Why and how did you became socialists?

[Geddan]

And for how long have you been socialists?

Are you members of the proletariat, or, like myself, people who have come to their senses?

I became a socialist for two years ago or something, I am pretty young (too young...) so it feels like I've been it all my life. I became a socialist because I realized that the system which has made half the world poor and enslaved is not the system which we shall live in until man's extinction. Like Gandhi said, this world has not room for everyone's greed.

This was what made me socialist. I think that argument speaks for itself.

(Edited by Geddan at 1:56 pm on Mar. 17, 2003)

[革命者]

always have been.

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

I've always been a socialist.

In Afganistan I saw what religion and nationalism were causing, so that turned me even more socialist/communist.

[chamo]

I've be soccie/commie for about 2 years or longer. The first I really heard about communism was from my parents trips to East Berlin and the Soviet Union during the 80's. I read up a bit and was amazed and impressed about Marx philosophy.
I immediatley realised how flawed, unjust, unfair, capitalism is, how it brings about poverty, war and hatred. So I guess this is how.
Scotty, were you socialist since you were born? :biggrin:

[Larissa]

I guess since I was about 14, when the Dirty war started, but maybe even before that as well. I started concerning about the opressed and exploited people, about the big differences between the rich and the poor early in life. my family has always been upper middle class and conservative, but fortunatelly I always had my eyes and ears wide open to see and listen what was tried to silence: the thruth, reality itself.

I'm 40 now and it's been a life struggling against capitalism.

[chamo]

I salute you Larissa!

[thursday night]

When one opens their eyes and spends even just a little time learning the truth more than half the time that person is lucky enough to become a socialist. Thus my political views came into being.

[Eastside Revolt]

I've always felt a loathing for greed and power.

I have also always had a loathing for people who will harm others just so they can do what they would like to do. On the same level I will always have a problem with people who impose themselves on other's sole personal freedom (ie: thought, freedom to do drugs, sexuality etc).

On top of all this I have always hated the "American Dream".

It is because of this that I am molding into a socialist. On the same level, I don't believe that socialism is the final destination of man kind. I believe it will be something that today we might describe as anarchy.

[deimos]

I've been a commmunist for 3 years now. I read several books, such as the "globalization trap"(don't know the english title) and I realized that communism solves most problems in the world. In the same age I also realized that not all americans are rich. And I saw what real poverty means, and that there will always be poverty in capitalism.

[Just Joe]

i was a secret Communist for a while back in the day. since my early teens. but then, like virutally everyone, my dreams collapsed with the Berlin Wall. when the Communist movement split in the early 90's, some went Democratic Socialist, a few went Trotskyite and some even went neo-Conservative! i drifted towards democratic socialism with an eye on armed struggle against imperialism in the 6 counties. though m

i'm pretty much a working class guy and with the anti-imperialism i was brought up with, that secured my political beliefs as quite left . i've gone further left recently with all the shite happening in Iraq and with globalisation.

[Umoja]

I've always been a humanitarian, and began to see how money was a huge source of most of the worlds problems. So, I half-heartedly searched for Socialism, and I liked it. That's basically, how I came upon most things though.

Recently, I've become slightly more Anarchist, I guess.

[Iepilei]

Since I was about 14. I had always been a thinker as such, and I often expressed my disappointment in the current system and mindset many americans live their lives in. My family was not really political - so they really didn't offer any form of direction as far as that goes. Pretty much, I just started studying.

I was anarchiest for a little while - though I think that's attributed more to my sense of teenage rebellion. I often engaged in discussions on webforums regarding beliefs on certain things, etc. One day someone I was debating w/ called me a "dirty red".

I was confused, as I knew red meant communist - but I did not know more than what the history books had taught about communism. As far as I figured, it was too ideal a concept.

