LWDT IX: Discussing the Left From All Engels
Hi folks! Welcome to the 9th iteration of the Left Wing Discussion Thread. As always please follow the forum rules when posting here. Take a break if you start feeling angry, instead of that anger determining the content of your posts here.
Relevant subjects for discussion include:
- The politics, philosophies, and ideologies of the political left.
- Left-wing perspectives on economics and political economy.
- News and history relevant to the political left.
- Left-wing responses to current events.
- Left-wing perspectives on social and economic problems.
- Political, social, cultural, and economic problems and their solutions according to the political left.
- Leftist intersectionality with movements aimed at alleviating the suffering of oppressed minority groups such as the LGBT+ community, oppressed racial minority groups, and more.
- The problems facing particular left-wing movements or the political left in general, and how to resolve them.
Poll History:
”What kind of Leftist are you?”
- Centrist/Moderate/Third wayer - 279 (13%)
- Social Liberal - 259 (12%)
- Social Democrat - 338 (16%)
- Green Progressive - 188 (9%)
- Democratic Socialist - 433 (20%)
- Marxist Communist - 246 (12%)
- Anarchist Communist - 202 (10%)
- Other (please state) - 176 (8%)
”What type of leftist are you?”
”What type of leftist are you?”
”Favourite Left-Wing Thinker?”
”Favourite Left-Wing Politician?”
”Favourite Left-Wing Social Movement/Revolution?”
”Preferred economic system?”
- Left-leaning Centrist - 50 (12%)
- Social Liberal - 57 (14%)
- Social Democrat - 62 (15%)
- Democratic Socialist - 80 (19%)
- Marxist Communist - 59 (14%)
- Anarchist Communist - 41 (10%)
- Collectivist Anarchist - 9 (2%)
- Individualist Anarchist - 10 (2%)
- Revolutionary Syndicalist - 22 (5%)
- Other (Please State) - 28 (7%)
”What type of leftist are you?”
- Left-leaning Centrist - 57 (13%)
- Left/Social Liberal - 51 (12%)
- Social Democrat - 73 (17%)
- Democratic Socialist - 78 (18%)
- Libertarian Marxist - 22 (5%)
- Other Marxist - 43 (10%)
- Social Anarchist - 31 (7%)
- Individualist Anarchist - 13 (3%)
- Revolutionary Syndicalist - 21 (5%)
- Other (Please State) - 47 (11%)
”Favourite Left-Wing Thinker?”
- John Rawls - 11 (7%)
- John Stuart Mill - 12 (8%)
- Karl Marx - 44 (29%)
- Max Stirner - 11 (7%)
- Simone de Beauvoir - 1 (1%)
- Noam Chomsky - 13 (9%)
- Peter Kropotkin - 30 (20%)
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon - 6 (4%)
- Slavoj Žižek - 7 (5%)
- Other (Please State) - 15 (10%)
”Favourite Left-Wing Politician?”
- Bernie Sanders - 25 (17%)
- Clement Attlee - 9 (6%)
- Eugene V. Debs - 19 (13%)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt - 37 (25%)
- François Mitterand - 1 (1%)
- Nikita Krushchev - 4 (3%)
- Nelson Mandela - 21 (14%)
- Salvador Allende - 8 (5%)
- Tony Benn - 4 (3%)
- Other (Please State) - 23 (15%)
”Favourite Left-Wing Social Movement/Revolution?”
- French Revolution, 1789 (France) - 61 (14%)
- Spring Of Nations, 1848 (Europe) - 34 (8%)
- October Revolution, 1917 (Russia) - 60 (14%)
- Spanish Revolution, 1936 (Spain) - 57 (14%)
- Chinese Communist Revolution, 1946 (China) - 14 (3%)
- Resistance To Apartheid, 1950 (South Africa) - 24 (6%)
- Cuban Revolution, 1953 (Cuba) - 19 (5%)
- Civil Rights Movement, 1954 (USA) - 123 (29%)
- Occupy Movement, 2011 (International) - 10 (2%)
- Other (Please State) - 19 (5%)
”Preferred economic system?”
