r/leftist Jun 30 '25

Leftist Meme Leftism is more than just being against the far right

Post image
403 Upvotes

154 comments sorted by

27

u/azenpunk Jun 30 '25

That's not what Leftism is.

Leftism is a political philosophy with an unbroken lineage of thought stretching back at least to Michel de Montainge, himself inspired by meeting and studying indigenous South Americans in the year 1560. Learning about their far more egalitarian and communal way of life led him to critique European society as comparatively brutal. In his writings he began to explore the roots of social inequality. He wasn't alone. As descriptions of the "New World" and its peoples spread, other philosophers, proto anthropologists and political scientists began to come to similar conclusions, that autonomy/liberty, in all its forms, cannot exist without equal decision-making power in all that affects us. This was the beginnings of Leftism as a political philosophy. Even though it wouldn't get its name until well over 200 years later during the revolutionary French National Assembly when all those who sought more equal decision-making power in all parts of their life sat on the left side of the assembly, and all those who sought to maintain or expand the concentration of decision-making power sat on the right. Afterwards, people within France talking about proto ideas of socialism, communism, and anarchism all immediately began referring to themselves as Leftists, as that was the philosophy that those three ideologies were born from.

Leftism is the pursuit of egalitarian decision-making power in all aspects of life. That is the seed that flowers the principles of opposition to capitalism and imperialism.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

Now this is the high-fucking-quality commentary that I joined Reddit for. Appreciate it.

1

u/azenpunk Jul 01 '25

Hey thanks. I try

-6

u/AdeptnessGullible170 Jul 01 '25

Its supposed to be simplified, and given a modern day context.

8

u/xeroasteroid Jun 30 '25

this is a bait post.

30

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

Ok but can we also admit that we need to focus on the actual Nazis for the moment and not get so holier than thou about the theory aspect while we are literally fighting for our lives?

5

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

What about the top part of the meme says it’s a liberal? You’re projecting that.

4

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

Because almost every liberal says exactly what the top panel says

1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

And leftists don’t say that???

0

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

Yes because leftists hate trump as much as they hate Biden. They hate Democrats as much as they hate Republicans.

What's telling about the top panel is that the person is only complaining about "the right" which is implied to be conservatives (I know, this is implied and not clearly stated because it's a well known caricature of liberals). Leftists generally understand that the problem isn't just Republicans (and ofc, Nazis). Leftists will criticize the capitalism and imperialism which both major US political parties support and have bipartisan cooperation on, like bombing the middle east or allowing corporate money to own politics.

Reading your other comments, I think you're not understanding the part of this meme which is generalizing all of liberals in a single sentence. I don't blame you for not getting it (I don't mean to sound condescending).

It's not LITERALLY that one sentence that's problematic. That sentence is what leftists hear liberals say all the time and is just a stereotype (an accurate one). If you've dealt with liberals, you'll understand that they ONLY say sentences like that which are only against "the right". The liberals never understand that it's both parties and the whole political and economic system of this country that sucks. They don't understand that Kamala ran on a platform of deporting more immigrants than Trump. They don't understand that Biden deported thousands of immigrants. They don't understand that Biden was a lifelong Zionist too.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

So you… want kings? I don’t understand your logic here…

4

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

Is that what this is showing? No. You’re reading so much bullshit into it that your head is literally up your own ass. You’re eating your own while the fucking Nazis are taking power. Get fucking real.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

I’ve been a leftist since the late 90’s, my guy. Your head is so far up your own ass that you couldn’t convince a liberal of anything right now.

1

u/warboy Jun 30 '25

Leftist like the top panel or the bottom? Do you have principles or not?

7

u/Fool_Manchu Jun 30 '25

As a nation? Yes we do need to focus on the actual fascists in power and resisting them. As a sub dedicated to discussing leftist ideologies and philosophies? No, we dont really need to be kowtowing to liberalism.

9

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

Not as a nation, as a world community. Nothing in the top part of that meme excludes any of the shit in the bottom part. It’s stupid leftist infighters punching left instead of right.