[Subcomandante Marcos]

i been a socialist since about a year. When i was younger (since im still young) y was a real trouble in school, i almost got expelled from this public school in hawaii, then when i returned to chile i began noticing what poberty is really like. My father is not the richest mothafucker in the planet but i am lucky enough to have food in my table and a place to sleep at night (something most in my country dont have)

By then i began researching what socialism was (i first heard of che guevara but didnt know what it was). I am in a really good scholl that my dad can barely pay for, but it has a great education, it is full of rich kids whos parents own almost everything, i am at the center of capitalism.

By then i realized what a fucked up world this was and began reading and reading and realized what was really going on and what is going to be the future like if imperialism continues its rampage.

I experience first hand what south america is and i see the US exterior policy working in my "democratic" system every day

Something must be done and as Che best puts it:"Yo no soy un libertador, son los pueblos los que se liberan" (I am not a liberator, the people are the ones that liberate themselves)

[KRAZYKILLA]

Yo no un communismo. Never will be a socialist/communist because I have HATRED FOR ALL Political parties; all they lead to is fuck ups. While my ideology is VERY close to Communism, Levinas, Plato and Christianity I find it moronic to join a group. Never been known to be in a clique but have had many friends of the,m I am too free-willed and "different" that no party can encompass my views. I also consider anarchy: kind of pointless because there WILL ALWAYS be LEADERS thus destroying Anarchy.

[Beccie]

I began to think for myself about three years ago and as a consequence I found myself agreeing with socialist/communist/anarchist ideals. Because my family is not interested in politics and I went to a religious based school I feel that that was quite an achievement.

I have always been infuriated by racism, sexism, and homophobia, I empahthise with the oppressed. I think this is what led me to eventually discover that I was indeed a leftist.

[GuErRrIlLa]

Ive bin a commie/socialist for about 3 years. It all started when I read the manifesto, and guerrilla warfare. Also listening to RATM. And because I too finally relize how screwd up the US is. Of course my parents think im full of shit for bieleveing in it.

[CompadreGuerrillera]

I became a socialist because i was fed up with this shit system in the United States, i was pissed off by inhuman fasicst monsters, i have always hated them, Im now fighting for the revolution becuase i see the horrors of fascist and cappie societies, and there needs to be huge changes, i was also extremely impressed of Marx, Che, all the social reformers, and their sacrifices, and i have always been for the people, so thats me.

[Eastside Revolt]

Quote: from KRAZYKILLA on 1:01 am on Mar. 18, 2003
Yo no un communismo. Never will be a socialist/communist because I have HATRED FOR ALL Political parties; all they lead to is fuck ups. While my ideology is VERY close to Communism, Levinas, Plato and Christianity I find it moronic to join a group. Never been known to be in a clique but have had many friends of the,m I am too free-willed and "different" that no party can encompass my views. I also consider anarchy: kind of pointless because there WILL ALWAYS be LEADERS thus destroying Anarchy.


What I don't uderstand is how the typical American dispises even the word government, when they don't even try to change their own.

[Spartacus2002]

after years of working in the mines in bolivia has turned me into a hardened communist, no actually an albanian freind converted me(:

[Larissa]

Quote: from Commie01 on 2:52 am on Mar. 18, 2003
I have always been infuriated by racism, sexism, and homophobia, I empahthise with the oppressed. I agree with you Commie, I'm also against these.

[Palmares]

I've been a commie for the last 2 and a half years. Some of my friends were, they did try to convert me, but I wanted to decide myself. So i read the manifesto, and 'Das Kapital' and saw it was what i am.

[KRAZYKILLA]

The single person has LITTLE OR NO POWER. Only people in power can create change. Or atleast A SHITLOAD od people with little power. i.e. Che; as a doctor whe couldn't do shit besides help the sick and the needy; as a revolutionary he made vast mprovement sin the life of los guajiros. Therefore RedCanada can American people change the government even if they wanted to? NO. The government is way too powerful.

[Eastside Revolt]

I think you are wrong brother. If ther is ANY country in which people could change shit, it would be yours. The biggest problem in your country is media giants.

If the Bill Gates's, Master P's, and Micheal Jordon's of your country would just wake up. Then you'd be able to fund a way better campaign than the two political parties. You would be able to run a campaign of truth rather than a popularity contest. After that, all it would take is for people to get out to the poles and you'd win.
You people could have an election night revolution, easier than anywhere else.

