How did you become a ____?

[Skooma Addict]

Basically, I just want to know how you eventually came to adopt the ideology you hold now (communism, anarchism, Mutualism, DarkSpawn*, ect). Since I created the topic, it is only fitting that I start first. So...

You can skip to the bolded part if you don't want to read what I have to say.

I will begin in my junior high years since going back any further seems pointless. So before high school, I was your typical Neo-Conservative. I never really thought much about it, and I always assumed that there were only Democrats v. Conservatives. But who cares what I thought in 7th/8th grade really.

In 9th grade, I read a few books which caused me to become a constitutionalist. I was still pretty pro-war though. In 10th grade I began to read philosophy and economics. I read Hazlitts Econ in one Lesson, and I was pretty much obsessed with Aristotle. I discovered the Cato Institute, and I then referred to myself as a libertarian, even though I was barely a Minarchist at the time. In 11th grade, I began to do a lot more reading. School was piss boring and I didn't learn anything so I decided I would just read my own stuff during school. I read some stuff by Ron Paul and a few other Economists including Friedman, Mises, and Rothbard. I became a radical Minarchist and I thought that the States only function should be to protect its citizens. I also became very much opposed to war. By the end of 11th grade, after reading Hoppe, Block, Long, ect, I became your typical NAP believing AnCap.

12th grade I studied a lot more philosophy at I read some Economics here and there. But I came to reject the NAP and objective morals in general once I recognized such a position didn't hold water. I read some good criticisms of AnCap, and I disagreed with most AnCaps on practically everything, but I still called myself an AnCap because I couldn't think of anything better.

Now in College I am am pretty much a skeptic at the moment. I often times argue in favor of Anarchism, but in reality I have some serious doubts. I am also not completely sure where I stand when it comes to ethics and morals. What I do know is that I am anti-Communist and anti-DarkSpawn.

So how did you eventually come to hold the beliefs you do today? You don't have to type out a lengthy response like I did.

*The DarkSpawn are Maxist-Leninists/Stalinists.

[Havet]

About 11th grade I became interested in politics after being recommended Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. You can say I became an Objectivist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_%28Ayn_Rand%29), then a Minarchist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minarchist) (previously an unaware centrist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrist)) after reading it. Then I started reading more and engaging more in forums like FreeTalkLive (http://www.freetalklive.com/), from which i dropped the "necessary evil" argument and proceeded towards mainstream right-libertarianism (sometimes radical minarchism, sometimes "anarcho"-capitalism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalism)). However, after a very interesting talk about property rights I became confused and obsessed about the question of whether property rights were natural rights or not.

This was my condition until I arrived towards revleft's communist forums to try and understand communism and (what I thought were) their flaws. From there (and imagine nolan's chart (http://www.nolanchart.com/images/advocates.png)), i started being drifted towards the left after realizing many of the mainstream anarcho-capitalists i talked to were conservatives, racists in disguise and corporate apologetics with piss-poor arguments. I'm pretty much now an Anarchist Without Adjectives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism_without_adjectives), with special preference towards market anarchism/mutualism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_anarchism) and with Agorism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agorism) as the idealized method of preparing for a revolution.

Sadly most schools (public and private) aren't as intellectually challenging places to discuss politics as one would wish...

[Dejavu]

Did you really have to link all those terms?

Apathetic > HS socialist > Apathetic again> Hardcore environmentalist & vegan > Hayek > Ancap > Nothingist-Freedomist :P ( still an environmentalist & vegan :P)

[Havet]

Did you really have to link all those terms?


Yes, semantics takes up to 70% of all forum political conversations ^^ (and yes, I just took that number out of my ass)

BTW, why are you vegan?

[Dejavu]

Yes, semantics takes up to 70% of all forum political conversations ^^ (and yes, I just took that number out of my ass)

BTW, why are you vegan?

If you cant find agreed upon terms then further debate is really unnecessary even if the frustration compels you to bring someone to clarity.

I'm a vegan because eating animal based products is EVIL! ( No , just kidding.) Its a lifestyle choice and I find I get more than all the nutrients I need plus a generally healthier diet. Its more like I've just gotten used to it over time. And actually , you save quite a bit of money shopping for food. :)

[Bright Banana Beard]

Apathy > Conservative > Libertarian in sense of Libertarian Party > HS Socialist > Platformist > Hoxhaist

[Robert]

1. Apolitical (girls, baseball, and guitars seemed so much more interesting)

2. Felt guilty about American foreign policy and hooked up with Young Socialist Alliance (American Trots) for a spell. Read the preachy bullshit literature and attended the meetings. Went to a lame rally or two.

3. Got disgusted with the membership and the collective attitude of the YSA, did a 180º turn and joined the Libertarian Party. Read the literature and thought "wow, I've found a home!"