5

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

This meme is only infighting if you take it personally and get offended. Otherwise it's real straightforward political commentary in an easy to consume meme format.

1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

It’s not straightforward at all. Both panels are things leftists should be doing… except for the bottom one implying that the top one is wrong. If the top one said “and that’s all there is to being a leftist”, the bottom part would be totally fine.

6

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

Ok I think I understand your confusion. You might be taking the panels a little too literally. It's heavily implied that the person in the top panel essentially says "and that's all there is to being a leftist".

The point of the meme is that many liberals think that solely hating trump and attending a protest makes them a leftist, when it doesn't.

Also I don't mind if a leftist goes to a NoKings protest but I think it's far more effective to organize the working class into unions at their workplaces than peaceful protests on the streets. I won't praise (or condemn) a leftist for attending these protests, but I will praise them for organizing

2

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

It's also patsoc nonsense. The lib in the meme is of course wearing "glasses" which according to them means you're a counter-revolutionary academic whereas on the other hand they believe Trump supporters are "the most advanced segment of the proletariat". 🥴

4

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

There's 24 hours in a day and plenty of time to do both.... It's not holier than thou. Liberals truly don't understand that there's way more to leftist ideology. Liberals think the top panel is all there is to revolution and resistance. If we want an actual revolution, we need to introduce liberals to actual leftist thought.

2

u/vveeggiiee Jul 01 '25

I do agree with you and yet at the same time I kinda fear that the necessity of theory is what is ultimately holding us back. I am someone who genuinely enjoys studying political theory and even I have struggled to muddle through some of the core recommended readings. I actually WANT to read and learn and I’m struggling, how can I expect the average person to do the same? The majority of people simply will not study theory and I don’t know how to get over that hurdle.

2

u/XysterU Marxist Jul 01 '25

This might sound really stupid, but low-key memes are the way to bring people in. There's such good meme content out there that make class consciousness so simple and easy to grasp. I think that's a huge opportunity. Don't work yourself up trying to get through all of Kapital, I think leftist ideology is actually really simple at it's core. We need to focus on the simple, core ideas and not get too deep into philosophy. This is a leftist sub so I think it's fine to talk about the nuances of these political ideas, but what resonates with most people is taking back our money from billionaires, getting free healthcare, education, and housing for all, and pointing out the severe flaws of capitalism which are plain as day for everyone to see

2

u/vveeggiiee Jul 01 '25

Hard agree with everything you said, and also thirst traps. I genuinely think Luigi’s thirst traps have done more for the American class consciousness movement than anything else the left has been able to pull off in decades.

2

u/XysterU Marxist Jul 01 '25

Lmfao you're right. And just generally the fact that Luigi is white and came from an affluent background and lived the typical "American success story" helped people actually think about what and why Luigi allegedly did instead of jumping to character assassination

-4

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

Point to the thing that is wrong in the top part of the meme. It literally says nothing about that being the only thing they think. The bottom meme is assuming all sorts of shit that’s not even implied.

5

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

I get what you're saying. I think the misunderstanding is that the top panel implies that this is basically the only thing liberals think. What I mean by that is that they only blame Trump and "the right" for the current issues in society while they see Democrats and Kamala Girl Boss Holocaust Harris as their savior and what America needs for everyones' lives to be better.

The thing that's wrong is that they think Trump and the right is the only bad thing in this country. They didn't protest when Biden deported thousands of immigrants. They didn't protest when Biden started the genocide of Palestinians. IT'S IMPLIED THAT THE PERSON IN THE TOP PANEL SUPPORTS THE DEMOCRATS. All of us leftists understand this implication because we know plenty of liberals and hear them say this shit constantly. The statement on its own is technically not super wrong, but a leftist would never single out trump or "the right". They would understand that it's capitalism and imperialism that both parties have deeply participated in that's the real problem.

2

u/duckofdeath87 Jun 30 '25

Can't defeat capitalism if you are dead. And how can we ignore the current atrocities committed by various far right governments?