[praxis1966]

I guess you could say that I've been leftist since the age of 14. I was sitting in an American government class in which our teacher gave us a test similar to the one in the now defunct chit-chat forum. He had the intention of seating us according to political affiliation. Turns out w/o ever having read Marx, Friere, Gramsci or any of the rest I was still the farthest left in the class.

I continued on until my junior year, when I decided to write a comparison/contrast paper using The Communist Manifesto and Walden Pond for a world literature class I was taking (seriously pissed my teacher off, but it was her fault for telling us to pick any two books in the library). This, coupled with listening to Brother de la Rocha preach the revolutionary's gospel for two years, really galvanized my ideological mindset.

When I was 18 I registered to vote as a member of the Democratic Party and voted for Clinton in his re-election bid. By the end of his term, however, my disillusion was complete and I had changed my party affiliation from Democrat to the Socialist Party of Florida (a local affiliate of SPUSA). Most recently I voted for Ralph Nader of the Green Party for president.

Finally, I'd like to say fuck the fascists in Washington. Including Bush, Cheney, Fliescher, Powel, and especially John Ashcroft for writing the Patriot Act.

(Edited by praxis1966 at 8:06 am on Mar. 20, 2003)

[notyetacommie]

Hi guys, I've lived slightly more than half of my life under the rule of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until it was prohibited in 1991 or so. I was a pioneer myself! You may not know who the pioneers were. They were sort of boyscouts, but under the communist sauce. They engaged in helping others, especially older citizens, and were actually brought up in such a way that they should become real communists in the future. Then in the perestroyka times there were a lot of struggles in the media between communists and pro-Westerners. The word "communism" associated with everything "bad" people saw in their lives. People, influenced greately by mass media, started blaming communism in the way US are blaming France for not supporting them in this war now. I still don't know if this "freedom of speech"stuff was sponsored by US or not. The Soviet Union split apart in 1991. Many people here regard it as a faulty empire that has nothing or little to do with communism and/or freedom. Maybe. Maybe you know better, as you are looking from the outside, and through time.
I know one thing. I traveled to Kyrgystan and Kasakhstan two years after it split, being an interpreter for an American businessmen, who was so influenced by Gorbatchov's "new thinking" policy that he wanted to start torist business with some of the NIS countries. And everywhere I went, people said that we are one, no matter what politicians do. We are one country. Few people in the West know that there had been a referendum half a year before USSR was destroyed which showed that more than 70 percent of the population of the USSR
WERE FOR KEEPING SOVYETSKY SOYUZ!
The US style democracy that took power next (Yeltsin and the like) OF COURSE used the most democratic decision available- THEY JUST DID WHAT THEY WANTED!
There are immense numbers of Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Chechens, Armenian people, Georgians, Turkmen, Kazakhs, Uzbecs, Azerbaijans - you name it in Russia now, all living in peace (there are nationalists of course, but anyway, none of the nations was forced out of the country the way Russians were forced out of other republics after 1991) We are all forced to live in this capitalist regime, some people started behave like capitalists- even those who called themselves communists during the Soviet times- in order to survive.
I live in a district which is notorious for crime. The crime went up by hundreds percent. There are young people that live only on robbing drunken workers on paydays.
Instead of having different kinds of music, including folk music of all the republics and the masterpieces of classical music that we could hear on TV , we hear ONLY American-style pop-music (with Russian performers basically copying US ones). I found it amasing when I saw a Russian dance performed by CHINESE DANCERS ON THE CHINESE TV!!! You won't see anything of the kind on our "free" TV . Just US "blockbuster" bullshit.

My mother said while voting for Putin: "I don't like him, but he will be elected anyway. Democratic, ha?

After 1998 default I had to live on around $10 a month,
which may be more than some starving nations in Africa or Bangladesh live on, but still I was nearly always hungry.

Not long ago I found out that the reforms that led to the default were designed by Harvard economists. No wonder they didn't work!

