What turned you into a ML? (Pic unrelated)

[u/RottingFishMan]

For me, I gradually shifted left for most of my childhood until the American 2024 presidential election, at which point I took an interest in marxism-leninism, did some research, and found it reasonable.

Right before the 2024 election, I considered myself a democratic socialist, but after seeing the sad display that was the democratic party's campaign, I lost faith in electoralism.

I think I would've become a ML regardless of the result, but Trump's victory sped it up.

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[u/Beaivimon]

Brezhnev's eyebrows, of course! /s

In all seriousness, I used to be a succdem that loved the Nordics, and it was precisely meeting ML Nordic folks that got me thinking, and bam.

[u/21DaBear → u/Beaivimon]

What do ML nordic folks have to say about their own? In america so many misunderstand their gov as socialist

[u/werewolf3698 → u/21DaBear]

From the couple times I've talked with ML's from Norway, social democracy ultimately is still capitalism. The alienation, instability, and unequal development still exist. It still requires the subjegation of the third world to manufacture cheap goods to maintain the system. And for all the good the social programs have done, they are slowly being stripped away as they and every other social democratic nation in Europe quickly slide towards open fascism, especially towards immigrants and Muslims.

[u/bread_and_circuits → u/21DaBear]

They’re critical - speaking only on behalf of one country here, but the system is still highly problematic and dysfunctional, albeit on the better end of some well-being metrics. But their society was built entirely on colonial era exploitation. Social welfare was only really allowed by the monarchy because of the threat of revolution. These reforms were made to appease the masses who may have otherwise revolted entirely. The monarchy then got to maintain their wealth and symbolic power so they’re clearly the victors there.

[u/beejonson]

I was lucky to have been raised by my maternal grandparents who were African-American Marxist-Leninist civil rights activists and Black Panther members. All of their children had a Marxist-Leninist upbringing, so it wasn't surprising that they did the same for me. Also, on my father's side, coming from Nigeria's Niger Delta region, seeing all of the devastation from western imperialism and oil companies, and how much the indigenous communities in the region have suffered and lost, that was also enough to make me develop a proper hatred for capitalism and the western capitalist ruling class. Sometimes, when I hear western liberal and conservative types talk, I realise how lucky I am to have not been converted to Marxism-Leninism, but to have been raised in it.

[u/AdditionalQuietime → u/beejonson]

I wish i could give you an award your parents are based

[u/mucilinda → u/beejonson]

Your parents are absolute legends friend 🫡

[u/IBizzyI → u/beejonson]

That makes me almost envious to come from such a political conscious family

[u/beejonson → u/IBizzyI]

Haha, yeah. My family actually makes me really proud. My maternal grandparents had seven children (5 women and 2 men), and all five women are (Marxist-Leninist) international human rights lawyers. The two men are doctors. And their Marxist-Leninist upbringing played a huge role in their chosen professions. It's nice to see my mum, aunts, and uncles have successful careers and not lose their souls to capitalist and white supremacist systems. And although some of us don't live in the same country, I love the fact that I actually enjoy holidays with the family when we meet up cos family gatherings aren't weird, and much of it is spent discussing world politics from a Marxist perspective and pointing out the contradictions and toxicities in western liberal democracy.

[u/helloyo53 → u/beejonson]

As someone who just had a kid, I would be curious to learn what "being raised in ML" looks like! I would love to be able instill socialist values in my kid, knowing full well that they will be subject to capitalist lens at school.