4. Got disgusted with membership and insensitivity of Libertarians to environmental and other issues. Found some of the literature a little ... what is it? ... tin-eared, I think will do. Turned in my card and started voting conservative.

5. Read Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man, saw he was saying what I had suspected all along (i.e., we're about done, big picture wise) and quit thinking about politics, other than local.

6. Dabbled in Monarchism. Couldn't get campaign financing and gave it up. (I went into debt for a purple cape. It's real long, has imported satin lining and ermine trim on the collar, a ruby clasp and ... you don't care, right?)

7. Strayed onto this site and am as a result rethinking, and rethinking only, what to do about corporate/government incest and its pernicious effect on culture short of revolution. Answer: I don't know.

8. Mostly intrigued here by the ideas of THB (or The Hayenmill Brigades, as he likes to call them), but can't imagine how a stateless society can either be: 1) achieved; or 2) work to the general advantage of mankind.

9. Currently running up and down a whacky Abe Lincoln - Bud Struggle - danyboy axis, with Tungsten haunting me from the right and Hayenmill haunting me from the ... I don't know from where. Ask him.

[Havet]

I'm a vegan because eating animal based products is EVIL! ( No , just kidding.) Its a lifestyle choice and I find I get more than all the nutrients I need plus a generally healthier diet. Its more like I've just gotten used to it over time.

Well, i'm a lacto-ovo-vegetarian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacto-ovo-vegetarian) so I was trying to understand why would you reject animal derived products such as eggs or milk or butter or cheese considering that they usually do not hurt the animals. What are your arguments?

[Havet]

8. Mostly intrigued here by the ideas of THB (or The Hayenmill Brigades, as he likes to call them), but can't imagine how a stateless society can either be: 1) achieved; or 2) work to the general advantage of mankind.

9. Currently running up and down a whacky Abe Lincoln - Bud Struggle - danyboy axis, with Tungsten haunting me from the right and Hayenmill haunting me from the ... I don't know from where. Ask him.

Wow...I do mean a great deal to you...

I...I didn't know...

[Jazzratt]

Well, my parents - especially my dad - always seemed to be involved in union work. I learned two lessons from them (basically): never ever cross a picket line and never vote for a tory. Thanks to that I was always set on the correct path and after I was unable to finish college thanks to mental health problems and became working class not only by materialist defenition but by bourgeois definition I began to realise that the only way to improve the world would be through clas struggle. Obviously between that I read a lot of theory but it's mainly my experience as a worker son of workers that I came to my position.

[RHIZOMES]

1. Fundamentalist Christian conservative 2. Atheist vague liberal still chauvinistic towards workers in many regards 3. Then I read Chomsky, became an anti-imperialist 4. Only logical ideology that went with anti-imperialism was leftism 5. High school socialist (lol) 6. Trotskyist 7. Disillusioned with Trotskyism, general Leninist 8. Became a Maoist 9. Then just an Anti-Revisionist 10. Disillusioned with anti-revisionists so just became a general Leninist again, except with a bit of ideological influence from the Frankfurt School (Marcuse, Adorno) and post-structuralists like Foucault although I'm by no means yet an expert on any of those thinkers

[Dejavu]

Well, i'm a lacto-ovo-vegetarian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacto-ovo-vegetarian) so I was trying to understand why would you reject animal derived products such as eggs or milk or butter or cheese considering that they usually do not hurt the animals. What are your arguments?

I agree , I don't believe animal consumption ( even meat) is a bad thing neither did I think that when I first became a vegan. I have no philosophical arguments and as I said it is a personal lifestyle choice of mine. ( In fact I often am at odds with vegans that try to guilt trip non vegans.) My only practical arguments are my preferences. Consuming things like cheese , milk , and butter put quite a load on the body in terms of requiring enough energy to digest them. I feel consuming substitutes helps me feel more energized ( which is conducive to my work out routine) plus these things are quite expensive compared to the vegan alternatives.

[Ele'ill]

Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I liked to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air

In west Philadelphia born and raised
On the playground was where I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool
And all shootin some b-ball outside of the school
When a couple of guys
Who were up to no good
Startin making trouble in my neighborhood
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared
She said 'You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air'

I begged and pleaded with her day after day
But she packed my suite case and send me on my way
She gave me a kiss and then she gave me my ticket.
I put my walkman on and said, 'I might as well kick it'.

First class, yo this is bad
Drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass.
Is this what the people of Bel-Air Living like?
Hmmmmm this might be alright.

