this post was submitted on 14 Feb 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] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility


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

We require 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.

(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)


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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[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

What an odd moral framework you have scaffolded.

Cannibalism: no issue at all.

Terrible idea. Learn about prions.

Murder: some issues, but it's "often understandable or justifiable".

I live in a society where killing someone is extremely rarely understandable or justifiable, and that is the prevailing attitude worldwide. Maybe you can clarify.

"Humans are incapable of living without harming other organisms".

Entirely false premise. We can live very healthy as frugivores, nothing at all needs to die.

Drawing an equivalence between cannibalism and 'people gotta eat bro' with a "context matters" is wild. We're discussing the consumption of enemy flesh as a strengthening exercise - absorbing their spirit's life-force, and the life force of their ancestors that's the context of past Maori cannibalism we were diacussing, not eating for sustenance or out of a dire emergency.

[–] stray@pawb.social 1 points 3 hours ago

Terrible idea. Learn about prions.

I don't base my moral judgements on whether something is recommendable. Skydiving, a sedentary lifestyle, and smoking are all things that I won't do for health and safety reasons, but I don't think they're unethical, and I don't judge people who engage in them.

I live in a society where killing someone is extremely rarely understandable or justifiable, and that is the prevailing attitude worldwide.

That isn't the case worldwide at all. Many countries have a death penalty for various crimes, and I get the impression that most people are okay with killing in self-defense or in a context of war or law-enforcement. I can understand thinking killing is never excusable if one is a true pacifist, but I am not.

We can live very healthy as frugivores, nothing at all needs to die.

We cannot. Please provide a credible medical source which claims fruitarianism is a healthful way for a human to live their whole life. Even the animals we categorize frugivores eat insects.

Speaking specifically about the Maori, I'd have to actually know what I'm talking about in some detail to pass moral judgements about them. I will assume the reason enemy combatants exist in the first place is struggles over limited resources. I think that kind of war should be avoided, but if killing someone else is necessary for your own survival then I'm not going to judge you for it. It has nothing to do with society's attitudes about killing at the time, and everything to do with the practicality of the situation.

So you have an enemy who is either dead or who you intend to kill. Why does it matter whether you eat him? If they ate him alive or something that falls under torture, and I will judge them and anyone else for it regardless of context.

Meanwhile, there are authors from not actually that long ago who've written a bunch of misogynist and racist garbage, but I'm told I can't judge them because "it was a different time." I've been told I'd probably support slavery if I'd lived in the US prior to emancipation. Being an asshole is wrong regardless of what year it is or what everyone else thinks. If there are 10 nazis at the table, I don't have to be the 11th because it's what all the cool kids are doing. That this guy was able to interact with POCs and see human beings makes it all the more damning that other people didn't. People should choose to be better when given the opportunity.