Russia has 18 billiarders now. All of them are heads of companies that explore the natural resourses of our country, i.e. they are making money on what belongs or SHOULD BELONG to ALL the people! In the Soviet times, this revenue was more or less equally divided between everybody.

British Petroleum bought 50 percent of the shares of Russia's biggest oil company. What do you think people of Russia got from that selling of VAST share of our natural resources? It's not hard to guess!

The military bases are already installed in Georgia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia are going to become members of Nato, Afganistan, which is located on the border of the former Soviet Union, is being turned into another military base, Iraq, which is located within a bomber's flight from former USSR, is now being brutally bombed, Ukrain eliminates its WMD on the US money, North Korea which borders Russia, is declared the next target, so the USA are closing on us, on Russia! When they are through with us, or, should I say IF they are through with us, who is going to stop them?

This all makes me think that capitalism, especially American style, is definitely not the answer to Russian problems or the problems of the world.

Land to the farmworkers! Factories to the workers! Peace to the people of the Earth!

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

Quote: from KRAZYKILLA on 7:32 am on Mar. 19, 2003
The single person has LITTLE OR NO POWER. Only people in power can create change. Or atleast A SHITLOAD od people with little power. i.e. Che; as a doctor whe couldn't do shit besides help the sick and the needy; as a revolutionary he made vast mprovement sin the life of los guajiros. Therefore RedCanada can American people change the government even if they wanted to? NO. The government is way too powerful.


The governmental power drives on the civilian obidience, so when you disobey, they loose their power.

In the 60' and 70's we saw it with Vietnamprotests, the USA would have collapsed if they hadn't stopped the war, the situation got every day worser for the government. The anti-war movement grew larger and larger and also (sympathisation with) communism.

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

Quote: from notyetacommie on 9:08 am on Mar. 21, 2003
Hi guys, I've lived slightly more than half of my life under the rule of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until it was prohibited in 1991 or so. I was a pioneer myself! You may not know who the pioneers were. They were sort of boyscouts, but under the communist sauce. They engaged in helping others, especially older citizens, and were actually brought up in such a way that they should become real communists in the future. Then in the perestroyka times there were a lot of struggles in the media between communists and pro-Westerners. The word "communism" associated with everything "bad" people saw in their lives. People, influenced greately by mass media, started blaming communism in the way US are blaming France for not supporting them in this war now. I still don't know if this "freedom of speech"stuff was sponsored by US or not. The Soviet Union split apart in 1991. Many people here regard it as a faulty empire that has nothing or little to do with communism and/or freedom. Maybe. Maybe you know better, as you are looking from the outside, and through time.
I know one thing. I traveled to Kyrgystan and Kasakhstan two years after it split, being an interpreter for an American businessmen, who was so influenced by Gorbatchov's "new thinking" policy that he wanted to start torist business with some of the NIS countries. And everywhere I went, people said that we are one, no matter what politicians do. We are one country. Few people in the West know that there had been a referendum half a year before USSR was destroyed which showed that more than 70 percent of the population of the USSR
WERE FOR KEEPING SOVYETSKY SOYUZ!
The US style democracy that took power next (Yeltsin and the like) OF COURSE used the most democratic decision available- THEY JUST DID WHAT THEY WANTED!
There are immense numbers of Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Chechens, Armenian people, Georgians, Turkmen, Kazakhs, Uzbecs, Azerbaijans - you name it in Russia now, all living in peace (there are nationalists of course, but anyway, none of the nations was forced out of the country the way Russians were forced out of other republics after 1991) We are all forced to live in this capitalist regime, some people started behave like capitalists- even those who called themselves communists during the Soviet times- in order to survive.
I live in a district which is notorious for crime. The crime went up by hundreds percent. There are young people that live only on robbing drunken workers on paydays.
Instead of having different kinds of music, including folk music of all the republics and the masterpieces of classical music that we could hear on TV , we hear ONLY American-style pop-music (with Russian performers basically copying US ones). I found it amasing when I saw a Russian dance performed by CHINESE DANCERS ON THE CHINESE TV!!! You won't see anything of the kind on our "free" TV . Just US "blockbuster" bullshit.