But wait I hear there're prissy, wine all that
Is Bel-Air the type of place they send this cool cat?
I don't think sow
I'll see when I get there
I hope they're prepared for the prince of Bel-Air

Well, the plane landed and when I came out
There was a dude who looked like a cop standing there with my name out
I ain't trying to get arrested
I just got here
I sprang with the quickness like lightening, disappeared

I whistled for a cab and when it came near
The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror
If anything I can say this cab is rare
But I thought 'Now forget it' - 'Yo homes to Bel Air'

I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8
And I yelled to the cabbie 'Yo homes smell ya later'
I looked at my kingdom
I was finally there
To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air


Also- my background is in the tree puddles of Pennsylvania autumns and sometimes summer playgrounds when they were still using the toxic wood chips. I also had a fox field as a child and walked it quite often.

Anarchist/environmentalist - Writer - Community Oriented Invididual (clutch) - full time RevLeft.com forum poster

[Havet]

I agree , I don't believe animal consumption ( even meat) is a bad thing neither did I think that when I first became a vegan. I have no philosophical arguments and as I said it is a personal lifestyle choice of mine. ( In fact I often am at odds with vegans that try to guilt trip non vegans.) My only practical arguments are my preferences. Consuming things like cheese , milk , and butter put quite a load on the body in terms of requiring enough energy to digest them. I feel consuming substitutes helps me feel more energized ( which is conducive to my work out routine) plus these things are quite expensive compared to the vegan alternatives.

Ah. Well that's settled then ^^

I actually have more arguments besides the obvious arguments that vegetarians live longer, some types of meat hurt my health, etc.

I take the same approach as people who don't wear fluffly animal jackets. Why should we use those clothes that make animal suffer when there are better alternatives that don't make them suffer and keep us with clothes?

Well, same for vegetarianism: Why don't we eat food that don't make animals suffer when there are better alternatives?

After that I just chose living beings that don't feel pain when killed in the sense that humans do. So pretty only veggies, some mussels, barnacles (I actually researched into their biology).

[Havet]

Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I liked to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air

In west Philadelphia born and raised
On the playground was where I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool
And all shootin some b-ball outside of the school
When a couple of guys
Who were up to no good
Startin making trouble in my neighborhood
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared
She said 'You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air'

I begged and pleaded with her day after day
But she packed my suite case and send me on my way
She gave me a kiss and then she gave me my ticket.
I put my walkman on and said, 'I might as well kick it'.

First class, yo this is bad
Drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass.
Is this what the people of Bel-Air Living like?
Hmmmmm this might be alright.

But wait I hear there're prissy, wine all that
Is Bel-Air the type of place they send this cool cat?
I don't think sow
I'll see when I get there
I hope they're prepared for the prince of Bel-Air

Well, the plane landed and when I came out
There was a dude who looked like a cop standing there with my name out
I ain't trying to get arrested
I just got here
I sprang with the quickness like lightening, disappeared

I whistled for a cab and when it came near
The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror
If anything I can say this cab is rare
But I thought 'Now forget it' - 'Yo homes to Bel Air'

I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8
And I yelled to the cabbie 'Yo homes smell ya later'
I looked at my kingdom
I was finally there
To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air


Also- my background is in the tree puddles of Pennsylvania autumns and sometimes summer playgrounds when they were still using those toxic wood chips. I also had a fox field as a child and walked it quite often.


Omg, I used to watch that show

[Dejavu]

Ah. Well that's settled then ^^

I actually have more arguments besides the obvious arguments that vegetarians live longer, some types of meat hurt my health, etc.

I take the same approach as people who don't wear fluffly animal jackets. Why should we use those clothes that make animal suffer when there are better alternatives that don't make them suffer and keep us with clothes?

Well, same for vegetarianism: Why don't we eat food that don't make animals suffer when there are better alternatives?

After that I just chose living beings that don't feel pain when killed in the sense that humans do. So pretty only veggies, some mussels, barnacles (I actually researched into their biology).

Those are good reasons. Basically, in this day and age , we really don't have to resort to animal consumption anymore. We have figured out ways to compensate just fine without it. Still I would not infer that one who consumes animal products is implicitly agreeing to animal torture or anything like that. There are humane ways to gather those resources.

[Conquer or Die]

I'm interested in truth

therefore

Maoism Third Worldism

[What Would Durruti Do?]

Apolitical until 9/11 and the Bush regime's conquests when I became a liberal then a democratic socialist and still had faith in the electoral system. Then I eventually lost faith in the state as a whole and marxism and became an anarcho-communist.

[Partizani]

Well, my parents - especially my dad - always seemed to be involved in union work. I learned two lessons from them (basically): never ever cross a picket line and never vote for a tory. Thanks to that I was always set on the correct path

Seems very very similar to my own political upbringing, Dad is involved in representing Trade Unions in court and a personal friend of Bob Crow. Delivered Labour leaflets as a youngster so developed the mind set of tories= the bad guys/scary guy who lived on the corner and wouldn't accept my leaflets.
Got given 'Brigadista' By Bob Doyle (signed copy), read it over to try and better understand how he came to eventually fight for his beliefs. Joined the Young Communist League, attended several rallies, bookfairs and protests. Dabbled in Anarchism for a short period during the opening phases of the Recession, untill recently.

