Forum for progressives?

[Tim Cornelis]

Is there a political forum for 'progressives' of all stripes (anarchists, syndicalists, social-democrats, social liberals, market socialists, democratic socialists, Marxists, etc.). I've seen forums for revolutionary leftists, forums for liberals, but not forums for both.

I like to engage in debates with other-minded people, but conservatives tend to ruin this by plastering both liberals and communists as "fascist" and other nonsense.

Sort of a forum like Occupy, where 'revolution' and 'the system' are discussed (though not aligned to occupy). More or less like a 'global revolution' site where different kinds of progressive "revolutions" and "systems" are discussed, I suppose.

Anyone know of such a forum?

[Comrade Trollface]

So basically like this forum, but trading the Stalinists in for liberals? I can live with that.

[Jimmie Higgins]

So basically like this forum, but trading the Stalinists in for liberals? I can live with that.Lol, I'm sure that arrangement would get old pretty quick.

I'd rather not deal with Democratic Party supporters, but I think it would be interesting to debate social-democrats and other reformists - it might bring some unity between like-minded Marxists and anarchists to debate non-revolutionary leftists :lol:.

Is there a Reformist Leftist site: RefLeft?

[ed miliband]

i'd rather deal with intelligent and/or honest conservatives (inb4: hur-dur, that's an oxymoron), than liberals tbh. but i imagine i'm one of the few people here who thinks like that.

[Jimmie Higgins]

though not aligned to occupyIs that because you were on an occupy list-serve or something? Man, some of the activist listserves I've been on make discussions (err... tendency wars) on this website look like a sexting orgy.

[Comrade Trollface]

Lol, I'm sure that arrangement would get old pretty quick.

Whatever, man. When it gets old, you can just come back here and talk to some Stalinists. And when that gets old (5 minutes later in other words) we can go troll Stormfront together.

[Jimmie Higgins]

i'd rather deal with intelligent, honest conservatives (inb4: hur-dur, that's an oxymoron), than liberals or social democrats tbh. but i imagine i'm one of the few people here who thinks like that.

Yeah, I don't know about that one. I'd like to have that debate if there was an audience that might be swayed and some right-wing myths could be smashed. One-on-one I'd rather debate a social-democrat though because at least we could agree on some general premises rather than have to debate abstract semantics over what "freedom" means or ridiculous things like if poor people are actually even poor in the US.

Why an honest intelligent conservative over liberal though? All else being equal I guess I'd take any honest intelligent debate-opponent over a cynical slogan-spewing one.

[Tim Cornelis]

So no one is familiar with an all-encompassing progressive forum?


i'd rather deal with intelligent and/or honest conservatives (inb4: hur-dur, that's an oxymoron), than liberals tbh. but i imagine i'm one of the few people here who thinks like that.

Sure, but such conservatives are scarce.


Is that because you were on an occupy list-serve or something? Man, some of the activist listserves I've been on make discussions (err... tendency wars) on this website look like a sexting orgy.

No. I suppose it's because of my bias against occupy. "Occupy" tends to attract a certain type of person, especially on the internet (conspiracy theorists, Ron Paul "Revolutionists").

[Yuppie Grinder]

An awful idea.

[eric922]

The only I know of that even comes close is Democratic Underground. Granted there are a lot of Obama supporters, but there are fair number of radicals and social-democrats there too, that are pretty critical of him and the Democratic Party. They even have a group set up for socialists.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/

Officially for Democratic Party "progressives" there are Marxists and anarchists on it, There is or was an anti-capitalist study group within it, somewhere.

[mew]

Daily Kos


Officially for Democratic Party "progressives" there are Marxists and anarchists on it, There is or was an anti-capitalist study group within it, somewhere.

no way. talking to these people is like banging your head against a wall. they'll just say "enjoy your irrelevancy" and "we have to work with what we have" and "the democratic party gave us the civil rights act, what have communists ever done?"

i could see debating with liberals with muddy ideas etc, but the kind of people who post at daily kos are very strongly liberals who are very informed on the issues (from the pov of democratic party/msnbc type propaganda.)

[Jimmie Higgins]

no way. talking to these people is like banging your head against a wall. they'll just say "enjoy your irrelevancy" and "we have to work with what we have" and "the democratic party gave us the civil rights act, what have communists ever done?"Yeah, as I said, I think it could be useful to debate more reformists (especially if we are in a time of increasing struggle and there will be more people being drawn to those ideas... and could potentially be won to revolutionary ideas). But the idea of being on a forum with mostly pro-Democrats I think would drive me crazy pretty quickly. I can have a decent debate with someone who's sincerely political, but maybe liberal, and says "I voted for Obama because I was excited in 2008" or because "he may be disappointing but it doesn't take much to vote and he's better than Romney" or any of the other arguments you hear that aren't just totally blind to any criticism of the Democrats. But I don't think I could handle it if even a large minority of people were super-Democrat supporters saying stuff like "Obama killed Bin Lauden USA!" or "Now we live in a color-blind society" and really internalize and believe the myths the Dems promote.