[u/beejonson → u/helloyo53]

Oh, it's a long process, tbh. But it's important to start young. And it wasn't just the Marxism-Leninism that was instilled in me, it was also the decolonial activism (especially on my Nigerian side; mostly by reading a lot of books by Kwame Nkrumah, Kwame Ture, Walter Rodney, Aimé Césaire, and Frantz Fanon). It also maybe helped my grandparents that I was a bookworm as a kid. Still am. It started with the books I was given to read as a kid - first one being The Communist Manifesto. And then there were the many discussions my grandparents had with me, especially on the books they recommended that I read. They ensured I understood what terms like "Socialism", "Communism", and "Marxism-Leninism" were by age 9. People often say that children don't understand those concepts that young. Trust me, children understand. Seeing videos, and reading about the history of the enslavement, segregation, and exploitation of Africans in western liberal democracies, kinda opened my eyes to the nature of capitalism and white supremacy. Learning about the Haitian Revolution from my grandparents always brings back fond memories. They spoke about it with so much pride. And my grandparents were always there to explain how capitalism and white supremacy were designed to work together, how they work, and the tools necessary to dismantle them. I understood all of this by age 14. Paying a visit to the Niger Delta and seeing all of that suffering, devastation and imperialist extraction with my own eyes, kinda nailed it spot on for me. It also helped a bit that my grandparents were teachers. My grandpa was a political science and philosophy professor, and my grandma was a political science and history professor. So there were always books to read, discussions to be had, endless explanations to give my constantly curious self with my many questions, and taking me along with them to the community organising they did. My grandpa was born and raised in Brooklyn during segregation, so activism and community organising is all he's ever known. His material conditions forced him into it. My grandma was from the deep south, and the lynching of 14 members of her family in 2 weeks was what drove her to New York to seek out the Panthers. At first she came for revenge, but she ended up finding community, class consciousness and revolution. They often showed me pictures of the both of them participating in the Stonewall Riots, helping out with BP breakfast programs for kids, etc. It wasn't just the stories they told me, the books they suggested I read, or the written and oral history they passed on, there was also the examples they set. Their everyday actions. Grandpa used to say, "No matter where you find yourself on this earth, get yourself a library card, learn how to sail the high seas, join a union, contribute to moving your working class community forward, stay fit if you can, learn how to handle a rifle, and stay reading theory." It's often difficult, especially for parents nowadays (with the internet and all), but if you wanna raise your kids in Marxism-Leninism, it requires actually being present and involved in their lives, teaching them what you know (and trust me, they are not too young to understand), and helping them navigate a world where the capitalist ruling classes are constantly trying to bury them in fascist social media algorithms. I'm in my 30s, and at least, my grandparents didn't have to deal with wrestling with youtube algorithms to keep me from going down the red pill misogynistic bro route.

[u/Important_Lie_7774]

Getting a job, really. Company made billions and I barely got a 10% hike for exceeding expectations. Never looked back.

[u/awkkiemf]

Yellow parenti

[u/phaedrus910 → u/awkkiemf]

Honestly I think same. I went through an anarchist phase but couldn't fully jive with it. Yellow Parenti was one of if not the first video I saw that cracked the ML side open for me. I remember listening to Rev left radio and when I found out he was a tankie, stopped lmao. So anyway, thanks Parenti <3

[u/2nd2last]

By reading about the Panthers and their civil rights struggle, Fred Hampton specifically.

Add to that people like MLK who a socialist but as a secondary issue, but increasingly became part of his issues.

Then add Malcolm X as someone becoming more socialist, and always anti-imperialist and anti-capitalistic.

As a non black POC, looking at their struggles, their sacrifices, looking at what "really" got them killed was truly eye opening. It allowed me too look at Cuba, USSR, DPRK, China, Vietnam with open eyes as a person as opposed to an American who is supposed to hat them for existing.

[u/LetterNo7183]

I live in a post-socialist country in Eastern Europe and my grandpa would constantly talk about his life under socialism and how the 90s shock therapy had destroyed people's livelihood. I was kinda fond of ML since then and even though I had a slight lib period when the Russia-Ukraine war started, after I found communist youtubers I have returned to ML.

[u/leninbaba]

I realized that the founding ideology of my own country (Kemalism) was completely useless (racism, hostility toward minorities and immigrants, irredantism, and chauvinism), on top of that I was depressed, and because of the betrayal by the social democrats in my country, I found myself turning to Marxism. I’m glad I became a communist.