So i guess like this
Apolitical>Social Democrat>Marxist-Leninist>Anarcho-Communist>Maoist(Guevarist)

[Il Medico]

I have gone on quite a ride of political stances. I slowly got more and more liberal as I grew older, save a brief stint of ultra nationalism (not quite fascist, more way more nationalist then I would like to admit) in my early high school years.

So basically:

Apathetic Agnostic > Christian Moralist> Conservative Nationalist> Moderate> Ultra Nationalist> Back to Christian Moralist> Liberal> "ultra liberal" > Social Democrat> General Marxist/leaning toward Marxist-Leninism> General Marxist more toward Anarchist> Left Communist.

[Girl A]

The first political description of myself I can remember is probably liberalish, maybe when I was 11 or 12 I liked the Greens. :laugh:
Remember disliking capitalism at about 13, calling myself just socialist at about 14, then anarcho-communist at 16. 18 tomorrow! :blushing:

[*Viva La Revolucion*]

I was apolitical until very, very, very recently.

1. As a child I remember someone saying a politician seemed nice and me responding, ''but he's a conservative''. I also recall booing Margaret Thatcher before I even knew who Margaret Thatcher was. Guess I absorbed some of my parents politics without noticing.

2. When I was older I took a dislike to George Bush and the Christian Right. I remember supporting gay rights and being pro-choice in a debate at school; I remember telling my classmates being promiscuous shouldn't lead to a girl being branded a 'slut' because in other societies having alternative sexual arrangements is perfectly normal. The teacher didn't quite like that view. :lol:

3. My interest was sparked by current events - the election of Barack Obama gave me an interest in US politics (I know you all hate him, but he is still the first black president so it felt important), the 'elections' in Iran etc. I developed a strong opposition to religion, particularly Christianity and Islam which was fuelled when I read The God Delusion and Bertrand Russell.

4. I was on my soapbox about something or other which led to a rant about how I believed wages should be equalized, large houses should be split into two to accommodate more people, and that there should be no class system. My mum said ''that's what the communists believed''; I got angry and said ''But I'm not a COMMUNIST!'' :laugh: Blame history lesson propaganda. I looked online to find out whether I was one of those evil commies and to my surprise I discovered that I actually was.

The End.

[Comrade B]

Anti-American -> Social Democrat -> Castroist -> Left Communist... kinda... -> Trotskyist (IMT leanings) -> Trotskyist (CWI member)

[leninpuncher]

Almost everyone here has had some exposure to the Libertarian Party. Scary. And this thread helped further my thesis that ancaps are just mutualists who were brought up in America.

I began as sort of a centre-right Blairite. I don't remember ever having any real political opinions besides being an enormous nationalist. Later I became very liberal on social matters like drug legalization, and that lead to me learning about libertarianism. Then Ron Paul's presidential campaign kicked off, I got-to hanging out with a bad crowd, I said and did some things that I'm not particularly proud of... I've forgotten a lot of what I believed in back then, but I'm pretty sure I called myself an anarchocapitalist at one point. Out of all my childhood memories, I'm sure that this one will haunt me the most. A few months on, I was mercifully exposed to some technocratic, Kropotkinist, mutual aid ideas, and decided to become a communist. Then I learned myself some communism, marxism and socialism, and spent the next year going between anarcho-communism, anarcho-syndicalism, and generalized libertarian socialism, which is largely where I still am.

On the bright side: If I'm a Leninist by next year, i'll have been on every corner of the Nolan Chart.

[#FF0000]

Libertarian til 9/11. Then I read fucking everything, because a Council Communist (thought I was democratic socialist but, uh, turns out that my ideas were in fact more in line with council communists). Then became an Anarcho-Communist. Got tired of that and now I'm drifting somewhere around Left-Communist.

But I'm re-thinking absolutely everything beyond "I'm a communist", SO

[Matty_UK]

I grew up in the aftermath of Thatcher's reign in a working class Irish catholic community in Gateshead, a shithole town in the north east of England - my dad lost his job when the factories closed down around the time I was born, so inevitably I absorbed the anti-Thatcher, anti-Tory sentiment in my family and wider community. I think I was quite religious all through primary school, and my attitude to politics is probably shaped by this in some way - when the Labour Party were elected in 1997 I asked my dad what the difference was between Labour and the Tories and he said "the labour party believe society is more important than the individual, the tories believe the individual is more important than society", and my instinctive response was "well that's just selfish!", an attitude no doubt fostered by a catholic ethic of selflessness and charity - my dad responded by proudly exclaiming to my mam that "you hear that? little matty's a socialist!" and even though I didn't really know what that meant, I decided at that point socialists were the good guys, the tories were the bad guys.