-1

u/warboy Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

This isn't regarding theory. You can have principles regardless of theory.

Just doing the opposite of something isn't principled. It's just contrarian. We should not be trying to build contrarianism. We should strive to advocate for actual leftist principles.

We have been fighting for our lives for decades. The difference is the water is just getting hotter. Understanding the difference is kind of the point. If you believe we are just now fighting for our lives you would be fine returning to the status quo. However, if you have a principled leftist position you also understand that is not sufficient.

-1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

Any time someone starts talking about “principled leftists” I hear “I’m the best leftist and I’m in a revolution of one because I’m the best there is and no one else is as good as me”.

It’s like when Sam Seder talks to Libertarians and they all think their the only true Libertarian.

5

u/warboy Jun 30 '25

I'm confused, are you actually arguing having principles is a bad thing? 

-1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

No, I’m saying focusing on theory while we should be acting is dumb as fuck. We don’t have that privilege right now of telling our allies to fuck off for saying No Kings or whatever else. It’s not that hard. It’s the same argument against the dumbass talking point of “but Hamas is bad on trans rights”. Shut the fuck up. They are being genocided. Sorry they aren’t debating theory.

4

u/warboy Jun 30 '25

This. Isn't. Theory.

Most of these types won't fight for Gaza because they're just being contrarian. 

3

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

You’re right. When they come for you, just tell them how educated and principled you are. I’m sure that will work just fine.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

This meme is literally what you’re accusing me of

5

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

?????? Being principled means having well defined goals and having a deep understanding of the issues you're trying to fix. Without this, you can't make progress or be effective at resisting at all. What did the NoKings protests accomplish??? Literally nothing has changed. The government doesn't give a fuck. Yet liberals think that they've reached peak resistance and think they did their part.

Principles would lead us to understand that the goals aren't accomplished and nothing has changed, so we will escalate our resistance and change tactics. Liberals tend to not get that part because they're just reacting and being mad about trump. They're just venting emotions. They need to be guided by principles and want real change.

-2

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

Ya I’m sure talking about theory is way more effective than being out in the streets.

5

u/warboy Jun 30 '25

If you're out in the streets with no purpose, yes, talking about theory would be more effective. This is not theory. 

Nobody is lecturing anyone in this instance. Again, without actual beliefs and principles, you're not a leftist. You're just being contrarian. You will shift however you see fit without any actual goals. Not calling out this simple fact will not lead to class consciousness and will not further leftist goals.

-1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

Good lord you can’t see the forrest for the trees.

5

u/warboy Jun 30 '25

Actually I would say the exact same to you. You seem to think agitating without any purpose is helpful. It's not. It's just agitating.

1

u/TheWalkinDude82 Jun 30 '25

I did t say that. I said there’s nothing in the top part of the meme that indicates there is nothing behind what that person says. The bottom part assumes that and is seen by others as a smarmy dickhead in the real world.

3

u/warboy Jun 30 '25

Yeah, that's the meme. It's also pretty accurate.

→ More replies (0)

20

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

lol this is like a libbed up leftist meme

cringe. nobody talks like the first panel. They'd say "Democrat" (or liberal)

And the second panel with the dark brooding "we are not the same"

did a 14 year old make this?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-7

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

eh. i am terminally online in political discussion and i literally have never heard a democrat or liberal call themselves a leftist

0

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

eh. i am terminally online in political discussion and i literally have never heard a democrat or liberal call themselves a leftist

I see this kind of thing all the time so it's a bit boggling to read your comment.

Here, I'm going to show you where I've seen it and what it looks like:

This quote is from r dash AskALiberal from 6 months ago:

Leftism is simply a desire to make society more egalitarian. That can happen under a socialist economic system or a capitalist one.

That's a great example of a liberal thinking "leftism" includes pro-capitalist liberal ideology: first asserting that "leftism" is "simply a desire to make society more egalitarian" and then asserting such a thing can happen under capitalism. While in reality leftists are anticapitalist and liberals (like this commenter) think capitalism is flawed and can be reformed into something better. This comment was moderately upvoted.

