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Conkercorner
1st November 2013, 04:33
Hello, comrades and comrades. I've been debating with myself about signing up on RevLeft for a while now and decided to give it a go.

I'm from the UK, specifically Wales. As far as I know, there's no influential major leftist movement around here. On top of that, the UK's communist parties are notorious for being very disunited and inactive, so it's difficult to decide which way to vote.

I've always adhered the left wing in some capacity, but in recent years I've finally abandoned Social Democracy in favour of communism. I'm not entirely sure which tendency I identify with most, although there are certainly some that I disagree with. My lurch to the left actually started when right-wingers I'm acquainted with would make wild and ignorant claims about communism, and even though I didn't support the ideology at the time I felt they were being unfair. This led to my constantly debating in defense of communism, gathering information on assorted variants and eventually I came to realize that I actually agreed with its basic principles. :grin:

The only reason I didn't drift further to the left sooner is that I'd fallen victim to a number of sadly common misconceptions about communism.

Anyway, I hope to have a lot of interesting discussions here and maybe get some reading recommendations. See you all around.

Q
1st November 2013, 11:18
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.

GiantMonkeyMan
1st November 2013, 11:30
Welcome to the forum. I had a similar experience on my route to communism where I argued in defence of things I perhaps didn't fully understand purely because I knew the capitalist propaganda line was misinformation at best. I hope you learn as much as I have during your time here.

The Idler
2nd November 2013, 20:05
Welcome I used to be involved in a SPGB group in North Wales.

TheSocialistMetalhead
2nd November 2013, 20:59
Hey, welcome to the forum:). Out of interest, what were these 'common misconceptions' you had about communism. Also, why did you pick communism out of all the possible left wing ideologies such as syndicalism, anarchism,...?

Conkercorner
3rd November 2013, 18:16
Hey, welcome to the forum:). Out of interest, what were these 'common misconceptions' you had about communism. Also, why did you pick communism out of all the possible left wing ideologies such as syndicalism, anarchism,...?

The misconceptions I had were that Stalin-era authoritarianism is somehow part of communist doctrine, and that communism meant dictatorship. Most of the negative perceptions I had of communism came from its association with modern "socialist" countries like the PRC or DPRK.

I drifted to communism and not another part of the left because while I agree with certain aspects of anarchism and syndicalism, I tend to agree more with communist thinkers like Marx, Lenin or Luxemburg. Components like the dictatorship of the proletariat draw me to communism over others. :)

Thank you to everyone so far for the welcome.

TheSocialistMetalhead
14th November 2013, 00:13
Wait, What? He's banned already?

Q
15th November 2013, 17:57
Apparently so. Although it isn't logged anywhere, so I have no idea why or who did it.

Thread closed.