Hello Everybody!

[TerraSquirma]

I'm a 14 year old Marxist-Leninist who's been looking at this forum for a while but today I've finally been bothered to make an account! I've been a communist for about 2 years now and was a socialist prior (and a conservative before then, but that was when I didn't understand politics).

In terms of friends who are communist, well, I managed to 'convert' 2 of my friends to communism (they were both Marxist-Leninists as well, if I remember) but they both moved right, one becoming a free-market socialist and the other began advocating a state. Both of them 'respect' communism, however, and hate capitalism. I have 2 other communist friends, one of them seems to be Marxist or Marxist-Leninist (and is also Russian) and the other is probably Marxist-Leninist. These two were communist before me.

In terms of communist literature I haven't read much. I've read a bit of Marx's capital, and a small excerpt from a book by Trotsky, but that's about it, really.

[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.

What attracts you to 'Marxism-Leninism'? I'm wondering what the appeal might be towards what is more commonly known as Stalinism.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I like your user name.

Have you thought about seeking out or holding film-screenings or that sort of thing to help you and your sympathetic friends develop politically?

I highly recommend It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (http://www.submedia.tv/stimulator) as an accessible, punchy, and rad way to get some exposure to ongoing struggles . . .

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

I'm a 14 year old Marxist-Leninist who's been looking at this forum for a while but today I've finally been bothered to make an account! I've been a communist for about 2 years now and was a socialist prior (and a conservative before then, but that was when I didn't understand politics).

In terms of friends who are communist, well, I managed to 'convert' 2 of my friends to communism (they were both Marxist-Leninists as well, if I remember) but they both moved right, one becoming a free-market socialist and the other began advocating a state. Both of them 'respect' communism, however, and hate capitalism. I have 2 other communist friends, one of them seems to be Marxist or Marxist-Leninist (and is also Russian) and the other is probably Marxist-Leninist. These two were communist before me.

In terms of communist literature I haven't read much. I've read a bit of Marx's capital, and a small excerpt from a book by Trotsky, but that's about it, really.

Out of curiosity, which book was that?

In any case, I'm afraid I can't really understand the second paragraph at all - why do you distinguish between "communism" and "socialism" (does "socialism" mean "social democracy" here?)? And what is a "free market socialist"? It sounds about as sensible to me as German "war socialism" of the WWI era.

[#FF0000]

Welcome!

[TerraSquirma]

Q: Personally I believe there should be some kind of 'political stability' during the transitional period where wealth is redistributed etc. It's likely wealthy and politically influential capitalists may try and stop such economic change. However, this transitional period should be as short as possible, really.

The Garbage Disposal Unit: I haven't, actually, but considering the apathy of most of my friends I doubt I could ever do such a thing. Thanks for your recommendation - I have watched a few episodes of It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine and it is very interesting so far. Will continue to watch it.

Xhar-Xhar Binks: From what I can remember, the book seemed to be an autobiography about Trotsky living in London in the early 1900s and talking with Lenin about Iskra but I don't know the title of the book at all. And yes, I used the term socialism incorrectly (probably social democracy, to be honest). And on the topic of free-market socialism... well, that's what my friend calls himself. He hasn't really explained his politics to me, but it seems to be social democracy, again.