So, you're a middle class socialist

[pbamberger]

check the labels on your clothing, then ask are you really a socialist or a guilt-ridden middle class liberal........3 billion people, 240 million being children, slave in sweatshop factories mainly to fill the greedy needs of the world's middle class...i've marched with too many nike-wearing "socialists" since the start of the Iraqi war........it's time to redefine who a socialist

[Q]

This is not really an introduction, is it?

Welcome anyway.

If you have political questions, you can ask them in the Learning forum. That's why it's there after all!

If you have questions about your account, don't hesitate to send me a PM or ask here.

As for your remarks: We all live in capitalist society. Being a communist is not a lifestyle. Boycotting brands has little to do with proletarian politics or awareness... But could you, you know, introduce yourself a bit?

[Red Nightmare]

So what do you propose, that we move out to the boonies and sew our clothes out of agave cactuses? We live in a capitalist society and there is simply no escaping that no matter what you go and do. We all need to eat and have the materials we need to live and the only way we can do that now is by buying capitalist products since we don't control the means of production. That is what makes capitalism exploitative, it forces people to be a part of it rather they want to or not. Lifestylism, as appeasing as it may seem won't bring down capitalism only revolutionary action will.

[Tim Cornelis]

Actually, liberalism would be the lifestylism you described. And identifying consumption with greed in a negative sense is another sign of liberalism. Guilt doesn't drive me at all, and I assume it doesn't for other socialists either.

[Nevsky]

I don't wear any fancy clothes. And even if I did, how would that not make me a socialist? If someone sells his labour to the markets, why can't he buy anything not ultra-cheap from the money he earned? Why do people think that communists glorify poverty? Obviously, someone who owns luxurious mansions, Ferraris etc. would be hardly believable as a communist. Your use of the term "liberal" irritates me, sounds like american reactionary slang for "leftist".

[Ele'ill]

check the labels on your clothing, then ask are you really a socialist or a guilt-ridden middle class liberal........3 billion people, 240 million being children, slave in sweatshop factories mainly to fill the greedy needs of the world's middle class...i've marched with too many nike-wearing "socialists" since the start of the Iraqi war........it's time to redefine who a socialist

welcome to the forum, what corporate brands do you suggest we buy? What specific corporate material do you suggest we buy to make our own clothes? What specific corporate machines do you suggest we buy to process the materials we could obtain to .lol .. no I don't have that much time

[bricolage]

you do realise it's actually the middle class that make up the bulk of anti-nike/brands consumerism?

[Per Levy]

But could you, you know, introduce yourself a bit?

i think he did introduce himself pretty well, he is a middle class socialist who is annoyed by other middle class socialists who dont care about his lifestyle issues.

@op: so what brand do you wear then? or do you not wear clothes? or do you have money and the skill to make all you clothes yourself? please enlighten us.

[Igor]

i don't have time for diy nor the economical means to be particularly picky about where my clothing comes from, non-sweatshop shit is generally expensive as fuck

idk if this makes me a middle class "socialist" then

[Igor]

also considering i'm pretty damn irrelevant in the system of global capitalism and how socialism is not a lifestyle etc i'm going to make some supposedly "unethical" choices that make my life better

i could make shit clothes for myself and dress in second hand stuff but i really like dressing nice and i really think it's a thing that increases my life quality by making me feel good about myself. it's not that most of us have a massive abundance of those things

[Yuppie Grinder]

but nikes are dope
have you even seen the new jordan 3 retro

[Comrade #138672]

Welcome.

I made the same mistake by attributing too much value to issues that are basically lifestyle issues. Yes, there is a labour aristocracy dividing the working class to some extent, but in the end we are all workers (with some minor exceptions).

Don't underestimate what you call the "middle class Liberal".

[pbamberger]

Capitalism: get a man to feel like a loser, you can sell him anything to ease the pain a while

corporate greed feeds of of middle class greed

the poor are poor because we cheat them

the end of war is not peace, the end of poverty is

still a slave-based economy, just out-sourced

[Q]

Welcome :)

If you have political questions, you can ask them in the Learning forum. That's why it's there after all!

If you have questions about your account, don't hesitate to send me a PM or ask here.

I suppose these are sticker texts, but could you introduce yourself a bit?

[pbamberger]

you suppose wrong...they are not bumper sticker text....they are mine

[Q]

you suppose wrong...they are not bumper sticker text....they are mine

Then the thread title is misleading.

Anyway, since this is an introduction forum, could you actually introduce yourself?

[Fourth Internationalist]

Welcome to RevLeft! :D

[pbamberger]

Before you consider yourself a socialist, there are several things you need to know and several questions you need to ask. First, and foremost, it is imperative to understand that capitalism’s success is based on the premise that if you get people to feel like losers, you can sell them anything to ease the pain awhile. This, historically, has led to great suffering and violence. You must also understand that the poor are poor because we cheat them. That corporate greed feeds off middle class greed. You must understand that you are in constant danger of working for and in consuming goods provided to you by what is still a slave-based economy, just outsourced. (Currently, three billion people, 240 million being children, slave in sweatshop factories to produce consumer goods predominantly for the world’s middle class.) As a socialist, it is your absolute responsibility not to be one of them. If you have the heart to end poverty, you do not have the heart to start wars. You must constantly ask yourself are you building a decent life for yourself and your family on the backs of children wasting away in these sweatshop factories. When you shop, do you make a concerted effort to buy products not made by these children? When you shop, do you try to buy used goods first, in order to cut into the profit incentive that perpetuates this worldwide enslavement of children? Do you spend money to feed and maintain a dog while twenty-five thousand people, mostly children under the age five, die from starvation every day?* Having a middle class income, do you re-direct as much money as you can (it must hurt a little) directly into the hands of the poor or into earth-sustaining projects and away from the control of corporate America, or do you spend an inordinate amount of the money you have earned and have complete control over on what they have convinced you are your basic "needs?” As a socialist, do you project your responsibilities outwardly into a socioeconomic, political system that has proven itself to be ineffectual at solving even the most basic of human needs, and expect those institutions to do your work for you, or do you recognize and embrace your responsibilities and take them on directly? Does it is sadden you that, while your country is the richest country in the world, out of the top thirty-five wealthiest countries in the world, it ranks as having the second highest rate of childhood poverty? In declaring yourself a socialist, are you are that you are in danger of being nothing more than a guilt-ridden middle class liberal lamenting the human condition while maintaining your affluence, and not so much a socialist?
These are just a few of the questions you must ask, answer and act upon if you intend a true transformation from a middle class liberal and into a socialist. Socialism is a state of mind, a broaden world view based in a love of humanity. You must not think globally and act locally, but rather you must think and act globally. It truly is a global village we live in. We are one species, one family. We are by our very natures, when left unfettered by conditioned ideas, values and behaviors, socialists, each and everyone of us. We are, after all, genetically wired to be social primates.
It’s a mighty difficult task you have set yourself.

[Q]

Merged all three pbamberger threads as all are on the same subject.