this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Asklemmy

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[โ€“] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 68 points 2 years ago (2 children)

My thought on why you see more communists, anarchists, and leftists in general in open source and federated platforms is that efforts centered around collaboration are likely to draw people who are more collaborative-minded.

[โ€“] Driftking@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 years ago

Interesting. Thank you for the contribution. It is much appreciated.

[โ€“] RatzChatsubo@lemm.ee 26 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[โ€“] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 years ago

Breath of fresh air for sure!

[โ€“] barrbaric@hexbear.net 25 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)
  1. lemmy's two main developers are marxist-leninists
  2. the largest and most active instance prior to the reddit exodus was hexbear, which is a "big tent" of revolutionary leftism, featuring mostly communists and some anarchists
  3. lemmygrad, an explicitly marxist-leninist instance, is also relatively large
[โ€“] beef_curds@hexbear.net 29 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

And to speak to grad and hexbear, a large part of the reason there are commies here is because they were driven off other platforms. Hexbear and Grad are both decendent from active communities that reddit banned.

Seeing all the scaremongering about those communities here reminds me of the old comic. :

[โ€“] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 12 points 2 years ago

I've literally never seen a better fit for this comic

It's like it was made for this specific moment lol

[โ€“] Driftking@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This is fascinating to me. Thank you. Do you have some insight into how the leadership and centralisation of power dilemma of traditional leninist ideology is reconciled within the fed? I noticed many of my student groups running into issues with the concept.

[โ€“] barrbaric@hexbear.net 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The fediverse isn't a political organization that's going to enact change in the real world, so those concerns largely aren't relevant. Admins (and devs) generally speaking do hold a monopoly of power but that's the standard for the internet.

[โ€“] Driftking@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

I see. Thank you for the clarification. Have a nice day my friend.

[โ€“] MJBrune@beehaw.org 22 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Honestly, the same reason you see more Linux users. Federation attracts a certain type of person. Other types of people use Reddit or other services like Twitter.

[โ€“] Driftking@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Imteresting, thank you. I will dwell on the topic further.

[โ€“] IRQBreaker@lemmy.kozow.com 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[โ€“] dan1101@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago

You know, like go for a long walk next to the ocean and throw some rocks, ponder life, then have an epiphany and run home.

[โ€“] Driftking@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

Yes. In the phrasal verb meaning.

[โ€“] arthur@lemmy.zip 21 points 2 years ago

This software was made by commies. You are welcome :)

[โ€“] cnnrduncan@beehaw.org 16 points 2 years ago

Part of it is the fact that the more right-wing instances end up full of nasty hateful shit which results in everybody else defederating from them - just look at Exploding Heads where two of the posts on their front page are "I absolutely hate fat people" and "I support Trump because if he wins there will be mass suicides"; not exactly the kind of content most users want to engage with!

[โ€“] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Because the internet is a place where people from the real world come to share their thoughts? I hate to break it to you, but their presence here means they exist in the real world too. So your question could just as well be "why are there so many commies in the world"?

[โ€“] Driftking@lemmy.ml -1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Why so snarky? I just noticed that fed is way more communist than any other space I have ever been in and I am a lecturer at a very left leaning University, living in a very left leaning community.

[โ€“] GlitzyArmrest@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I only replied with a snarky tone because you started the thread with snark in the title.

Guess it must be that they feel comfortable sharing their views here unlike in real life. I'm all for it, if that's the case. People should be able to express themselves.

[โ€“] Driftking@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Sorry if I came across that way my friend.

I am a neutral observer and was just surprised. Wish you all the best in your endeavours. Keep well.

[โ€“] MycoMadness@reddthat.com 9 points 2 years ago

Surprisingly wholesome conclusion to this thread. Not enough discourse like this online :)

I wonder if it's calling communists 'commies' that some may take offense to.

To my ear, this is sort of a slur in that I've only really ever heard it when some army guy is shouting 'god damn commies' or the like.

Just a disclaimer, I don't have particularly strong feelings for either a communist or capatalist structure. I think shitty people tend to gather power so most of us are just taken advantage of in either scenario.

[โ€“] Vitaly@feddit.uk -4 points 2 years ago

Yeah there is a lot of communists for some reason

[โ€“] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You say, on the original server which isn't .ml because of a connection to Mali (it's Marxist-Leninist).

[โ€“] maporita@unilem.org 6 points 2 years ago

I'm not sure if you're aware but "commie" is a derogatory term .. if you didn't know that it's fine. Now you do.

If you did know that and you're intending to be derogatory then go fuck yourself.

[โ€“] neptune@dmv.social 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[โ€“] atlasraven31@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

A fox smells its own hole.

[โ€“] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

How do you know they're Communists/Marxists? I mean yeah, I noticed something might be the case, but I wouldn't assume it's because they're Communists/Marxists. Not that I would mind (even though I'm not a Communist/Marxist), just being a Communist/Marxist alone is not a big deal (as opposed to being someone who fits the stereotypes of one).

I will say though I do have a friend who identifies that way who I recommended to this place. She has been struggling and I thought it would be a good gesture.

[โ€“] MariaRomanov@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
  1. Tankies made the software.

  2. Conservatives left Reddit after The Donald got banned, and the bulk of the users on Lemmy came from Reddit.

  3. Libertarians are busy arguing over New Hampshire's twitter.

[โ€“] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I don't really see the link between these three points.

Could you elaborate?

[โ€“] MariaRomanov@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

If there were a lot more conservatives or libertarians, the OP might not think there are a lot of communist posters here. Because there are a lot of left leaning people here who upvote anti-capitalist posts and comments, it is easy for the OP to reach the conclusion that there are a lot of communists. My three points explain 1) why the platform was already predisposed towards leftist thought in general, 2 and 3) why there are not a lot of right leaning ideas to balance out the ratio.

[โ€“] YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Because the Fediverse is still small and they haven't been drown out yet.

[โ€“] NormalC@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Another thing is that proprietary social media sites like Reddit and Twitter always follow the will of their (ruling class/parasitic) masters.

The control freaks at the very top are capitalists and thus their ideology is the dominant and unquestioned/unchallenged one.

The fediverse is the antithesis of this model, so that's why ideologies other than status quo capitalism take root and thrive.