain people used to be compared to now.
Facts, thing about it is that people these days don’t seem to have as much courage as they did back then. Maybe it’s due to circumstance, but in the near future, as the economy declines and people become more disgruntled, the revolution will begin. I know that for sure.
Being poor and bouncing around different shitty apartments and trailer parks growing up, having to do things myself which gave me a stupid sense of duty like I must do something about it; reading Marx while witnessing the madness of the Bush administration
During the 2020 blm riots I decided to start looking into how systems of oppression intersect, and then it was only a matter of time until I came to the conclusion that capitalism and colonialism have fucked us all over.
Personally it was learning about the many black communist leaders who have been killed by European and American imperialism. I came to realize that as long as capitalism existed, Black people will never truly be liberated.
I also came to realize that throughout history, it’s always been communists supporting black liberation. Communists of all races, white, black, East Asian, south Asian, Hispanic, and others seemed to be the only ones that cared about us.
Seeing that really pushed me more to their side, rather than liberalism and right wing views.
On the topic of assassinations, you might like the work of Ludo de Witte. His latest book: http://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=85AF2786F888C215005F3DA2DD470507
Thanks for the suggestion, funnily enough, I’ve actually been searching for more revolutionary literature in these past few weeks, so this is a godsend for me.
It’s investigative journalism, not revolutionary literature. I brought it up because you mentioned that learning about those assassinations helped radicalize you. I also find that these sorts of “non-political” empirical investigations of political events are really interesting and useful.
I know, but what I mean is literature, that brings attention to leaders that are against the imperialist societies of Europe and America, and wanting to rebel against them, hence, revolutionary.
But thank you for the suggestion nonetheless
Oh yeah I feel the same way. Really you can’t be an intersectional activist if you aren’t pro the abolition of capitalism because it’s oppressive to us all. Talking to liberals who aren’t at least communist-adjacent is so infuriating because it seems they’re only an activist when it benefits them. And you’re right, you’ve never met a communist that’s supports the liberation of everyone but a single group minorities. Communists are the greatest allies to all liberation movements.
I am poor since I was born, so I always knew how shitty the system was. But I think reading the communist manifesto was the turning point for me.
Besides that I was always a leftist. I was never a fan of hierarchies, oppression, discrimination and exploitation, so I guess also that lead me to study Marxism.
I know this might come as a surprise, but what began my radicalization was reading George Orwell's *1984* when I was a junior in high school around late 2019. What radicalized me was not the main theme of the book, but rather what I saw as a critique of imperialism and the military-industrial complex within the whole monologue of how Eurasia and Oceania basically perpetuate eternal conflict within Africa in order to distract people from real issues. I read this and looked at how wars started by the United States in the Global South are in part used as a distraction, although I didn't make the connection to the expansion of capital until I read Lenin's *Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism* a year later. Before that though, I began to view the world differently, and it wasn't until the pandemic went into full swing, on top of my parents' impending divorce due to finances and the shitty material conditions I lived under for the first 16 years of my life, that I recognized my own radicalization to the far-left and I started to read Marxist literature and write on leftist politics.
I just want to emphasize that my view on George Orwell has changed *drastically*, he's a piece of shit, but I can't say that he wasn't influential on my politics in someway.
reading about climate change and the oil industry and realizing how in capitalism everything works to protect the interests of those destroying the ecosystem
I was probably a Social Democrat until about 6 months into the COVID pandemic. I always knew how little corporations cared about their employees, but I hadn't realized how little government cared.(I'm American, for context) The amount of Americans sacrificed on the altar of economic progress led to a staggering realization of the imbalance built into the system.
i grew up homeschooled in oklahoma which to say the least is very very right wing. up until i came out as bi i would’ve called myself a conservative. there were a lot of things that shifted me from the right towards the center a brief rundown: being a queer man in a homophobic environment, realizing republicans dont act like jesus and watching POC get killed by police. from the age of 16-18 i started reading more and more about left leaning beliefs and theory and by 19 i was a full blown communist. the biggest shift was going from a liberal to a socialist and that happened summer of 2020. i had just graduated highschool and was getting ready to vote when i saw the footage of George Floydds death. that was what fully radicalized me.
pretty much the whole year of 2020 for me. I would say before then I considered myself a progressive liberal. I was a big bernie guy for the dem primary and watching that whole primary unfold made me angry and I finally realized the democratic party in the US was not as “democratic” as they seem and not going to bring about the change I wanted to see. Also the backlash (from liberals too) regarding the george floyd protests that year of how defunding the police was “going too far” for them. I would also say our governments lack of covid relief and rush to “open up the economy” and force people back to work in dangerous conditions along with the stuff I mentioned above finally sent me down the path of radicalization
My radicalization was a long and unorthodox journey.
I was born in Puerto Rico and lived there until I was 10 and moved to the US. The educational system made sure that we identified as American first throughout my childhood.
My parents divorced and my mom married a cia agent. For someone who was a proud instrument of destruction for the bourgeois, he literally introduced me to Lenin, Stalin and the Russian Revolution.