My mother said while voting for Putin: "I don't like him, but he will be elected anyway. Democratic, ha?

After 1998 default I had to live on around $10 a month,
which may be more than some starving nations in Africa or Bangladesh live on, but still I was nearly always hungry.

Not long ago I found out that the reforms that led to the default were designed by Harvard economists. No wonder they didn't work!

Russia has 18 billiarders now. All of them are heads of companies that explore the natural resourses of our country, i.e. they are making money on what belongs or SHOULD BELONG to ALL the people! In the Soviet times, this revenue was more or less equally divided between everybody.

British Petroleum bought 50 percent of the shares of Russia's biggest oil company. What do you think people of Russia got from that selling of VAST share of our natural resources? It's not hard to guess!

The military bases are already installed in Georgia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia are going to become members of Nato, Afganistan, which is located on the border of the former Soviet Union, is being turned into another military base, Iraq, which is located within a bomber's flight from former USSR, is now being brutally bombed, Ukrain eliminates its WMD on the US money, North Korea which borders Russia, is declared the next target, so the USA are closing on us, on Russia! When they are through with us, or, should I say IF they are through with us, who is going to stop them?

This all makes me think that capitalism, especially American style, is definitely not the answer to Russian problems or the problems of the world.

Land to the farmworkers! Factories to the workers! Peace to the people of the Earth!


Esdras wetay!

Don't speak more Russian I forgot all of it. I must say I found it a nice piece, especially because I am recognizing a lot of my feelings in it, all the time that I am in history class here in the captalist western, I am hearing how bad life was in the former USSR and how good it's now.

But I know better and often had arguements on this with my teachers.

I must admit that it hurts to compare Moscow in it's current shape and the shape that I saw it, when I left.

I am still very young, but even as a small child I could see that where I was living was closer to utopia than the US will ever be.

I must say that I'd love to be in the scouts, my uncle who worked for the Communist Afgan government had already bought an uniform.

- CCCP, Daloy Captalism!


(Edited by CCCP at 2:45 pm on Mar. 21, 2003)

[Soul Rebel]

Ive always been a commie/socialist. I felt in me when i was a child. I didn't have the same belief systems and needs of children my age. I also come from spain so i saw a different form of life and heard different histories so i have always had the opportunity to develop my own opinions. I learned not to take in what this country wants to feed me ( the US with its bullshit media). Plus having a commie uncle and liberal parents helps. Let me tell you though, after I came back from cuba my love of communism and the socialist state has grown.

[Glevin]

My grandmother went to Russia 1 year before the breakup, and then 2 years later. The comparison is horrifying. photos, video and things she brought back like communist memorbilia(it got sold for dirt cheap becuase of anti-commie shit), I was 12 and she died. When we took all her things away, i went through her traveling things, I now have an original 1917 revolution bolshvik hat and a 1950 ushanka hat with 1917 anniversary badges, It meant nothing to me at the time, and a year later i started getting into sociology, ideas i had and i put in my assignments always came back with the same comments from my teachers, - quite leftist, do you want to re-erect the wall? and Marxism is dead. I had little if any idea what these meant, then i studied, and found the truth.
And then followed my geneology, my great uncle was a Unionist solcialist who was killed in my countries biggest strike, he was shot by police. My grandfather was in the Grand consolidated Trade Union in Uk, an officiol. Then when i was born my parents swithced the order of my middle names because they sounded to much like stalins name, Marshell Josef to josef Marshell. I kinda guess its in my blood.

[Smoking Frog II]

I started due to a combination of JL anderson's book, the motorcyclye diaries and Civ 2.

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

since I knew what politics were, I've been a communist.

[YerbaMateJ]

Quote: from SenoraChe on 2:04 am on Mar. 22, 2003
Ive always been a commie/socialist. I felt in me when i was a child. I didn't have the same belief systems and needs of children my age. I also come from spain so i saw a different form of life and heard different histories so i have always had the opportunity to develop my own opinions. I learned not to take in what this country wants to feed me ( the US with its bullshit media). Plus having a commie uncle and liberal parents helps. Let me tell you though, after I came back from cuba my love of communism and the socialist state has grown.


