New to RevLeft, would appreciate some advice.

[Adolescent socialist]

Hello everyone, for now I'll just use my username.

I am adolescent socialist, and I'm new to revleft. I'm not entirely sure what kind of leftist I am, although I know I'm a marxist. I could be categorized as a left communist, a council communist, a marxist DeLeonist, an autonomist marxist, or a Luxemburgist (although the last one is sort of a stretch). I was wondering if some of the users here could show me the ropes, and maybe help me figure out my specific brand of marxism.



Many thanks
-adolescent socialist

[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.

[G4b3n]

Marxist ideologues are annoying (just as Marx said they were in his day). Just read works from Marxists of all shades and don't confine yourself to one school of thought. Hell, even anarchists can have some useful things to say (sometimes).

[#FF0000]

What I would do is read some history, engage openly in discussions (don't be afraid of being wrong) and ask a lot of questions. Read what Important Marxists had to say but don't approach this as actively trying to find a niche. If you do, you end up with an identity and a set of beliefs more akin to a religion than a set of ideas.

[Sewer Socialist]

Are there any Marxist groups in your area? What do you think of the work they do? What do you think of the IWW?

You can use the search function of this forum to view many, many pages of arguments on historical things like analyses of the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, etc. You could narrow it down by seeing what you think about those revolutions and states.

You could also answer this - do you feel that revolutionaries should be organized through the workplace or a party?

You could also decide not to decide (at least for now), maybe just read some Marx for starters (assuming you haven't) and try to find some groups in your area.

[lutraphile]

Honestly, and this may not be the most popular opinion here, read Wikipedia. I'll admit that my reading of actual socialist literature is fairly limited, but reading Wikipedia articles and just articles about parties and ideologies in various publications has given me a broader, if less deep, knowledge of differing views than if I had spent the same amount of time reading theoretical works.

[Sewer Socialist]

I think Wikipedia might be how the OP came to this list of tendencies they might agree with, and this post is asking for more information than Wikipedia provides.

[StromboliFucker666]

Look, just talk with some of us and you'll find your place. Personally I am a libertarian marxist. Tell us more about the details of your ideas.

[Црвена]

Welcome, fellow adolescent commie :)

My advice would be not to get too wrapped up in finding a label for yourself. Sure, they can be useful overviews of one's political position, but ultimately, no one is going to share all the opinions of a certain tendency, and everyone to some degree is an amalgamation of tendencies. I think it's more useful to focus on refining your points of view on certain issues and finding which active socialist organisations you agree with and could possibly work with.

[The Idler]

Welcome OP, if you're partly identifying as a DeLeonist already, you're further along than many here. Users urging you 'don't label yourself', 'confine yourself to one niche', 'be religious about it', seem to only say that when users come on here coming from a non-Bolshevik approach which I'd say is a pretty good (if a bit historical) starting point. Steer clear of central committees and their orders.

[Blake's Baby]

If you're identifying as something that might be Left-Comm, Council Comm, De Leonist or Luxemburgist, then perhaps you should also check out the SPGB and the World Socialist Movemnent. They are (like the De Leonists) part of the 'Impossiblist' current that came out of the Second International. Unlike the De Leonists, they still exist.

Of course, I'd also recommend making contact with Left Communists and Council Communists (difficult to find the latter however) to discuss with them. There is a Luxemburgist organisation, but as someone who considers myself a Luxemburgist, I don't really recognise their Luxemburgism as genuine reflection of Rosa's thought. But still, if you think it's worth it you can try to get in touch with them. They're mostly in Spanish and haven't been very active lately as far as I can tell.

If you join the Left Communist user-group here, there's a post on there with contact details of most of the Left Comm organisations and groups that publish in English. It's a pretty good resource (I would say that, I started the list) for finding Left Comm groups.

[Sasha]

admin break: trashed the negative and offtopic banter and flaming, verbal warning to Atsumari, Comrade Jacob and Illuminate, keep that shit out of the intro forum (and from the whole board for that matter)

to the OP, welcome and do not let people give you shit for being a n00b, we all where one day, the people giving you most shit probably only a few months ago. :)