I became an atheist at around the age of 11 or so, with no particular cause other than having better developed the critical faculties to think for myself.

I was very pro-Labour because I regarded them as socialists, and when the Iraq war came round (by this point I must have been around 14 or 15) I thought it was quite obvious that we were being lied to, and that the Labour Party weren't what I thought they were. Became highly cynical about the media and our "democracy," and also read Orwell's 1984 around this time and was a bit of a conspiracy theorist, in that I believed big business, the media, the political parties etc were all meeting up together to fool us and squeeze every penny with no regard for morality.

Although sympathetic to it, I believed Communism would become a totalitarian nightmare, but a member of this forum introduced me to anarchism, from which I began reading a lot more about politics and studying Marxism.

After finishing school, I took a gap year where I worked for 6 months to raise money, and then went to teach English in rural China - the overwhelmingly positive attitude towards Mao surprised me, and I began being more skeptical towards what westerners generally believed about Marxist-Leninism, and through reading developed a better understanding of the conditions existing revolutions developed from, and the difficulties they faced in establishing a communist society.

Since then, I haven't really been sure what to call myself but a general Marxist - I dislike Stalin, I respect Mao but understand that the Chinese Revolution was not a proletarian revolution so therefore could not be a communist revolution, (even though Mao was a genuine communist, much of the CCP were not) and I admire Trotsky, though I'm tempted to believe a revolution in a developed western society would look more like the sort anarchist-communists envisage, but I'm generally quite happy to work with Trotskyist and Marxist-Leninists if I think they're doing something worthwhile - might even join the SWP when I return to the UK, simply because they seem to be the most competent and have the fewest odd members in my experience.

[9]

Democrat as a child > social-democrat (DSA) throughout high school (:blushing:) > syndicalist when I first got into revolutionary politics > Leninist (my views are essentially in line with those of the American LRP for the most part)

[Искра]

Leninist -> Pacifist -> Anarcho-Syndicalist (Anarcho-Communist)

[Revy]

I was 14 when the war in Iraq started. That really radicalized me, whereas before I was halfway between being apolitical and being a liberal Democrat. And unlike many, I came to oppose both the wars. I read lots of stuff on sites like Indymedia, became interested in anarchism, called myself an anarcho-communist. Dropped the anarchism. Thought about joining the CPUSA (but never actually did), read their stuff, which turned me into a Democrat again, eventually freed myself from that, and slowly became more of a revolutionary socialist again. I joined the SP-USA and here I am. I used to take a VERY critical stance against Lenin and Trotsky (from an ultra-left perspective, you know, anti-vanguardism and stuff like that). My hatred for Leninism became so extreme I thought of Fanya Kaplan as a "socialist hero". But now I'm very soft on Lenin, and Trotsky, though I nonetheless still have very mild criticisms.

[danyboy27]

i am born from a verry poor family, politics started to get me when i was 9, it was just fascinating, all the even that where happening all over the world, i was a big fan of the 6:00 pm news, watched it all the times.

since my parent where verry poor, they where cursing at the governement a lot, and for valid reason, we where victim of several budget cut in welfare, politics reallly interrested me the day i seen its effects on peoples.

i always had a profound distrust for authorities vigure ever since.

after september 11, i became for a brief amount of time (5 year) a strong anti-american pro iraqi person. after a while, i realised that the us where really no differents from russia or other superpower, and stopped focusing on them.

i received a formation to repair computer, (2 year) succesfully passed the final exam and got my diploma.

for about 3 year i was a stalinist, a marxist leninist, but after a year or 2 of work, i realised that it was completly insane, and decided that social democracy was more reasonable.

right now, you could consider me an anarchist, mainly beccause i have a profound distrust in authorities figures and other power structures, 3 year of work in various buisness and interraction with my governement made me realize how insane people with ultimate power are.

i am also an atheist since 1 year now.

that all folks!

[Kingpin]

Sometimes I think I'm a nihilist, or apolitical and disillusioned with humanity.

In the cold war I had family that died on both sides.

People advocating capitalism and communism have all killed millions.

And from what I've seen the capitalists hide behind a facade of democracy but really believe in a dictatorship of capital. EVERY SINGLE TIME there is a candidate anywhere in the world that advocates seizing capital for the workers, and offers an alternate method of development, there is a massive propaganda campaign against them and the capitalists conspire to wipe them off the map, coup them, or somehow change them back friendly to their interests.


From what I've seen from the communists, the soviets had an interesting model of development that despite capitalist rhetoric, seems to work fine at industrializing a country, but with disturbingly high social costs.

[Bud Struggle]

My parents were immigrants to the US from Poland in the 1930s my dad worked in a sneaker factory and was a member and I believe union organizer for the URW (AFL-CIO.) We were rather poor, my dad built his own house after work every day for a couple of years--before that we lived in a 3 story tenement-esque house. They voted Democratic. All this in a factory town in Connecticut.

