I searched and havent found anyone asking this. what is your personal story of becoming a communist? I will share mine. but im going to try not to reveal any personal info and id suggest anyone else do that too. I want to keep this short but…

I became a leftist in late 2019 early 2020. before this i would say i was a “centrist” or just non political, it just seemed like a way to argue with people. In short, the corona virus was what lead me to being radicalized. since we weren’t allowed to leave our homes, i spent time on obscure apps meeting many people around the globe, most of which were from the third and second world, a surprising many of which were communists. one asked if im a marxist, and so we talked about it. they ended up telling me the basic concepts of surplus value and how businesses must care only about profit, how universities and hospitals are run as businesses in places like america, and how workers are screwed over by the bosses despite doing all the work, and that all of this is what socialism is trying to fix. after some internet research I found the marxist internet archive, and i read lots of short readings, a few books, and watched lots of youtube videos by people such as non compete and Hakim, and now here I am today cursed with knowledge that I am exploited by my boss. sadly i’ve yet to do any real organizing. but I might get there some day.

just to be clear, i’ve left out many details of stuff that helped me become a marxist to keep it short. it was a long process that is still happening too

  • KiG V2@lemmygrad.ml
    4·
    2 years ago

    Brevity is not my strong suit:

    5th grade, I identified as a Republican because I liked elephants more than donkeys.

    One parent is Palestinian, which made me anti-Israel (in a bad way, they’re antisemitic), and opened my eyes to America in the Middle East, which I feel like was a huge boost for my radicalization process compared to most Americans.

    I loved playing a game called Red Alert 2 where the bad guys are Soviets. I thought the hammer and sickle looked so sick. I made it my Facebook profile picture in 6th grade (dating myself here a little bit lol).

    I discovered the band System of a Down in middle school, they became my favorite. Very anti-imperialist messages in a lot of their songs.

    Communism sounded cool. I identified with it. I got shit on, I was convinced I was wrong and being immature and brainwashed. I was convinced by my fellow peers that libertarianism was the way to go.

    Essentially was a liberal for years, but I hated liberals, and couldn’t put my finger on it. The deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan always hummed in my ears. The DNC corruption too. Military industrial complex, etc. Got heavy into conspiracy, from aliens and spirituality to CIA crimes and WikiLeaks.

    Boom, it’s 2016. Bernie Sanders. WOAH! An American politician saying billionaires are bad??? That WAR is bad???

    I went down the Breadtube pipeline. All the big names, even some of the littler ones. Watched 'em with lunch. Cross pollinated with best friend going along the same path from stanning Bernie. Essentially a socdem.

    Found Non-Compete, identified as an anarcho-communist. Seemed like an “evolved” version of communism compared to this “lesser” version of the past that everyone convinced me had “failed.”

    Started getting exposed to some more information, some nuance. Read CounterPunch magazine a lot. Identified as a “non denominational leftist” who saw everyone as being as valuable as the next amongst all the sects, strong advocate of Left Unity above all else.

    Kept getting exposed. Discovered the truth about AES. Hakim, Parenti, Lenin, Breakthrough News, and just generally learning more history and geopolitics is what really did me in, as well as the sheer insanity of the anti “tankie” crowd. I had used to listen to Vaush on my long commute (please don’t boil me alive), his whole anti-tankie arc went from a forgivable difference to “holy shit you’re treating liberals and fascists better in debates, wtf??” It really sealed the deal as I could finally fully articulate what I hated so much about the Western Left once I learned it was all a damn sham.

    I want to put a bunch of AES country flag stickers on my beater car but I also can’t afford a gun yet and well…even my girlfriend was getting ridden off the road by F-150s back BEFORE the George Floyd protests in 2016 for her BLM stickers. I’ve been in a “wish a mfer would” mood lately but I would like any confrontations to be on even footing.