- Welfare Capitalism 92 (23%)
- Market Socialism 62 (16%)
- Mutualism 10 (3%)
- Syndicalism 40 (10%)
- Communalism 13 (3%)
- State Planning 36 (9%)
- Decentralised Planning 27 (7%)
- Higher Phase Communism 38 (10%)
- Left-wing Market Anarchism 15 (4%)
- Other 67 (17%)
Left-leaning Centrist
105 13%
Left/Social Liberal
74 9%
Social Democrat
115 14%
Democratic Socialist
139 17%
Marxist Communist
139 17%
Social Anarchist
50 6%
Individualist Anarchist
38 5%
Revolutionary Syndicalist
39 5%
Communalist
27 3%
Other (Please Post)
71 9%
Total votes : 797 (6/3/18)
105 13%
Left/Social Liberal
74 9%
Social Democrat
115 14%
Democratic Socialist
139 17%
Marxist Communist
139 17%
Social Anarchist
50 6%
Individualist Anarchist
38 5%
Revolutionary Syndicalist
39 5%
Communalist
27 3%
Other (Please Post)
71 9%
Total votes : 797 (6/3/18)
Was Trotsky Polyamorous?
Yes 141 58%
Yes 103 42%
Yes 141 58%
Yes 103 42%
Who are the greatest threat to the Revolution?
Class traitors 9 5%
Social Democratic Fascists 17 9%
Bourgeois Homosexuals 30 16%
Kulaks 7 4%
Trotskyite Conspirator Saboteurs 16 9%
Actual Capitalists and Fascists 103 57%
Total votes : 182
Class traitors 9 5%
Social Democratic Fascists 17 9%
Bourgeois Homosexuals 30 16%
Kulaks 7 4%
Trotskyite Conspirator Saboteurs 16 9%
Actual Capitalists and Fascists 103 57%
Total votes : 182
Poll 1: Bread poll! Which Bread Anarchism is the best? (65 votes total)
Poll 2: Roughly where do you sit on the left-wing of the political spectrum?
Poll 3: Title Time! Which Title Should We Have?
- Bread Santa, of course! - 3 (5%)
- Bread Santa but more red. - 3 (5%)
- Seriously? THIS is a poll? - 4 (6%)
- Yes. - 3 (5%)
- The Conquest of Bread. - 3 (5%)
- I knead to get out of this thread. - 5 (8%)
- Can you not be OP anymore? - 5 (8%)
- No. - 13 (20%)
- Fully Automated Luxury Hella Queer Space Anarchy forever! - 11 (17%) ( ;~; )
- Torra, are you okay? Are you inbread? Because these poll options suck. - 15 (23%)
Poll 2: Roughly where do you sit on the left-wing of the political spectrum?
- Yes. - 6 (17%)
- Center-left, authoritarian. - 1 (3%)
- Center-left, libertarian. - 3 (9%)
- Center-left, centrist. - 4 (11%)
- Mid-left, authoritarian. - 1 (3%)
- Mid-left, libertarian. - 4 (11%)
- Mid-left, centrist. - 3 (9%)
- Far-left, authoritarian. - 1 (3%)
- Far-left, libertarian. - 10 (29%)
- Far-left, centrist. - 2 (6%)
Poll 3: Title Time! Which Title Should We Have?
- Keep it as it is. - 4 (11%)
- Yes. - 6 (17%)
- Bread Dead Redemption. - 18 (50%)
- Makhno Mistake, The Left is The Best! - 4 (11%)
- The Right Can't Fight! - 4 (11%)
Poll 1: What do you think is currently the most successful existing example of a leftist movement globally?