Tell us more about how socialism has worked in Cuba Senora Che!

[YerbaMateJ]

I am not labeling myself anything yet---other than I know that capitalism is fucked. And I believe that Che Guevara was right in his ideas. And I think the fact that American's lives are ruled by money sucks shit. Does that make me a communist? Socialist? We'll see...

[Uhuru na Umoja]

I have been socialist for the last 5 or 6 six years, but I've becoming increasingly influenced by communism in the last couple of years.

[Soul Rebel]

Ahhh... to explain how socialism has worked in cuba.... Well i will tell you from my experience and from what i have read. When i went down there i was really hoping to see the cuba that i have read about and i did. Their policies that i learned about were carried out in front of my very own eyes. For example, their medicial field. I don't know if you all know that cuba has been called a "medical power," but it has. Cuba's work in medicine has been recognized by many around the world, including by WHO. Cuba may be a third world country but their medicine is very much first world/advanced. They have lent their services to other third world countries, especially to countries in Africa to fight AIDS. They give services as well as supplies.

But their medical practices are note-worthy within cuba itself. For example, Cuba has the lowest AIDS rates. This due to many things: 1st) their AIDS sanitorium, 2nd) their advocacy, and 3rd) their overall health system. How cuba handles AIDS cases has been very controversial, but it seems to have worked. What they do is this: if someone gets a positive diagnosis they get sent to the sanitorium. At the sanitorium patients are very well taken care of- they are given medicine for their every condition, etc. At the sanitorium they are unemployed but yet still get paid their salary and they are allowed to take part in activities such as arts/crafts, gardening, etc. They are also allowed to get vistors and are allowed to leave to visit family and friends (but first they have to go through a serious of psych. tests to make sure they are no danger to the public). Their advocacy also helps. Their are public programs which discuss how to protect oneself. Officials have also come out saying that condoms do not ruin sex, just save lives (which the U.S. gvrnmnt. would never do). Condoms are sold pretty much everywhere and are very afordable, about 99 cents for 3. When i went to church there, i actually found a poster for AIDS prevention in the church. I showed two people holding hands and running on the beach and underneath is said to protect yourself from AIDS think wisely and use a condom. Their overall health care system is wonderful in my opinion. Everyone has health care and is taken care of. The gvrnmnt. has installed programs such as having a doctor on every block, exercise programs for children/elderly, anti-smoking programs (Castro actually stopped smoking in order to be a role-model), etc. This has led to low-infant mortality rates.

Education is also taken quite seriously. I had the great opportunity to enter a school and see what the curriculum was like. In the front of the school posters are posted telling parents/public what expectations must be met. The students take classes in gym, hygiene, history, vocational stuff, etc. Their universities are quite good too. Students from around the world, except the U.S., attend the university in havana (i found this out from meeting a woman on the street who taught there). Their literacy rate is amazing, i believe its like 98 or something. When castro first came to power he challenged communities around cuba to elliminate illiteracy from their town. If a town was able to do this a flag was put up symbolizing their battle against illiteracy. **Just a little comment- children in the school system wear uniforms and little red ties around their neck, symbolizing that they are the next generation of revolutionaries**

Cuba has also set up Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. Obviously this is to make sure that the values of the revolution are up and running smoothly and to protect these values. Cuba also has a ministry for just about everything. I found that they are more bureocratic then the U.S.

However, I really believe that it is in the cuban people where you see socialism at work. These people have such a joy for life. They are more relaxed and enjoy themselves than we do. I mean yes it sucks watching them wait for hours in line to get bread or having them constantly ask you for soap or pencils, but they are better people than the american people. They are helpful and caring and proud. They truly know how to live i think. A lot of people don't like cuba because they think of poverty, but i think that they couldnt be more wrong. These people have the necessities in life, we on the other hand don't. We are extremely materialistic and believe that the more you have the better you are and happier you are. This is not true however. I look at the cuban people and see that they only have what they need to get by, which i believe to be fine, and see that they are better off. Its very hard to explain, i cant find the right words to tell you what its like down there. You would have to experience it to understand.