I guess it goes back to the "honest, intelligent" thing.:lol:

But a sort of place to debate left-of-Democrats non-revolutionary leftists (that's a mouthful, no wonder this group is so small in the US) I think could be good and interesting and really have revolutionary vs. reformist strategies and ideas debated out. Actually I'd prefer if O.I. was restructured (and re-named the Non-Revolutionary forum) so that there was a section for reformists and another for centrists and right-wingers. I think it might encourage more people here - might create some more serious discussion because we could actually debate liberal vs. radical strategies in actual movements.

RevLeft is a refuge in a way because in my real poltical life in Occupy or movements, mostly there's just a handful of the same local radicals and we're surrounded by many more left-of-Democrats progressives or even more progressive oriented pro-Democrats. So it's nice to be able to talk about explicitly revolutionary ideas with a lot of people with different views... but it also becomes insular here too and I think that leads to a lot of the tendency wars. Most of the political arguments I have to take on in my daily life have nothing to do with questions of the NEP in Russia or Permanent Revolution and whatnot... mostly it's those common progressive questions and confusions like "aren't cops workers?" or "All we need to do is end corporate personhood" etc. Yeah it can be annoying and sometimes tedious, but so is the 80th thread about obscure political beefs or how many revolutionary angels can fit on the head of a Stalinist pin. At least the annoying progressive debate-points actually reflect larger political trends outside our small revolutionary circles, so I think it would make the forum a little less politically claustrophobic sometimes.[/ramble]

[Tim Cornelis]

Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/

Officially for Democratic Party "progressives" there are Marxists and anarchists on it, There is or was an anti-capitalist study group within it, somewhere.

I couldn't detect a forum on that website.


The only I know of that even comes close is Democratic Underground. Granted there are a lot of Obama supporters, but there are fair number of radicals and social-democrats there too, that are pretty critical of him and the Democratic Party. They even have a group set up for socialists.

I considered that website/forum as well, but "Its membership is restricted by policy to those who are generally supportive of progressive ideals and support Democratic candidates for political office." So it's not like reformists and revolutionaries are on par.


But a sort of place to debate left-of-Democrats non-revolutionary leftists (that's a mouthful, no wonder this group is so small in the US) I think could be good and interesting and really have revolutionary vs. reformist strategies and ideas debated out.

Indeed.


Actually I'd prefer if O.I. was restructured (and re-named the Non-Revolutionary forum) so that there was a section for reformists and another for centrists and right-wingers. I think it might encourage more people here - might create some more serious discussion because we could actually debate liberal vs. radical strategies in actual movements.

That is a good idea. Though I wonder how many left-wing reformists would be active members. The reason I'm not really attracted to these liberal forums with some radical members is because I'm looking for more of a balance I suppose. And perhaps left-wing reformists will feel the same way about revleft. But who knows.

[Positivist]

Is there a political forum for 'progressives' of all stripes (anarchists, syndicalists, social-democrats, social liberals, market socialists, democratic socialists, Marxists, etc.). I've seen forums for revolutionary leftists, forums for liberals, but not forums for both.

I like to engage in debates with other-minded people, but conservatives tend to ruin this by plastering both liberals and communists as "fascist" and other nonsense.

Sort of a forum like Occupy, where 'revolution' and 'the system' are discussed (though not aligned to occupy). More or less like a 'global revolution' site where different kinds of progressive "revolutions" and "systems" are discussed, I suppose.

Anyone know of such a forum?

I don't know of any but would enjoy participating in one. There are people on this site who I believe have the ability to set up forums, so we could probably make one.

[Ocean Seal]

If you don't mind you can try some Facebook pages. Like "I acknowledge Class Warfare Exists". That's generally a good page to "get the word out".

[eric922]

I considered that website/forum as well, but "Its membership is restricted by policy to those who are generally supportive of progressive ideals and support Democratic candidates for political office." So it's not like reformists and revolutionaries are on par.
.
It is mostly for supporters of the Democratic Party, but they do allow a fair amount of discussion critical of the Democratic Party. There are regular threads discussing socialism and advocating for a worker controlled economy and none of the posters in them are banned. I regularly post articles from the website "In Defense of Marxism" and haven't gotten banned yet and I've been there a couple years. Honestly, I just ignore the "Obama is awesome" threads.

