General discussion thread

I am unaware of any other. I hope this thread doesn't die and we all can have meaningful discussions.

Example discussion points:
1. What are you currently reading? How is it so far? Your opinions on what the author says? Any recommendations?
2. What brought you to the left? What was the journey and experience?
3. Any recent praxis? Radicalized your friend? Organized?
4. With capitalist collapse imminent, what are your plans for the future?
5. Mental health issues? How do you cope, especially when aware of the root cause of many of your problems – fucking capitalism?
6. How open are you about being a communist? How do your friends and family react?
7. What do you think comrades on Zig Forums should do and know more?
8. Relevant memes, infographics, texts, fiction, non-fiction, movies, music, videos, etc.
9. Where do you lean on the left? (orthodox Marxism, ML(M), anarcho-[communism, syndicalism, primitivism], mutualism, etc.)

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Other urls found in this thread:

gowans.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/do-publicly-owned-planned-economies-work.
signalfire.org/2015/06/16/marxism-leninism-maoism-and-marxism-leninism-mao-tse-tung-thought-are-not-the-same).
annefrank.org/en/anne-frank
korean-books.com.kp/KBMbooks/en/book/politics/4049.pdf
korean-books.com.kp/KBMbooks/en/book/politics/4042.pdf
departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1936toc.html
kfausa.org/dprk-constitution/
youtube.com/watch?v=9gtuACQ9RMs&list=PL02C144DFDC563902
youtube.com/watch?v=otMtz4w94Qs
ub.edu/graap/nazi.pdf
marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/feb/x01.htm
marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/apr/21.htm
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

Tbh leftytrash was supposed to be this but it degenerated into a circlejerk of homosexuals posting furry porn and asking each other for dick pics (ironically?).

1. Nothing
2. I watched a contrapoints video, became fed up with breadtube, went to the chapo subreddit, became fed up with mainstream left communities, came here, am here now
3. I almost convinced my mother the intervention in Venezuela was pretty shitty, almost, she half cares half not so she doesn't really argue in a comprehensive way.
4. To kill myself or meet a cute girl
5. I don't think i have anything, perhaps attention deficit.
6. If the conversation comes i admit it, it's most interesting than pretending to be a generic radliberal or not talk about it
7. Be like Ismail from /marx/ that nigga is lit
8. Pic related she's cute
9. I have read barely any theory so idk, communist-communist-communist describes me very well.

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1. Currently reading Engels' 'Socialism: Utopian and Scientific' and Marx' '18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte'. The former requires a re-reading tbh, but the latter can clear a lot of misconceptions about historical materialism. Many comrades fall into the trap of thinking that ONLY material conditions shape ideas and not the other way round, but Chapter 1 clears that away (plus you learn something about how to make analysis like Marx). Also recommend: gowans.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/do-publicly-owned-planned-economies-work.

2.
First wave of existential crisis, made me hate the education system and authority in general. Became a 'rational', 'new atheist', 'skeptic', arrogant, and lost. Used to watched a mix of progressive and conservative liberals (like PJW) online thinking they made a lot of sense. Even supported the Identitarian movement at one point. Was slowly being pulled into fascism.

Hit depression and a second wave of existential crisis. Came across r/lsc on frontpage. Related a lot. Read Einstein's 'Why Socialism?'. Frequented r/socialism. Found and enjoyed r/FC. Finally stumbled upon r/communism and r/communism101. Now a Marxist (MLM).

3. Wouldn't count it as praxis, but I have at least made few of my friends sympathetic to current communist movements in the world, say CPI (Maoist). Have introduced anti-capitalist notions to friends and some family members. I have a reading 'group' with one of my friends who was radicalized by me.

4. I am just going with the flow rn tbh, no plans.

5. Depression. Can't cope.

6. Most of my family is unaware of my political leanings, and those who are close are think I am joking or that this is a phase when I reveal my opinions.

7. Read. Discuss. What else can be done rn?

8. Saw a 4chan sceencap somewhere online. It had a doggo in a cardboard box flying through space, and the greentext was someone describing a communist future, with no ads, people not doing crap on phones (like FB) but reading scientific articles, etc., no advertisements of brands but science tech news and job postings, no security at metro, or imposing security structures (like fences), and then in the metro OP finds Marx who says "I told you it was inevitable comrade". Does someone remember that and can share it if you have it?

