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How did you get interested in Communism?
What was it that sparked your interest in Communism?
I became interested in the idea of Communism while studying the Soviet Union in school. I did some further research on Communism at home and I really liked it. Unfortunately, I still haven't read any books on Communism as do not want my family to find out about my beliefs, and I can't stand reading books on my computer
I moved from a very underprivileged neighborhood of mostly Blacks and Latinos (my own family being from Colombia), and moved when I was 14 to a rich white neighborhood, and was shocked at the differences, and started questioning them. I felt isolated as a Latino, and began to have disdain for mainstream US culture while trying to learn about my people's own history. After I started thinking in terms of class structure, I realized that there is no such thing as a "poor country" or a "rich country", and that ruling classes exist basically everywhere. I knew the ills of inequality came from improper wealth distribution, and so I became attracted to egalitarian politics; I started reading about Che Guevara and the ideologies of Socialism, Communism, and Anarchism. It took off from there many years ago, and here I be.
i studied Russia, said was soviet union, did some research etc
funny part?
im upper class where i live.
Noam Chomsky
Coming from a working class family living under capitalism in a city decimated by corporate greed is what sparked my interest.
After hearing about it smashed by American propaganda, I was curious to see what it was, since it had that air of taboo around it. It turned out to be everything that I wanted our world to be like. And it made sense to me, too.
Out of curiosity I acquired class-consciousness.
Everybody told me the Soviet Union was an evil dictatorship, Communism was horrible and backward, and that we live in fucking utopia.
Then I heard about Laika, Yuri Gagarin, the fact that the S.U. were our allies during WW2, and other shit when I was a kid.
Hey if they got the 1st man into space they can't be that backward, and if we fought together they can't be that evil... Voila!
Opened a few books and turned red over night (not from sunburn).
Turned Red & Black a few months later (not melanoma).
I bring with myself the idea of Communism, so that you may survive when law is lawless.
"Both nationalism and patriotism are the equivalent of an animal exclaiming how much it loves it's cage." - Octavian
Formerly FightTogether.
I got into Russian history.
The devaluation of the human world grows in direct proportion to the increase in value of the world of things. -Karl Marx
Of more value is that you understand and learn to not support your security on your clothes because if you lose everything then what are you left with if all you have is only decorations? What a shame. It surely sounds sad like a condemnation that you base your life on only material shit. Nothing special can be purchased. As the little prince says, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” - Cultura Profetica [translated by me]
I realized I'm just way too radical to grow up being a liberal all my life, so I read about several different ideologies and communism seemed to be the best. In a nutshell.
It's interesting that nobody has answered with "Arguing with Communists" yet, I know that there are a fair few ex-fascists, ex-cappies etc on this forum.
My family is working class, my dad is a unionized public resvoir employee and my mom was a nurse, but then she got sick and died of cancer. The way she was treated by the hospital she worked for was horrible, making her resign her license and thus her benefits when she was obviously not in her right mind. Before that I had entertained the idea of communism, but thought "well we have it so good, so it must be good right". but then my mom's illness and death changed me forever. This was also about the time I picked up a book called "The Jungle"
But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on
One day my sister and I were debating about gun control(she supports, I don't) and she said something about how we need to stop the violence. I responded by saying something like "Well if we were all equal instead of so many people being poor we wouldn't have so much gun violence." In a very negative tone she tells me "But that's communism." I was kind of stunned like wtf? Thought about what she said for a while and I couldn't believe that communism could be such a bad thing if it meant equality so I went to the library and picked up the Manifesto. So now I tell my sister it's her fault I'm a commie lol.
We claim to live and die equal, the way we were born: we want this real equality or death; that’s what we need.
And we’ll have this real equality, at whatever price. Unhappy will be those who stand between it and us! Unhappy will be those who resist a wish so firmly expressed.
The French Revolution was nothing but a precursor of another revolution, one that will be bigger, more solemn, and which will be the last.
