this post was submitted on 11 Jan 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.

Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low quality!

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.


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.

(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.



  1. Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:

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[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Soviet Union not looking so hot at the moment either.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 20 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Considering the USA killed it in the 80s, I guess not.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 7 points 3 weeks ago

The Cold War superpowers killed each other. Some of them just haven’t realised it yet.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 7 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I don't doubt the US was cheering and helping things along, but really the Soviet Union (specifically Communist Party hardliners) killed the Soviet Union, just like America is now killing America. Empires that big only die by war or suicide.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 9 points 3 weeks ago

You may want to read information with how Reagan leaned on Gorbachev and about glasnost and perestroika. Preferably not from fedopedia. I'm sure u/@Cowbee@lemmy.ml has some material to point you toward.

[–] Cowbee_Admirer@reddthat.com 8 points 3 weeks ago

The soviet Union was the opposite of an empire, though. It helped the liberation struggles everywhere in Latin America, Africa and Asia. They literally saved Europe from Fascism.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The soviet union wasn't an empire. It was large, sure, but didn't practice imperialism, it wasn't exporting capital as a means of profiting off of global south labor or anything. It was anti-imperialist.

Either way, the decline of the USSR was multi-faceted. From corn-cob man declaring that class struggle was over and demonizing their past experience, to liberal reforms under Gorbachev undermining the socialist system, to having to dedicate huge portions of their productive capacity simply to not get invaded and destroyed by the US Empire, none of this was due to "communist party hardliners." Instead, as the world's first real socialist state, it ran into problems and struggles that nobody else had before, they were charting new ground with every step.

Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union goes over some of this.

[–] olenkoVD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Where is the Soviet Union mentioned exactly?

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago

They're equating the hammer and sickle with the USSR.