Hope y'all alright.

I'm chilling in the parking lot of the gym right now and it's very apparent that there is a couple next to me living in their car. At first I thought they were just getting it on - she brushed her teeth and they both leaned their seats back. But I, being the confused creeper I am, looked through my car window again only to realize they're sleeping. Then it hit me. They're living in their fucking car in a gym parking lot. I don't know why I'm hit so hard by this, I'm sure you all see it often, but fuck. It makes me sad. Radicalization points +100

I have no idea what they're called except for Photo app but I can't find it. Can someone identify them by icons? Thanks in advance.

I had a dream where I was one of the bolsheviks who had to kill Tsar Nicholas II

Thanks admins, for keeping the most deranged anticommunists and others out of here, it's made being here an awesome experience <3

Maybe it's because I'm obsessive about words and enjoy overthinking things, but I do this a lot with common words and phrases that we use. The one that horrified me today was the phrase "cost of living". It's right in front of our faces that it literally costs money to remain alive. Did we know this already? Of course! But the fact that it's so deeply woven into every aspect of our lives and people don't even pay attention to what's coming out of their mouths is wild to me. Wild, and wildly upsetting. I hope this wasn't a weird post or a post that doesn't belong! I will delete or accept a removal of the post if it doesn't fit. Thanks for reading all of this.

So recently I've been spending some time on the lemmygrad minecraft server, and I wanted to give everyone a heads-up about this big apartment skyscraper I'm building. The skyscraper will probably be finished in a few weeks and will have ten stories, from A to J, with two rooms on each story. If any of you are interested in a residence, please apply for a room right now and I'll go through the applications when I have time. server info: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/678966 Currently finished rooms(will update): A-1, A-2, B-1, B-2

FOR THE PEOPLE, COMRADES! 

This whole system is purely designed to keep a few people in power and it is fucking insane. We wouldn't even have the internet if a governmental institution hadn't created it, because the free market deemed it unprofitable. How can we as a society achieve progress like that? I am constantly surrounded by people that defend free market capitalism without questioning it nor having independent thoughts about it, even though they are not stupid. I feel constantly alienated because I have to discuss the most ridiculous thing with me peers when I try to show them the massive amount contradictions of this system,, and they just reply that it does not work. Without having a single grasp of how politics work. I don't mean to say that the general population is stupid, but it feels like they are constantly influenced by pro-capitalist information sources. I don't know, I regularly question my beliefs and apply constructive criticism to my thoughts, but I always come to the same conclusion. Am I getting insane, or am I just to alienated?

Read the comments in the chains that are beneath it. https://old.reddit.com/comments/13ylk42/comment/jmnp04a My participation will be low here for the time being, but this is something that affects all. Brace yourselves. Additional information that borderline fascistic instances like sopuli.xyz already exist (Finland NATO supporter), and lemmy.one (PrivacyGuides admin) is run by a US/Canada nationalist that defederated Lemmygrad day 1 and calls people here liberals.

**We heard you loud and clear comrades, and we're designing a survey!** Any suggestion for questions as well as options to pick from can be made in this thread. We were talking about the demographics of Lemmygrad yesterday, and someone pointed out the possibility of doing a survey. Is that something you'd be interested in? We can ask stuff like how long you've known about lemmygrad, gender identity, nationality, etc. to get an idea of exactly how many of us here are minorities in some way. But in proper survey format and everything. It would be anonymous, at best we get your country code (automatically sent to the survey software on top of your answers) so you can use a VPN if you want to.

that’s all, I don’t know what else to say here. Was it because those videos were old?

