The reason I don't call myself a communist is because I feel it has taken on a different meaning than the one Marx and Engels originally assigned to it. The Soviet Union, The People's Republic of China, Kampuchia, Cuba, and formerly North Korea have all used the name to describe their governments despite not meeting the criteria by Marx, and they had committed unspeakable evils in its name. I feel utilizing the names, symbols, and legacy of communism without taking the historical weight of them into consideration does a great disservice to the goals of communism. It's why I even refuse to associate with the hammer and sickle, because to many people, that symbol carries as much weight as a swastika or the rising sun.
It's actually pretty late for me, but I do want to continue talking later. I'll even give the reading material a look. I just wanted to air out my grievances with the communist label, and put some context to why I abhor tankies as much as I do fascists.
If there is one small, tiny thing that many leftists and rightists can agree on, it's fuck tankies.
Just because I consider myself a leftist doesn't mean I'm a pure communist. If any of my posts have made clear, I am anti-authoritarian first and foremost, and I believe in compromise rather than fundamentalism.
I believe in mutual aid, and pooling resources as a community, but I don't think it works at a state level, hence why many states that called themselves communist failed or implemented capitalism to some degree. There are instances of it working at smaller scales like through certain Native American tribes, and attempts made in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.
As long as you are someone who truly believes in human rights and civil liberties, I'll likely get along with you. I don't care what you label yourself. If you stand against authoritarians, and are there to help the weak and marginalized, I will call you friend.
I like the concepts of Anarchism. Rather than being run by a leader or following a bureaucracy,I believe people can come together as a community to provide the basic needs to each other. I am also queer, a believer in science, an atheist, and anything else that could possibly get me labeled as a "liberal". Personally I think things work better in moderation rather than as an all or nothing. I may be an anarchists, but I may share some values with a libertarian or an-cap who believes in capitalism. I'm not about to start a fight over which economic system is better, and will likely rely on them for help and resources. I just hope if we are facing down a tyrant or someone who wishes to do harm to the weak and vulnerable within our communities, we would stand together and help each other out.
I do have what would be considered more leftist tendencies, but I'm not a fundamentalist either. I feel through compromise, and mutual aid is how we as humans have survived since antiquity.
It might be the weakness of this particular website format. I have seen sites that have found ways to keep discussions from devolving into vitriol. Tildes keeps their flow of new users slow, and verifies everyone. Mastodon is literally whatever you want it to be, because by default it doesn't push content your way, you have to seek it out.
I did kinda hope the honeymoon period for lemmy would last longer, but this is probably inevitable. I'm just appreciative of the in depth conversations I do have here amongst the vitriol.
@Roundcat
@kbin.social