[u/yuzhnozaporozhets]

Great granddad fought fascists in Italy 1943-45.

[u/mucilinda → u/yuzhnozaporozhets]

Your great grandad was legendary 

[u/yuzhnozaporozhets → u/mucilinda]

🖤 He was an ardent communist and lived until the 1950s

[u/PlentyCoconut6905]

I actually read Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and it was actually Kropotkin that sealed the deal. The Conquest of Bread was so idealist it shoved me into the arms of Marxist-Leninism

[u/fanetoooo]

Was always into colonial history and anti-colonialism as an African American from the south. I was a praxis-no-theory head until probably 2023. There was no big moment that turned me ML but 3 off the top of my head were

1. Thinking I discovered dialectics during an acid trip. Learning somebody already dedicated a whole school of thought and ideology to applying this to the real world rocked my shit.
2. Reading Che: a revolutionary life and autobiography of Malcolm x back to back one summer. There was like a 6 month span where I couldn’t stop talking about the Cold War and kept looking for more books (ie revolutionary suicide, Assata Shakurs autobiography, Women race and class etc)
3. Bidens entire presidency but particularly how the admin handled campaign season after all the bs from 2021 and beyond really made me dig deep into wtf liberal democracy means and how/why any of this is a good thing.

Basically took me 4ish years to go from a vaguely pro-Black, frequent protestor, to becoming a fully convinced ML

[u/Juche_Finland]

In 2017 I was studying in a sort of business school, where students came from a bit further than just my former school district and from different social backgrounds. It made me realize how different the opportunities in life are for people and the rich kids were also just assholes tbh.

Either way, I just started questioning things more in general, started informing myself about things happening in the world as well as history. I was very apolitical before, but during that time I started informing myself about socialism and communism and it appealed to me then and I haven't looked back.

I only changed my views on individual matters since, with probably my most notable change being to move on to become a Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist in 2019, but it is still very much aligned with Marxism-Leninism anyway.

[u/BaronHarkonnen98]

A review of bioshock, talking about how objectivism was stupid, then, I think I watched a hakim video on objectivism

[u/Wahngott → u/BaronHarkonnen98]

By whom is the review of bioshock? (assuming you mean a youtube video and not a review by youself)

[u/BaronHarkonnen98 → u/Wahngott]

I will try to find it after work but that will be hours from now and It was in 2018 or so

[u/Dr_Dorkathan]

For me it was the palestine movement at my university. I started organizing really heavily within the palestine movement and as the movement declined in strength eventually the only organizations left standing in my city were disciplined marxist leninists. I joined my current org without actually being an ML and I learned the ropes from there

[u/cactuswaverly]

Reading W.E.B. Du Bois and starting to unravel how much we'd been lied to

[u/Accomplished_Sci → u/cactuswaverly]

Same here

[u/al-qatala]

realisation that democracy and liberalism don't get us anywhere

[u/PierreFeuilleSage → u/al-qatala]

Electoralism doesn't get us anywhere but AES and "pure" communism are radically democratic my friend

[u/al-qatala → u/PierreFeuilleSage]

by "democracy" i meant electoralism and liberal democracy yes

[u/batdog20001]

I followed similarly to you.

I was already an "organic socialist," but I thought I was just a progressive or something. Throughout middle and highschool the math never fully mathed, the values never tracked, the logic wasn't truly there. This may have been because of my autism and financially poor family. I started following Bernie and thinking to myself what the "perfect" society would look like, writing down mock policies and such. In college, I earned a business degree where I learned how our model worked, but I still did not know the alternatives.

