Hello From The American South

[TheCat'sHat]

So I guess I would identify myself as a recovering neo-liberal. I recently graduated from an American public university with a degree in political science. I was somewhat familiar with Leninism since my school had something of a neo-liberal bias in the poly-sci department, at least in classes that dealt with the more foreign policy orientated section of the student body. I got back about three months ago from doing some volunteer work in the Balkans. I spent some of my free time helping a family whose son had a very treatable form of cancer raise money for his operation. One night we were running a coffee stand whereby people donated for some coffee that a local chain had donated for the cause. A friend of the family was talking to me while we watched the sister flirt with guys in the street to try to get them to donate for her brother's treatment. He said to me, 'Ah, look at her! She's really fighting for her brother!" I guess that was the moment when the fish-scales fell from my eyes (I was raised very religious, excuse the Biblical reference) and I just said to myself "This is so grotesque and wrong." I was never an avid capitalist but I was what one could describe as a liberal. I believed in capitalism in the sense of believing that private property helped provide a counter-weight to the excessive centralization of government power and the maintenance of human liberty.

But I guess that my beliefs are still being formed. I would identify as a libertarian socialist. I had held that identification back as a college freshman and had read an essay on the law as collective violence by Tolstoy that really impacted me but I sort of put that aside back in those days because I viewed considering such alternatives as 'unrealistic.' So I'm really here to learn. A good friend of mine is a student of financial geography and turned me onto David Harvey. I'm going to start his Enigma of Capital soon. I'm also really interested in the thought of Noam Chomsky, Robin Hahnel, Michael Albert, Chris Hedges (I realize that he's not terribly popular here), Sheldon Woolin (Inverted Totalitarianism), and David Harvey at the moment. But I'm looking forward to learning a lot more though my discussions here!

[Blake's Baby]

Welcome to RevLeft TheCat'sHat. There aren't so many libertarian socialists here but you will find some people who identify as such, I guess mostly anarcho-syndicalists, but others too. I hope you find your time here productive, and I look forward to discussing with you across the boards.

[smellincoffee]

Welcome to the boards, and a hearty one from a left-libertarian who likewise lives in the Southeast.

[GoddessCleoLover]

Welcome to RevLeft from Baltimore, below the Mason-Dixon line so technically part of the south. IMO you have chosen well in beginning with Professor David Harvey. I met him back in the 70s and was extremely impressed with his ability to make Capital accessible to non-economists. I have listened to him on Youtube and am even more impressed with him than I was back in the 70s. Harvey really knows how make complicated concepts of 19th century political economy relevant to the 21st century.

[TheCat'sHat]

Welcome to RevLeft from Baltimore, below the Mason-Dixon line so technically part of the south. IMO you have chosen well in beginning with Professor David Harvey. I met him back in the 70s and was extremely impressed with his ability to make Capital accessible to non-economists. I have listened to him on Youtube and am even more impressed with him than I was back in the 70s. Harvey really knows how make complicated concepts of 19th century political economy relevant to the 21st century.

He seems really fascinating. I had no idea that geography was such a radical field. I'd like to read Capital along with his youtube lectures Reading Marx's Capital in the near future. I'm really looking forward towards having a much more solid understanding of Marx. I really think that it could be an invaluable analytical framework. My friend who is a big fan of his is not a Marxist (but is very into heterodox economics and very much a leftist) but really seems to find Harvey valuable for understanding the spatial dimensions of finance and capitalism. I'm really looking forward to diving in!

[TheCat'sHat]

Welcome to RevLeft TheCat'sHat. There aren't so many libertarian socialists here but you will find some people who identify as such, I guess mostly anarcho-syndicalists, but others too. I hope you find your time here productive, and I look forward to discussing with you across the boards.

Thank you! I'm looking forward to learning. This board seems to be full of people who have thought deeply and seriously about how to create a more just world.


Welcome to the boards, and a hearty one from a left-libertarian who likewise lives in the Southeast.

Thank you! I'm really hoping to learn a lot more about libertarian socialism and parecon. I couldn't seem to find a libertarian-socialist group or tendency when I looked. Are the libertarian-socialists here usually just members of the anarcho-syndicalists?

[Marxaveli]

Hello and welcome to the board comrade.

Libertarian Socialists are a rather broad group I think, that consist of anarcho-syndicalists and sometimes Anarchists. It is also my understanding though that some Libertarian Socialists aren't quite on board with revolutionary politics, but I might be wrong, as I haven't studied this tendency in depth.

Main reason I became a Marxist is because I found the materialist conception of history to be the most logical and scientific. Marxism is a bit heavy and complex at first, but don't let that discourage you. Look forward to many interesting discussions!

[Yuppie Grinder]

Inverted Totalitarianism is one of the stupider theoretical ideas to come out of liberal wingnuts as of late. The Marxist understanding of the state is one in line with Material Reality.
Never mind that, welcome aboard. Always good to have someone who's well read.

[Blake's Baby]

Hello and welcome to the board comrade.

Libertarian Socialists are a rather broad group I think, that consist of anarcho-syndicalists and sometimes Anarchists. It is also my understanding though that some Libertarian Socialists aren't quite on board with revolutionary politics, but I might be wrong, as I haven't studied this tendency in depth.

Main reason I became a Marxist is because I found the materialist conception of history to be the most logical and scientific. Marxism is a bit heavy and complex at first, but don't let that discourage you. Look forward to many interesting discussions!

There are also Marxists who identify as 'libertarian socialists' such as the SPGB who are perfectly happy with the term as far as I can tell, and Council communists (at least as far as they accept the label 'Marxist'). Left Communists who are not Bordigists can also be seen as Libertarian Socialists (in that we do not think that the revolutionary organisation wields state power after the revolution); we generally reject the validity of the term and the conception, but on that definition, it's applicable to Left Communism.

Really, it's difficult to see who wouldn't be a 'Libertarian Socialist' except pretty much directly, 'Leninists' ('Marxist-Leninsts' ie Stalinists/Maoists/Hoxhaists/Castroists etc, 'Bolshevik-Leninists' ie Trotskyists, and Bordigists).