I was all set to do the same as my father but then I took a walk. Our house was near an old abandoned railroad track that ran East/West across Connecticut. My brother and I in the summer used to walk along the track sometimes for something to do.

One day we started out early and just kept walking and walked to the "other" Connecticut. Rich people, big houses. We were walking past a farm and some guy had a ten to and was throwing a party--my brother and I snooped around a little bit and were invited in. The Guy who owned the farm was the son or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company and was starting a stable and riding school and was throwing the party for prospective customers.

He though (because we were in the neighborhood) that my brother and I were horse owners and possible customers. We were given the tour, and a nice buffet, drank champagne, had a great time and were invited back. We never were asked if we were poor and we never volunteered the information. We of course didn't have a horse, but were pleasant enough and were asked if we wanted to exercise the horses and generally hang out. Which we did.

Then we decided to buy a horse--and we needed cash. At a close out sale of a stationary store we bought a hand printing press for $10 and started a business printing and selling cards to funeral homes. After a year, after school we were making more money than my dad--out of the basement. We bought a horse, and then a Triumph TR 6 and then a boat and then--we couldn't go back to the poor life.

After college I got married and we lived off of my wife's salary and invested my salary (chemical salesman) buying real estate. One thing I learned from those rich people was to own property--the other thing I learned is that it's best to own it outright without a mortgage. But I guess the most important thing I learned though was that rich people were just like me and that I could do anything they could do.

The wife and I invested my salary for 15 years and then we both retired--we were making 10 times our working salaries from our real estate trust. Other businesses followed.

I'm a Capitalist--I was lucky to meet those people in Connecticut, but my income comes from hard work and frugality.

[Zanthorus]

- Started off as apathetic.

- Realised that the government was full of morons and that nothing was being run properly so I became a technocrat (Thinking the problem was with the people not the institution).

- Drifted toward liberalism during the initial hype around Obama.

- Started reading Slashdot and became concerned about government full stop. Also started realising that corporations weren't exactly improving humanities status. Became a Left-Libertarian.

- Decided that anything could be called just as long as it was made out of free choice. Became a Panarchist/Voluntaryist.

- Read the anarchist FAQ and some Tucker and Proudhon. Became a Mutualist.

- Joined the Flag! forums. Became an anarcho-communist very quickly.

Right now I'm still grappling with wether or not communism is possible at the moment. I'd describe myself as an anarcho-collectivist/Syndicalist with communism being the long term goal.

[Die Rote Fahne]

Unknown to me, my brother was a libertarian socialist. I was a liberal, content with capitalism, but I wanted to have more progressive social policy.

After a while I found out who my brother voted for (he believes in voting, yes). I researched them, the New Democratic Party of Canada, they were Social Democrats with a Democratic Socialist minority. I liked the economic policies (legalize and regulate pot, unions, improvements to ei, ban private healthcare, etc. basically social welfare).

At this point I am a social democrat leaning democratic socialist. I remained here, heavily believing that capitalism can work with economic reform, but attaining socialism would be good also (democratically). Here I began researching and my brother and I discussed politics more and more. I researched and I became a socialist, at least that's how I called myself, still unfamiliar with true communism and Marx.

More research and discussion followed by taking the political compass quiz, I found myself radically left wing. I considered myself libertarian socialist as I disagreed with having government. Fluxuated around anarchy and such...etc.

Then, more research, and I currently call myslef a communist. Albeit I haven't read the manifesto, it's still on my bookshelf tbh. But from my research I believe in Communism/Marxism.

Long story short. Discussion, research and seeing the wrongs of society. Also took a history course. Changed my perspective.

My change was kind of gradual, but I am 100% sure I am an anti-fascist and anti-capitalist.

[graffic]

1. Around 11th grade I became interested in current affairs, mostly what I heard from people or in the papers so it was populist right-wing stuff.

2. I read Chomskys "failed states" and became anti-imperialist, from the age of 17 I read a huge amount of books and magazines combined with drinking when I dropped out of college. I may of joined this forum some time at this point

3. Went back to college and continued to read left-wing newspapers. I became inspired by the idea of not judging people and believing that society creates a false illusion of human beings.

4. Influenced by my politics teacher who is a marxist. The last year I have grown to hate capitalism more and more as I have discovered the grotesque in-equalities in society. I consider myself a marxist to an extent but I don't like the opinion that I am "right" and other people are "wrong", unless there are facts involved. Right now I am comfortable with criticizing the problems with capitalism and entertaining ideas of change

[Olerud]

Your basic liberal -> Democratic Socialist/Pacifist -> Revolutionary Socialist (with trotskyist leanings :blushing:) -> Dark motherfucking spawn...

also what's a highschool socialist ?