Sadly, however, things may change. One could feel the influence of capitalism starting to come in, especially in the tourism industry. ***did you know cubans are not allowed to enter the hotels? i hated that because i did want to be surrounded by the cubans, but i guess not other tourists feel the same way.***

I hope that in some way this was helpful to you :)

[Larissa]

Beautiful SenoraChe. I just disagree in one little pint "***did you know cubans are not allowed to enter the hotels?" I was able to see this was not true, at least in Habana and Sancti Spiritus, maybe it is true, though in Varadero, etc.

[Soul Rebel]

Larissa you are right. In Varadero they were not allowed, unless they worked for the hotel or were tour guides. However, in Habana I found they were allowed to enter, they just weren't allowed to go to the rooms. I watched in awe as cubans were constantly denied entrance onto the elevator to go to the rooms, even in the company of the tourist. It was sad, i watched them stand outside and couldn't do anything.

[YerbaMateJ]

It sounds awesome, SenoraChe. I've always had a feeling it would be exactly what you described.

What do you think Americans like us can do to ensure that the Revolution---and all the great things you described about it--- stays alive?

[RedComrade]

Comrades from Russia, specifically notacommieyet how is the communist party right now in Russia? Is their any hope of a new soviet union? How does its strength compare to the other parties, is a new october revolution near?

[Soul Rebel]

Quote: from YerbaMateJ on 10:49 pm on Mar. 25, 2003
It sounds awesome, SenoraChe. I've always had a feeling it would be exactly what you described.

What do you think Americans like us can do to ensure that the Revolution---and all the great things you described about it--- stays alive?


There are many things that one could do to ensure that the Revolution stays alive. One way is to fight the stereotypes that exist about Cuba and socialism/communism. The American people are very much clueless about Cuba and the Revolution. They have been taught by the government to hate Cuba, they have been fed many lies about the country. The americans don't question this information and begin to hate cuba without knowing why. They do not know what cuba is really like, so it is our job to tell them. I have had people in my class criticize cuba and castro (they actually compared him to saddam which made me extremely angry), but once i start to explain the truth to them their ideas begin to change. Point out specific facts, such as their medicial field, their education, their family life (I have found them to be more family oriented then the U.S., even though the U.S. preaches the concept of the nuclear family), the arts, etc.

We can also show our support of the Cuban people. This is about respecting their country and culture. Its about understanding what they are about and adapting
to it. You can also show your support for the cuban people by donating to them. When i went down there i brought school supplies and health and beauty items to pass out. These are things they will ask you for. If you can, try to bring down medical supplies (antibacterial soap, band-aids, aspirin, rubbing alcohol)- we brought a whole bunch. These things are very useful for them and very much appreciated. As an American this is one way in which you can contribute to the Revolution.

Anther way is to keep the memory of the Revolution alive. Don't ever forget about the people who fought in the Revolution and why they sacrifised themselves for the Revolution. Do not forget what the Revolution stands for and its values. This isn't just about knowing about Che, Fidel, Raul, the July 26 Mvmnt., etc. Its about truly understanding what their fight signified. Keep up to date on info. (dont just memorize; learn it) and most important practice the values of the Revolution in everyday life. For example when you see injustice occurring, fight it. You cannot tolerated injustice, speak out against it and take action without fear of what others will say of you. Support changes that will benefit those that are underrepresented in American society. Also try not to support the capitalist system- avoid chain stores, don't buy clothing made in countries supporting sweatshops, etc.

If possible also try to work in the cuba with the people. My friends and i are going to try to move down there to become teachers or to get a job working with the people.

