Hey there, guys!

[Gia]

I'm a recently turned leftist and quite proud of it, I am also very glad to be a part of this community now. I must admit that I began realising that my way of thinking and my principles resonate with the left wing by having read and somewhat intteracted with some nasty pieces of scum, some fanatic Christian fundies, blatant misogynists (read actitivists of the so-called "Men's Rights Movement"), hompphobic and racist arseholes, traditionalists etc. , and do you know what I have noticed? That most of these hateful, intolerant, stuck-in-the-19th-century kind of people identify themselves as a part of the right-wing (I say most because some like to attach themselves to crazy interpretation of libertanism).
It is in the left wing that I have found tolerance, acceptance (I'm a bisexual girl myself), understanding, REASON and LOGIC, the principle of equality between races, genders, sexualities, basically all the good things that a civilized society based on a leftist ideology has to offer and I strongly believe that this is the ideal world which people should aspire to build.
I hope to make good friends here and I'm very thankful for having been welcomed among you. Btw, are there any particular history books or authors that you reccomend for me to read on the topic of the left side or ideologies in general which can help me learn more? As I said, I'm still fairly new and I've got a lot to learn and educate myself about.

Best wishes to you all!

[Quail]

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 Q (the mod who usually does this) or me a PM or ask here.

Where are you from and what is the left scene like there (if any)?

[BIXX]

Welcome to RevLeft!

Would you care to tell us more about your politics specifically?

[Gia]

Well, I am from Romania, as from the left scene here... I don't exactly know, it's kinda complicated, I stopped following the politics around here some time ago because everything it's so mixed up it's making my head hurt. I think most people here tough are a bit afraid to identify themselves as leftists out loud because all of the mess that the communist regime under Nicolae Ceausescu has caused in this country.
Let me clarify here, communism as an ideology, as presented by Marx, is something that I find very logical, reasonable and appealing, but what happened to Romania was power abuse in the name of communism, and it stopped being about the people, but only about the leader's wishes. Ceausescu has developped a god-complex as other well-known dictators, people would have to sit in line FOR HOURS in order to buy a piece of meat, even the bread was given under strict rules, people would stop having power by 8 p.m. or so in their houses, so if you needed any light to something during the night, you would need plenty of candles etc. And by December 1989, when the revolution took place, people were hungry and cold.
Many intellectuals and good people have died in Ceausescu's communist prisons, however, I still do not believe that this is the way that Karl Marx meant for communism to developp and be interpreted, with people being killed and persecuted, with abortion being forbidden (yes, under Ceausecu's rule, abortion was strictly forbidden in Romania, and you do not want to know the lenghts that women had to go to prevent or get out of unwanted pregnacies, because birth control and condoms were also forbidden), with food being available in very strict "doses", with people being generally forbidden to get out of the country... All in all, the "communism" that Romania experienced wasn't exactly communism or socialism at its core, because, in my opinion, these are all about and FOR the people, the workers, whereas what happened here was more like power abuse by a nascisistic nutjob.
I still have a lot to figure out and educate myself about in order to define my politics clearly, to answe Echo Shock, but I do think that a reasonable socialism is the way to go, as I see it kind of happens in Scandinavia... I'm going to the town's library in the next few days to pick up Marx's Manifesto and maybe something related.

Best wishes!

[the debater]

It is in the left wing that I have found tolerance, acceptance (I'm a bisexual girl myself), understanding, REASON and LOGIC, the principle of equality between races, genders, sexualities, basically all the good things that a civilized society based on a leftist ideology has to offer and I strongly believe that this is the ideal world which people should aspire to build.


If I remember correctly, Nikola Tesla himself believed in the equality of women and the races. It's pretty easy to look up Tesla's views on women. In terms of his racial views, if I recall correctly, he gave an answer to a question in an interview where he said that technology would lead to the improvement of living conditions for all the peoples of planet Earth. I'm not sure about this however, so look it up yourself when you get the time. In My Life and Work, according to Wikipedia, Henry Ford also talks about how racism must be overcome in order for the entire world to progress into the future. Granted, he may have been anti-Semitic, but I think that had more to do with wealthy Jews being greedy bankers rather than outright bigotry towards the Jewish people. Anyone who is a greedy banker or industrialist ought to be scrutinized, regardless of their race, religion, or ethnicity.

I myself am adamantly opposed to religious fanaticism, and no, I do not give Muslims a free pass, for all those fundamentalist Christians who think that only their religion gets criticized by individuals such as myself. I am opposed to all forms of religious extremism and am a former christian myself. Having said that, I don't hate Tim Tebow or Jeremy Lin, and I still respect and admire the teachings of religious figures like Jesus. However, I don't think Jesus was a divine being, but rather, an intelligent scholar or philosopher, on the same level as Socrates or Confucius. As an agnostic, I am open to the idea that there may be higher forces in the universe that are in control of what goes on. Of course, I still believe that if such forces do exist, they should be investigated through experimentation and trial and error. Absolutely no faith involved!:thumbup1:

[a_wild_MAGIKARP]

Welcome! :)


but I do think that a reasonable socialism is the way to go, as I see it kind of happens in Scandinavia...
Scandinavian countries are liberal social democracies. They have some nice benefits over most other capitalist countries like free health care, free education, etc, but they still operate under capitalism.

