The *Actual Left: Theory & History

Posted in r/Anarchism by u/AnarchaMorrigan • 48 points and 5 comments

Caitlin Johnstone Sep 01, 2026 Reading by Tim Foley: People who believe capitalism is working out great are just sloppy thinkers who’ve fallen victim to survivorship bias and the just-world fallacy. Survivorship bias is when your analysis focuses on those who made it while ignoring those who didn’t. You got a decent job, bought a

Blazing Truth Five Capitalist Realizations Leading To Mutualism April 26th, 2012

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New law requires cosmetology classes to give instruction on all hair types from the kinkiest to the straightest

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Democracy is a means, not an end. The end is the well-being of the people.

the conflation of “democratic socialism” with socialism will never not annoy tf out of me. i write these long explanatory, educational posts to explain the difference only for someone to dismiss it as purity testing. 😭 ok so the National Socialist German Workers Party was actually socialist, then? if “socialism” is an arbitrary label anyone can slap on themselves and has nothing to do with their actual politics or advocacy, then why are we counting him out?? he was a member of a socialist party! karl marx and fredriech engels weresocialists, but they criticized the classical socialist theorists for their naive view that appealing to reason could establish a society where the means of production are owned collectively. but, collective ownership of the means of production has always been the historical and theoretical definition of socialism. the nordic states, the new deal, and universal healthcare/education/housing are not socialist. the working class does not own the means of production in the nordic states, the working class did not own the means of production under the new deal (it actually limited their ability to even organize toward that), social programs do not target the underlying issue that produces instability, inequality, exploitation, and oppression. they only marginally improve the lives of those living in the nation-state that enacts them. and capitalists funnel wealth back into these states through imperial extraction, genocide, and war. it doesn’t matter what these parties and politicians call themselves, it doesn’t matter what their websites state, using popular language and compelling slogans that pay lipservice to a more equitable society that “empowers workers” and seeks to “abolish” capitalism is meaningless when actual democratic socialists continually uphold capitalism, private ownership, imperialism, and fascism. the DSA’s website concedes the objective of abolishing private ownership, and describes democratic socialism as “a vision of a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning, equitable distribution.” but notice the markedly absent mention of class. what exactly is “popular ownership”? if capital has a share in ownership of the means of production, it is not socialist. if workers own the means of production, it is not capitalist. if private property remains, capitalism has not been abolished. DSA’s candidates who’ve won an elected position have repeatedly betrayed the domestic and international working class by voting for/abstaining from legislation that materially supports apartheid. they have voted against workers’ strike settlements. they refuse to kick zionists out of their party, despite supposedly “officially” condemning zionism lol. they’ve endorsed billionaires whose wealth was acquired through for-profit detention centers and private equity. their policies operate within capitalism and never actually challenge the status quo. Zohran Mamdani was called a Jihadi communist by fox news and various conserviatives, but this man capitulated to a room full of corporate execs the second he was elected and walked back nearly all of his campaign promises. their candidates have proposed and passed some legislation (such as extending the eviction moratorium) that has somewhat benefitted the working class, but this legislation doesn’t place ownership into the hands of the working class, it doesn’t improve their ability to organize toward that goal, it doesn’t threaten capital or “empower” the most marginalized in our country. and capitalists have checks in place to prevent any marginally beneficial measures from passing at all. so what are policies that actually do these things? well, i’m glad you asked!!! complete divestment from “israel,” recognize Palestine, legally back BDS, abolish weapons manufacturers; criminalize lobbying; lift sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, the DPRK, etc socialization of banking, energy, medicine, logistics, etc. compulsory conversion of corporations into workers cooperatives, enable democratic participation by workers mandatory annual transfer of a percentage of corporate profits into worker-controlled funds build or appropriate free high quality housing that is permanently publicly owned, national rent stabilization. elimination of interest on mortgage, loans, car payments, etc. repeal the Taft-Hartly act that made general strikes, sympathy strikes, and secondary boycotts illegal national just-cause employment and implementation of fines on companies who try to implement at will employment defund and demilitarize the police , defund the military. abolish for-profit prisons, free and expunge all marijuana convictions, mass commutation. create jobs: nation wide public transit/high speed rail, convert industries to renewable energy, sustainable/regenerative farming, restore depleted topsoil, criminalize factory farming, and prevent overproduction. each of these has historical precedent in the Western capitalist nations, meaning these are not out of reach, even under capitalism. yet i have not seen any of these types of policies put forward by DSA candidates, they instead focus on policies that operate within the margins of capitalism. extending the eviction moratorium is an example of a policy that seems to improve the lives of the working class, and is widley considered a huge win for the “left”. but mass evictions still took place and tenants owed all back rent when the pause lifted. there was no serious effort to make the moratorium permanent or to freeze rent while the moratorium was in place. land lords weren’t fined for failure to provide vacant housing to those in need. anyway. democratic socialism is not socialism. real socialists aren’t getting elected. socialism is acheived through proletarian revolution that abolishes the bourgeois state and builds one for the proletariat.

As a Chinese myself, it is really “touching” to see that the imperialist West “cares” a lot about workers in China.

316 likes, 27 comments - raoulduke6133 on August 27, 2026: "Why western Marxists and leftists are wrong to oppose China and a multipolar world".

In early 1934, a twenty-four-year-old graduate student at Columbia Teachers College took an internship teaching drama and producing student plays at PS 24 in Harlem. Among her young charges at that…

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Dedicated to the legacy and ongoing struggle of the "Black Left" and the Black Radical Tradition. Book recommendations, podcasts, documentaries, video clips, discussion, current events, and more.

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This community is for Communist Star Wars memes. NO LIBERALS. Lib comments and post will result in a swift ban

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Alec Karakatsanis explains how both Republicans and Democrats have used the backlash to increase the powers of police.

475 likes, 20 comments - anarchicchasm on August 13, 2026: "Lorenzo Kom’Boa Ervin’s political journey carried him through the Civil Rights Movement, SNCC, the Black Panther Party, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, political imprisonment and ultimately Black anarchism. During his imprisonment, he encountered Martin Sostre, whose ideas profoundly influenced his political transformation. In Anarchism and The Black Revolution, Ervin outlines community councils, workers’ federations, labor organizing, cooperatives, mutual aid networks, self-defense units, community self-management, and decentralized revolutionary structures designed to confront capitalism, white supremacy, and state power simultaneously. His critique extends beyond capitalism alone. Ervin repeatedly challenges centralized authority, the vanguard model, and the belief that liberation can be achieved by seizing state power and placing it in the hands of a revolutionary elite. Honestly, while reading Ervin, it’s hard not to hear echoes of Mikhail Bakunin. Both argued that revolutionary movements risk creating new ruling classes and rejected the idea that freedom could be delivered in a top-down format as both insisted that liberation required dismantling hierarchy—not reproducing it under a different banner. Ervin is still alive today and remains associated with Memphis, Tennessee and both his personal accounts and writings remain to be poignant amongst Black Anarchist literature and the broader scope of anarchist thought and theory. *any misspellings in the literature is present within the text on Anarchist Library. Please yell at their editor and not me*".

1.1K likes, 635 comments. "Why China's Global Image Flipped In Unde...

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