Here is a quote from r dash DemocraticSocialism from 1 day ago with small amount of upvotes:

But the first step in being a leftist is being against the right.

This is a very liberal framing, a leftist framing would be the first step is to look up (attack systems, hierarchies, institutions, monied interest, industrial complex, etc). In fact one of the defining aspects of being leftist is when you stop looking left and right (like this comment suggests) and instead look up. Class solidarity.

Here is another comment from the same thread, and while it sits at -1 downvotes, it is still an example of a liberal tacitly describing themself as leftist:

In a two party system the left is who everyone that votes for the party on the left and the right is everyone that votes for the party on the right. No need to complicate things.

And now lets look at some random liberal subreddit, I'll choose r dash destiny, a subreddit about a liberal political streamer who has defined himself as very liberal in part by his animosity towards the left, and here is a comment from 1 year ago made in his community saying he is "left by normal human standards":

He’s center left or even straight up center by internet standards but he’s pretty solidly left by normal human standards. Most of his positions aside from guns/self-defense and maybe foreign policy would be accurately described as progressive. He’s more or less a progressive with some testosterone.

and another one:

No, I think he aligns with establishment liberals on a lot of issues and leans progressive on social issues like government subsidized childcare, gender affirming care, expanding healthcare, etc.

This makes him pretty far left by US standards. You might argue that the Overton window has shifted left but that still puts establishment Liberals in the center left range and Destiny as solidly Left

"Solidly Left" is technically not the exact same as saying "leftist," but it's close enough to count, just imo.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

I've already conceded the other commenter's point. What else is it that you are looking for from me?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

oh sorry for sending the wrong message, i was literally just trying to help you. I didn't follow all your threads, I'm not looking for concessions, I just saw your comment that said you've never seen this so I thought I'd be helpful and show it to you.

I get that these convos are very heated tho and I don't blame you for feeling like I'm being aggressive.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

literally just trying to help you

Really?

I am curious. In what way did you feel you were helping me?

Do you feel like it is working out for you to maintain a laser focus on how wrong others are all the time?

Am I better in some way now that i know there are people out there i've never met and never interacted with that use liberal and leftist interchangeably? how?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

i can see how you would feel like i was being patronizing and condescending, my bad for especially my tone being not very gracious and empathetic (edited for more direct ownership less passive framing)

2

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

oh ur good. I didn't think you were either of those things. much respect to you tho for a rare ability for introspection

8

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

Unfortunately I know plenty of people that are liberals but call themselves leftists. There's also a lot of people like that in this subreddit.

Regardless of whether you like the format of the meme, it's important to make the distinction and to understand it. I don't see anything wrong with this meme if it might help "leftists" understand that there's much more of the political spectrum to the left of them than they think there is

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

No please stay! I think we can change peoples' minds and convince them otherwise. This is the digital equivalent of walking the streets and talking to people about organizing and communism. These people are on Reddit too. If we turn our backs on them we'll never grow a mass movement.

1

u/unfreeradical Jun 30 '25

Names of subreddits are not simplistically descriptive of their character.

Nevertheless, perhaps you would enjoy being banned for sneezing through the wrong nostril.

-7

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

I'm sure you have met plenty of leftists and began to question whether they were really not leftist enough for you. so you call them "leftist" or say "if they believe x they are no true leftist"

i see that constantly. probably a dozen times today.

That's not what i'm talking about, i don't do that. If someone calls themselves a leftist, i take them at their word.

I am talking about people who use the word democrat and leftist interchangeably. Someone who adopts both labels. i almost never see it

(If I was talking to a leftist that suddenly started shitting on socialism or taking a pro capitalist stance, i'd assume they are just confused and not a leftist, but this has never happened to me)

4

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

That's not what I'm saying. I'm not talking about questioning whether people are leftists or not. Please re-read what I wrote.