-Gracchus Babeuf
I stumbled upon it, more or less. I was active on another forum for gaming, and in the off-topic section there would be debates about politics and such. For a while, I was the typical American Republican, until one time I came across a list of links for political websites. One of them was SocialistWorker, and I started reading it on a daily basis. I talked to some other people on that forum, and became aquainted with the ideas of socialism. It wasn't until I came here, however, and started to read and watch more that I discovered my political philosophy as it is today.
"If those in charge of our society — politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television — can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves."
-Howard Zinn
It's not exactly something I can pin point to any exact moment in my life.
I was honestly surprised when I was being accused of being red.
I started reading a lot of legitimate history after 9/11, since I kept hearing "THEY H8 US 4 ARE FREEDOMS" and as an 11 year old I was like "that's fucking dumb".
Eventually I read about communists, but I didn't really start reading leftist shit until a friend of mine pointed out that literally every time you mention communism, people bring out the exact same line.
I'm on some sickle-hammer shit
Collective Bruce Banner shit
FKA: #FF0000, AKA Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath
I'm interested to find out who the ex-fascists are. That is quite a dramatic change.
As for ex-cappies, aren't we all ex-Capitalist supporters?
I gave up Authoritarianism, at least from the state, since I was about 14 after having *gulp* read Atlas Shrugged. Like many involved in the heady days at the beginning of the internet and personal computing I was a definite libertarian, but after reading Rand I became an Objectivist, and as I've mentioned in other threads it hurt me a lot mentally and emotionally. I finally realized that a society where only a few "John Galts" got to rule over the rest of us made me sick to my stomach and I married my love of Freedom with Socialism.
I was an Anarcho-Collectivist for several years, until I stumbled upon Proudhon. Then I was just an Anarchist, now I find myself a Market Socialist, specifically an Anarcho-Mutualist.
RevLeft this past month has been good for me, it's forced me to think through what I believe and why I believe it and also help formalize my views.
[FONT=Arial]“Whoever labours becomes a proprietor... And when I say proprietor, I do not mean simply (as do our hypocritical economists) proprietor of his allowance, his salary, his wages, – I mean proprietor of the value he creates, and by which the master alone profits... The labourer retains, even after he has received his wages, a natural right in the thing he has produced.”[/FONT]-Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property?, pg. 123-4
Long story short: stumbled upon socialism while reading and I was interested in what it meant, because I always associated it with something negative.
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. -Malcolm X
Well, "heard about it from a friend" is the closest to this, but how I became a commie is kinda weird. I had this online friend who was a communist. We both played (wait for it) RuneScape. Yes. I admit it (no, I don't play that anymore). We frequented the game's forums. So he encouraged me to make a thread urging a communist revolution within the game. It was mostly for lolz, and it was really fun to run around pissing people off calling them "comrade," and shit. I got a shitload of followers too >_>. Then I was doing more research to make my arguments more legit, and found myself fascinated with the whole ideology. I didn't actually accept it as my beliefs until I started reading revleft.
FKA Comrade Ducky
Question everything, answer to no one.
MAKE TOTAL DESTROY, not war.
"This duck is a nuclear duck and it's time the world started calling a duck a duck."-Benjamin Netanyahu
"I reject your reality and substitute my own."- Adam Savage
Dude, I can't believe Runescape is still around. I remember playing it when I was 13!! That was nine years ago ...Well, "heard about it from a friend" is the closest to this, but how I became a commie is kinda weird. I had this online friend who was a communist. We both played (wait for it) RuneScape. Yes. I admit it (no, I don't play that anymore). We frequented the game's forums. So he encouraged me to make a thread urging a communist revolution within the game. It was mostly for lolz, and it was really fun to run around pissing people off calling them "comrade," and shit. I got a shitload of followers too >_>. Then I was doing more research to make my arguments more legit, and found myself fascinated with the whole ideology. I didn't actually accept it as my beliefs until I started reading revleft.
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