[Tungsten]

I also recall booing Margaret Thatcher before I even knew who Margaret Thatcher was. Guess I absorbed some of my parents politics without noticing.

Understatement of the month.

[Axle]

I started off apathetic with a strange mix of conservative and liberal thanks to my union member Republican father. In high school I began to lean much more towards the left, becoming a Democrat, which I eventually became disillusioned with. I went from that to a short phase where I was a Social Democrat; but I started reading Marx and I've been a Communist ever since.

[*Viva La Revolucion*]

Understatement of the month.

Maybe but, although left-wing, my parents have always been mostly apathetic about politics so it is surprising that I picked up on their hatred for the Tories. We never really had discussions about politics.

[Jazzratt]

Maybe but, although left-wing, my parents have always been mostly apathetic about politics so it is surprising that I picked up on their hatred for the Tories. We never really had discussions about politics.

When I was growing up a lot of people hated the tories even those that were otherwise apolitical. Everyone I know still does so quite what section of society their recent upsurge of support is from is quite a puzzle.

[Robert]

Everyone I know still does so quite what section of society their recent upsurge of support is from is quite a puzzle.

To me it's no more puzzling than the continuing and, some say, growing support (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/poll-reveals-big-rise-in-support-for-monarchy-656892.html) for the monarchy.

I guess the difference is that the crown can't make or implement policy.

[Lyev]

It's funny cos I was never really interested in Politics before I discovered socialism, I thought politics was boring and irrelevant, nerdy and ultimately not cool. Although I had always had an interest in human rights, environmentalism, animal rights, that kind of thing. I remember wanting to join up with Amnesty International when I was about 12 but I was too young at the time.

Me and a few friends discovered leftism and politics in general together, partly cos of history lessons, and partly cos of Rage Against The Machine :cool:. Anyway so I guess I went from being: apolitical> liberal, enviromentalist> socialist sympathy> Marxism> and if I had too choose an ideology, although to be honest I don't really like sectarianism, I'm now a Trot. However I think we're all in a constant process of learning, and I've still got loads of Marxist theory to read up on (more Trotsky, more Marx, Luxemburg, More Lenin, maybe some Mao, Frankfurt School, Maybe even some Bakunin and Kroptokin too and the list goes on...)

[*Viva La Revolucion*]

To me it's no more puzzling than the continuing and, some say, growing support (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/poll-reveals-big-rise-in-support-for-monarchy-656892.html) for the monarchy.

I guess the difference is that the crown can't make or implement policy.

But that article was from seven years ago, so for all we know support for the monarchy could be declining. Or perhaps that's just wishful thinking.

[-Marxist-Leninist-Maoist-]

I lost faith in humanity, i found the light in communism.
If not i would of blown my brains out.

[bcbm]

i dropped some acid

[Weezer]

It goes a little like this:

I'm raised in a somewhat ironic lower upper middle class family who supports capitalism and Christianity, and fiercely opposed to Nazism, fascism, and what they call communism.

My dad is an ex-hippie conservative. My mom supports the Republicans, but is an Swedish immigrant and has not required citizenship yet, thus, cannot vote. But she is mostly center-right.

My brother is a racist, sexist, homophobe. I don't think he's a fascist, but he's a young Republican and dedicated Christian.

My sister believes what she is told, period.

My political history is like:

Apathetic>Homophobic racist fundie Conservative>self proclaimed right wing socialist>libertarian>anarchist-capitalist>Mutualist/Anarchist>

Currently, I consider myself a syncretic leftist, mostly third camp Trotskyist, I like some of Mao's, Che's and Tito's ideals. I also don't like the apparent authoritarianism in Trotskyism.

[RGacky3]

I became a socialist once I saw first hand effects of capitalism and how it works.

I became an anarchist when I realized that there was nothing magical about people in power, they were really just people with power over other people, for no reason other than they claim it.

I became a syndicalist when I realized that the fight was in the workplaces directly against the capitalist, and when I got involved with some workplace action.

[Bud Struggle]

I became a socialist once I saw first hand effects of capitalism and how it works.


Pretty funny, but I had no problem becomming a Capitalist when I saw how the union treated my father. My father knew the bosses where on the other side and he could respect that--it was the union that pretended to be on his side that actually stabbed him in the back.

[*Viva La Revolucion*]

Apathetic>Homophobic racist fundie Conservative>self proclaimed right wing socialist>libertarian>anarchist-capitalist>Mutualist/Anarchist>

Wow, that's some journey!

[LeninBalls]

General anti-capitalist > liberal- > social democrat > general Marxist > came to Revleft, had Left Communist/Anarchist leanings at first > Spent more time on Revleft, became a Leninist > Marxist-Leninist

[Crux]

1. Enlightment philosophy 2. Utopism 3. Orthodox Marxism 4. Bolshevik-Leninism

I am like a history book.

