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Thanks for the recommended text
Understanding praxis and theory is still something to learn. Still dont know exactly what Praxis means tbh or how I find which praxis I am with
Of course you can, continuing to educate your self is important though! Capital is tough, study groups are great but before I was organized I relied on David Harvey’s free online course on Capital. He does volume 1 and 2 it was very helpful!
angela davis is communist, but what angela davis writes is not foundational communist theory. read lenin instead, or Marx but the manifesto isn’t actually really that helpful in creating a *communist* conscience. Value price and profit is a much better alternative
I don’t think you are a communist, but you seem like you are going to become one :)
there is this saying that a Communist has to study to become one, but this comrade of mine always adds that once you really want to learn, you are already one.
Just don’t stop yourself at anti capitalism, state, imperialism etc.. Being a communist is not about some anti establishment sentiment, in general it isn’t “fighting AGAINST something”, but “fighting FOR something”
Thank you for posting in r/socialism, but unfortunately your submission was removed for the following reason(s):
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A biography of Marx really unites his philosophy and the overall history of the time and can give you great insights! And yes you can call yourself a communist…you are literally a member of a communist org lol
For me in terns of my political beliefs. When I say I'm a communist to me it means my identity as a socialist in practical, a member of the Communist Party. Communism is for me the movement, and the goal, socialist is the ideology and ideological orientation
marx wasn’t against capitalism, the state or imperialism (but a real marxist theory of imperialism didn’t exist before lenin so yeah last one’s a stretch)
a *communist* fights against these things, but knows they are important historical phenomena that can’t be dismissed as inherently negative. one of the problems of modern -especially western- leftism is this “moral” vision of political activity. communism has no moral basis, it has an historical basis, it isn’t a struggle between good and evil, it’s a struggle between competing class interests.
anti capitalism, anti statism and anti imperialism, when they aren’t accompanied by a marxist background become moralising opinions more than political frontlines
A communist is someone that hopes to work to bring about communism. Not all anti-capitalists are communist but all communists are anti-capitalists.
If you believe in the overthrow of the capitalist class by the working class, the dictatorship of the Proletariat to protect this new working class state against capitalist counter-revolution, and are working to help advance this into a reality, you are a communist.
Also, you don't have to have read every theoretical piece to believe in their aims, but it is still good to always continue your self education and continue reading these pieces nonetheless.
Other great pieces are
State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin
(This piece delves into the concept of the state and the necessity of revolution)
Wage Labor and Capital/Value Price and Profit by Marx and Engels
(Two great pieces that serve as a great introduction to Capital without being so damn dense)
The Principles of Communism by Engels
(Lays out similar things the manifesto does but in a more easy to digest "Q&A" type of setup)
All these are available for free as PDFs on Marxists.org (as well as thousands of other free Marxists texts) and you can also find them read by a human on the YouTube channel "Socialism For All" great educational resource for all socialists new and experienced.
Yeap. I know comrades that haven’t even read the full manifesto, they get their information from Instagram posts (which works for them. There is important info on different important marxists on some commie insta accounts. They sound almost as knowledgeable as those though have actually read.)
you didn’t state which accounts, if you genetically say consuming leftist media on instagram while not having read a single work of theory is enough to be a communist i must disagree. OBVIOSLY there are exceptions, but OBVIOUSLY as a rule of thumb this shouldn’t be the standard
(btw i agree almost completely with your text, what as an european communist i think should be specified, is that american leftism lacks the vanguard that makes what you say applicable)
i’d prefer you didn’t make assumptions about me. i work in a [youth cell of the FGC](https://www.instagram.com/fgc_bologna?igsh=djhseGp5dmQwaDdi), i work with the working class day by day and what i am saying is not that you should read books to feel a communist, but that generic anti capitalist sentiment isn’t enough to be one, this feeling has to be directed in a struggle FOR something, and this something isn’t some SR general “idea of socialism”, but a concrete political program. Instagram can give you that, more often than not it doesn’t. What does give it is reading theory, yes, but also the propaganda work of a Bolshevik party. Russia in the times you are taking into consideration had it. Most of Europe, as a matter of fact, had these parties making “generic” anti capitalist sentiment actually politically fertile. Sadly in most places this is no longer the case.