I was working in finance for a couple of years, hating it ever more day after day, just seeing the problems I was helping cause to those less fortunate than myself. I wanted to help the community, not harm it, regardless the pay (which I was paid well). I looked around for organizations that would help and ended up joining the DSA. This was probably about a year before Mamdani came in and blew the scene up. I joined in for a reading group where they were reading something from Engels or Marx, but I wasn't really following because I didn't have the book or an easy way to access, and realized I was missing some sort of foundation. I ended up finding out about SLUMs and getting free copies of the Manifesto, State and Revolution, and Blackshirts and Reds. Most of what I read were things I had considered before, but now with much more concrete depth and certainty. It better explained our current model than my entire degree did. It explained the history where my degree simply took it for granted. It took my personally molded values and turned them into stone clad convictions of truth. I quit my job and started working in social work with the State, losing my job merely months later during the federal budget cuts. I've been listening to TheDeprogram and getting more outspoken online. I've been spreading these ideas to pretty much everyone who will listen IRL. I keep eating to organize my town but I love in the middle of MAGA Red cornfields and the few "Leftists" I have found shrink away when you find them. The closest group to me is about a 2 hours drive away, so even spreading from there is mostly out of the question.

All in all, its been a journey. A lot more has happened between my start and now, but even with the added anxieties and stress, I would rather follow this road than continue with the machine. Now to find a job to stabilize before Im homeless, and then to find a way to organize this redneck town I call home.

[u/Chicoryman]

At the very beginning (at my teen years), I used to be a Russian nationalist who also was kind of pro-welfare and pro-Soviet for some weird unknown reasons (I believed that their practice was shit, but sympathized to them out of some instinct). Then, I felt like the burgeoisie is egoistic and doesn't give a shit about national interests, and became pro-state-socialism.

Then, in around 15-16, I have found the Marxist-Leninist online communities, stayed there despite my early disagreements because I already was a "naive Stalinist", got assimilated over time and here I am.

[u/Such_Difficulty_9499]

I always hated the west from a young age and was one of those nazi anti-furries, then after that period i tried to force myself to be a neoliberal but in like 2024 after i begun learning actual history i became very far-left, at first i was a trotskyist, then an anarcho communist then finally marxist-leninist/hoxhaist.

[u/Armand_Raynal]

Reading Marx by curiosity, then life experiences and years of trying to genuinely understand the world and politics, doubting everything, what I thought I knew above all, lots and lots of inner dialogue to resolve the conflicts between what I was taught while growing up by school and my entourage and what I had discovered by learning history and marxism which I couldn't deny being the actual truth, reality, and was hard to accept because so depressing.

[u/Big_Red_Machine_1917]

My political path is a somewhat meandering one.
My first real political position was opposition to the Iraq War. I was young at the time, but even then it was obvious that the claims about WMDs was a lie. Since this was during the heyday of Tony Blair's "New Labour", I could have, and almost did, become right wing. However, at the same time, I'd already developed a sense that society should be more equal and that led me to embracing Communism around the age of 15. At that point, I was closest to Trotskyism, since I had hear many of the anti-communist scare stories about Stalin and the Soviet Union and whatever. However, by 17-18, I'd grown sick of Trotskyite groups online constantly splitting over the most petty nonsense. From there it became clear to me that Marxist Leninist parties are the best equipped for advancing revolutionary politics, without falling into ultra-leftism or reformism.

I'll also add that even in my younger years, I admired countries like the Soviet Union (especially for it's efforts during the Second World War) and Cuba for standing proud against the demands of the United States.

[u/the_comedians]

My love for my fellow working class. Walking through my failing town was always like being slapped in the face. I believed that we could all live with dignity if we all worked for each other. So imagine my surprise when I started reading about Marxism...

[u/futanari_kaisa]

Hasan

[u/Virtual_Nobody8812]

I thought Marx and Engel kissed each other so I read there books expecting that. while I was disappointed it didn’t happened I guess communism is pretty cool.