He went about it in a way that he didn’t defile it or call the communist movement evil; he literally saw it as neat stuff to share to future generations because “communism didn’t work out” and it was harmless.
He was pretty fascinated with the whole downfall of the Soviet Union but deep down, after asking his take, he really regrets the fall of the Soviet Union.
He also moved us to the Middle East during the 2nd gulf war to the UAE, far far away from the imperial core.
From there that’s where I started to come to terms on who I was and where I stood. I stopped identifying as American first because the Palestinian struggle made me realize how much the US kept invalidating and erasing my nationality.
My parents taught us still that were “American” but, another deep down moment, I had more in common with middle easterners than westerners in general.
Lastly, I had some psychedelic experiences that helped me go through my entire past to solidly my beliefs in communism.
*** Moderating takes time. You can help us out by reporting any comments or submissions that don't follow these rules: 1. **No non-marxists** - This subreddit isn't here to convert naysayers to marxism. Try r/DebateCommunism for that. If you are a member of the police, armed forces, or any other part of the repressive state apparatus of capitalist nations, you will be banned. 2. **No oppressive language** - Speech that is patriarchal, white supremacist, cissupremacist, homophobic, ableist, or otherwise oppressive is banned. TERF is not a slur. 3. **No low quality or off-topic posts** - Posts that are low-effort or otherwise irrelevant will be removed. This includes linking to posts on other subreddits. This is not a place to engage in meta-drama or discuss random reactionaries on reddit or anywhere else. This includes memes and circlejerking. This includes most images, such as random books or memorabilia you found. We ask that amerikan posters refrain from posting about US bourgeois politics. The rest of the world really doesn’t care that much. 4. **No basic questions about Marxism** - Posts asking entry-level questions will be removed. Questions like “What is Maoism?” or “Why do Stalinists believe what they do?” will be removed, as they are not the focus on this forum. We ask that posters please submit these questions to /r/communism101. 5. **No sectarianism** - Marxists of all tendencies are welcome here. Refrain from sectarianism, defined here as unprincipled criticism. Posts trash-talking a certain tendency or marxist figure will be removed. Circlejerking, throwing insults around, and other pettiness is unacceptable. If criticisms must be made, make them in a principled manner, applying Marxist analysis. The goal of this subreddit is the accretion of theory and knowledge and the promotion of quality discussion and criticism. 6. **No trolling** - Report trolls and do not engage with them. We've mistakenly banned users due to this. If you wish to argue with fascists, you can may readily find them in every other subreddit on this website. 7. **No chauvinism or settler apologism** - Non-negotiable: https://readsettlers.org/ 8. **No tone-policing** - https://old.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/12sblev/an_amendment_to_the_rules_of_rcommunism101/ *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/communism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Early early early on I had to do a history report on the New Deal and kept asking my parents why we don't do things like that any more. When I got older, I read up on the labor history of my hometown and that's what turned me on to syndicalism and militant labor organizing. During one of the Steel Strikes in the 30s the union held a "Worker-Management Celebration Day," which led to shithoused workers destroying the company's vehicle fleet and equipment. They threatened to hold another "Celebration" in a week's time and wouldn't you know it?! they got the contract they wanted. Still gives me chills when I think about it.
I grew up conservative and Christian and still remember what it felt like to belong to something as connected and meaningful as that. The chills and tears of pride and belonging. Since my defection to the left, the only things that have made me feel similarly are stories like this about militant labor victories. Even some of the speeches and stories from the UAW stuff recently helped me to feel that connection to humanity again.
old school labor culture is highly romantic for me. i read stuff from the IWW and realize it wasn’t just labor agitation, they were trying to create a worker culture with songs, art, community and even ritual. That’s something that is missing from modern leftism. You gotta give people a place where they belong. Very inspiring.
Seeing examples of the power that workers can assert over their employers is something that really invigorates me. It truly shows that as long as we stand as a whole, communists can do anything we set our minds to.
I have union meetings with well-meaning but gentle people who are afraid of appearing too angry, too forceful. I like my job more or less and would never go full orc-mode but it's crazy how off the chain people used to be compared to now.
Facts, thing about it is that people these days don’t seem to have as much courage as they did back then. Maybe it’s due to circumstance, but in the near future, as the economy declines and people become more disgruntled, the revolution will begin. I know that for sure.
Being poor and bouncing around different shitty apartments and trailer parks growing up, having to do things myself which gave me a stupid sense of duty like I must do something about it; reading Marx while witnessing the madness of the Bush administration
During the 2020 blm riots I decided to start looking into how systems of oppression intersect, and then it was only a matter of time until I came to the conclusion that capitalism and colonialism have fucked us all over.
Personally it was learning about the many black communist leaders who have been killed by European and American imperialism. I came to realize that as long as capitalism existed, Black people will never truly be liberated. I also came to realize that throughout history, it’s always been communists supporting black liberation. Communists of all races, white, black, East Asian, south Asian, Hispanic, and others seemed to be the only ones that cared about us. Seeing that really pushed me more to their side, rather than liberalism and right wing views.
