Hi im new here, cause im trans, also a bit into leftism (I like the red vibe and hate capitalism) but not committed mostly because im new to politics in general. This is a burner because the whole subject seems very heated and I don’t want my main account banned.
so it was very surprising to me to see commies just… argue? Marxist Leninist, tankie, whatever, just seem to be like other commies, but ya’ll just hate them? I mean didn’t commies like the soviet union? I get China because of the weird capitalism its got, but I thought the soviets were like ya’lls trump card? I mean what else do ya’ll have? I mean I know it had baddies, but I thought ya’ll had like different views on it? I mean there was so much going on they at least have to had done something.
Like apparently the lemmy developers are ‘tankies’, but who cares? They built the thing, and it seems like they’ve just let us do whatever we want, nothing bad right?
It all just seems like different methods. being anarchist is fine (I don’t know what you do at all but it seems like you’re around at least), but being a ‘tankie’ makes you a fascist? Im just very very confused. Didn’t the USSR fight Nazis? I’m not giving them a kiss or anything but they killed quite a lot of Nazis, isn’t that at least kinda good?
I only recently found out that commies even had like different ideologies. I want to get into leftism, but it seems to be about the same as if I just stayed out of it, everyone is spending all the time fighting people, but I thought your whole thing was fight the man, not fight other commies?
And then I see leftists just lackluster in their critiques of America? I mean, anyone knows america hates commies, all of em, beat yall in '91 (honestly suprised yall still here). Now its ‘america is a flawed democracy’ and ‘bad nato but only when they do things’. I thought ya’ll at least had strong opinions? Why can’t you just hate america, thought that was yalls thing?
Its very silly to try to adopt revolutionary things and then like… limp dick it. Like, NATO is a capitalist alliance, shouldn’t commies hate that? Seems very straightforward. I mean I know Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is very bad, but does that mean defending a capitalist state? Yall spend a lot of time arguing for NATO against these tankies (while I don’t understand their position, it seems to at least be in that ‘fuck the US’ thing I thought yall did). Although I see the whole thing as too much for me to understand, some of yall do sort of agree with NATO bad too, but somehow its good for them to fight another capitalist? How’s that doing anything for ya?
Its all very confusing
I admit I care little for yalls squabbles, yall seem to care an awful lot about footnotes in history when the future looks like a big chance. Like I dont know what the hell happened in the Spain civil war, but how does that like change anything? Nobody sides yall commies seem to care about it period. Don’t yall hate capitalism, why then do yall spend half the time getting angry at other commies?
Its very silly in my view, and again very counterproductive
Its souring to get into communism and hear that apparently all the big dudes and big things in it are bags of shit, and I should read a bunch of small guys that only yall seem to know. Like Marx is BIG, but apparently he’s bad now? Like I know its older, but isn’t capitalism? Doesn’t seemed to have changed very much, but the products sure have, but the system is still big guy owns thing, exploits worker, hoards wealth, an that sorta thing. He’s like the floorboards, but now he isn’t? Did yall convene after the 90s and hit a reset on the whole thing? Starting from scratch?
I wanted to ask them their opinions, but they seem a little scary, so Ill talk to yall first. I just wants some clarifications about this issue.
As you’re discovering, Leftism isn’t a universal thing, there are sub-groups ranging from (US) Democrat/ (UK) Labour all the way through to individualistic anarchism. There are a lot of stopping points on the journey, none of which are the same as the others - socialism, communism etc and even within those sub groups there are sub-sub groups.
So the the word you’re questioning ‘tankie’ is a term applied to communists who deny that communist regimes are capable of, or indeed have, committed acts of violence on individuals, groups or entire ethnic groups/populations. The word originates from the Tiananmen Square massacre, where the ruling communist party murdered protesting people using tanks. ‘Tankies’ deny that this happened, or if it did happen it wasn’t as bad as the West claim, or if it was, that it was a justified act. They say the whole thing was made up/exaggerated by Western media. They do this because they’re living in denial.
Most of the Lemmy (and Reddit) based tankies I’ve encountered seem to belong to a youngish American, probably middle-class population. Possibly they’re rebelling against some element of their upbringing or are seeking some kind of group identity or validation. Believing in something that extreme is also an easy thing for someone to do - if you support a political system that is never ever going to assume power where you live, that abdicates you from any responsibility of engaging with the political system in your country to try and make the reality you actually live in any better.
This part isn’t right, it comes from the Hungarian revolution of 1956
https://libcom.org/article/everything-you-ever-wanted-know-about-tankies-were-afraid-ask
Its very nice to have a choice, but also annoying that there are so many, i’d just like one communism please or something, would be easier. But I kinda knew that there was probably going to be more to look into.
Crazy shit, yeah
I guess that makes sense, but I mean aren’t they all for the soviets and chinese? What about the people who did that? Aren’t they commies, they aren’t americans? I get theres some dumbasses goin around using a stalin pfp to cover for their own weird shit, but what about the people who like actually built shit?
At some point, you have to decide if your fundamental goal is to figure out what kind of world you want to live in or if you’re just bored and looking for an aesthetic to adopt.
Because it sounds like you’re kind of just looking for a group of cool kids to fit yourself into, and thus it’s annoying that there are so many various little factions.
i guess you can have fun with that crystal ball you looking at there, but im just someone who’d like people to have their things figured out. Im fine with trying to navigate it, but give me a break for wanting the sign up sheet to be a straightforward so people can start getting things done.
They support communism - so China, Cuba, the old USSR and the modern Russia that is slowly reverting back to communism. So they are supportive primarily of the system no matter how it affects actual chinese, russian or cuban people. The people are of far, far less importance than the system and the more extreme their belief the more they’ll deny the reality of how these regimes treat their people.
That’s not to say it’s all bad - Cuba has some very progressive laws for example but sadly for most of these regimes, dissent amongst the population is not tolerated.
They’re most certainly not Russian or Chinese communists on Lemmy or Reddit as those people wouldn’t be able to access these communities without breaking the law in their countries. That said, my interpretation of who they are as a group is only my opinion based on interacting with some of them.
woah woah woah, russias becoming communist now? I guess that makes sense
I mean I didn’t know that about cuba, but I think every country on earth jails people they don’t like, just how the way the world works.
I swear I saw someone talking about being russian the other day, but I guess I can’t trust that. Also someone told me the chinese folks just use a VPN, cause I see them on the social medias other places sometimes. Although they may be from Taiwan, that could be it.
thank ya for your answers, I appreciate it