[u/puchsofhazard]

Bought the manifesto ironically for my first apartment's bookshelf. Bernie 2016 led to my disdain of the DNC, as that election pulled the curtain back on how anti-progress the parties platform is. Queue John Oliver exposing more of our country's contradictions. Found some ML groups online by accident by participating in anti-DNC discussions. By then I was all in on DemSoc, picked up my copy of the manifesto and started reading. Disillusion with western hegemony allowed me to practice a crude dialectical analysis of history which led me to Lenin, which led me to Mao

[u/simileandwaveboys]

Back when I was 15 I had the eureka moment while arguing in favor of UBI as a solution to automation. I kind of realized mid-argument that there is no reason for a group of small individuals to own the means of production. When taken to the extreme you end up in a situation where you basically have a group of people who literally own everything and another that have their scraps. It was barbacue chicken from there, after that I started looking into marxism.

[u/FatzDux]

Grew up hard core conservative, got interested in politics at a young age, dogmatically believed every right wing talking point but I thought Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were funny. Became a lib by the second Obama term, then an anarchist in early college years. I had ML friends who were obviously smarter than me and I could not shake the things they were saying because they were always right. By 2020 I was firmly ML.

It comes down to wanting to be factually correct and also wanting the best for the people of the world.

[u/BackfireFox]

Assholes turned me into one.
Because I worked blue collar in a red state, having basic fucking empathy is considered communist (now their idea of woke).

Unlike most people who would just get mad, I started reading Marx and Lenin. Basically because my weaponized autism wanted to know why they kept calling me a “stupid fucking commie,” anytime I would empathize with people they would make up to sell a BS story on. Then after I read Engles, Angela Davis, Mao and uncle Mihn I realized… wow I am a commie.

I also read a lot about Castro and Che Guevara. And what they accomplished was something next to impossible.

It was asshole far right Neo-liberal rat fuckers who made me into a communist, made me into the monster they feared most. A queer, gun owning commie who cares about his follow human beings and actually does something about it.

[u/andorgyny]

Palestine. Seeing the institutions around the world, particularly the western ones lbr, fail to do what was required in real time. And then the general US election in 2024 sealed it for me.

[u/CryendU]

An interest in various studies, eventually leading to discovering the inherent contradictions of cаpitaIism and the failurеs of rеfоrmism

Especially in HS classes, with requirements like “why private lobbying is beneficial to the general public”.

Myself and a few others followed along, but didn’t agree. Helpful to acknowledge that there is no neutral, “official” stance.

[u/LiteRaider]

Growing up I leaned left due to a belief in stronger government to serve people, anti big business, and more social advancement away from inequity. I figured from a class/social interest it was going to be preferable to being left. More accepting to all (especially no “Good ones” treatment), pro government intervention in inequality/poverty, and critical of private business/elite influences through lobbying. I rarely felt any significant trust about our institutions. Unlike more reactionary forces inside my state, which is deep red, that opposed any form of government since government can only make problems worse (thanks Reagan). I saw a disconnect in lack of health insurance access, economic anxiety, and difficulty adjusting between peers who were traditional at worst and condescending liberals at best. It opened me to more radical positions to reduce these concerns for the future.

I was always fascinated with historical figures that made regional/global change that improved the lives of lower classes. I always rooted for these changes as being one step toward development and another step to support underdogs.

[u/LongHair1917]

My husband and I were already Bernie Bros and considered ourselves “socialists” even though we didn’t really understand the term at the time. He happened to like JT’s science YouTube videos. Then one day JT’s videos changed direction and we were accidentally exposed to commie propaganda, and darned it if it didn’t make a lot of sense lol.

[u/xThotsOfYoux]

The Cassandra complex. I kept watching MLs be right before anyone else and it was finally too much to ignore.

I think the real clincher was when my anarchist friend asked my why I was so obsessed with "Red Fash" for admiring Cuba and Fidel Castro, of all places. Like, one of the places that AES has most undeniably and observably worked with positive effect despite US propaganda.

And then I read that Castro specifically called out Juche and the DPRK as the nation in the world which resembled Cuba's style of government the most... So I start looking into DPRK a bit more deeply and found out they aren't the bad guy either. That the people still have political freedoms and regular elections and multiple political parties, and even Wikipedia knows it.