- Rojava, Northern Syria (2,000,000 people, acting as a governing body since 2014 and autonomous since 2016; Semi-Direct Democratic Libertarian Socialism) - 57 (40%)
- The Zapatista Autonomous Communities, Chiapas, Mexico (364,000 people, autonomous since 1994; Direct Democratic Libertarian Socialism) - 37 (26%)
- The DSA, USA (60,000 members as of 2019, founded in 1982; Democratic Socialist/Social Democratic, depending on region or person) - 11 (8%)
- The International Workers' Association (17 member groups across the world, founded in 1922; Anarcho-Syndicalism) - 10 (7%)
- The Committee for a Workers' Internationale (41 member groups globally, founded in 1974; Trotskyist) - 7 (5%)
- Movement for Socialism, Bolivia (88/130 Deputies and 25/36 Senators, has democratically held power since 2006; Socialism of the 21st Century) - 20 (14%)
- Other (Please Explain) - 32 (25%)
- The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels) - 23 (18%)
- The Conquest of Bread (Peter Kropotkin) - 24 (19%)
- Das Kapital (Karl Marx) - 21 (16%)
- What is Property? (Pierre-Joseph Proudhon) - 2 (2%)
- Guerilla Warfare (Che Guevara) - 8 (6%)
- Mutual Aid (Peter Kropotkin) - 2 (2%)
- Profit Over People (Noam Chomsky) - 4 (3%)
- The Ego and Its Own (Max Stirner) - 8 (6%)
- Debt: The First 5,000 Years (David Graeber) - 5 (4%)
Poll 1: Who is your favorite breadtuber?
Under which leaders (if any) was the Soviet Union socialist?
Lenin (1918-1924) 404 34%
Stalin (1924-1953) 219 19%
Khrushchev (1953-1964) 147 12%
Brezhnev (1964-1982) 122 10%
Gorbachev (1985-1991) 122 10%
Never 164 14%
- ContraPoints - 44 (26%)
- Hbomberguy - 21 (12%)
- Shaun and Jen - 6 (3%)
- Innuendo Studios - 8 (5%)
- Philosophy Tube - 22 (13%)
- Peter Coffin - 2 (1%)
- Three Arrows - 12 (7%)
- BadMouseProductions - 21 (12%)
- Thought Slime - 5 (3%)
- Other - 31 (18%)
Under which leaders (if any) was the Soviet Union socialist?
Lenin (1918-1924) 404 34%
Stalin (1924-1953) 219 19%
Khrushchev (1953-1964) 147 12%
Brezhnev (1964-1982) 122 10%
Gorbachev (1985-1991) 122 10%
Never 164 14%
If You Could Go Back in Time to See the Russian Revolution Firsthand, Would You Do It?
Yes 49 49%
No 35 35%
I'd Replace John Reed With David Hasselhoff 4 Teh Lulz 16 16%
Was the Vietnam War Justified?
It was from my perspective, and it can be from the American perspective 14 6%
It was from my perspective, and it can be from the Vietnamese perspective 21 9%
It was from my perspective, and it can be from both the American and Vietnamese perspectives 25 11%
It wasn't from my perspective, but it can be from the American perspective 25 11%
It wasn't from my perspective, but it can be from the Vietnamese perspective 53 23%
It wasn't from my perspective, but it can be from both the American and Vietnamese perspectives 27 12%
It cannot be justified from any perspective because all war is wrong 40 17%
Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. 29 12%
Yes 49 49%
No 35 35%
I'd Replace John Reed With David Hasselhoff 4 Teh Lulz 16 16%
Was the Vietnam War Justified?