There is also a group set up just for socialists, its user ran, not controlled by the site owners, and we allow social-democrats to post, but it is more of a group for Marxists and anarchists.

Anyway, not trying to pressure you just trying to inform you about my experience there. If you find the site you're looking for post it here. I'd be interested.

[X5N]

Meh.

A lot of "progressives" irritate the shit out of me -- particularly those of the pro-Israel, weirdly rabidly nationalistic, or romanticist hippy/hipster/whatever varieties. Also think about the fact that a few of the people who backed SOPA/PIPA consider themselves "progressives."

[Die Neue Zeit]

Is there a political forum for 'progressives' of all stripes (anarchists, syndicalists, social-democrats, social liberals, market socialists, democratic socialists, Marxists, etc.). I've seen forums for revolutionary leftists, forums for liberals, but not forums for both.

I like to engage in debates with other-minded people, but conservatives tend to ruin this by plastering both liberals and communists as "fascist" and other nonsense.

Sort of a forum like Occupy, where 'revolution' and 'the system' are discussed (though not aligned to occupy). More or less like a 'global revolution' site where different kinds of progressive "revolutions" and "systems" are discussed, I suppose.

Anyone know of such a forum?

On this side of the pond but north of the 49th Parallel, we have rabble.ca/babble. :)


Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/

Officially for Democratic Party "progressives" there are Marxists and anarchists on it, There is or was an anti-capitalist study group within it, somewhere.

As Tim said, Daily Kos has no real forum per se. There's a lot of comment discussion, but the feel of the whole website is more a open blog than a threaded forum.

[Ismail]

I can very easily talk with "progressives" in real life. I don't need to debate with them on an internet forum.


i'd rather deal with intelligent and/or honest conservatives (inb4: hur-dur, that's an oxymoron), than liberals tbh. but i imagine i'm one of the few people here who thinks like that.I actually agree, it's a lot better than talking to Ward Churchill types who think that Marxism is bad because it supposedly goes against Native American traditions and culture or Howard Zinn "AMERICAN HISTORY IS A BUNCH OF RICH ASSHOLES" types who just see "elites" everywhere and don't actually subscribe to class struggle anyway.

It's always amusing talking to conservatives and noting how actual American conservatism is neither particularly traditional nor holds a monopoly on "yay America" sentiment. From generally positive Marxist analyses of the American Revolution (see: Herbert Aptheker) to German communists joining the Union Army during the Civil War (e.g. Joseph Weydemeyer), there's plenty of "good" American history for Marxists to praise and befuddle conservatives with, at least until the end of the Reconstruction period, in which case Marxist historiography then goes onto actual leftist history like Eugene Debs and the Socialist Party, the IWW, etc.

Real progressives are people like Thomas Paine or Fan Noli, who were either trying to overcome or partially overcame their historical limitations and represented bourgeois democracy against feudalism and whatnot. Guys who go "I GUESS OBAMA WASN'T SO AWESOME AFTER ALL; WE NEED RUSS FEINGOLD OR BERNIE SANDERS" aren't progressive, they're liberals.

[Rocky Rococo]

Here are the portals for the anti-capitalist group at dailykos:

http://www.dailykos.com/blog/Anti%20Capitalist%20Meetup%20Group
http://www.dailykos.com/blog/Anti%20Capitalist%20Chat

It actually worked better than I thought it would but it's not going to create any revolutionaries. It may help in developing some of those " left-of-Democrats non-revolutionary leftists" Jimmie Higgins was describing.

[Positivist]

The forum is up. Check it out at;

http://www.socialprogress.bbster.net/

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Yeah, I don't know about that one. I'd like to have that debate if there was an audience that might be swayed and some right-wing myths could be smashed. One-on-one I'd rather debate a social-democrat though because at least we could agree on some general premises rather than have to debate abstract semantics over what "freedom" means or ridiculous things like if poor people are actually even poor in the US.

Why an honest intelligent conservative over liberal though? All else being equal I guess I'd take any honest intelligent debate-opponent over a cynical slogan-spewing one.

I find I actually have a lot more common ground with political, Burkian conservatives in the UK (obviously not the military, expansionist neo-conservative types) than I do with Social Democrats. Social Democrats tend to see the state as the ultimate saviour of the poor and won't/can't see past that. I find that Burkian-type conservatives i.e. those who are the bootlickers of capital, not the owners of capital, tend to understand social/economic issues quite well, just come to the wrong conclusions all the fucking time.