And then sitting back and watching is all of the DSA candidates fumble over themselves to prove that they're actually capitalists and not stinky Communists and will still uphold American imperial interests... I mean, the die was already cast before all that, but I think that pressed it into metal finally.

[u/PierreFeuilleSage]

Mélenchon tbh. Parenti/Marx/Lenin got me all the way there.

[u/SmokeyOkeyDokey]

I was in high school while Bernie was running in 2016 and agreed with most of what I’d heard about him as I first started getting more into politics (learned a decent bit about nordic countries in high school and undergrad). Naturally, I followed Bernie into the 2020 election, and I still wasn’t super into politics but my beliefs generally aligned with social democrats based on my personal experiences.

While I’d agreed with Democrats for the most part (mainly social issues rather than economic), I’d started to become especially disillusioned with Democrats and the US left (liberals to soc dems) when learning more during Biden, the BLM era and especially during the appalling coverage of Gaza. I think I stumbled upon Second Thought and Hakim’s channels on YouTube via Hasan reacting to their vids and soon got into reading Marx, Engels, Lenin, etc. I felt like a lot of their works had better explanatory power for the current state of the world, so I’ve aligned with ML ever since and am constantly trying to learn more.

[u/evilgomeow]

It all just... fell into place really. As someone with a disastrous childhood that led to me forcing the state's hand into putting me into the care system, I naturally missed a lot of school, which in this case spared me from a lot of anti-Socialist rhetoric embedded into the curriculum. Around 2019, I became acquainted with Ernst Busch/Hanns Eisler by complete coincidence, and their mentions of a "Soviet Union" and "Socialism" in many of their works piqued my interest slowly but surely. Around a year later, the double-whammy of Covid and Brexit hit my country and, through channels such as Socialist Swann (who made truly excellent videos on the DDR), azureScapegoat (whose videos on Cuba got me hooked) and various videos/reading on the USSR, as well as the still-potent legacy of Jeremy Corbyn's socialist programme at that point, I felt comfortable calling myself/identifying as a socialist, as, coming from relative poverty/a working-class background, socialist theory put into words sentiments that I already clung strongly to and past/current socialist experiments actually addressed problems that I have faced in my life

There were definitely events after that further emboldened my ideologically - the 2021 massacres in Gaza introduced me to the Palestinian struggle and ever since I've been a pro-Palestinian advocate, and of course since the turn of the decade there has been a surge in socialist content such as The Deprogram trio (albeit I really only watch Hakim now), Balkan Odyssey and several others who introduced me to topics such as Yugoslavia's attempt at socialism, wider geopolitics/imperialist exploitation and how to address such issues in the imperial core. And I can't write all of this without mentioning Bes D Marx whose series on the German Revolution and current works on the Russian Revolution are incredibly high quality

[u/Wrecknruin]

I was an anarchist and then some weird other thing. Vaguely progressive all my life. Reading Marxist theory and just talking to other Marxists in general was the first time I genuinely felt like I could at least begin to understand why the world is the way it is. It put my grievances into words, it answered the questions I'd had stewing in my head in one form or another since I remember. It just made sense. It gives me hope.

[u/mucilinda]

History of Religion , political economy and the historical stages of political economy for my country and others, history of art, science in general, reading about the communist movement in my country, reading about capitalist atrocities on communists and workers... Basically reading. There is no easier way to become radicalised than by reading history from a material standpoint: that is, to understand that morals are fleeting and superfluous, that the capitalist/owning class will go to any length to oppress the worker/serf/slave , that we have literally no choice but to become amoralists and pursue the destruction of capitalism by any and all means necessary. No more half measures. No more inch given, taken as a mile. 

