this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
3 points (100.0% liked)

Lefty Memes

6334 readers
1166 users here now

An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. 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" seen on lemmygrad and more specifically GenZedong (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:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
all 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] SuperNovaStar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

"I was just following orders" is what all the Nazis said.

[–] _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I yearn for the day that American soldiers are put on trial and hanged for their crimes against humanity.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

The US has given itself permission to invade the Hague before allowing that to happen.

[–] SuperNovaStar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ooh, ooh, can we start with the Commander in Chief? Why did the assassins have to miss πŸ˜₯

All Americans are welcome to (re)try. They even have an Amendment for that.

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 0 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

"Our Glorious Eastern Soldiers"

"Their heathen rapist genocidal evil brutish westoids"

The message is good, the title is needlessly inflammatory, as if ANY major country has clean hands.

[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

because god forbid we point out the crimes of the west without going "but these orientals are still bad tho!!!"

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Lol, claiming that Russia is oriental is pretty wild. That is just about as accurate as saying America is Indian.

Russia is a western nation that brutally colonized its eastern territory. This doesnt make them Asian, just like European colonization of America doesnt make it native American.

[–] dogbert@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh boy, you’re gonna be pissed when you find out the continent Russia is located in…

[–] strongarm@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

It's both, so what's your point?

[–] Credibly_Human@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I assume we also blame Chinese citizens for everything the CCP does too or does that only apply to western nations.

Does it even apply for all western nations? What about Norway?

[–] dogbert@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

When was the last time China invaded a country again? I’ll wait…

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How is this "westoid" logic? As if no other country does this kind of bullshit.

We only have a chance at peace when ALL soldiers refuse to invade foreign lands.

[–] Cyberflunk@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

not every other country is the usa, and not every other country is meddling in every world situation and creating world situations.

sit the fuck down redwhiteandblue underwear, this comment wont hurt you.

[–] CptOblivius@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ahem take a look at Russia right now ahem. Or Israel, or China...

[–] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

Whataboutism

[–] KittyJynx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Former Marine here. This illustrates the prevailing excuse endemic to the whole imperialist war machine. Every bloody cog has some way of passing blame up the chain. I fixed electronics so I never had to personally pull a trigger but the electronics I fixed helped fix aircraft whose pilots and aircrew were responsible for atrocities I can only imagine. I used to rationalize that this separation erased my culpability but now I understand it actually enhanced it. At the level of maintenance I was at a broken twidgit tip unaccounted for could ground an entire air wing for several days.

If you have made the massive mistake of joining the military please use your power of being a rusty cog. Report every chip on every tool to maintenance control, send every piece of gear missing a screw or emp braiding in for parts/DRMO don't run to the hardware store for a quick replacement, CDI time is valuable and limited so make sure to never skip a CDI verification step and ask for their opinion on every anomalous reading, if you drop a torque wrench or break a cal seal ground that gear and send it back to the shop, take your time and verify every measurement, don't gundeck MAFs, and follow all procedures to the letter. Don't be afraid to involve maintenance control to make sure your shop is fully compliant and not taking shortcuts. If you had just sat on your rack and refused to work you would just get replaced, now you have weaponized the regulations and bureaucracy in a way that covers your ass for the rest of your enlistment while crippling the whole air wing. You can now get out and try to make amends for the catastrophic damage you have done to the world. However if you reenlist fucking die in a fire.

I regret every day that I joined and wish I was aware of the evil the system I was a part of was perpetrating. The few times I talk about my time in the Marines in the last few years is to warn people about how fucked up it is, how they brainwash and strip the individuality from recruits, and most importantly the reality of what the US Military does to innocent people all over the world and the environment.

[–] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

There is a reason that 18 is a prime recruiting age - not enough life knowledge to know better.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] 20cello@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

People down voting this makes me puke

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Probably for the "westoid" part - as if eastoid (lol) soldiers have never "just followed orders"

[–] dogbert@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Eastern soldiers are not infantilized the same way as western troops. American soldiers are just naive boys that got tricked by evil Washington. It’s okay they killed those innocent people because they got free college for it.

Additionally, when you look at the military actions of the west vs east in the 21st century, it’s a pretty silly comparison.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ok sure man you're right, no eastern army has ever been brainwashed into atrocities

Saying "westoid" makes you look like a manchild on 4chan regardless. Not a word a serious person users lol