this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
234 points (80.2% liked)
Memes
51695 readers
2105 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by:
hot
top
controversial
new
old
[removed by mod]
Lemmy.ml has a lot of communists, the main devs of Lemmy are Marxist-Leninists. That being said, anti-communism's ties to fascism are historically documented and accepted even by liberal historians. I recommend reading Blackshirts and Reds.
For what it's worth, your instance already blocks most of the communist content on Lemmy for you, it comes pre-censored for you. This is just the stuff that slips through the cracks.
And I'm here just for memes... Maybe another meme group without so much political content would be better suited for me. π€·π»ββοΈ
Lemmy.ml has a non-political meme comm as well. This comm allows political content.
[removed by mod]
Fascism and anti-communism, as I said, are historically linked, beyond just Nazis hating communists. I again recommend reading Blackshirts and Reds. Wherever there has been a strong anti-communist movement, it has been tied to fascism in some way.
So, when you say "anti-communism", do you mean an organized front resisting and opposing communism, or just anyone who has an non-pro-communist opinion?
I imagine if I said something like "yeah capitalism has failed us, but that doesn't mean I want a planned economy" you might respond by saying I'm a wishy-washy centrist.
I might get pushback for this, but I don't think being ambivalent about communism is directly tied to fascism, mostly the usually violent anti-communism. I'd say the former can easily lead to the latter, as liberalism and fascism are the same ideology in different circumstances in my view, but that the former is generally a lack of good political education in my opinion. Most communists were not that way from birth.
I have to admit this may be a failing in my own political education. π Why do you think liberalism and fascism are "the same ideology in different circumstances"? I think McCarthyism is a modern example of violent anti-communism, and I agree, that got really close to fascism. (Although I could argue that violent anti-anything would lead to fascism.)
I'm wondering if, like, Marxism-Leninism is something like "communism is what organized societies would naturally look like, and everything else is an authority asserting itself unfairly" sort of mindset.
To simplify, ideas are the results of existing material conditions. The ideas a worker has are informed by their experiences as a worker, and the same is true of capitalists. These sets of ideas, among those with similar positions, take on similar characters. Not the same, but similar enough. Workers tend to be more progressive, more unified, as an example.
Ideologies are the same way. Liberalism is the "nicer face" of capitalism. It's the part of capitalism that gets to pretend that the market helps all, that we can achieve the perfect system through carefully tweaking capitalism, etc. Fascism is the "meaner face" of capitalism. Fascism arises when capitalism is in dire conditions, and needs to violently protect itself, be it through colonizing their neighbors, murdering labor organizers, or using state planning in conjunction with the large capitalists to pivot to a more full economy, rescuing capitalism from its crisis by grinding the working class into dust.
Both are the ideological "superstructures" of capitalism. Neither is truly distinct from the other. In times of plenty, we call capitalist systems "liberal," but when those same systems turn to violent measures to retain the same conditions of production, we call it "fascist." It's the same system, different conditions.
Marxism-Leninism is neither. It's a tool for the working class, one that is informed by practice, and whose express purpose is to usher in a world that has resolved the contradictions of capitalism into the next stage in development, collectivized ownership and planning. Where humanity has become the master of production, and not slaves to the whims of profit. Marxism-Leninism is not the "natural state," it's a tool to get from this natural state to the next, more just natural state.
This is my perspective, which is certainly Marxist-Leninist, though other MLs may disagree with how I've described things and I don't dare claim that the specific analysis of fascism and liberalism as the same in different conditions is the definitive "ML stance." I'm also not taking credit for inventing it either, it's an old position as far as I know.
Oh ok. I understand better. Thank you for taking the time to explain it :)
I see MLs talk about "liberalism" and, correctly or not, I think of the French Revolution. It seems though that that term is instead of "neoliberalism," I think (?). I can see the narrative that "liberalism" and "fascism" are like masks that capitalist structures wear, like modes of operation. But it's also confusing because those two concepts don't descend directly from fascism.
And I think I'm picking up that ML is a the revolutionary part of expanding communism, and I guess that's why it's not just Marxism? Because Marx foresaw the fundamental changes that needed to happen, and Lenin instantiated it? I haven't read Marx yet, it's on my list of shame, I suppose π
Since we have an open dialogue, I'm also curious of your opinion about "tankie"ism. Specifically, why not-so-pro-communist people see MLs as tankies that defend or deny authoritarian crimes against humanity.
