this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025
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Lefty Memes

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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.

Agitprop (I.E. everything that would be more fitting on a poster than a meme) goes here.

Serious posts, news, and discussion 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:

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Western perception of “Social credit” largely propaganda btw and if you believe it isnt then you got manipulated.

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759 credit score. Still don't qualify.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 day ago (12 children)

You say western but I live in the UK and while credit ratings exist here I have never had a reason to care about them. Never even had a credit card. Only time I borrowed money is for my mortgage.

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[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

There are more 'social scores' than just the credit one. The main difference is that in the West it's kept in secret, while China is open about it. Of course, it's also different than American propaganda says.

Arguments can be made both in favor and against such systems or their parts. I think we can all agree that the American one goes far beyond reasonable social utility. The Chinese one too, probably. China may be a lot better than our media tells us, but it's still far from perfect.

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[–] dogbert@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

“There has been a widespread misconception that China operates a nationwide and unitary social credit "score" based on individuals' behavior, leading to punishments if the score is too low. Media reports in the West have sometimes exaggerated or inaccurately described this concept. It issued guidelines clarifying that citizens could not be punished for having low scores”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System

Social credit in China is more about gauging trustworthiness of business entities. Something that is a great benefit to their citizens.

[–] twinnie@feddit.uk 40 points 2 days ago (6 children)

That may be the case but you people have to stop trying to defend China all the time. You can’t even search the word “democracy” without being added to a list.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 days ago

Ah yeah, because the five eyes (of which the UK is a member) doesn't flag people and add them to watchlists for comments potentially like this one

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I am currently reading a book (Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers) by a CCP member and he talks about:

  • The merits of Democracy
  • Tienamen Square
  • A better leadership style for China than what they have

So you can talk about these things, but what isn't allowed is being inflammatory.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Uh, that's not exactly exonerating material. Any government that would restrict Or crack down on those who would tell their government to go fuck itself. Can go fuck itself.

By all means, if we are discussing, removing rights from an individual or a group, be dispassionate and fact-based all day every day. But if we are telling the victims of abuse that their complaints are invalid or illegal because they feel emotion from the damage done to them. Fuck that shit.

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Being inflammatory is not the same as someone complaining about an unjust government nor is it the same as feeling bad about something. It is a rhetorical strategy that is not suited for bridging misunderstandings and that is why such content gets removed from their platforms.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Saying the CCP violates human rights, is unequivocally true and factual. It's also inflammatory. There's nothing wrong with inflammatory speech. And biased policing of it destroys bridges and builds rightful resentment.

My government is also currently involved with similar violations. And I'm not going to let them police my language either. Forcing us to use language that favors them or makes light of their atrocities. Good governments don't do that. Inflammatory actions justify inflammatory language. Fuck what trump or the CCP thinks.

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Again, you are allowed to say the CCP does not respect human rights as defined by the west, they will openly agree with that statement and repeat it back to you. But to say the people don't have rights to even say that is inflammatory because it is false.

[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I’m pretty sure Trump will put you on a list for searching that too

[–] Klear@quokk.au 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Did anyone say USA is not a shithole?

[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It’s usually directly implied that America doesn’t have the same level of censorship. So when it comes to searching the term “democracy” the poster was very clearly implying you do not get put on lists for simple searches in America. Perhaps they didn’t mean to do so but this is very typical

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 3 points 1 day ago

The two countries of the world, China and USA

[–] magic_lobster_party@fedia.io 5 points 2 days ago (3 children)

There’s more to the world than USA and China. Europe for example.

[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

Ah yes Europe where you totally won’t get put on a list or driven out from a country like France for making a secure android rom

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

more importantly the entire global south that the three major empires of the usa, china, and russia exploit

[–] RipLemmDotEE@lemmy.today 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Two words for Europe: Chat Control.

[–] ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This reads like someone who can't fathom that some people genuinely do like China and think it's doing a good job. It always comes back to Western chauvinism where we think that our values like liberal capitalism and bourgeois democracy are inherently superior to the values held by most people in the global south. Maybe they don't always want what we want.

Too much criticism of China is based on falsehoods and deliberate misrepresentation of certain aspects of Chinese society, culture, and politics. Case in point: the social credit system. Criticism is fine if it's fair and based on facts.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 13 points 1 day ago

That's all well and good. The problem comes when either one tries to criticize the other. It's hypocrisy. Always resulting in whataboutism as justification.

Without press freedom or freedom of speech as well. It is impossible to say whether China or any country is doing well or right by its people. And it is an excellent metric to look at and judge the United States decline by as well. If you wouldn't trust a police department to investigate the abuse and brutality perpetrated by them. Or take Pete Haggseth at his word about those innocent fishermen he killed. But you accept the narrative of the CCP. That's willful hypocrisy.

Is what gets reported about a lot in Western-free press concerning China, sometimes false? Sure. Is it all false? Certainly not. It's just a shame there is no independent free press in China to actually get the facts out. But plenty of the CCPs verifiable abuse gets handwaved away. Concerning uhygers and other non ethnic minorities. Especially when we can point to real named victims.

Such as the case of Naomi Wu. If you have been in the maker space/3d printing over the last decade. You had likely at least heard of her if not met her. She was a wonderful window into the local culture of shenzhen. A great citizen ambassador for China. And international brand ambassador for creality. Often getting their newest products to demonstrate and display. Till that day. The day she dared put up a personal video. Discussing how she'd suffered because of the CCPs one child policy. And how she and her partner. A uhyger were managing with the restrictions placed on them as an ethnic minority. It was a great and informative video. That didn't even paint the CCP in that bad of a light. But it didn't keep representatives of the CCP from beating down her door. Threatening her livelihood and life convincingly enough that she cut off all international presence and contact. Those aren't the actions of a good or benevolent government.

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[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It sounds like it was the sort of horrid "good citizen" system in pilot cities until it was stopped

In 2019, the central government voiced dissatisfaction with pilot cities experimenting with social credit scores. It issued guidelines clarifying that citizens could not be punished for having low scores and that punishments should only be limited to legally defined crimes and civil infractions. As a result, pilot cities either discontinued their point-based systems or restricted them to voluntary participation with no major consequences for having low scores.

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So I helped a friend buy a car many years ago. It’s gone well. But her last payment. She was 50$ short. She gave me a nice credit surprise because she didn’t want to ask me for 50$ on the last payment. My perfect credit got dinged pretty good.

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