species-being- a magazine of communist polemic

[black magick hustla]

-

[Os Cangaceiros]

I'll be interested to see how this turns out, because so far this:


We believe that insightful political and cultural commentary can be achieved with clear and streamlined prose. We also believe that clarity does not have to be boring and stale.

...almost seems like something that can only exist in theory, in regards to left-wing politics.

[Crixus]

I'll be interested to see how this turns out, because so far this:



...almost seems like something that can only exist in theory, in regards to left-wing politics.

I was thinking the same. Most publications are geared towards, well, ourselves anyway. Granted there's various levels of understanding within the socialist left but still most publications are targeted to this audience which more times than not understands the language although to this day I find some rather pompous stuff out there. What's the goal of the publication? To talk to the preexisting socialist left or to attract new people into the socialist viewpoint? A sort of accessible friendly and fun propaganda for the masses? A hip and cool reader for for the inner city anarchists? A survival guide for a post apocalyptic reactionary war zone? All of the above? Does it come with coupons for free cigarettes? What's the use value?

[Yuppie Grinder]

dope

[black magick hustla]

...almost seems like something that can only exist in theory, in regards to left-wing politics.

um not true. have you read jacobin? it has shitty politics but it's very marxist. it's semi mainstream:

http://jacobinmag.com/

the problem is not so much the use of jargon, but bad writing. the idea was to create an ultraleft jacobin of some sort. some people just use jargon as fuzzy, empty signifiers.


anyway. you should submit. i always liked your writing style.

[black magick hustla]

I was thinking the same. Most publications are geared towards, well, ourselves anyway. Granted there's various levels of understanding within the socialist left but still most publications are targeted to this audience which more times than not understands the language although to this day I find some rather pompous stuff out there. What's the goal of the publication? To talk to the preexisting socialist left or to attract new people into the socialist viewpoint? A sort of accessible friendly and fun propaganda for the masses? A hip and cool reader for for the inner city anarchists? A survival guide for a post apocalyptic reactionary war zone? All of the above? Does it come with coupons for free cigarettes? What's the use value?

i don't know why leftists make this so dramatic. have you read liberal publications out there? some of them deal with some pretty deep stuff, without the need of fuzzy language and only the ocassional jargon, and reference. i'm just tired of crap writing, there is no excuse for crappy writing, period.

[Devrim]

so we are asking for submissions now!

Are you sure that this is the best way to go about something like this. I think that a magazine should have some sort of balance of articles, which you may not get by asking for submissions. I think that 'commissioning' articles on specific topics from your contributors may be a better way to go.

Devrim

[Devrim]

A magazine of communist polemic

Personally I think that the whole polemic thing has been disastrous for any attempt to make a discussion of communist politics.

Devrim

[black magick hustla]

Personally I think that the whole polemic thing has been disastrous for any attempt to make a discussion of communist politics.

Devrim

"polemic" here means as in "cultural polemic" - it's not what leftcoms mean by polemic, which usually amounts to talking shit about other sects/grouplets etc. it means in mainstream discourses something edgy, or provocative. a lot of mainstream political/cultural magazines use that word

[black magick hustla]

Are you sure that this is the best way to go about something like this. I think that a magazine should have some sort of balance of articles, which you may not get by asking for submissions. I think that 'commissioning' articles on specific topics from your contributors may be a better way to go.

Devrim

Well, some of us have made already some articles, but we need more. the idea is about writing about the "present state of things", which is in the submission. A lot of magazines start with a generic theme for an issue and then ask for submissions. I'm basing myself from other magazines/journals that have been more or less sucessful launches.

[#FF0000]

Sounds hella cool. Good luck with this.

[Crixus]

i don't know why leftists make this so dramatic. have you read liberal publications out there? some of them deal with some pretty deep stuff, without the need of fuzzy language and only the ocassional jargon, and reference. i'm just tired of crap writing, there is no excuse for crappy writing, period.
Wasn't attacking or criticizing. I love crappy writing. Bring on the jargon and mathematical equations. Sometimes it's well and good if they throw in some Latin and maybe even Sumerian or Akkadian just to simplify discourse. It helps to have pictures of Trotsky wearing a ushanka all over the page. Maybe Lenin with a clinched fist at the peak of the Caucasus mountains while holding in the other hand the unsheathed bloody sword of communism pointed at the sky. Standing on the skulls of the bourgeoisie. This tendency shows us the way. Do not deviate. Follow us off the cliff into utter irrelevance.