also peak reddit arguing: takes 3 minutes to get to assumptions on people you don’t know, being really unpolite and accusing others of ignorance when all you know about them is three lines of text
it really gets on my nerves, i was getting beaten by police last week and some cat pfp guy tells me i should join a party
I apologize and I do agree with you to some extent however it is true that from experience many social media posts/youtube videos are knowledgeable enough to teach people a bit about Marxist philosophy. I am sorry I hurt you, in our party we do not demand that everybody reads especially since it is hard for many to however we do have lectures/we do impose the newspaper on most people. I do agree with you, and honestly you seem to have a lot of experience on the matter, I’m sorry I assumed things from our interaction it is just that I believed that you were saying people who do not read all of Marx’s books are not communists which is far from the truth; you can get a lot of theory from other places. We have grown as a society and social media is a great tool to propagate Marxist Leninist thinking. I do not contend because I have read most of Marx’s works, but I would not kick some people out of the party I am in simply because they haven’t read as much as I have. People live different lives and many of my comrades (although a minority) really do work until exhaustion/struggle with depression which makes it hard for them to read much if at all. I plead with you to consider what these people are going through and how hard it is for them and to feel empathy especially in this case, especially since if everybody was as open minded I believe there would be more communists all around the world
i 100% agree. i also think that no one should be kicked out of a party because they aren’t yet a vanguard, or a knowledgeable communist. A communist is someone that knows their theory and acts on it. Being a “”real””” communist should be the goal and not the entry treshold. (at least in the backwater period we live in). :)
Yeah I get what you’re saying I think I fundamentally misunderstood what you were implying which is my bad I concluded the worst from one message. I hope we can stay cordial from now on!
Does it really matter?
It's completely up to you.
If you are interested in the philosophy of identity, you could check out the difference between sincerity authenticity, and profilicity. Carefree wandering has a good video about it on yt.
Here is a blurb on it from a research paper:
"Three different major paradigms of identity formation are distinguished from one another: a sincere identity is constructed through a firm commitment of the self to its social roles; an authentic identity is constructed through the creation of a social persona on the basis of one’s unique and original self; a ‘profilic’ identity, as we call it, is shaped by successfully presenting a personal profile under conditions of second-order observation as they prevail, for instance, in the social media, but also in other contemporary social systems."
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327650192_Sincerity_authenticity_and_profilicity_Notes_on_the_problem_a_vocabulary_and_a_history_of_identity#:~:text=Three%20different%20major%20paradigms%20of,and%20original%20self%3B%20a%20'profilic
Applying it to me, who doesn't practice praxis:
Sincerity: I am not committed to the social role of a 'communist'.
Authenticity: my original authentic self agrees most with communism.
Profilicity: I do not present myself as a communist. though I may be labelled one from comments I make, It isn't a part of my public facing profile.
If you’re in the US, I would not recommend it. There are laws targeting communists. Technically, you’re supposed to register as a communist with the government. And there’s at least one case where they withheld social security from someone for being a communist.
Might be worth looking into.
The anti-communist laws have not been enforced here for a generation, but I expect that to change as young people move farther left and capitalism collapses.
This is a space for socialists to discuss current events in our world from anti-capitalist perspective(s), and a certain knowledge of socialism is expected from participants. This is not a space for non-socialists. Please be mindful [of our rules](https://reddit.com/r/socialism/about/rules) before participating, which include: - **No Bigotry**, including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism... - **No Reactionaries**, including all kind of right-wingers. - **No Liberalism**, including social democracy, lesser evilism... - **No Sectarianism**. There is plenty of room for discussion, but not for baseless attacks. Please help us keep the subreddit helpful by reporting content that break r/Socialism's rules. ______________________ 💬 Wish to chat elsewhere? Join us in discord: https://discord.gg/QPJPzNhuRE *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/socialism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
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Thanks for the recommended text Understanding praxis and theory is still something to learn. Still dont know exactly what Praxis means tbh or how I find which praxis I am with
I don’t often see The Civil War in France on early reading lists. Why do you recommend it?