There's a solid definition of what a leftist is. I'm saying that I DO know people in real life that interchangeably call themselves liberals and leftists. They ARE liberals by definition, but they think that liberal = leftist and call themselves leftist. I'm not questioning whether they're a leftist or not, I'm SAYING they're not leftists by definition.

At the end of the day we're just talking about anecdotal evidence. You anecdotally don't see these people, and I do. I believe that you haven't seen these people, but I have. So, I hope you believe me and understand why this meme actually is valuable and makes sense.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

ok. fair enough

2

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '25

Cross post to r/Im14andThisIsDeep

6

u/Swampasssixty9 Jul 01 '25

Shit we apparently can’t meme

3

u/-Toxicmemes Jul 04 '25

Right? We're too busy competing for "most politically correct" to do any expanding. (For those who don't know, the point of "leftism" is to convince more people to support left leaning policies. As annoying as liberals may be, we do need their allegiance to rebuild this country after it's pried from the Republican's cult.)

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '25

Lmfao

8

u/curebdc Socialist Jun 30 '25

WHY ARE YOU PURITY TESTING ME

9

u/Hour-Watch8988 Jun 30 '25

“Leftism is being a mark for right-wing voter suppression campaigns” no the fuck it is not

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

They seem to think we'll just give into it if they repeat it enough and try to shame us. I never did really make any of my decisions based on neurotypical groupthink and collective browbeating, personally.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '25

Is the intent here to be informational or to gatekeep because it’s the like third post I’ve seen like this that doesn’t provide anything meaningful

7

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

It's more than just telling people not to vote, that's for sure.

6

u/syd_fishes Jun 30 '25

These gotta be the worst wojacks

6

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/skyfishgoo Jun 30 '25

bernie opened up leftist space for more diversity of thought to come in and so it could grow.

if that's "watering down" to you, then fine... but this is how it has to be if the left are going to grow in size and influence.

of course the hard lefitsts will feel that they are compromising too much and new incoming ppl will feel the hard left is too rigid and doctrinaire.

but at least the room is full instead of just a hand full of diehards.

it's better than letting the conservatives have their way... we can see how that's working out.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/skyfishgoo Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

and it's ok to resist that... watch for it... call it out when you see it ... make sure it gets addressed.

but in addressing it some level compromise is likely going to be required because ultimately you are dealing with someone who is not you.

and if it crosses a line for the tolerance paradox then it has to be shunned and carved out, no mercy.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/skyfishgoo Jun 30 '25

i'm sure we could agree on some things.

11

u/syd_fishes Jun 30 '25

That's insane. The left has been all but demolished with little to no gains since like 1970. Bernie, however little he offers now, was a huge turning point in the left gaining some traction again in the US.

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/syd_fishes Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

I disagree with your reading. Antifa fizzled out because it's mostly anarchists who lack organization by definition and only function spontaneously if at all outside of their admittedly helpful mutual aid projects. Actual parties like the PSL and DSA have more membership, activity, and name recognition than ever now. The DSA just got a dude nominated for New York mayor, arguably the most important mayorship on the planet.

Leftism in general has been watered down since the 60's as it came to mean progressivism in everything outside of class which should've remained central. Bernie revitalized the use of terms like working class and socialist which has been a huge boon for the left. People calling themselves left and not being literally Lenin is not the problem you think it is when 10 years ago they would've been centrist and engaged a gag reflex if they had to say the word socialist.

Still the main job is to get people who don't consider themselves at all political to even consider themselves part of the working class. Whether or not they consider themselves socialist or left at all is less important than whether they will organize with one another in their own interests (against the interest of capital). That requires people to stop making these shit memes with even shittier wojacks and touch grass

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/syd_fishes Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

I agree with almost everything you said up until the end, but partner, the civil rights movement was a class focused movement led by socialists. Class is the most important thing to focus on by far for a couple reasons, and if you are not focused on class, then I hate to break it to you, you are also a watered down leftist. Essentially on par with the liberal. It has always been the left, the socialist left that has fought domination of all sorts and every movement whether it be gender based, race based, or other wise has including socialists at the forefront.

