Lots of moments of people looking into the camera and going “how could communism do this?” which is cringe, but otherwise it’s a fantastic story of human drama and how bad shit can get. Funny, I read this morning that Gorby is now dead, weird timing.
I was able to watch it as it aired and definitely enjoyed it but remember thinking how some of it just smacked of anticommunist tropes snuck in all over.
But I was pretty new to real, radical leftism at the time and had a ton of questions about the validity of some of what the show portrayed, but knew I wouldn’t get honest answers from a general search.
So I posted on r/communism asking for people’s opinions on what the show got right and where the propagandist lies began. I got told it was all lies, complete western propaganda and that I shouldn’t be watching bourgeois media at all. That I was spreading liberal ideology by even mentioning the show, etc. I swear to god that (and many other) “communism” subs have been blatant astroturfed ops from the beginning. And it’s gotten so much worse since then, it’s hard to believe.
I wish this place had been around at the time because I would have loved a good analytical discussion on it. I think I was on the chapo sub at the time but foolishly thought most of the “communist” subs had enough crossover that I’d get the same response there.
Anyway, rambling comment nearing conclusion… I’m glad to finally see some good talk on it, what like 5 years later. Too bad I barely remember the show now.
(Also glad to see you posting again SFS, FWIW.)
The r/communism and r/communism101 subs are so fucking annoying. Like someone will come in with a question and immediately be attacked.
Most recently I saw someone on the 101 sub asking if they should join the DSA if it was the only option in their area. The top response literally started with “it depends how much damage you want to do to the world” and then went on a screed about how obviously the question was in bad faith, how the OP had already made up their mind and why even ask the question if they didn’t want answers… the OP literally hadn’t commented in the thread outside of their initial question.
I’m fully convinced those subs are an op to turn away budding leftists.
It’s pretty sickening to watch, isn’t it? And if you try to offer a more reasonable response - permaban.
Oh yeah, I have zero doubt that is exactly the case. And it fucking works. :agony-shivering:
If I hadn’t already been a leftist who knew a little theory and had been exposed to genuine communist people online, I would have left the thread I mentioned above with a very low opinion of communists, modern online ones at least. Which is why the complete lack of real leftism allowed on reddit (and other social media) really concerns me. They have realized online radicalization can really work and they’re working hard to shut that down immediately. There’s no way a sub like the chapo sub could start, let alone grow now.