this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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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.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
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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:
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That is literally what Marx believed. He did not believe in biology as a driver of greed in any way.
As you point out, people act against their perceived best interests. This is driven by the non-class differences that you so easily dismiss.
Objectively false. The government was run solely by the Communist Party and they could not be voted out. No competing parties were allowed. Nobody who did not belong to the Communist party could run. The system was inherently antidemocratic.
Two words: Zohran Mamdani. The capitalist class does not want a brown Muslim democratic socialist running the largest city in the country. The people chose him.
Please, show me where Marx said what you think he did. Explain the dialectical materialist theory of knowledge and how it has been disproven.
As for the men and women, they are not acting against their perceived interests, you did not explain this one bit. They both believe themselves to be acting in their own interests.
As for the USSR, you are factually wrong. The soviets had recall elections, and party members were subjected to criticism by the public. People outside of the communist party could and did run. Competing parties were not allowed, but that's the only thing correct you said. I linked you mountains of evidence.
As for Mamdani, you'll find that he cannot implement socialism even if he wanted to. It's theatrics, they will never allow actual change, at best a bone tossed to the public. Even then, you can see that capitalists are kicking it into gear to prevent his reforms from taking place. Mamdani proves me correct.
The dialectical materialist theory of knowledge is not a scientific hypothesis that can be "disproven" in a laboratory, but rather a philosophical framework. Critics widely reject it because it is unfalsifiable, imposes abstract rules onto empirical science, and relies on vague definitions.
You are missing the point. Their class interest is not their only interest. Various interests can take precedence over class interest.
Were they allowed to win? How often did they "accidentally" fall out of windows? Were the votes for them actually counted? No, the USSR was not a democracy. There was no free speech. The government heavily policed and punished dissent. Without free speech there can be no democracy.
You should know that democratic socialism is different and he is already implementing it. He is creating real tangible change. Sure, he can't transform the whole system alone, but for one person in a position of power he is doing a lot. Your idea that a cabal of capitalists control the government is nothing less than a conspiracy theory.