You know, communism!

http://www.accelerator3359.com/Wrestling/pictures/bolsheviks.jpg


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Ushanka.JPG
;) ^ The present state of things^

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

the problem is not so much the use of jargon, but bad writing. the idea was to create an ultraleft jacobin of some sort. some people just use jargon as fuzzy, empty signifiers.

"Ultraleft" in the "far left" sense, or in the "LeftCom/Impossibilist/PLP" sense? Anyway, I am not sure you will be able to escape jargon without simplifying matters too much - or drowning readers in paraphrases every time you publish an article.

Also, the topic of "the present state of things" seems far too vague.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Wasn't attacking or criticizing. I love crappy writing. Bring on the jargon and mathematical equations. Sometimes it's well and good if they throw in some Latin and maybe even Sumerian or Akkadian just to simplify discourse. It helps to have pictures of Trotsky wearing a ushanka all over the page. Maybe Lenin with a clinched fist at the peak of the Caucasus mountains while holding in the other hand the unsheathed bloody sword of communism pointed at the sky. Standing on the skulls of the bourgeoisie. This tendency shows us the way. Do not deviate. Follow us off the cliff into utter irrelevance.

You know, communism!

http://www.accelerator3359.com/Wrestling/pictures/bolsheviks.jpg


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Ushanka.JPG
;) ^ The present state of things^

I am both confused and aroused.

[black magick hustla]

"Ultraleft" in the "far left" sense, or in the "LeftCom/Impossibilist/PLP" sense? Anyway, I am not sure you will be able to escape jargon without simplifying matters too much - or drowning readers in paraphrases every time you publish an article.

Also, the topic of "the present state of things" seems far too vague.

It's not about "not using jargon" it's about using jargon when it is necessary. The problem with jargon is that a lot of times it's a reflex and a substitute for bad writing. it's in the submission.

it's purposely a vague topic. Have you ever read submission guidelines from new magazines? The reason why topics are vague is so that people get creative about it. I mean, THE PRESENT STATE OF TRADE UNIONS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE CLASS AND THE STATE is just well, narrow and boring.

[Crixus]

I just gave you a submission and you don't even know it.

[Os Cangaceiros]

um not true. have you read jacobin? it has shitty politics but it's very marxist. it's semi mainstream:

http://jacobinmag.com/

the problem is not so much the use of jargon, but bad writing. the idea was to create an ultraleft jacobin of some sort. some people just use jargon as fuzzy, empty signifiers.


anyway. you should submit. i always liked your writing style.

I've read a few Jacobin articles. Generally I get something out of them, even if I don't agree with them, or even strongly disagree with them. But I'm well versed in this left-wing shit, so I don't know...

Generally speaking, though, I find it hard to communicate with those who are completely outside the left-wing scene. For example, even if I were to reference something like "Marxism", who the fuck outside of the left even knows what the full context of that word means? I think this is the problem, is conveying our ideas in a way that is clear & not cluttered by the obscure baggage of the milieu yet isn't tainted by the baggage that others (who are not part of the left) put on us. Or maybe I'm just drunk, I don't know.

[Ele'ill]

bookmarked

[Brosa Luxemburg]

If you guys want to, you can use the blog post I made about the war in Afghanistan. I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for though.

[black magick hustla]

Generally speaking, though, I find it hard to communicate with those who are completely outside the left-wing scene. For example, even if I were to reference something like "Marxism", who the fuck outside of the left even knows what the full context of that word means? I think this is the problem, is conveying our ideas in a way that is clear & not cluttered by the obscure baggage of the milieu yet isn't tainted by the baggage that others (who are not part of the left) put on us. Or maybe I'm just drunk, I don't know.

it's not aimed "for the masses". it's aimed for people that at-least have some baseline of left wing theory. i don't think the masses will read a communist publication. but there's "a lot" of people out there who know what marxism is. at least in comparison to ultraleft theory. the point is not to reach out of the scene, but to start writing in a better way. As i said, pompous jargon-ladden language is not about word economy or "taking within the scene" but bad writing. even myself that im well acquainted with a lot of theory, i have to reread some texts cuz' sometimes i dont know wtf is the thesis of a particular article and there are fuzzy sentences etc

[Os Cangaceiros]

Oh, OK. That makes more sense then.