Just a rant since i dont have anyone to talk abt this. So i work in agriculture and inherited a warehouse that its a freaking chaos, full of rats, rusty tools, scrap metal, dirty buckets, broken pallets, sacks, etc... And i am completely overwhelmed, i dont know where to even start cleaning this shithole. To start i want to deal with the oil mess, my ideas so far are to get a big container for used oil ( right now its all spread on dozens of buckets all around the place ), and transfer the oil to the big container ( how do i get rid of this..). But then i am left with dozens of dirty greasy buckets so id have to clean each one with water and soap(?), but is it safe to throw the dirty water+soap+oil mix on dirt afterwards? If anyone has suggestions, im all ears. Fucking hate the last generation obsession with hoarding.

https://www.hexbear.net/post/270650 I really hope beehaw is slow to block them, those shitposters are feral edit: bad news, they say they're not even going to be federating at first and when they do it will probably just be with us :( I wanted to see the confusion from libs interacting with maniacs on that instance

**England** [A man said he was arrested for shouting, “Who elected him?” when the proclamation was read out in Oxford.](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/11/republican-protesters-arrested-king-charles-proclamation-events) (No princess was ever assassinated for sure) **America** [Climate activist killed in ‘Cop City’ protest sustained 57 gunshot wounds, official autopsy says, but questions about gunpowder residue remain](https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/20/us/cop-city-activist-killed-dekalb-county-medical-examiner/index.html) (One of the countless protesters killed by police in America.) Don't get me started on communists and SocDems that were most definitely not killed by the FBI/CIA (Malcolm X, MLK, numerous Black Panthers). **Denmark** [One year of burqa ban: 23 fined](https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/et-ar-med-burkaforbud-23-har-faet-boder) (2019 btw) [Woman risks 16 years in prison for sharing pictures of Mette Frederiksen(Prime minister) doll(burning): Now she is backed by well-known satirist](https://www.bt.dk/samfund/kvinde-risikerer-16-aars-faengsel-for-billeddeling-af-mette-f-dukke-nu-bakkes-hun) She didn't make nor burn the doll. She shared pictures of it. Let's do **Israel** too [Shireen Abu Aqleh killed by ‘seemingly well-aimed’ Israeli bullet, UN says](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/24/shireen-abu-aqleh-palestinian-journalist-killed-by-israeli-bullet-un-says) Guess reporters aren't free to report either... Fuck it, here's **South Korea** [South Korean activist No Su-hui arrested as he returns from unauthorised trip to the North](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBMKyRly-Bg) Bonus fact: America bans travel to North Korea. Also my mother wasn't allowed to travel to America because her father was a communist.

The fight against unjust laws requires militant protests, and the fight against bigotry needs to be relentlessly aggressive. It is a privilege to believe self-defense cannot be used to counter fascism in its early stages. In the liberal mindset, violence should have been used only when Jews were lined up to enter the gas chambers. Once Jews became political targets, violence should have been the first step. After the Nazis declared Jews enemies, they had the right to defend themselves with violence. A violent approach at the beginning could have prevented the rise of the Nazi party. Liberals' inability to grasp this will lead to more marginalized minorities dying around the world. Militant protests should be organized against the removal of women's abortion rights in the USA. The rights of black people and LGBT rights should also be protected by force. The protests should be held in front of, if not inside, the houses of republicans. These protests should be as aggressive as possible, creating an atmosphere of fear among those who oppose the rights of women and others. There should eventually be a tipping point when their fear becomes reality, if they are not to stop their unnecessary oppression. A marginalized group does not receive human rights, they are stripped of them. The removal of your birthrights should be violently opposed as soon as possible. Fascists use democracy to their advantage. It does not matter whether they are politicians or citizens, a right-wing politician will oppress both with his political power. Our ability to stop fascism will be limited if liberals do not exercise their political authority. It is too frightening for liberal politicians to use their power for real moral purposes, so they won't help. Our politicians accept racism as an opinion and fascism as a solution. People are imprisoned for petty crimes, but you can speak freely if you make a sincere effort to recruit people to your fascist ideology. Creating a safe environment for fascists to speak without fear is not only dangerous, but those who allow it are complicit in their crimes. If a racist or homophobic person gets into a room with a fascist. Within a few hours, if they discussed politics, two fascists came out of the room. To prevent fascism, liberal voters must take risks, including letting go of their flawed concept of democracy. Unless they engage in militant protests or suppress bigots freedom of speech, liberals and fascists are the same. The right to say racist remarks only protects those who intend to use racist language. The same applies to all bigoted speech. In a society where freedom of speech is unlimited, only fascists would benefit. *Initially, they came for racists' freedom of speech. After that, they remove homophobic speech. Afterwards, they demanded removal for sexist speech. When they came for me I gave them a high five and said thank you. Because I am not a racist, homophobic or sexist person. * It is always necessary to respond aggressively to the claim that bigotry is merely a difference of opinion. The methods used by marginalized groups should be more aggressive. The fight against racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia should extend beyond shaming bigots. When an oppressed minority kills a fascist, it always does so in self-defense. Killing fascists is a way to defend ourselves from their ideology that hates us and seeks to oppress us. Instead of asking whether fascists should be slaughtered, we should ask whether they deserve to suffer on their way to the slaughterhouse.

This doesn't make any sense to me. I know they aren't Marxists, but the goals of communism are people-centric. We're trying to achieve a better society for all people, so why exclude certain groups from that?

I've only been here for a few days, so I don't know the "history" of lemmygrad and its relationship with the other instances. Do we have a running count of the instances that have blocked us? I know they're ignorant liberals, and obviously as a principled Marxist I'm ready to respond to their pre-programmed, anti-Marxist rhetoric, but there's communities on Reddit in which I'd never had a single interaction with someone spewing anti-ML bullshit. For example, I'm very interested in NBA basketball. I like to be involved in the drama around the game. If a large group of NBA enthusiasts start a community on an instance that has us blocked, I'm locked out because the administrators of that instance shit their little britches seeing a passionate Marxist speak their mind on lemmygrad. I was thinking about starting a community here for the NBA, hopefully we gather enough members to facilitate content creation in smaller communities, despite the rampant blocking. Edit: Now that I think about it, honestly I think I'm fine just making communities for shit I'm interested in here, regardless of our connection to those other instances. Looking through the ones I know have blocked us made me cringe off the face of the planet. Wouldn't even want to talk basketball with them.

Kind of amazing how many instances are blocking lemmygrad as soon as they're created. I know that liberals really don't like dissenting opinions but goddamn

Just a fun question I thought of.

I recently had a discussion with someone about socialism etc... I thought about countering the argument that socialism doesn't work, because it has failed once. I came up with: "Well, the first French revolution failed, and the people still continued establishing a second bourgeois democratic republic. So why should we stop to create a second socialist republic, just because the first attempt failed / has issues?" Does this argument make any sense, or is this incomparable (I know it kind of is, but still)? Also, isn't it a core value of Marxism-Leninism to learn from past failed policies and politics, and correct them in the future?

Muslims and christians arguing, that’s all. It’s really unpleasant and usually I avoid these conversations. Am I saying I hate christians? Of course not, I have met many of them who are very kind people, though this may be different with others. Maybe one day, all of us shall be at peace.

I don't know what to think about the Gang of Four. I think that Hua Guofeng was a dogmato-revisionist due to his "Two Whatevers" theory.\ https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/deng-xiaoping/1977/124.htm\ I don't know what to think about Deng either since I've heard many conflicting opinions about him. I've also heard the claim that China is capitalist, and people on Discord often bring up this picture:  What were the Go4's objectives? Hua Guofeng had them arrested, but Hua was an dogmato-revisionist.

I'm struggling with people around me (in the US) being so politically disengaged and just apathetic towards very serious things. I don't want to be the stereotypical obnoxious commie who injects politics into everything, but at the same time, basically everything political and we have very different understandings of the world so its hard to just sit back and be like everyone else. Everyone around me just doesn't seem to care and I don't know what to do. I'm getting involved with a party again soon once I get back on my feet but I don't know how to approach people who are just chilling and galloping through, y'know? Maybe this is a useless or dumb post but I'm just kind of lost

Some comrades on Discord were saying that the USSR during Khrushchev's time was putting down communist movements in Peru and India and supporting the reactionary Indian government. The Peru stuff is rather dubious considering that Fujimori rose to power during Gorby's time, but the Khrushchevites started acting imperialist towards the rest of the Eastern Bloc. (Ulbricht was soooooo much better than Honecker as Honecker simped for the Khrushchevites). That comrade has some interesting opinions on China, such as that the CPC isn't really socialist after the right-deviationist takeover by Deng. I think that the Go4 were better than Deng, and that Xi Jinping's trying to clean up the mess made by Jiang and Hu.

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Do you find it difficult to stay in touch with your friends or family?

Whenever there’s some issue that rustles liberal feathers, I’ll see post upon post about how frustrated people are with <insert issue here> on Instagram stories. I’ve actually had some success sliding up on their Instagram stories and sharing my communist perspective on whatever pissed them off. Success being, they are receptive to these ideas and are willing to learn more after their first exposure. I’m not saying I’ve seen this here, I’m new here of course, but I find online leftists always seem to immediately point to literature when a liberal asks in good faith to be educated on communism. And of course any self respecting Marxist would recommend reading literature, and anyone who genuinely wants to learn more absolutely should read literature; but I believe it’s extremely important to put effort into our initial explanations before referring an interested liberal to literature. Does anyone else have a similar experience radicalizing people through social media?

Hi comrades! This is my first time on Lemmygrad, so I apologise for the abrupt introduction. I saw there's an introduction community, although it seems abandoned. I'll consider making a post later today perhaps in this community, if you have better ideas for where it should fit, please let me know! How do you deal personally with expressing affection towards family, lovers etc.? Capitalism has definitely commodified affection/love/relationships in every aspect (e.g. Valentine's day), so it's hard to not fall in for "consumerist love". Obviously, a type of affection and compassion I'd argue are integral for the wellbeing of any society, although invidiualism as we know hardly promotes this. The culture also creates expectations of how affection and any type of relationship should be "performed". Corporations such as Disney which have a near monopoly on all expressions of late-capitalist culture often set stereotypes through the media they present to us, a good example being the Aladdin animated movie which is very racist, or Tarzan which was not popular until Disney animated it and made a friendlier version of its story. Thus this gives birth to lots of unrealistic expectations and pressures, because we feel we have to "perform" to our friends, family and lovers like we're on a stage. This ties in and is reflected in the usage of social media, we can see unrealistic body expectations, although mostly in the cishet space as far as I know, please correct me if I'm wrong. I think it's a combination of factors, first off the culture sets everyone up regarding expectations then they're exacerbated on mainstream social media such as Instagram. Now regarding a more personal aspect, I find that I have a hard time showing affection, even to family. Some people naturally express their emotions well, while I find myself not even going for hugs, and so on. I mostly internally justify it as "oh the other person would think it's awkward," perhaps it's a lack of communication on my side. More often than not, this resulted in people thinking that I'm uninterested in them (as in friendship or a relationship), or even in an extreme case someone thought I hated them which was definitely not the case. I'm more of an introvert, although when I get to know the person better I become rather extroverted with them, so I think I'm ambiverted. I want to learn to express my emotions better through creating mostly, although I have yet to find a good creative process to suit me other than writing, which I enjoy. I think social anxiety plays a role in this, also the fact that I overthink most social encounters and exaggerate to myself how the other person understands my actions. I'd love to hear your experiences and opinions regarding the subject!

They asked what our starting pay is. Funny thing is, I don't even remember. I could theoretically do the math backwards from paystubs, but eh. I know how much to expect. Regardless, I said somewhere around 13 dollars, but the company I work for is unionized so the shit pay is offset a little bit by ensured basic rights like the ability to actually take breaks, unlike any of my previous workplaces. Coworkers are awesome, even management's tolerable. They said they worked for a place that was "worker-run" but then it stopped being so worker-run so they quit. Then they said *Walmart* of all places had started hiring at 17 an hour, all positions, so that was still their first choice. To see a small wage increase (not even to a livable wage) sway a worker in real time against the right to negotiate with their employer as workers collectively... *bruh*. It just sucks. I once worked for a pharmacy where I made $16.50 an hour and I consider it one of the worst jobs in the world. It was so alienating, I had intrusive thoughts like ::: spoiler unhinged *"maybe in this hellworld the only way to escape this miserable unlife is to become the slaveowner. I am a slave to insurance companies. I am a slave to Big Pharma. I am a slave to my hitlerite managers. I am a slave to ungrateful piece of shit geriatrics who are upset they had to wait 5 minutes longer for their viagra than normal because insurance is trying to charge another customer $800 for their life-preserving medication and I'm trying to convince them fucking not to. Nobody is grateful or ever will be for your labor and all of your labor is in service of capitalist slaveowners. this will never change."* ::: - - etc. etc. It's maybe a bit worrisome that I remember that feeling so intensely, I don't know. At the same time, those thoughts and my internal battle against them were instrumental in creating a fundamental understanding in me that wages are not worth your sanity, your ability to take breaks, your ability to call in, your ability to take or leave more work at your request. I am so grateful for my new job tbh, cringe as it may be. I am learning to enjoy labor for labor's sake. Making actual, meaningful connections with people. And I get to take breaks, in fact I am forced to take a break. This is because we have a union. I don't know if Walmart conditions have improved generally... but every time I've been inside a Walmart, I've thought to myself *If I ever find myself working here, I **am** going to *redacted* myself. I'll have to." I don't know. I'm having a strange time with it all. Unions are good, and I'm beholding a part of the struggle in real-time. Thanks for reading or even skimming 🫡 Don't work at Walmart if you don't have to, kids.

Seriously, I cannot believe the amount of racist, sexist, and overall just shitty things that are said. I just played an FPS for the first time in a while (CSGO) and Jesus christ. Just makes it not fun lol. Maybe I'm too sensitive

It is the anthem of once 15 united republics that were a beacon of hope against the western capitalist powers and fascism, it also paved the way for many AES countries we know today.

Trying to post a study here.

Found this on the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_food_energy_intake Apparently, only five African countries have lower calorie intakes. It could be misleading but if I search for similar statistics on this country I get similar results. I believe the embargo has something to do with it, if not most to do with it. What insight or comments can you guys give?

What are some relatively minor things that bother you? It doesn't necessarily have to be related to Marxism or politics. One of my pet peeves is when libs say something political or talk about politics, and then say it isn't political. Like they think their liberal ideology is just common sense and it can't possibly be challenged.

I had to vote the frickin demsocs  me is dum

From what I can tell he just seems like some libertarian who wants to pick fights. His top song (cover above) is called [genocide](https://youtu.be/d697eVYYOlc) and features exclusively people that seem to be implied to be Soviets. I expected some horseshoe theory, but the songs just him complaining about haters plus some Nazi related jokes. He’s got a song called Chinese propaganda (feat. MKULTRA), and at first it seems like he could just be responding to the haters on Twitter by joking about his XI Bucks, but then he talks about Taiwan and “our supreme leader” and I’m not sure. If he knows what MKULTRA is maybe he’s not totally ignorant. He also has a song called Isis type beat, which seems like a respectable shitpost, and it reminded me of Yugopnik talking about Isis edits going hard. I did some googling, and all I got of his politics are he is representative of the ambiguous “American melting pot.” Thoughts? Edit: weird YT short of his-https://youtube.com/shorts/W4PrmKB0FX8?feature=share

Or do they only teach liberal nonsense?