Leftists For Leftism Against Leftists
In this topsy-turvy world, we’ve been banned from some of the largest left-wing Reddit groups. The reason is because of having made principled defenses of leftist principles (egalitarianism, non-authoritarianism, non-domination, civil libertarianism, etc) and a critique of self-identified leftists (anti-liberal and illiberal) who oppose such leftist principles. Apparently, we’re too leftist for some leftists.
For whatever reason, the only place one can openly and consistently advocate for leftist principles without censorship or animosity are these super tiny Reddit groups for liberal socialism, libertarian socialism, democratic socialism, left-libertarianism, anarcho-syndicalism, etc. These obscure groups typically have few members. They are often lacking any active members and with no recent discussions.
The largest group I’ve so far come across where one can actually defend leftist principles, be heard fairly by others, and see others making supporting arguments is in the social democracy subreddit. The hardcore authoritarian leftists always call social democrats as ‘capitalists’. But many social democrats are more open to leftist principles than some of the avowed left-wingers in overtly leftist subreddits. Why?
I consider this one of the continuing successes of Cold War propaganda, pushed by both the United States and the Soviets. Neither side wanted a free-for-all discussion of leftist principles, at least not so seriously that people might consider actually politically applying them in the real world. The Stalinist elite didn’t want freedom for the lower classes any more than did the American elite.
Even so, these core leftist principles have long been popularly supported. Whatever were the numbers in the past, the is significantly to the left of the RNC elite, DNC elite, and media elite. You’d be hard put to find a large swath of Americans who are opposed to leftist principles. Even most conservatives would agree with them, as long as you expressed them in neutral terms (i.e., don’t call them leftist, liberal, or progressive).
I understand why the ruling elites, no matter what party or sector of society, opposes leftist principles. But it’s mind-blowing that the people who have gained control of some of the main left-wing online groups are also opposed to leftist principles, at least in practice if they truly are Stalinist supporters. So, who are these anti-leftist leftists? And how did they gain so much control over leftism?
If one were a paranoid conspiracy theorist, one might suspect some of them are controlled opposition and paid trolls, or else merely power-mongers (RWAs, SDOs, dark personalities). Their control of these groups is Machiavellian, in that they are using not just leftist rhetoric but leftist organizing to attack, censor, silence, and delegitimize the strongest leftist advocates. They feed right into the right-wing allegations that all leftism is authoritarianism (i.e., vertical collectivism as dominance hierarchies).