[The Idler]

Oxford University Press
Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction by Colin Ward
Communism: A Very Short Introduction by Leslie Holmes
Socialism: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Newman
Marx: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer
Engels: A Very Short Introduction by Terrell Harver

Icon Books/Pantheon/Totem
Introducing Marx by Rius
Introducing Marxism by Rupert Woodfin and Oscar Zarate

Graphic Guides
Marx's Das Kapital for Beginners by Michael Wayne, illustrated by Sungyoon Choi (Steerforth)
The Communist Manifesto Illustrated: Chapter 1 by George Rigakos (Red Quill, 2010)
The Communist Manifesto Illustrated: Chapter 2 by George Rigakos (Red Quill, 2011)
The Communist Manifesto Illustrated: Chapter 3 by George Rigakos (Red Quill, 2012)
Anarchy by Clifford Harper (Camden Press, 1987)

[Thirsty Crow]

Hi there, from not so far from Romania :)

[Fourth Internationalist]

Have you read Friedrich Engel's Principles of Communism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm)? It's available at marxists.org (Marxists Internet Archive).

I'd recommend checking this out: Beginners Guide to Marxism (http://marxists.org/subject/students/index.htm) and Lenin's The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/mar/x01.htm).

Are you interested in any particular tendency right now?

[Comrade Jacob]

Welcome! What tendency are you? (if any).

[Gia]

First of, thank you all for your kind replies.

the debater: I do not oppose people following positive teachings of religious figures as long as they don't seek to push those certain beliefs on other people as we already know most followers of organized religions do. Anyone is free to believe in absolutely anything they want to, but what these religious nutties need to understand is that one's freedom ends where the other's freedom begins, they are free to worship their god as long as their worshipping does not interfire with other people's freedom of choosing not to do the same as them. I'm quite interested in spirituality myself, more of a research topic interest tough, I do label myself as an atheist. The possibilities are endless, and we can speculate about pretty much anything, but blind faith, as you pointed out should be involved, because it is a very dangerous thing, as history has already proven.

a_wild_MAGIKARP: Thank you for correcting me, I am aware of that, but I should have indeed added that they do operate under capitalism, my main point was that at least Scandinavian countries seem to have been willing to give at least a very light version of socialism a try, and now they are enjoying the benefits of it unlike those who can't conceive anything beyond the rule of capitalism.


The Idler: Thank you very much for this list of suggestions, I'll try my best to organize my time and check them out as soon as possible.

LinksRadikal: Why hi there yourself, how's Croatia? My Romania sucks big time :D.

Aang: I have not yet read it, but if you say it's available online, I'm going to be checking it out starting with today. Thank you for the reccomandations, I'll make sure to make time and study them.
To answer yours and Comrade Jacob's question, I cannot say I am a particular tendency right now since I have yet to look into all tendencies and then make my decision of exactly which tendency I believe I belong to, so I can say that right now I am interested in all tendencies because I wish to study them closely in order to determine where I stand.

[Lahen]

Hello all!

I am Lahen, I am new to this panel. I love to make discussion with peoples and found this forum ever best. I just want to say thanks to admin for accepting me here.

[Thirsty Crow]

LinksRadikal: Why hi there yourself, how's Croatia? My Romania sucks big time :D.

Depressing.

The offensive against workers is well on its way, and has been for quite some time now, but there is an overwhelming sense of passivity among the class. Some token measures have been introduced to alleviate unemployment, but of course this doesn't work the way it's supposed to. Jobs and working conditions are becoming more and more precarious, but hey, we've got that wonderful myth of economic migration now when the country has become a part of the EU.

And of course, nationalism and conservatism. It sucks big time that one of the most recent political campaigns that managed to produce a mass appeal (referendum project) was aimed at enshrining marriage as the union between a man and a woman in the constitution (in other words, anti-LGBT reform).


...my main point was that at least Scandinavian countries seem to have been willing to give at least a very light version of socialism a try, and now they are enjoying the benefits of it unlike those who can't conceive anything beyond the rule of capitalism. Sorry if this seems like nitpicking, but I think it is necessary to point out.

It's far from useful to consider the welfare state as a "light version of socialism" since the existing social relations do not stray from capitalist ones one bit, apart from the beneficial consequences for workers. But this in itself doesn't mean that we're dealing with something other than capitalism, as the institutions of the welfare state basically represent the material and ideological conditions for social reproduction of the working class, whose costs are not to be taken up by capitalist enterprises. And ultimately, the fate of these institutions and benefits is intimately linked to capital accumulation (which can be ascertained from progressive dismantling of said welfare state throughout North America and Europe, starting at least from the 80s).