Dexalin
3rd June 2012, 03:02
Hello all, I'm not entirely sure where to begin. I registered an account with these forums 6 or so years ago, but I was quickly turned off by the community in part to what I saw was a sort of sophomoric attitude toward Marxism, and my own personal ineptitude towards the subject. It seems that either the community has made a change for the better or it's more probable that I have. I cannot say with certainty that I'll be a regular visitor, but I think I would like to be.
A little bit about myself, politically: I was pretty apathetic politically until the 9/11 attacks, which pushed me to figure out exactly why those attacks had occurred. For some time after that I was a pretty average American liberal, a Democrat apologist if there ever was one. Around 2004 or so I was encouraged to read Marx with an open mind and it changed everything for me. Soon other authors followed: Lenin, Fanon, and Žižek have been my favorites among many others. My last year of university is coming up, and in reaction to a far-right libertarian student organization gaining traction, I along with a close friend are planning on starting a leftist org on campus (primarily focusing on Marxism, but accepting of all leftists that aren't Democratic Party parrots). I think it's important to make the communist cause public and accessible to youth, or they may become apathetic or influenced by mainstream pseudo-politics.
In short, I guess I would classify myself as a Marxist-Leninist. I think the early Soviet Union was a step in the right direction, but once it established a reasonably stable state capitalism, it did not make any attempt to move further towards communism other than supporting revolutions abroad. Its own fear of change to the system certainly aided to its collapse. I'm not much of a Stalin apologist for reasons I'm sure have been repeated to exhaustion.
I feel like this is getting lengthy so I'll wrap it up by saying I'm a russophone, amateur jazz guitarist, and like long walks on the beach followed by cuddling on the couch.
A little bit about myself, politically: I was pretty apathetic politically until the 9/11 attacks, which pushed me to figure out exactly why those attacks had occurred. For some time after that I was a pretty average American liberal, a Democrat apologist if there ever was one. Around 2004 or so I was encouraged to read Marx with an open mind and it changed everything for me. Soon other authors followed: Lenin, Fanon, and Žižek have been my favorites among many others. My last year of university is coming up, and in reaction to a far-right libertarian student organization gaining traction, I along with a close friend are planning on starting a leftist org on campus (primarily focusing on Marxism, but accepting of all leftists that aren't Democratic Party parrots). I think it's important to make the communist cause public and accessible to youth, or they may become apathetic or influenced by mainstream pseudo-politics.
In short, I guess I would classify myself as a Marxist-Leninist. I think the early Soviet Union was a step in the right direction, but once it established a reasonably stable state capitalism, it did not make any attempt to move further towards communism other than supporting revolutions abroad. Its own fear of change to the system certainly aided to its collapse. I'm not much of a Stalin apologist for reasons I'm sure have been repeated to exhaustion.
I feel like this is getting lengthy so I'll wrap it up by saying I'm a russophone, amateur jazz guitarist, and like long walks on the beach followed by cuddling on the couch.