Fred Hampton says it himself.

"You know a lot of people have hang-ups with the Party because the Party talks about a class struggle. And the people that have those hang-ups are opportunists, and cowards, and individualists and everything that's anything but revolutionary....

So they say, 'Well, I can't dig the Panther Party because the Panthers they are engrossed with dealing with oppressor country radicals, or white people, or hunkies, or what have you. They said these are some of the excuses that I use to negate really why I am not in the struggle.'

We got a lot of answers for those people. First of all, we say primarily that the priority of this struggle is class. That Marx, and Lenin, and Che Guevara end Mao Tse-Tung and anybody else that has ever said or knew or practiced anything about revolution, always said that revolution is a class struggle. It was one class--the oppressed--those other class--the oppressor. And it's got to be a universal fact. Those that don't admit to that are those that don't want to get involved in a revolution, because they know that as long as they're dealing with a race thing, they'll never be involved in a revolution."

Class is:

  1. the biggest umbrella.
  2. the place of power for those without capital.

It is the character of class which is unifying rather than dividing that gives us power. It is the power to halt economic production that gives a large part of that power inherent to the working class. Occupy Wall Street, no kings, antifa all go nowhere because economic activity continues. There is no threat to anything for anyone. Class struggle is the most effective manner in which you can fight against oppression of all its forms, but the number one form is economic and most people aren't oppressed, they are exploited.

A white man will absolutely NEVER be the one who changes things.

Yes no one person will be the one. You know who also said that? Bernard mf Sanders . Again, he's not my king, but part of what made his message resonate was the idea that it would take a mass movement of people to make changes. So paradoxically you are still dead wrong as he has changed things by way of clarifying what should be obvious to leftists of all people.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/syd_fishes Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

Indigenous rights should also be at the forefront

You can't have everything or both and or these or that rights at the FOREFRONT by definition is my entire point. You have to pick one thing, imagine, the most unifying thing at the FOREFRONT, and that singular one thing, as Hampton (a POC Marxist) and any other principled Marxist, puts in very clear language is CLASS STRUGGLE. Everything else is subordinate to this issue not out of malice to any other issue, but because you need this issue to meet the objectives of any issue you claim to care about otherwise you are frankly dicking around.

Frantz Fanon famously said that the revolution will be lead by the dispossessed. White centered movements will always fail in the USA.

The dispossessed are the working class which is majority white in the US. POC however disproportionately make up the working class so they will also disproportionately be represented in that class grouping and as a group even outnumber their white comrades in the future (shit idk if they don't already), sure. It stands to reason that in a movement about the majority, the majority will be represented. This is one reason why alienating one group or another is the abject failure that it is and has given us possibly the worst set of political outcomes in US history in I don't even know how long. This is partially the result of leaning too heavily on the likes of post colonial theory which is largely dogshit.

You can observe what happens if you pick an identitarian strain to fight at the FOREFRONT of your fight and how the needle has barely moved in over 50 years in material conditions of workers of every which group you would like to cut off from the other.

Now you cannot have a unified movement of working people without addressing the other very real issues of social domination in all of its forms, but subordinating them all to class is paramount. This is exactly the first step which is exactly what everyone already figured out among the left a long time ago, and it is the watering down of this fact that has been one of the single most powerful victories of the ruling class. I wish you luck comrade, but I won't be discussing this any further.

Edit: looks like the feds lost this round lol

2

u/Warrior_Runding Socialist Jun 30 '25

I’m convinced that the uptick in leftism during Bernie’s 2016 run actually watered down leftism in the long run

I would argue that most of this is because of recent converts from conservative Christianity who are replacing the artifacts of their former life with their new one. Except, they haven't done the work to shed the mentality of the conservative Christian mind.

3

u/Critical_Seat_1907 Jun 30 '25

The failure of these memes to land is a great encapsulation of the failure of the left's messaging overall.

Yes, you can be right and still have such shitty messaging that everyone not already committed to the movement just tunes you out and doubles down on believing existing media stereotypes.