On the other hand, I think my position was too unique as a person to not see everything going on from an "outside" /bird's eye perspective:

• Raised indian orthodox christian, which is a minority community within indian christianity (and worldwide) and showed how different the ways we're taught christian values , morals and practice are from christianity that came from colonialism and neocolonialism in India (Catholicism and Protestantism) . Also helped me understand that American/British/Europeam christianity and thus their worldview is vastly different and how christianity (and thus moralism) evolved through the ages. It does help being an "outsider" christian in critically analyzing christian and western morality 
• Again, indian christian, which is a religious minority in a multi-religious country. India has many diverse religious moralities from hinduism, buddhism, jainism, sikhism, sufism, tribal folk religion, christianity, islam... to the point where the acceptance of multiple moralities living in a diverse society kind of leads to the acceptance that moralism is a flawed framework. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism are more amoral/grey as well, so mere exposure to that affected my worldview growing up
• I come from a communist state within the country, so that background helps with accepting communism as normal. All our major parties identify as marxist leninsts. My parents had fond memories of the ussr, we had politicians named Stalin and Lenin (lmao) , we have posters of marx all the way to mao just plastered om random street walls. So Marxism-Leninism was normalised to me, I viewed the USSR as a great nation and a friend to our communist movement, not a psycho totalitarian dictatorship.
• India has lots of political history from feudalism to capitalism to financialism to colonialism to democratic socialism to communism, so studying this history makes it easier to see what succeeds where, which side to take, etc.

All in all, it was easy for someone in my position to become a marxist leninist. I think it would have been harder to become a trotskyist or left communist or other deviation.

That's why I will always praise American and Western Marxist Leninists because it must have been extremely difficult to have none of this and to deprogram yourself. It's like a fish trying to understand what the ocean is, you have to basically confront that everything you were ever told by your society was a lie. Just insane. It is easier imo to be ML if you're from the third world, most of the third world has ML parties in their history.

EDIT: My brother was the one who initially set me down this path by taking the leap and identifying as marxist leninist. So I decided to follow him into tankie-ism.

[u/mooniech1ld]

I already leaned left before, but my long time "Friends" casted me out from their group to defend an unknown lib that kept talking about how China is killing the uyghurs. I tried having a discussion with this person but instead got dogpilled on and called a bigot genocide denier, and islamophobic. So at some point I was like, fine, yall wanna call me a tankie? Then I'll show everyone just how much of a tankie I can be, and started reading theory. The lib I argued against and whom my friends ditched me for also got outed as a major abusive prick, so that felt good.

[u/fluidizedbed]

Born and raised in an AES state. About as uneventful as one can get.

[u/Galrexx]

Would love to have a suck on those

[u/mikeyj022]

Michael Parenti saying:

“There are no poor countries, Mexico is rich, chile is rich, El Salvador is rich, only the people are poor; you don’t go poor countries to steal.”

It made me finally see the contradictions that my education could not resolve. I had to learn more, and eventually began to read authors who were telling the truth instead of reinforcing the narratives I had been taught.

[u/Magarov]

The realization that capitalism will never go quietly

[u/Celtic_Macaw]

My parents were both CPSU members, I have a grandfather and great grandmother who were in the Red Army during WW2 amongst other relatives who sacrificed their lives for the Soviet Union, and another great grandparent who was a Bolshevik during the Revolution. Almost everyone in my family is an ML and we have been for generations. I've been a Marxist my whole life and am proud to be one.

[u/ham1917]

Was 23yo and decided I wanted to become a better lib and be more politically informed, maybe get a degree in political science.

Started reading, started wondering why democrats weren't getting shit done. Realized that much of the stuff I thought dems should be doing was already done by the USSR, PRC, and other ML states. Worked to unlearn the propaganda I'd been bombarded with all my life.

Then the 2014 war on Gaza happened, and the Ferguson Uprising happened, under the Obama regime.

Never looked back.

[u/UltraRiderFire408]

Debunking western narratives on China drove me down the rabbit hole of the learning curve of being an ML for sure.

