Tendencies?

[John "Eh" MacDonald]

How exactly did you figure out what each of your tendencies are?
Did you read about and study each ideology until you found one that was within rage of your beliefs? I recently acquired a copy of the Communist Manifesto and I know for a fact it is going to take me longer to read and understand than John Lee Anderson's Che: a Revolutionary Life.

I couldn't imagine reading every book written by/about Lenin, Trotsky, Marx, etc.

[Optiow]

Well I have always held the views I had, but one day in class the teacher lectured us on the communist theory - and I realized that was what I believed. So I researched more and I saw no reason to deny the fact I believe in left wing ideas.

[Stephen Colbert]

Got into Chomsky through a friend, and he became my gateway drug. I am definately a libertarian socialist.. still trying to find a more succinct tendency though.

I fucking love Noam though, I agree with him on almost everything.

[meow]

i suggest you read things on here. see what people say and if you agree with them. once you have idea follow up on it. search or ask for more infomation on that idea.

i am anarchist because i agree with what i see anarchism is. it fits my view of the world and people. since i thought of anarchism i have learnt much more. i stay anarchist because i cant find any thing which can defend oppression or exploitation.

i read communist manifesto before knowing about anarchism. it didnt do much for me then. but other marx writing does.

you have to find your own way. and dont be afraid to say "no label i am who i am". though labels help to workout who you have more in common with.

[this is an invasion]

Ask yourself what is important to you.

That is all that matters.

[mikelepore]

People have to ask themselves:

-- what is a good outcome, a worthy goal, liberating and not oppressive?

-- what steps would be probably most effective to bring about that goal?

-- what approach will persuade the working class to listen to your case, to adopt that goal and to implement those effective steps?

In some cases I argue with others because I believe that their goal would be oppressive and not liberating. In some cases I argue with them because, while their goal would be liberating, their suggested strategy wouldn't lead to that goal. In some case I argue with others because, while their goal would be liberating, and while their program would move effectively toward that direction, they reject ideas that I believe to be necessary to recruit the working class to implement them.

[StoneFrog]

I first heard about communism in a socials class, even though my teacher was a liberal and obviously slapped a load of BS on it, i still decided to look into it myself. I brought a book which contained many revolutionary writings, and read the communist manifesto and some other writings in it; it covered a wide range of left thinkers. Then i started to think about how things should be done for myself. I went back and forth a lot on many things, but i started to get an outline of my general thoughts on different matters. I didn't know much about the left still just theories i had and such, but as i started to become more knowledgeable with different tendencies i found that majority of my theories (which i didn't know anyone else even thought the same way) fit very nicely into Council Communism.

Don't just read something and just agree with it, look for criticisms on the theory. We don't want the left to end up like the tea baggers who just regurgitate what ever they are told and never question it.

[Uppercut]

I started out with the communist manifesto and then I later read some books that expanded on what I had read; Marxism after Marx, The Marx-Engels Reader (a collection of Marx and Engels' works), The History of Russia (which I borrowed from my English teacher), etc.. Some where pro communist, some were critical. From there I started to actually read some of Lenin's writings, then Mao's, and a little bit of Stalin's. Today, I align myself with Maoism because I feel that he developed a substantial revolutionary theory and socialist system. Plus, Maoism still has plenty of relevance in the world today, and I don't necessarily view it as authoritarian.

[eclipse]

stopped counting mine

[F9]

i was raised with (fake) rev-leftist ideas, (see reformism, leninism etc) so i always had interest in left ideologies, i was knowing things, i was a naive reformist m-l for some time, until i came up with Anarchism, and since i have expanded my knowledge a lot, with reading, getting active etc.

Fuserg9:star:

[ContrarianLemming]

Chomsky was my gateway drug, he mentioned anarchism, and it was good.