9. Maoist (not to be confused with 'Mao Tse-tung thought', read: signalfire.org/2015/06/16/marxism-leninism-maoism-and-marxism-leninism-mao-tse-tung-thought-are-not-the-same).

I GOTCHU COMRADE

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Thank you very much, love you comrade! Spent a lot of time on boards and search engine searching for exactly this!

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It literally says shitposting in the OP

Anne Frank for anyone interested:
annefrank.org/en/anne-frank

I am reading several things, but I was skimming over “The Juche Idea: Answers to 100 Questions” a few minutes ago. It’s a short work, but interesting, especially the Juche view on leadership with the leader playing a decisive role in the revolution and carving out the destiny of the popular masses. Though I think a lot of Juche is just rhetoric like “man is the master of everything”, I think I agree to some extent with the Juche view of the leader.
I was kind of liberal until late high school, mainly around atheism. I used to like communism in video games, but mostly for aesthetics. I tried to read the Manifesto when I was around 12 or so and couldn’t really comprehend it. I got sucked into Zig Forums-type pseudo-politics for around a year and eventually started seriously looking into the left and taking politics more seriously
No real praxis, mainly reading. I’ve been discussing things with friends more lately. The good of discussions is to learn your own weaknesses. I now know what I need to study and what misconceptions people hold about Marxism more now, and I feel I argue better and have learned more after every face-to-face discussion. My advice: talk to more people IRL about politics.
Just to finish school for now, I don’t plain very far ahead.
Not really, I’m a bit narcissistic at times and can even sink into grandiose territory but I think I’m pretty neurotypical.
I typically just use certain talking points and shit on reactionaries. I have a lot of leftist literature on my shelf so it’s probably clear to my family. With friends it depends.
Read more books and do more shit involving real people
ML, admiration for Juche, Sankara, Hoxha and Huey Newton

Sounds fun, even if it's probably just data mining
1. Spinoza's Ethics. I'm 2/5 parts into it although I've hit a wall and am trying to build but motivation to continue.
2. Unironically youtube and my interest in philosophy. I used to be the average 4chan reactionary but after actually reading into German idealism and eventually marxism I shifted towards the left
3. I occasionally challenge my socdem friend on current issues and explain how liberals care a lot more about the rich then being complete egalitarians
4. Ride it out and hope I survive the revolution
5. Nothing besides terrible anxiety and family issues. I just stay with loved ones to keep my mind off of it
6. Only when drunk, or with certain friends. They mostly find it amusing or are just in awe cause most of them never met anyone left of American liberals
7. Overall, people should focus on reading as much theory and literature they can but from what I've seen it's generally a lot better on here than it is on leftytwitter which is a complete mess
9. Orthodox marxist right now but I've only been on this journey for a year so I'm likely going to change my views

Cannot really stress on reading and self-criticism enough.


Was looking for a text like this, thanks!


Before diving into German idealism (only Hegel), I made a list of prerequisites, can you check?

Plato
Dialogues
Aristotle
Metaphysics
Nicomachean Ethics
Politics
Posterior Analytics
Prior Analytics
René Descartes
Meditations
George Berkeley
Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous
Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan
John Locke
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Monadology
Baruch Spinoza
Tractatus Theologico-Politicus
David Hume
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Immanuel Kant
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics
Critique of Pure Reason
Metaphysics of Morals
—

yeh she was cute

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Glad to be of help. Here is a link if you can’t find it easily:
korean-books.com.kp/KBMbooks/en/book/politics/4049.pdf

Whoops, wrong link but that’s still a good one
korean-books.com.kp/KBMbooks/en/book/politics/4042.pdf

Thank you again :) I am also reading up on the USSR and Korean (the real one, not the occupied) constitution. Links for anyone interested:

departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1936toc.html
kfausa.org/dprk-constitution/


Downloaded both. I have free time in my hands for next few weeks, would be fun!

