this post was submitted on 26 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
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.
- Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Queerphobia
- Ableism
- Classism
- Sexual assault
- Genocide/ethnic cleansing or (mass) deportations
- Fascism
- (National) chauvinism
- Orientalism
- Colonialism or Imperialism (and their neo- counterparts)
- Zionism
- Religious fundamentalism of any kind
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(...continued from previous message above) You have to really work to seek them out if you're in the west for both the obvious reasons of locale and access as well as the fact that the system you live with in really doesn't want you listening to those who aren't them. Do you seek them out anyway?
Or do you just say they're astroturfing [side note: lol, like China has people astroturfing for them on a niche reddit clone made by "tankies" (ideologically consistent communists, but Eglin Airforce base isn't all over that shit. Give me a break, don't be so absurd, don't make such a joke out of yourself, seriously!] or say that they're bOtS! Then shut down and call it a day? Because you can do that too. I mean... that is what you did. Can you do better?
The time I spent writing this may well have been wasted on you (though obviously I hope not, my advice was sincere). But even if so, I know other people will be reading this, including people who still vehemently disagree with me, but my time wasn't wasted because for one, it's always good for a writer to write, maybe especially when doing so is unpleasant. But also because I always have hope that when someone reads something written with authenticity of belief and sincerity of feeling, and they provide valid points on top, that it becomes almost certain that seeds have been planted in the thoughtful reader. Might take years for those seeds to germinate, but such a thing did happen for many of us who eventually did arrive at this position, after certain seeds grew, a position which is not an easy one to reach though, considering the constant struggle against endless western propaganda, flailing libs shutting down conversations of course, and all the reading, reading, reading. But those potential seeds that find their way into the lurkers who think about what they read, imo that is reason enough to comment, even when responding to someone who has chosen to close down their own mind. It may not be original to u/Cowbee, but around these parts, it's those kind of sentiments among others like gentle but powerful persuasion that I think rightfully get called @Cowbee@lemmy.ml thought. He is nowhere near as boring or overly-verbose or rambly or addled as me and he's much more prolific and well-read, so if you want more details but fewer text walls, or if you think you have what it takes to argue with the most patient of all the tankies (not to mention one hell of a smart comrade), then stalk his /u/ page and also check out his reading list to read the real tankies (ie, the most illuminating thinkers and practitioners of leftist thought and praxis).