this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2026
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Lefty Memes

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An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of "ML" (read: Dengist) influence. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.

Serious posts, news, discussion and agitprop/stuff that's better fit for a poster than a meme go in c/Socialism.

If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.

Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low quality!

Rules

Version without spoilers

0. Only post socialist memes


That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme. Please post agitprop here)


0.5 [Provisional Rule] Try to use alt text or image descriptions to allow for greater accessibility


(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)

We encourage alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if they’re too complex.

We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.

When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.


0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms


When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart

  • ofc => OFC
  • af = AF
  • ok => OK
  • lol => LOL
  • bc => BC
  • bs => BS
  • iirc => IIRC
  • cia => CIA
  • nato => Nato (you don't spell it when talking, right?)
  • usa => USA
  • prc => PRC
  • etc.

Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them


1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here


Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.


2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such


That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.


3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.


That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" (read: Dengists) (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).


4. No Bigotry.


The only dangerous minority is the rich.


5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.


We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.


6. Don't irrationally idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.


Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.


  1. Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:

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[–] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I don’t understand the consternation with accepting Che was homophobic.

He was a product of his times.

Is it really that shocking that a man in the 1950s has homophobic views?

You linked a source saying this; he called a gay man a pervert.

Why die on this hill?

[–] Objection@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Is it really that shocking that a man in the 1950s has homophobic views?

Yeah, I mean, even FDR personally murdered dozens of gay people with a chainsaw.

Oh wait! I made that up! But I bet I can find some problematic statement he said at some point in his life, so I guess that's fine that I said that.

[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

wait wait wait, i thought the whole point of this was the insinuation that he was homophonic and is blamed for creating gay work camps and committing human rights violations against gay people. this person lays out a detailed rebuttal on the major talking points that would back the accusers assertions… but now it’s “well everyone at the time was homophobic!, so i am still technically right!”

so you do know there is a difference between someone who uses the word gay to mean bad or gross, and someone who commands the creation of concentration camps to commit human rights violations against gay people right?

it’s a little dishonest. is this moving the goal post?

[–] SarahValentine@lemmy.blahaj.zone -2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

so you do know there is a difference between someone who uses the word gay to mean bad or gross, and someone who commands the creation of concentration camps to commit human rights violations against gay people right?

The latter relies on the former to attain power. We should tolerate neither.

[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

so you don’t recognize the difference then. and your entire point is meaningless.

and i would think you would be happy to know that he hasn’t used such language in quite a few years.

[–] SarahValentine@lemmy.blahaj.zone -3 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

so you don’t recognize the difference then.

Translation: "I want to normalize but not reclaim a slur. How do I spin this so it doesn't seem so bad?"

[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

you are inventing an enemy of your own choosing instead of being honest with this “discussion”

i never said that, but i can see why you would rather argue someone who acutely believed that then admit you lack the bare basic nuance to separate hitler from an edgy 90’s tween, due to not wanting to actully defend the argument against Che after, from what i can see, is a very reasonable rebuttal.

you must have something against Che, but are unable to articulate why he is bad

[–] SarahValentine@lemmy.blahaj.zone -3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

you are inventing an enemy of your own choosing

Nice gaslighting attempt, but I'm not buying it. If someone uses "gay" as a synonym for anything bad, I don't respect them.

Toodle-oo!

[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

ok, good to know for certain that you were a waste of time

[–] Godric@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Like honestly, how many dudes born in the 1920's had any sort of positive view on homosexuality? Crazy how hero worship whitewashes people who weren't heros.

[–] therealdries@lemmy.dbzer0.com -4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Is it really that shocking that a man in the 1950s has homophobic views?

Is that the problem you see here?

Really?

A shitlib waddles into a leftist space, does what every shitlib does whenever Che's name gets mentioned and craps out the standard shitlib disinformational propaganda about him they always do, and that's the problem you see here?

You linked a source saying this; he called a gay man a pervert.

I hate to be the one to break it to you... but LQBTQ people get to be perverts too - just like the rest of us.

[–] Godric@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh yeah, he was probably being sex-positive when he called homosexuality perversion /s