Looks good although I'd also recommend checking out Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations (this will also help with Capital)

Had this list for post-Hegel and pre-Marx:

Ludwig Feuerbach
Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy
The Essence of Christianity
Principles of Philosophy of the Future
Lectures on the Essence of Religion
Max Stirner
The Ego and Its Own
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
The Philosophy of Poverty
Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations
David Ricardo
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation

Will add 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' if you say so. Texts like Stirner and Proudhon's, even if reading Marx's German Ideology and Poverty of Philosophy on them is enough, I am still reading it for my interest. Thank you!

bump

posts of interest so far

1. I just finished "Stasi state or Socialist Paradise". I think it was pretty great. It's a really balanced take. Despite all the downsides I still think it showed that the DDR was way more comfy, human society than this shit. Deals with the stasi and lack of top level democracy without flinching.

2. Bush admin. Disgust with poverty. Wanting to live communally. I was essentially a left-wing anti-commmunist for the longest time. Called myself anarcho-communist, council-communist, leftcom. Never a trotskyist, doe. Now I've found a way that doesn't rely on rejecting the actual historical experiences of the movement. Mostly due to Ludo Martens, Parenti, etc.

3. Went to a "Hands of Venezuela" protest outside the US embassy this saturday.

4. I just want to finish Uni, man. I'd like to learn how to shoot, but that can be complicated and expensive where I'm from. Find myself a commie girlfriend.

5. I don't think I have anything diagnosable beyond standard alienation, loneliness (tfw when no gf) and a dash of existential dread.

6. Way too open. I don't talk about it at work though. My family is a bunch of massive fucking liberals so they think I'm "rude" or something for pointing out that America doesn't give a shit about democracy in Venezuela.

7. Everyone should read more than they are currently reading. Get fit, lift weights, take up boxing, learn to shoot, read military manuals (That's why I started the Military Manual thread), read theory, read history. Everyone, even anarchist, should be able to dispell propaganda about RES.

8. There's a great swedish 70's band, which was essentially the band of one of the alphabet soup communist parties around at the time. Knutna Nävar (Clenched Fists). It's fuggen great.

youtube.com/watch?v=9gtuACQ9RMs&list=PL02C144DFDC563902

9. I'd call myself pretty anti-sectarian, as in I'll defend most of 20th century socialism. I also find the entire notion of organisational splits over shit that happened in the thirties to be fucking retarded. I am against left-wing anti-communism, so I'll defend ML-states, though I'm not really ML (yet?).

I like planned economies, consistent anti-imperialism, worker's democracy, and daddy Cockshott.

If by RES you mean 'Real Existing Socialism' as in today's socialist states, then I don't even think most of the anarchists would remain anarchists at all. Think about it, anarchists base their critique of Marxism on 'authoritarianism', 'unjust hierarchies', and how people were/are 'handled' under USSR, PRC, NK, etc. Once these myths are debunked, and with no successful long-term anarchist revolutions in the past, there is nothing left but to learn more about Marxism.

That is amazing, I hope the hard work of you and your comrades pay off!

Ask away any doubts you have here on Zig Forums and /marx/.

The book is interesting, thanks for the read. Along with that, I suggest this video from BadMouseProductions on whether GDR was really 'poor' [21:44]
youtube.com/watch?v=otMtz4w94Qs

or bf
Damn, isn't that what we all wish?

1. Mein Kampf, boring don't really care for pre WWI German political history
2. Libertarianism is a dead end and i'm here to learn about socialism so I understand Not Socialism better.
3. Good friend finally left libertarianism
4. Go live in a rural county with my gf and have kids on a farm. Max comfy
5. None, go to the gym it will help.
6. Only a few friends and my brother know i'm a Not Socialist
7. Jews and the Red-Brown alliance can be realized to fight capitalists.

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That's what I meant. Though I think there's a strong case to be made that I was never really an anarchist. Most of it was probably just a question of me not having the knowledge necessary to cut through the Cold War propaganda. Anarchism also lead my down a couple of ethical dilemmas I couldn't resolve (prison for pedophiles and shit like that).


I talked to a cute girl at the Marxist Student's bookstand. They're trots, but they have the correct line on Venezuela, so whatever.There's apparently going to be a meeting on thursday about Venezuela so I'm going to go to that. I've been a member of the syndicalist union for a while, but it's a bit too depoliticized I think. Manifestations against the Venezuela Gambit are going on for like the next three saturdays, so I'm going to show up to all of them.


