Why did you?

[Moskitto]

I was wondering why everyone here is socialist/communist?

Have you been one for as long as you can remember? Did something happen which made you feel bad about the capitalist system?

I remeber when I was about 5 I was playing civilisation (yes that's how young I am) and I saw a government type "communist" so I went to look at it in the games encyclopedia and read about the idea and it sounded a good Idea. Then a couple of years ago when the Seattle anti-WTO protestors were protesting I read a newspaper report about what the WTO does then that sent me further. Then people started calling me a nazi for no reason and somehow it made me realise I actually supported communism.

[Nickademus]

i've had a lot of influences in my life that have consistently pointed me towards a leftist idea. it began pretty much inhighschool when i became aware of politics. one of my friends in particular introduced me to chomsky, parenti and the likes. he turned me on to radical music and taught me that it was okay to be different.
he's probably the main reason



(Edited by Nickademus at 12:30 am on Sep. 18, 2001)

[rebel7609]

I'll tell you what attracted ME here.
Up until a couple of months ago, I considered myself conservative. Not extreme like "right wing", but definately conservative. I started thinking different when I started doing the photo research for a book we were publishing on Che Guevara (I work for a book publisher). I had seen the guy's face on posters at college but didn't know a thing about him. Anyway, the more research I did, the more I became interested in his life. Once our book was published I read it in one day. I ran out and got the Anderson book and read it in days. Then I started reading everything I could about him and his politics and beliefs. I swear that I had never really realized there was a world out there. I never knew about things like United Fruit and the copper mines and so on. I couldn't BELIEVE that U.S. companies did things like that. Big money seemed to equal abusive power. Suddenly I got it. Suddenly the "conservative" label didn't feel so good any more. I believed in many of the things that I read that Che belived in. I believed in things like his (Cuba's) revolution and what they were fighting for. It may sound silly to those of you who have always known about these kinds of things but studying Che has been my political awakening. It started from something as simple as finding photos from news archives for a book I was working on. I wanted to find out more about different kinds of politics, foreign policies and to see where I belonged. I started coming to places like this to see the kind of opinions and beliefs that they had. I certainly didn't come here because of communism but I still wanted to learn as much as I could.
At first I started to feel home here. At first. Then the anti-American sentiment became a little difficult. Well, I must say after reading the responses to my question about the terrorist attacks, I realize that this is definately a place that I don't fit in. Some of the people here have a lot of hatred and it's disgusting. The "we had it coming" thing is just outrageous. There seems to be so much complaining. To people like Martyr of Che who do nothing but *****- what have you ever done to make the lives of people, let a lone yourself, any better?
Anyway, I'm sorry I have strayed so far off topic. I was trying to tell you what brought me here because of questions that some people have asked of others about why are we here if we are "pacifists" and outraged over things like the terrorist attacks. That's why I came here. But judging by some of the opinions here, I guess I don't fit in.
I know not everyone here is hateful and ugly. I've "met" some great people from here and talked to them off the board and know them personally. There are some really good and intelligent people here and I do enjoy reading your posts and opinions and I like the Che discussions. A few bad apples may have turned me off to the leftist beliefs, but aren't going to drive me away from the website because MOST of the stuff is interesting and I like to learn about things even if they don't fit into my politics.
Guess I should change my board name. I'm not trying to be an "armchair revolutionary." I just picked the name because it was Che-related. I'll have to come up with something else because it seems stupid to use it now.

[Guest]

Rebel7609, I hear hombre. You're good man. Don't worry. I used to be a conservative myself. I'm Cuban American and always hated Fidel because I was conditioned by the society I lived in. I used to be ultra-right-wing bordering on fascism. I was not a racist but I was heavily on a theocratic bent. But I have seen the light. The more I learned about Che, the more fascinated I was by this mysterious and ingenious fellow. I think it would do you good to read Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America. It has filled me with a fury that knows no bounds.

[Guest]

I wrote that last post before finishing reading your above post. Now I have read it and need to fill some gaps that I left out. I, sir, am myrmidon of Che and proud of it. The reason that I am so anti-American is that I used to be so pro-American and now have come to the conclusion that the lackeys have betrayed me, betrayed my naivete into believing their lies. I apologize if my post offended you but that is what you will get from me: what is in my heart. Maybe what is in my heart is hate. Probably true. But believe me that I'm working toward the evolution of mankind into a Utopic society.

This site is mostly filled with pacifist so you should be like at home here and not feel intimidated. For my own part I'll tone down the rhetoric a bit because I'm only interested in disseminating the truth about American imperialism. Hasta siempre, compadre!

[RedCeltic]

I had been a leftist for a long time.. however first as a libral. When I was 18 and regestered to vote I regestered as a libral. Later realizing that there truly isn't a libral party, and that Librals are in actuality Democrates, I considered myself a Dem. for awile... but a far left dem. Later when I joined a union and started to learn how screwed up unions are in America I started to learn a bit about Union history in America... that's how I learned about Eugene V. Debs who also moved from being pro union to being a Socialist. I've since moved farther left than him as my views are more of World Socialism.

[Chancho]

Hi guys,

An interesting topic Moskitto! I feel I've always had a strong innate sense of social justice - I've always been the one to speak out, take action where others would prefer not to get 'involved', stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves etc.

BUT I grew up with very right wing parents in a very conservative social and political environment. In my teens I became interested in politics. This proved confusing - the more I learned, the more at odds I felt with the ideas expressed by my parents.

One day I decided to ask my father why he was a conservative - as an intelligent and well educated man, I thought he would be able to give a reasoned theory that would give me some clarity. His answer - '...because I would never align myself with the lower classes!' Needless to say, my shock, disgust and disbelief in that moment was a turning point - I realised the great need to educate myself and avoid becoming so profoundly ignorant. I have re-educated myself - politically, socially and ethically.