No problem! Liberalism was popularized by the French Revolution, but is generally the umbrella for pro-capitalist ideologies that put private ownership as an inherent "good." Neoliberalism is under that umbrella, but not distinct from it.
Marxism-Leninism is the synthesis of Marx's core framework of dialectical materialism, critique of capitalism, and scientific socialism, with Lenin's organizational advancements and advanced critique of imperialism that Marx did not live to see. It isn't so much a "recipe" as it is a tool for the working class to organize, overthrow capitalism, and work towards higher developments through socialism until communism is achieved. If you want an intro to Marxism-Leninism, I actually made an introductory reading list! Check it out if you have the time, it's aimed at beginners.
As for "tankie-ism," it's just the modern version of "pinko" or "commie." It's a pejorative for practicing Marxists. The "tankie" is a ready-made construct that affirms that all of the Red-Scare allegations against communists are true, while also being someone that supports said allegations. The reality is that the anti-communist propaganda throughout the decades is usually a distortion of quantity, quality, context, or all 3. There's nobody that actually agrees with all of the claims made by anti-communists are real, but also supports them. The reality is far more nuanced, but "tankie" is a convenient thought-terminating-clichΓ©.
"Capitalism has failed us, instead of the only scientific ideology that is based in materialism, I am going to pick some vibes based bullshit I learnt on a Yogurt commercial"
Typical libshit
This inert attitude to politics is why our planet is fucked
When the anti-communist crowd start to repeat nazi propaganda is kinda difficult to tell the difference between them.
While the name of the community is not explicitly communist, the instance it's on absolutely is. Lemmy.ml is a communist instance.
Too simple view, all nazis are anti-communists, but not all anti-communists are nazis (socialists, anarchists....)
Anti-communism, even coming from the "left," is still deeply reactionary. It's largely a petite-bourgeois ideology, valuing individualism over inter-national prosperity for all. Not all anarchists are anti-communists, many times in history Marxists and anarchists have worked together to achieve common goals. The anarchists that are anti-communist, however, are reactionary and anti-proletarian.
Any socialist that doesn't eventually want to reach communism is either a social democrat, ie not a socialist at all but a welfare capitalist, or is someone that doesn't understand how socialism works its way towards full collectivization and internationalism.
Anti-communist "leftists" do the jobs of the imperialist bourgeoisie for them. Rather than uniting all that can be, they side with the imperialists in the conflict between imperialists and communists. Such a strategic error is thoroughly backwards, and is convenient for those who wish to endlessly critique the world without actually rolling up their sleeves to change it.
Agree, only means that calling Nazi all anti-communist is a falacy and much the cause of the force of the right wings. The left isn't often capable to agree with others because some idiologic differences, even if they all communists, but Leninists, Trotzkists, Marxists, Maoists, Stalinists, etc., while the right only need a briefcase with money to agree with the other rightwings.
The politics is to make commitments to create a common force against a powerful enemy. Important are the common goals of different points of view, not the "only my truth is the only valid", this is precisly the fascism and the danger of simplifying "anti-community = Nazi", we need commonsensism, not wiggeling red flags and Mao-Bibles, but educate and speak with the people. Still a long way to go.
Anti-communism and fascism are tied, historically. Whenever a violent reaction against communists has occured, historically, these have been thoroughly intermixed with nationalism and fascism. It's important to recognize the ties.
question: i consider myself anarchist, and i have nothing against communism itself besides the fact that i prefer anarchism and will always chose that over communism, does that make me anti-communist? or that would be it to actively boicot and actively go against communism and communists?
That's a normal anarchist, many of which have worked hand in hand with Marxists throughout the centuries. Although, I do think "preference" is a bit of an odd choice of words, the differences between Marxists and Anarchists are more of an analytical nature than a preference of outcomes, the analysis comes before the outcomes.
That's not anticom that's just typical anarchist
so, being anticom is basically act like a nazi then, right? XD
Usually, they are either nazis under sheets, or down the nazi pipeline
People really even become leftists and then deadass become nazbols or some shit because they are just that racist
Always noteworthy that western countries (the US especially) never had the equivalent of a "red-scare", but for nazis and other stripes of fascists. Instead they hired them to help in the colonial project as cops, feds, prison guards, and intelligence assets.
what is it with the amount of libs being stupid in here lately?
Please report any brigading genocidal liberals so we can get to them asap.
view more: next βΊ