Don't get me wrong. I still have a lot of critique of 20th century ML. I just simply refuse to wash my hands of it. MLs are comrades, but there is still plenty of crap I don't like about it, but it comes down to specific policies in specific times. But I need further education on these areas. For instance, I don't like how Stalin turned the comintern into an organ for Soviet foreign policy, and I don't like how he abandoned greece. But without investigation I don't really have the right to a strong position either, these are just the sort of qualms I have.

it's so hard to find commie love. I hope you find your hunky commie bf, comrade.

The Nazis where never socialist. Read

ub.edu/graap/nazi.pdf

Good luck for that.

Didn't. There are of course stuff about previous ML states and revolutionaries that has to be criticized and learned from so that next time similar mistakes are not repeated.


a gf, i added that 'or bf' for those of our comrades who want that ;p

Apologies for thread-derail, but imagine having deep and insightful conversations about Marxism and life in general with your partner every night after work/college, very de-alienating to say the least


So bold of you to except a nazi to learn.

*expect

Good, hopefully you'll become a communist.

I guess Lenin wasn't a socialist either according to you since he implemented the NEP which allowed some privatization.

Nazbol at most due to Race being important.

The NEP didn't involve privatisation, it permitted the continued existence of small scale private enterprise, it did not sell existing public enterprise to capitalists which is what privatisation is you imbecile.

Continuing, Lenin never claimed the NEP was socialist, quite the opposite. I recommend his works 'On ascending a high mountain' and 'The tax in kind' for an overview.
marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/feb/x01.htm
marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/apr/21.htm

"Boy, oh boy, this Hitler guy sure sounds like the kind of socialist we can get behind."

t. Porky

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That's it? That's how deep your analysis can go?
All that happened under the NEP was under the complete control of the state (which was the dictatorship of the proletariat). It was the need of the material conditions of the time, like being a war-torn country, that required the implementation of that policy to develop the means of production. And nobody's gonna waste their time further to argue how far advanced the USSR and its people became. They literally beat the nazis and even with the US having a headstart of like at least 150 years of being industrialized, with slavery and a native genocide and benefiting from war, look where the USSR reached in such a short amount of time with no such benefits.


Fuck off.

In addition to what the other user said, the NEP was a temporary measure and Lenin was consistant in his drive for socialism.

As for
Pic related is all you really need to understand. Welcome aboard.

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Bringing the thread back on track, posts of interest so far:

Wow, this is actually really nice. I'm gonna use this myself. You got anything for post-marx?

Yes, I do:

marxists.org/subject
prisoncensorship.info/archive
marx2mao.com
marxistphilosophy.org

reddit.com/r/communism/wiki/debunk
Engels against economic determinism: marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1890/letters/90_09_21.htm

critiqueofcrisistheory.wordpress.com
kapitalism101.wordpress.com
thenextrecession.wordpress.com

marxismocritico.com/2014/06/02/lenins-encounter-with-hegel
archive.li/fqNjg [Reading Althusser through Mao]
moufawad-paul.blogspot.com/2018/09/on-importance-of-engels.html
marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1969/lenin-before-hegel.htm

marxistschool.org/classdocs/LeacockIntro.pdf [Eleanor Burke Leacock's introduction to Engel's 'Origin']
Alan Woods, Ted Grant
Reason in Revolt

bannedthought.net/MLM-Theory
gplpcp.wordpress.com
bannedthought.net/International/RIM/AWTW/1995-20/ll_mlm_20_eng.htm
pcr-rcp.ca/en/archives/1123
pcr-rcp.ca/en/archives/1499
nuovopci.it/eile/en/gramsci_prpw.html
massline.org
massline.info
marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_09.htm
nuovopci.it/eile/en/f-issues.html
nuovopci.it/eile/en/disting.html
signalfire.org/2011/11/07/military-line-communist-party-of-peru/
marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-3/mswv3_27.htm
historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/secretwork.html
massline.info/Philippines/masswork.htm

reddit.com/r/communism/comments/6ztowm/resources_on_imperialist_indian_occupation_of

History of all socialist states, their revolutions and major revolutionaries, how their central economic planning worked, their strategy and tactics, how the proletariat ruled, etc.

A discussion on structual functionalism: reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/19pf7j/_/c8qb087