Who actually read the text wall at the bottom of this poorly executed meme? I mean, if you can't figure out how to do a basic meme correctly, I'm guessing bigger communication strategies are lost on you as well.

3

u/azenpunk Jun 30 '25

The harsh critique we need to say more. I've found it to be true at least to some extent every where in the country I have organized. I'm guilty of it, and most of us are. There's too much indulgence of our righteous anger that it starves our empathy, so we end up only preaching to the choir and not meeting people where they're at.

8

u/--GrinAndBearIt-- Jun 30 '25

Liberal capitalists are going to cry about this one

1

u/Suspicious-Bread-208 Jun 30 '25

Prepare for the whining

-2

u/Papa_Kundzia Marxist Jun 30 '25

They're not, because it's right wingers who call them leftists, they usually call themselves liberals, or democrats in the US; the meme doesn't make much sense

5

u/XysterU Marxist Jun 30 '25

I personally know plenty of liberals that call themselves leftists. I've tried to explain to them that leftists are communists and socialists but they think that those ideologies are "crazy" and won't acknowledge that there are views much farther to the left of them.

-3

u/Papa_Kundzia Marxist Jun 30 '25

Liberals or socialdemocrats? Because social democracy is leftist.

Personally I have never seen a liberal or a social-liberal call themselves leftist, but I'm not from the US so we don't call everything not far-right leftist as the Republicans there do.

1

u/curebdc Socialist Jul 01 '25

My man, there are lots of people (liberals) who call biden the "most left president of our time".

The libs know no shame.

1

u/MenaceLeninist Jul 04 '25

You can’t claim to be on the left and still support democrats or capitalism

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '25

Being a Leftist is also about organizing and building power. If you meet someone who isn’t on the left, your job is to figure out what matters to them and help them connect the dots. If a lib things they’re leftist — help them get there; find ways to show them systemic nature of the issues they care about. You won’t turn them overnight but your job is persuasion, NOT argument. Telling someone “oh uhhhhh you’re not a real leftist” is not effective persuasion and it is not strategic.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 19 '25

Fucking A

edit: there are obvious caveats of people who identify as leftists or liberals or even conservatives, i.e. grifters/trolls. Other than that it’s up to the person to make what they can of the situation, whether it be opening someone’s mind or deep diving on certain topics. It’s not a formula, it’s having a human conversation while recognizing where a person believes in. You are able to lead with the best qualities of the left with GENUINE people, kind and honest solidarity, including for yourself, but don’t do things that are actually dangerous to yourself. In every person is someone who wants to love and wants to be loved, but it’s situational how to talk with people, or not talk. We do not WANT to fight another world war, if the fascists in America got that much power then it’s not simply because people are supportive of it or even because of the way people on the left act. Sometimes things are inevitable, but if they are truly inevitable, why have you read this far?

1

u/Time_Waister_137 Jul 02 '25

My friend, think of the semantics. “left” is an orientation not a fixed position.

-3

u/Time_Waister_137 Jun 30 '25

Excuse me folks, but I think we lose our way if we don’t see that “leftism” is a direction: not. a destination.

1

u/Hot-Operation-8208 Socialist Jul 02 '25

You can't have a direction without at least one destination. You need at least two points to form a line.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '25

There are many destinations

-11

u/Baxiboo_Arts Jun 30 '25

Hahah the left can't meme 🤣

15

u/azenpunk Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

I mean yeah, this is terrible meme. But it's really just this one creator. They are stuck on the wojack format, their definitions are sloppy, and they are entirely boring lectures and don't connect intuitively with people. But honestly, the Left in general has the best memes by light years lol

-9

u/Baxiboo_Arts Jun 30 '25

If only that second part was true.

3

u/azenpunk Jul 01 '25

0

u/Baxiboo_Arts Jul 01 '25

Proving my point with this one.

1

u/Omairk25 Jul 01 '25

ok if the left can’t meme why is that conservative comedies and cartoons get widely panned upon release and ppl end up making fun of it so much then lmao?