[Per Levy]

have you tried to find help over on readmarx? there are some who could probally help with articles and so on and someone might give you lots of poems if you want.

[Sam_b]

You really need to have articles up when you launch rather than a 'call out'. Otherwise why would anyone write you anything if they can put it on their own blog or established ones that have a following?

[black magick hustla]

You really need to have articles up when you launch rather than a 'call out'. Otherwise why would anyone write you anything if they can put it on their own blog or established ones that have a following?

we have our own articles, which will be relased when the first issue is released. but that's not how magazines work.... lot's of journals start with callouts before publishing articles. as i said, we are just following similar steps to other new journals. LIES journal did a similar thing...

anyway, there aren't "journals" out there "with a following" of this nature...thats why it has been generating a relatively high amount of buzz

[Revenant]

If I send you a submission and it's crap will you tell me why it's crap and how it could be better? :laugh:

[black magick hustla]

If I send you a submission and it's crap will you tell me why it's crap and how it could be better? :laugh:

prolly

[L.A.P.]

So you want a post-structural rhizomatic deconstructionist critique of small Left groups I don't like in relation to bourgeois spectacle-culture, right? :rolleyes:

[NewLeft]

sounds good in theory, but does not work in practice

pls dont turn this into the joke that is jacobin magazine

http://jacobinmag.com/2013/04/fellow-travelers/ this is an example of a sexually frustrated leftist

[black magick hustla]

sounds good in theory, but does not work in practice

why doesn't good, clear prose work in practice?

[Ravachol]

Jacobin "doesn't work" (re. any genuine elaboration of communist theory) because of its politics, not because of its style. Much of the ultraleft (and I use this term to refer to a particular milieu separate from both leftists and 'far-leftists' (MLs, Trots, etc.)) is troubled by the writings styles and highly ideosyncratic jargon (Part of the reason why this is the case is historical, another part is bad translation) that emerged out of particular milieus (eg. the historical communist left, the french ultraleft, etc.) which makes it very inaccessible to people genuinely interested in communist theory and perspectives, which is a shame imo.

[Ele'ill]

I see the submission call out was well received on @news. anyways, is there going to be space for responses to accepted submissions?

[Crixus]

This dude is hella communist

http://cdn100.iofferphoto.com/img3/item/501/131/812/men-s-genuine-winter-russian-ushanka-fur-hats-z93-2-c293.jpg

I said hella.

[bricolage]

this sounds pretty cool actually.

[Luís Henrique]

Jacobin "doesn't work" (re. any genuine elaboration of communist theory) because of its politics, not because of its style. Much of the ultraleft (and I use this term to refer to a particular milieu separate from both leftists and 'far-leftists' (MLs, Trots, etc.)) is troubled by the writings styles and highly ideosyncratic jargon (Part of the reason why this is the case is historical, another part is bad translation) that emerged out of particular milieus (eg. the historical communist left, the french ultraleft, etc.) which makes it very inaccessible to people genuinely interested in communist theory and perspectives, which is a shame imo.

You seem to presuppose that style and politics are separable, which I am not sure is true. I fear the impenetrable jargon serves a political purpose.

Luís Henrique

[Decolonize The Left]

Props for this website/magazine. Obviously depending upon the quality of submissions, you might have something pretty cool on your hands. Quick notes:

- Make an About page which is different than the home page. You can do this by making your home page the 'page of posts' page whereby you indicate a call for submission, post when a new issue is out, etc... I think this is already the case, judging by the look of things, so you may want to change the post on the home page to something shorter.
- Make a Submissions page separate from your About page. This frees up your About page to be clear and concise and allows you to expand your submission guidelines as needed. Also, after your first issue you will have archives. These can be stored on the About page as well, or on an Archive page.
- On your Submissions page, be sure to indicate the format you like (doc type, font, etc...). You may also wish to state your turnaround time and indicate if simultaneous submissions are allowed.

I say this only as a writer who submits to publications fairly regularly.

[mybloodisred]

Anarchist writings cool?