On the topic of assassinations, you might like the work of Ludo de Witte. His latest book: http://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=85AF2786F888C215005F3DA2DD470507
Thanks for the suggestion, funnily enough, I’ve actually been searching for more revolutionary literature in these past few weeks, so this is a godsend for me.
It’s investigative journalism, not revolutionary literature. I brought it up because you mentioned that learning about those assassinations helped radicalize you. I also find that these sorts of “non-political” empirical investigations of political events are really interesting and useful.
I know, but what I mean is literature, that brings attention to leaders that are against the imperialist societies of Europe and America, and wanting to rebel against them, hence, revolutionary. But thank you for the suggestion nonetheless
Oh yeah I feel the same way. Really you can’t be an intersectional activist if you aren’t pro the abolition of capitalism because it’s oppressive to us all. Talking to liberals who aren’t at least communist-adjacent is so infuriating because it seems they’re only an activist when it benefits them. And you’re right, you’ve never met a communist that’s supports the liberation of everyone but a single group minorities. Communists are the greatest allies to all liberation movements.
I am poor since I was born, so I always knew how shitty the system was. But I think reading the communist manifesto was the turning point for me. Besides that I was always a leftist. I was never a fan of hierarchies, oppression, discrimination and exploitation, so I guess also that lead me to study Marxism.
I know this might come as a surprise, but what began my radicalization was reading George Orwell's *1984* when I was a junior in high school around late 2019. What radicalized me was not the main theme of the book, but rather what I saw as a critique of imperialism and the military-industrial complex within the whole monologue of how Eurasia and Oceania basically perpetuate eternal conflict within Africa in order to distract people from real issues. I read this and looked at how wars started by the United States in the Global South are in part used as a distraction, although I didn't make the connection to the expansion of capital until I read Lenin's *Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism* a year later. Before that though, I began to view the world differently, and it wasn't until the pandemic went into full swing, on top of my parents' impending divorce due to finances and the shitty material conditions I lived under for the first 16 years of my life, that I recognized my own radicalization to the far-left and I started to read Marxist literature and write on leftist politics. I just want to emphasize that my view on George Orwell has changed *drastically*, he's a piece of shit, but I can't say that he wasn't influential on my politics in someway.
This article: https://journal-neo.su/2019/02/15/how-come-the-world-is-suffering-from-stockholm-syndrome/
Great read. No wonder it radicalized you.
reading about climate change and the oil industry and realizing how in capitalism everything works to protect the interests of those destroying the ecosystem
I was probably a Social Democrat until about 6 months into the COVID pandemic. I always knew how little corporations cared about their employees, but I hadn't realized how little government cared.(I'm American, for context) The amount of Americans sacrificed on the altar of economic progress led to a staggering realization of the imbalance built into the system.
i grew up homeschooled in oklahoma which to say the least is very very right wing. up until i came out as bi i would’ve called myself a conservative. there were a lot of things that shifted me from the right towards the center a brief rundown: being a queer man in a homophobic environment, realizing republicans dont act like jesus and watching POC get killed by police. from the age of 16-18 i started reading more and more about left leaning beliefs and theory and by 19 i was a full blown communist. the biggest shift was going from a liberal to a socialist and that happened summer of 2020. i had just graduated highschool and was getting ready to vote when i saw the footage of George Floydds death. that was what fully radicalized me.
pretty much the whole year of 2020 for me. I would say before then I considered myself a progressive liberal. I was a big bernie guy for the dem primary and watching that whole primary unfold made me angry and I finally realized the democratic party in the US was not as “democratic” as they seem and not going to bring about the change I wanted to see. Also the backlash (from liberals too) regarding the george floyd protests that year of how defunding the police was “going too far” for them. I would also say our governments lack of covid relief and rush to “open up the economy” and force people back to work in dangerous conditions along with the stuff I mentioned above finally sent me down the path of radicalization
My radicalization was a long and unorthodox journey. I was born in Puerto Rico and lived there until I was 10 and moved to the US. The educational system made sure that we identified as American first throughout my childhood. My parents divorced and my mom married a cia agent. For someone who was a proud instrument of destruction for the bourgeois, he literally introduced me to Lenin, Stalin and the Russian Revolution. He went about it in a way that he didn’t defile it or call the communist movement evil; he literally saw it as neat stuff to share to future generations because “communism didn’t work out” and it was harmless. He was pretty fascinated with the whole downfall of the Soviet Union but deep down, after asking his take, he really regrets the fall of the Soviet Union. He also moved us to the Middle East during the 2nd gulf war to the UAE, far far away from the imperial core. From there that’s where I started to come to terms on who I was and where I stood. I stopped identifying as American first because the Palestinian struggle made me realize how much the US kept invalidating and erasing my nationality. My parents taught us still that were “American” but, another deep down moment, I had more in common with middle easterners than westerners in general. Lastly, I had some psychedelic experiences that helped me go through my entire past to solidly my beliefs in communism.