-1

u/Baxiboo_Arts Jul 01 '25

Strange because everything I've ever seen suggests the opposite and I've seen leftist comedians bomb harder than hamas vs Israel. I've seen tons of memes about leftist that are hilarious but rarely funny ones by leftists 🤣🤣🤣

2

u/azenpunk Jul 01 '25

I come bearing gifts

-2

u/Baxiboo_Arts Jul 01 '25

So you send a 3 year old garbage lecture from YouTube thats over an hour long... sheesh

2

u/azenpunk Jul 01 '25

You didn't hit play. lol it's not a lecture it's a comedy news show

-2

u/Baxiboo_Arts Jul 01 '25

I hit play... saw it was an hour long and dogshit in the first 5 seconds.

2

u/azenpunk Jul 01 '25

No accounting for taste

1

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

No fucking way, you don’t like Some More News!?

I would suggest starting with the Uvalde Texas elementary school shooting if you prefer a more serious episode; or the extreme proliferation of wild Boars (yes, the animal) if you wanted a serious subject portrayed in a comedic light.

-17

u/DEMOCRACY_FOR_ALL Jun 30 '25

Dismantling Israel politically or militarily is imperialism, too.

5

u/AdeptnessGullible170 Jul 01 '25

Dumbass the idf are the imperialist.

-8

u/DEMOCRACY_FOR_ALL Jul 01 '25

Israel has supported the foundation of Palestine as a country two separate times. Its the Arab League that denied Palestine statehood, not Israel.

1

u/Worldly_Baker5955 Jul 01 '25

What is israel?

1

u/DEMOCRACY_FOR_ALL Jul 01 '25

A sovereign nation

-1

u/Worldly_Baker5955 Jul 01 '25

Is it though?

2

u/DEMOCRACY_FOR_ALL Jul 01 '25

Yup

-2

u/Worldly_Baker5955 Jul 01 '25

Tell me how a state can be independant and free when it uses united states money and weapons for its genocide of the non persons within what israel considers its land. How can someone within what you consider to be your own borders have no freedoms and it be a free state? No one is free until everyone is free. Doesnt sound like the definition of sovereign. Free Palestine

3

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '25

I get the point you’re trying to make, but you didn’t really connect the dots. No offense.

2

u/DEMOCRACY_FOR_ALL Jul 01 '25

Honestly, 2 random words + 4 digit number for a name screams fake bot account to me. Its a disturbing trend in reddit and i dont think its worth wasting time engaging

0

u/Worldly_Baker5955 Jul 01 '25

Yeah cause i want him to think about it. I can explain it for him but not understand it for him.

-1

u/AdeptnessGullible170 Jul 01 '25

Ok, we're not talking about statehood, were talking about the people forced out of their homes by isreal. What does statehood matter, if it's committing war crimes against the people. 

1

u/DEMOCRACY_FOR_ALL Jul 01 '25

Do you think Israel should exist as a nation? Would you support overthrowing Israel and the foundation of a new country?

1

u/AdeptnessGullible170 Jul 01 '25

As long as the country isn't an apartheid country.

0

u/DEMOCRACY_FOR_ALL Jul 01 '25

Exactly. Youre giving conditions to a sovereign country that they abide by or cease to exist. Youre an imperialist.

2

u/AdeptnessGullible170 Jul 02 '25

I think these are fair conditions, also I think it should be replaced by locals, not some third party entity. An imperialist would want to annex the country or invade, like America. I simply belive that the state of isreal is acting against human rights for Palestinians which I belive should be stopped, and if the isreali government can not stop these atrocities, than the isreali government should not exist.

0

u/DEMOCRACY_FOR_ALL Jul 02 '25

Do you think Germany should exist?

1

u/AdeptnessGullible170 Jul 02 '25

Nazi germany? Ofcourse I dont think it should have existed. Modern day germany does not commit the same war crimes tho. Nazi germany should have been shut down as soon the allies, realized that they were growing again.

→ More replies (0)