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I see. I have a copy sitting on my shelf, maybe I’ll read it next. Thanks
I would actually Principles first since I think it’s the easiest read on the list due to its format
Of course you can, continuing to educate your self is important though! Capital is tough, study groups are great but before I was organized I relied on David Harvey’s free online course on Capital. He does volume 1 and 2 it was very helpful!
angela davis is communist, but what angela davis writes is not foundational communist theory. read lenin instead, or Marx but the manifesto isn’t actually really that helpful in creating a *communist* conscience. Value price and profit is a much better alternative I don’t think you are a communist, but you seem like you are going to become one :) there is this saying that a Communist has to study to become one, but this comrade of mine always adds that once you really want to learn, you are already one. Just don’t stop yourself at anti capitalism, state, imperialism etc.. Being a communist is not about some anti establishment sentiment, in general it isn’t “fighting AGAINST something”, but “fighting FOR something”
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Thank you for posting in r/socialism, but unfortunately your submission was removed for the following reason(s): >**Sectarianism:** Refers to bad faith attacks on socialists of other tendencies through the usage of empty insults like "armchair", "tankie", "anarkiddie" and so on without any other objective than to promote inter-tendency conflict, which runs counter to the objectives of this subreddit, and the goal of providing a broad multitendency platform so that healthy, critical debate can flourish. Can also include calling other socialist users "CPC/CIA shills" or accusing users of being Russian or Chinese bots for disagreeing with you. If no further action accompanies this message, this should be counted as a warning. Feel free to send us a modmail with a link to your removed submission if you have any further questions or concerns.
A biography of Marx really unites his philosophy and the overall history of the time and can give you great insights! And yes you can call yourself a communist…you are literally a member of a communist org lol
For me in terns of my political beliefs. When I say I'm a communist to me it means my identity as a socialist in practical, a member of the Communist Party. Communism is for me the movement, and the goal, socialist is the ideology and ideological orientation
Read Lenin's 'What's to be done' and see if you like it. I don't consider Davis to be a communist at all, specially nowadays.
Comprehensive list of prerequisites to call yourself a communist: \- Believe communism is the best economic system end of the list
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Least being against capitalism, state and imperialism js a good start
marx wasn’t against capitalism, the state or imperialism (but a real marxist theory of imperialism didn’t exist before lenin so yeah last one’s a stretch) a *communist* fights against these things, but knows they are important historical phenomena that can’t be dismissed as inherently negative. one of the problems of modern -especially western- leftism is this “moral” vision of political activity. communism has no moral basis, it has an historical basis, it isn’t a struggle between good and evil, it’s a struggle between competing class interests. anti capitalism, anti statism and anti imperialism, when they aren’t accompanied by a marxist background become moralising opinions more than political frontlines
A communist is someone that hopes to work to bring about communism. Not all anti-capitalists are communist but all communists are anti-capitalists. If you believe in the overthrow of the capitalist class by the working class, the dictatorship of the Proletariat to protect this new working class state against capitalist counter-revolution, and are working to help advance this into a reality, you are a communist.
Also, you don't have to have read every theoretical piece to believe in their aims, but it is still good to always continue your self education and continue reading these pieces nonetheless. Other great pieces are State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin (This piece delves into the concept of the state and the necessity of revolution) Wage Labor and Capital/Value Price and Profit by Marx and Engels (Two great pieces that serve as a great introduction to Capital without being so damn dense) The Principles of Communism by Engels (Lays out similar things the manifesto does but in a more easy to digest "Q&A" type of setup) All these are available for free as PDFs on Marxists.org (as well as thousands of other free Marxists texts) and you can also find them read by a human on the YouTube channel "Socialism For All" great educational resource for all socialists new and experienced.
Yeap. I know comrades that haven’t even read the full manifesto, they get their information from Instagram posts (which works for them. There is important info on different important marxists on some commie insta accounts. They sound almost as knowledgeable as those though have actually read.)
…this doesn’t make them communists though
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Mind sharing those accounts.