It was from my perspective, and it can be from the American perspective 14 6%
It was from my perspective, and it can be from the Vietnamese perspective 21 9%
It was from my perspective, and it can be from both the American and Vietnamese perspectives 25 11%
It wasn't from my perspective, but it can be from the American perspective 25 11%
It wasn't from my perspective, but it can be from the Vietnamese perspective 53 23%
It wasn't from my perspective, but it can be from both the American and Vietnamese perspectives 27 12%
It cannot be justified from any perspective because all war is wrong 40 17%
Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. 29 12%
- Socialism (Sylvia Pankhurst)
- The Soul of Man under Socialism (Oscar Wilde)
- Public Ownership and Common Ownership (Anton Pannekoek)
- Capitalist Property (Paul Lafargue)
- The Principles Of Communism (Friedrich Engels)
- The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels)
- Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Friedrich Engels)
- Wage, Labour, and Capital (Karl Marx)
- Value, Price, and Profit (Karl Marx)
- Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (Karl Marx)
- Critique of the Gotha Programme (Karl Marx)
- Synopsis of Capital (Friedrich Engels)
- Reform or Revolution (Rosa Luxemburg)
- The State and Revolution (Vladimir Lenin)
- An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory (Ernest Mandel)
- Anarchism: From Theory to Practice (Daniel Guérin)
- Anarchism and Other Essays (Emma Goldman)
- What Is Communist Anarchism? (Alexander Berkman)
- Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (Peter Kropotkin)
- The Conquest of Bread (Peter Kropotkin)
- The Unique and Its Property (Max Stirner)
- The Right To Be Greedy (For Ourselves)
- Social Ecology and Communalism (Murray Bookchin)
Videos
YouTube Playlists
YouTube Channels
- Vox: How wealth inequality is dangerous for America (2:35)
- 8-Bit Philosophy: Is Capitalism Bad For You? (3:39)
- Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: What is Social Democracy? (3:48)
- 8-Bit Philosophy: What is Marxism? (Karl Marx + Super Mario Bros.) (3:51)
- The Next System Project: What is Economic Democracy? (3:52)
- The Next System Project: The Pluralist Commonwealth (4:18)
- The 5 Filters of the Mass Media Machine (4:46)
- Complete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris (6:47)
- Intro to Anarchy: Power & Violence (7:53)
- The history of Anarchism in 8 minutes (8:27)
- The School of Life: Political Theory – Karl Marx (9:27)
- RSA ANIMATE: First as Tragedy, Then as Farce (10:56)
- Karl Marx & Conflict Theory: Crash Course Sociology #6 (11:19)
- TED Talks: How economic inequality harms societies (16:47)
- The RSA: David Harvey on The Contradictions of Capitalism (18:47)
- Marxism lecture by Prof. Raymond Geuss 1/8 (32:41)
- Socialism Has Never Worked? (43:26)
- The Society of the Spectacle (1:14:40)
YouTube Playlists
- Philosophy Tube's Series on Marx
- Reading Marx's Capital Vol 1 with David Harvey
- Reading Marx's Capital Vol 2 with David Harvey
- Law of Value (the labor theory of value) (Kapitalism 101)
- Libertarian Socialism 101 (Libertarian Socialist Rants)
YouTube Channels
- ContraPoints
- Anarchopac
- Mexie
- ProSocialism
- BadMouseProductions
- Xexizy
- Kwame Genov
- Herbal HRT Garden
- Socialism Explained
- What is Anarchism?
- Zero Books
- Libertarian Socialist Rants
- AnarchistCollective
- LeftSphere
- Ex Worker
- ComradeBun
- Audible Socialism
- Shaun and Jen
- Red Vanguard Radio
- TheFinnishBolshevik
- Endymion
- azureScapegoat
- Red Star Videos
- Flea Market Socialist
- /leftypol/ Videos
- leftypol
- Garrett
- Socialism Or Barbarism!
- Bat'ko the Manarchist
- Chomsky's Philosophy
- Zizekian Studies
- Slavoj Zizek Videos
Lots of free leftist literature is available at:
Free leftist audiobooks are also available at:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/AudioSocialism/
- https://www.marxists.org/audiobooks/index.htm
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvfeZJmLFo2o90A0v3ce2_Q/videos
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaO1QA8QL99_eb0XhJI2Fyw/videos
Other useful resources: