Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
● Matrix homeserver and space
● Theory discussion group on Matrix
● Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna’s Archive, libgen
You stated in your vetting answers that you were not a Marxist, and the community is explicitly for Marxists-Leninists, although we do usually accept those new to Marxist theory. This is not a “purity test” and there was no hostility whatsoever in our moderator’s conduct. You were invited to our introductory room to learn about Marxism but declined; if you want to learn more about communism, you are free to join it and we’d be happy to help, but the space as a whole is intended for communists.
Well, that’s what I am… I didn’t say I wasn’t a marxist, I just didn’t say I was a marxist. I didn’t know that was a requirement. I don’t know what I am yet.
I failed your test presumably because I thought of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an imperialist act and after that, I couldn’t name a fifth imperialist country in the modern era. The five I gave you in the first place was difficult for me, not to mention the anti-imperialist countries.
Communism 101 is not what I was looking for by joining this community. I don’t want to retake your test. I didn’t say there was hostility, I just said I did not feel welcome as a newcomer.
I don’t know what to call that many genuinely difficult questions with that degree of specificity, if not a purity test. If my answers weren’t good enough then I really don’t want to be good enough for you.
That’s what the “left tendency” question is about. Our post about the Matrix space states that it’s “intended for Marxists-Leninists, although baby leftists may also be accepted depending on their vetting answers”.
That would not be alone in and of itself, but your other answers were enough to convince the mod with whom you spoke to recommend our “Communism 101” room instead, to learn more before we could let you in. That room consists almost entirely of members of our space who are willing to help educate newcomers, to keep the space proper limited to those with at least a basic understanding of Marxism-Leninism.
If you’re not a communist and you didn’t want to learn more about communism, what were you looking for in trying to join a communist Matrix space?
It’s fairly basic vetting, slightly more rigorous than for joining Lemmygrad. We have close to 200 members and we rarely reject applications.
I didn’t say any of that. Please stop putting words in my mouth.
I still don’t know what I am, but thanks for letting me know that it’s not communist.
This is the part I don’t get. If there was a problem with my answers it would be nice to know what that is. Otherwise all of this information just makes it feel personal and even more frustrating. I have a basic understanding of communism, I’ve read works by marx and engels, I just don’t know how it applies to imperialism and indigenous folks and I didn’t know I needed to know that to have the privilege of spectating theory discussions.
Anyways, I’m not interested in studying for and taking your test again. I have many other things I’d rather be doing with my time than trying to prove myself to people that don’t want me. I’ve never been very good at answering prompts anyways.
I don’t mean to invade the conversation but the problem is probably your understanding of imperalism, have you read Imperialism by Lenin? That will explain the ML perspective, and I’ve heard that Ben Becker ‘Lenin’s Imperialism in the 21st Century’ is a good follow up but I haven’t read it myself, there might be better ones
You’re not invading, it’s a public forum. Haven’t read that, thanks for the info.
if being politely denied access to a Marxist-Leninist space has convinced you that you’re not a communist, I suppose we made the right choice
That’s also not what I said.
this is quite literally what you said
No, that is not literally what I said, that was your interpretation.
If you’d like to know how I interpret that statement, I was pointing out that you were gatekeeping the community by making assumptions about what ideology my own beliefs do and do not amount to, even though I can’t even do that and you know even less about my beliefs than I do.
Great job assuaging my concerns about not feeling welcome in the community btw, I am so glad we had this exchange 👍
Another interluder, you could also try Imperialism: A Study (1902) by Hobson who was a British economist and as far as I understand explains the same things as Lenin in his book on Imperialism.
Link to a copy
Thanks for the link, I’ll check that out!