[greymatter]

I took shitloads of 'cid and watched CNN. That's when I became a fuckyouist.

[RedAnarchist]

Aged 13-16 = Apathetic, centrist and liberal. Also a liberal Anglican. I was sort of patriotic, and was quite pro-US, although I thought the Democrats were much better than the Republicans, who started their eight year reign of terror when I was 14. I wanted Britain to be a republic with a liberal government. I had no real position on issues like gay rights and abortion at this time, and wasn't too politically minded.

Aged 16-17 = Some sort of socialist. Agnostic and looking into various religions. I began to see the world from a more leftist viewpoint, and thought the Iraq War was totally wrong. I did have basic views on certain issues, where I was basically pro-equal rights (not that I've ever been particularly racist/misogynistic/homophobic).

Aged 17-c19 = I considered my beliefs to be Trotskyist. Agnostic. I joined this forum when I was 17, in late 2003 and it has really helped form my political opinions.

Aged c19-present = Anarchist-Communist. Atheist/Agnostic/not bothered.

[Manifesto]

A Conservative up til well not even a year ago but I was just brain-washed by my dad. Really I never liked Capitalism even came up a basic theory of Communism when I was little around 10. Trying to get rid of the right-wing influences that I have been made to think from a Republican and a KKK member (I was not one for future reference) was difficult but possible. And then for some reason I watched Che: The Argentine and Guerrilla started to become interested in him went on che-lives.com then found my way here.

[RGacky3]

Pretty funny, but I had no problem becomming a Capitalist when I saw how the union treated my father. My father knew the bosses where on the other side and he could respect that--it was the union that pretended to be on his side that actually stabbed him in the back.

Its a shame, many unions are like that nowerdays, in my opion, many unions need to be radically democratized to be what they are supposed to be.

[Durruti's Ghost]

Age 0 to around 8 or so: Apolitical.

Age 8 to 11: Christian Right. I absorbed my parents' views.

Age 11 to 13: Neolibertarian, basically a Boortzite, pro-war, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage Libertarian.

Age 14 to 15: antiwar Libertarian to anarcho-capitalist. Started reading Tucker, Spooner, Proudhon, etc. Oh, and for some reason I kind of liked Trotsky.

Age 16: Mutualist/Voluntaryist (anarchists and ancaps of all countries, unite! :rolleyes:)

Age 17: (briefly) Collectivist Anarchist, soon became Anarchist Communist.

Age 18: still Anarchist Communist.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I grew up in a pro-union, pro-(D)emocrats, household in a fairly conservative town where teachers would play Rush Limbaugh during lunch breaks, there were many trucks with confederate flags in the parking lot, and people on my football team would talk about driving around and taking shots at migrant fieldworkers with paintguns or pump-guns.

My family is racially mixed and living in an apartment block gave me a sort of gut-instinct about bigorty and the huge gulf between how the right-wing talks about life for America's working poor and working class and reality... this was the 90s and a lot of people still talked about "welfare queens" and poor people being poor because they were lazy - where I lived it seemed like all the adults worked a lot and some had more than one job.

Despite all this I was not an activist and I didn't really have my political views worked out. I didn't like what the Democrats were doing, I detested and was horrified by what the right wished it could do, so like a lot of Americans in this situation I steered my attention to music, girls, and drugs.

I went to college and I actively sought-out information about liberal and lefty political groups/activities on campus. I bought a paper from someone I later found out was in Socialist Alternative - I even showed up for a meeting but I couldn't find the spot - I was also discouraged by the liberal groups on campus and all the identity politics stuff going on. I was angry about some of the anti-immigrant things going on in California back then but it seemed like none of the campus groups were doing much and the liberal latino groups were more interested in cultural activities than protecting low-paid immigrant workers.

This began to change with the Justice For Janitors movement and the Seattle Protests. Both of these things re-engaged me in politics and I was particularly interested in that they combined the labor/union movement with social causes such as environmentalism/debt relief in the WTO protests and anti-immigrant bigotry in the Justice for Janitors campaign. I read some Marx in college (on my own) but mostly at that point I was only interested in finding some theory that I could use to argue against the post-modern theory being pushed down our throats in college.

Also I was out of school by this point and I had some education in how capitalism (doesn't) works for workers. The Seattle protests made me more interested in radical politics but I wasn't interested in the black block adventurism as much as I was interested in radicalism and the union movement. This lead me to be interested in syndicalism and the IWW and eventually I read about Eugene Debs. I also went to my first mass protests and got my ass kicked a few times which made me conclude that I had to be in some kind of organization in order to be able to build and join in concerted action. At this point I read a bunch of different radical newspapers and met some anarchists and socialists and eventually joined a socialist group.