Something interesting to note is that I am adopted. By the time I met members of my biological family, I had re-educated myself and was decidedly left - and I discovered that my biological family is totally left! People give too much credit to environment - but that's another topic. At least I know my natural inclination led me to question and seek out more satisfactory principles.

[Guest]

Your post was very interesting.
Chancho, your father is very arrogant. Pray, tell me what he does for a living.

[Guest]

Also I'm not anti-American. I'm anti-American policies. I feel real hatred for the lackadaisical lackeys.

[Moskitto]

Also I remember from lower school I was like being cornered by people saying "America is the best country on Earth you cannot speak against them" and "They do such great things and they're perfect" while I'm saying "No they aren't perfect".

I've noticed a lot of people grew up around right wing areas and I'm the same. My Grandad, Grandma, Uncle and Brother are all members of the conservative party (like the Republican party in America) and the area i'm from has a liberal town council and the MP is yet again a conservative.

[El Commandante]

I dont know I came to being a socialist but it could have been because my parents encouraged me to have a freedom of beliefs and values which I should hold as precious and should always fight to defend. I remember as being younger and watching the news and realising how wrong some of the stuff is that goes on in the world. I saw socialism as a way of thinking that also saw this as being wrong and I decided to be guided by it. I became interested in Che by flicking through an encyclopedia of history and I saw a picture of Che and it seemed to me as if it was looking right at me. It may seem cliched but it captured my imagination and from then on I researched about him and have become very interested in what he did in his life time and also the continuation of his struggle in Cuba and the rest of the world.

[Chief Rebel Angel]

i am not leftist, socialist, nor communist... i am anti-american policies too guest... and i come here cuz i find ppl that r open minded, and that think similarly as i do.. tho we disagree on some stuff... i learn here... its cool..

[kingbee]

i have always been infulenced by my dad, but he has a;ways said that he wants us (me and my 2 brothers) to make our minds up to ourselfs. i only started getting into it about a year ago, even though i had known about it for ages. the problem is , people make you feel like a facist if you say you are a communist.

[Moskitto]

I know what you mean kingbee. People always make me feel like a fascist by comparing me to Stalin and then call me a retard for saying he wasn't a communist.

[Jurhael]

"But what about you? How did you go from a Limbaugh-conservative to a progressive?"

Age.

When I was about 15-16 years old, I liked Rush Limbaugh and before that, I preferred the Republicans. Course as you know, Rush supports them as well...

What happened was that I guess I got older and started realizing that a lot of the republicans stood for was stuff that I should have been against. And also found the Democrats to be slightly more appealing. As in, I prefer Clintion to that Bush creature that's "president".

It was pretty much realizing that the leftist arguements had more appeal to me than the ones on the right.

There's still some exceptions I'm sure, but there's no way I can call myself a conservative now.

center-left maybe...but not conservative. And left lean was MUCH stronger than I thought before.

I still tend to believe that the truth tends to be in the middle, but I lean to the left pretty much for the same reason Jeffords left the Republican Party.

Not much has changed since I made that statement...

The reason why I sound like a fence sitter at times is because both sides tend to make sense and both sides have valid points and it's also possible for both sides to be right in some way...

And also, in the case of human endeavors, the truth is somewhere in between.

But realizing I was a leftist(though center-left) is actually fairly recent and it happened a little less than a year ago.

[Chancho]

Quote: from Guest on 3:20 pm on Sep. 14, 2001
Your post was very interesting.
Chancho, your father is very arrogant. Pray, tell me what he does for a living.

Appropriately, he was (now retired) the South-East Asian Marketing Manager for one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world.

[gooddoctor]

i get offended now-a-days if people call me a communist. i believe only in parliamentary socialism that noone can ever call illegitimate - and i'm also convinced that it is inevitable. i guess it all started for me back in my private high school. here my history teacher was a marxist, and for the first time in my life i was hearing historical topics argued fairly (especially the russian revolution). i was astonished to find that the more and more i researched in my own time, the more dogmatic beliefs that i used to take for granted i was knocking down. my economics teacher was a californian capitalist oik (and a very good friend of mine) so you can imagine how this contrast affected me. in my opinion, i think that most ordinary people are socialist at heart but are shielded from the facts of life and a proper education by the institutions of government and the economy that dominate all our lives. i was at the launch conference of the socialist alliance of australia earlier this year and that was what really radicalised me. before that i found it easy to become down-hearted and depoliticised when people call me a nazi or when the corporate media does nothing but fire abuse at good moral people every time there's another protest round, but places like this, the lives and lessons of people like che and the great work of today's protesters helps us remember that our anger is not in vain. solidarity.

[gooddoctor]

touche chancho

[Guest]

I guess I became a leftist through music. When I was 14 I started to listen to Rage Against the Machine. When I bought their "Evil Empire" cd I saw ches face in the booklet. From there I did some research on him and foundf him interesting. After that book I read multiple books on the major governments of the world. In the end of my readings I found that I agreed more with socalism than any other way of life.

My mother didn't like the fact that I was a socailist but did respect and like the fact I had a mind of my own and like my father who is not only racist but agreed fully with Hitlers genocide of the Jews. I guess my fathers Nazism drove me closer to the leftist view I now have.

[Chancho]

Quote: from Chancho on 1:21 am on Sep. 16, 2001

Quote: from Guest on 3:20 pm on Sep. 14, 2001
Your post was very interesting.
Chancho, your father is very arrogant. Pray, tell me what he does for a living.

Appropriately, he was (now retired) the South-East Asian Marketing Manager for one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world.

I forgot to mention that his parents were Nazis (actual Nazis) and that his personal hero is Hitler.