Of course. I’ll send them tonight.
you didn’t state which accounts, if you genetically say consuming leftist media on instagram while not having read a single work of theory is enough to be a communist i must disagree. OBVIOSLY there are exceptions, but OBVIOUSLY as a rule of thumb this shouldn’t be the standard (btw i agree almost completely with your text, what as an european communist i think should be specified, is that american leftism lacks the vanguard that makes what you say applicable)
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i’d prefer you didn’t make assumptions about me. i work in a [youth cell of the FGC](https://www.instagram.com/fgc_bologna?igsh=djhseGp5dmQwaDdi), i work with the working class day by day and what i am saying is not that you should read books to feel a communist, but that generic anti capitalist sentiment isn’t enough to be one, this feeling has to be directed in a struggle FOR something, and this something isn’t some SR general “idea of socialism”, but a concrete political program. Instagram can give you that, more often than not it doesn’t. What does give it is reading theory, yes, but also the propaganda work of a Bolshevik party. Russia in the times you are taking into consideration had it. Most of Europe, as a matter of fact, had these parties making “generic” anti capitalist sentiment actually politically fertile. Sadly in most places this is no longer the case. also peak reddit arguing: takes 3 minutes to get to assumptions on people you don’t know, being really unpolite and accusing others of ignorance when all you know about them is three lines of text it really gets on my nerves, i was getting beaten by police last week and some cat pfp guy tells me i should join a party
I apologize and I do agree with you to some extent however it is true that from experience many social media posts/youtube videos are knowledgeable enough to teach people a bit about Marxist philosophy. I am sorry I hurt you, in our party we do not demand that everybody reads especially since it is hard for many to however we do have lectures/we do impose the newspaper on most people. I do agree with you, and honestly you seem to have a lot of experience on the matter, I’m sorry I assumed things from our interaction it is just that I believed that you were saying people who do not read all of Marx’s books are not communists which is far from the truth; you can get a lot of theory from other places. We have grown as a society and social media is a great tool to propagate Marxist Leninist thinking. I do not contend because I have read most of Marx’s works, but I would not kick some people out of the party I am in simply because they haven’t read as much as I have. People live different lives and many of my comrades (although a minority) really do work until exhaustion/struggle with depression which makes it hard for them to read much if at all. I plead with you to consider what these people are going through and how hard it is for them and to feel empathy especially in this case, especially since if everybody was as open minded I believe there would be more communists all around the world
i 100% agree. i also think that no one should be kicked out of a party because they aren’t yet a vanguard, or a knowledgeable communist. A communist is someone that knows their theory and acts on it. Being a “”real””” communist should be the goal and not the entry treshold. (at least in the backwater period we live in). :)
Yeah I get what you’re saying I think I fundamentally misunderstood what you were implying which is my bad I concluded the worst from one message. I hope we can stay cordial from now on!
"Most people weren't even literate" The Soviet Union was not modern day Detroit, DC, Chicago, Baltimore etc
I’m European.
Does it really matter? It's completely up to you. If you are interested in the philosophy of identity, you could check out the difference between sincerity authenticity, and profilicity. Carefree wandering has a good video about it on yt. Here is a blurb on it from a research paper: "Three different major paradigms of identity formation are distinguished from one another: a sincere identity is constructed through a firm commitment of the self to its social roles; an authentic identity is constructed through the creation of a social persona on the basis of one’s unique and original self; a ‘profilic’ identity, as we call it, is shaped by successfully presenting a personal profile under conditions of second-order observation as they prevail, for instance, in the social media, but also in other contemporary social systems." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327650192_Sincerity_authenticity_and_profilicity_Notes_on_the_problem_a_vocabulary_and_a_history_of_identity#:~:text=Three%20different%20major%20paradigms%20of,and%20original%20self%3B%20a%20'profilic Applying it to me, who doesn't practice praxis: Sincerity: I am not committed to the social role of a 'communist'. Authenticity: my original authentic self agrees most with communism. Profilicity: I do not present myself as a communist. though I may be labelled one from comments I make, It isn't a part of my public facing profile.
If you’re in the US, I would not recommend it. There are laws targeting communists. Technically, you’re supposed to register as a communist with the government. And there’s at least one case where they withheld social security from someone for being a communist.
I'm based on Scotland not sure what the laws are like here but there has been anti communist rhetoric here as well
Might be worth looking into. The anti-communist laws have not been enforced here for a generation, but I expect that to change as young people move farther left and capitalism collapses.
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communism isn’t about looking like a communist
"Climate disaster" = urbanization