Well, these are just some suggestions. I hope they are helpful :)

[sc4r]

I was brought up in a middle / working class background. One Grandfather was a miner the other a farmworker in Ireland. My parent were teneants in a Pub. My father was very interested in socialism and probably fairly idealistic in the sort of non practising way that people who work 14 hrs a day 7 days a week tend to be, He tried to join the international Brigades but was rejected as he was 12 or 13 at the time. he later volunteered for the Fleet air arm early in ww2 and got in though he was only 15.

I always believed in equality of opportunity and fairness but in a sort of low key way I rebelled in my teens and flirted with idealist capitalism (a la Ayn Rand) I thought is sounded very fair and just (and of course it says it is and if it actually worked like it says it even might be).

In my mid twenties I started to see the fundamental flaws in the theory and explored deeper. The deeper I explored the more glaring and numerous the flaws became. Then I started to see that the world did not seem to look much like the people in Ayn Rand's books (who engage in some decidely non capitalist practises and actually do things that are expressly discouraged by Rand because if they did not she could not make the ends come out like she wanted; its a truly dishonest ideology).

Eventually I returned through Social democracy to my roots and I am happy to say I am now a committed socialist again. The deeper I look into THIS ideaology the less holes there are :-)

I have been a proper socialist for 12 years now and I doubt I will change. I am currently exploring ways to make it a reality (it will come after I am dead I'm afraid, but there u go cant have everything :-)

Oddly I have always voted labour even during my capitalist period because even then I could see that the conservatives calling thmeslves capitalists were nothing of the sort.

Vive la revolution , death to all imperialists whether aristocratic or Economic ones.




(Edited by sc4r at 4:57 pm on Mar. 26, 2003)

[YerbaMateJ]

Thank you for the direction SenoraChe---it means a lot to me. VIVA LA REVOLUCION!!!!!!!!!

[notyetacommie]

RedComrade, my revolutionary salut! The KPRF is going through hard times, I think. There are several reasons for that.
1. Some people are afraid to be associated with it after CPSU was banned and the Communists-dominated S'yezd (assembley) was fired at by the Yeltsin's order in 1993. I was in Moscow then, and it was the time I saw the capitalist democracy at work.

2. Some people think that supporting KPRF they support Stalinists. This is a misconseption to some extent, but it is Comrade Ziuganov who is responcible for that, as he sometimes writes articles praising Stalin. The tricky thing is that there ARE people in KPRF who don't think Stalin was right.

3. Some people think that communists delay the reform process, as they have a relatively high percentage of seats in the Duma, i.e. Russian Parliament. Here I might add that some left-wingers on their part say that KPRF, on the contrary, fail to prevent the president, the government and the rest of the Parliament from their unjust capitalist policies in law-making. This might be true, partially, but since 2000, communists have been facing a tremendous resistance from this block. Just to think of it: Putin was appointed by Yeltsin as his successor and he won the presidential election. The Yedinstvo (Unity) party, which was created almost overnight and was proclaimed as the pro-President party won the majority in the parliamentary elections, and the government was, again, apponted by the president. All-anti-communist. All the legitimate successors to a criminal president(Yeltsin). My mother said while voting for Putin and Yedinstvo:"I don't like them, but they will be elected all the same". Democratic elections:)

4. There are many minor communist parties that don't really want to be considered as part of KPRF, which is the biggest one.

5. KPRF is viewed as the aging party, and communism as an outdated, which is not true. It is just a media image. Anyway, there are LOTS of young people willing to go left.

6. Even calls for changing the power are naturally considered crimes. Again, people are afraid to talk of changing the government in a violent way. So the revolution isn't to come soon. BUT!!! More and more people see that going in the capitalist direction leads to poverty of THE VAST MAJORITY of the people. More and more people start thinking that only communists can stop the ripping off policies of the capitalist government.
Look at the right-wing posts on this board. These people are determined to make their way at the expence of other's lives. This is the way with the right. It is very hard. I think, to find a violent right-wing supporter somewhere in the ghetto would be close to impossible.

7. Soviet Union. It has been dissolved illegally and against the will of its people (70+% against), and it NEEDS to be restored. And it WILL be restored. I will tell you more on this later.