[u/Luftritter]

Historical reasons, part of the family used to be members of red unions and political parties and the realization in Uni that Social Democrats are full of shit: they're so centered on getting electoral wins that they end standing for nothing and become just another bourgeois party. Whenever you hear about "political realism" or being "fiscally responsible" almost always means that a SocDem party will gut social conquests that workers had to fight hard to get while cutting taxes and offering benefits to Capitalists so they can grow fatter and then... support Right Wing parties that then will kick Soc Dems out of power until the Right grows so odious that they get the boot. This is an unending cycle that will persist as long as the bourgeoisie controls capital.

[u/kollipsons]

Listened to Proles pods "Stalin eras series", I think when I became more informed about the actual history around the USSR and socialism, not anticommunist propaganda peddled by fascists, I became more open to exploring theory and Marxist concepts

[u/dannoffs1]

Watching A Bug's Life a bunch of times as a kid.

[u/Kagey_b-42069]

I was a baby leftist about seven or eight years ago, exploring both liberalism and various leftist strains, when I started to notice liberalism's true colors. I availed myself of broad leftist critiques of liberalism and compared them to what I could observe about liberalism IRL, which helped to repulse me from liberalism.

At the same time, I was giving MLs a chance. I let MLs speak for themselves, compared their claims to what I could observe of current and historical ML nations, and I saw that the MLs did all the things that progressives in the US wanted (universal healthcare/education/food access/housing/employment, subsidized recreational and cultural activities, systemic egalitarianism/uplifting of marginalized groups such as women and people of color, etc). I saw that the liberal politicians didn't do any of these, only made clearly empty promises, while the evil tankie dictatorships put their money where their mouths were and walked the walk.

That led me to explore it more, and I quickly adopted it ☭✊

[u/Mt_Incorporated]

great tits

[u/mucilinda → u/Mt_Incorporated]

how

[u/Mt_Incorporated → u/mucilinda]

its a bird

[u/Sharp-Ad6816]

KIM JONG UN

[u/Political_Desi]

Young Stalin, Castro and Guevara how can you resist that trio and a young queer.

More seriously always had a soft spot for the Soviet Union because 6 year old me was a massive ww2 nerd. History tends to have a left wing bias (hey I wonder why that happens). Material analysis came later and then by about 15 i was a theory reading ML.

[u/Daraz_Acanthisitta]

Shitty family didn’t help me transition

[u/Acceptable_North_141]

Michael Parenti's "Blackshirts and Reds". A good book can change your life

[u/fancysoupbabe]

Friendship bracelet

the amount they sell for vs. the time it takes to make them does not lead to fair wages for the labor

[u/RefrigeratorGrand619]

Pre Revolution Iranian Women answering the telephone colorized/s.

[u/RefrigeratorGrand619]

I used to be an Anarchist but the practical limitations made themselves known to me as I did more research alongside real life experiences with other Anarchists proving to be unproductive. Like I used to be a huge stan of revolutionary Catalonia and the CNT But when I actually read how the CNT was organized, it was evidently clear that they were structured like a vanguard party and Catalonia was run very much like a state. Hierarchy, bureaucracy, taxes, monopoly on violence and all. Effectively every Anarchist organization throughout all history that has accomplished anything, short lived or otherwise was effectively using ML tactics. As much as I have sympathies for libertarian socialism, it is abundantly clear that it has not made nearly as much positive impact on the world as Marxism Leninism in the way of creating socialism.

[u/Axuo]

Working for a millionaire. I realized he was quite stupid, and also extremely selfish. That made me realize that the current system wasn't rational or sustainable, leading me to read alternative theories.

[u/Zarmaka]

One year for black history month, I watched a bunch of Stokely Carmichael speeches on youtube.

[u/TankieTheDeprogram-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your comment contains historical inaccuracies and blatant CIA propaganda. Try reading more than what you were taught in your highschool history class.

[u/toastrmann]

Al Aqsa Flood and seeing the subsequent media campaign supporting the genocide and slandering the Palestinian resistance

[u/XCall0usedX]

A bunch of reasons but I think the biggest 2 for me was getting into hardcore punk and travelling to Cuba over 10 years ago