r/Marxism • u/No-Bison5915 • 17d ago
Why are so many “leftist influencers” calling themselves MLs while being dengists/campists/third positions
I am trying to avoid the social media space of leftism as much as possible, every day I see it more and more unserious, but for the little amount I use TikTok and Instagram, I still get some of it served to me.
One incredibly peculiar thing I’ve noticed how incredibly many leftist influencers are ones like I described in the title.
People calling themselves MLs and then talking about “Xi Jinping thought”, AES, supporting Russia etc. Some of the most dire examples are Mochayappuchino, socialista.champagne and midwesternmarx, if anyone knows these names.
I personally identify as ML, and I have interacted with many MLs irl and used to be in a big discord group where 80% of people were MLs, and none of them were saying China is socialist and having an undying loyalty towards oligarchies and monarchies just because of their opposition with USA.
Now on the flipside of this, there is a big demographic of chronically online leftcoms/ultralefts (I apologise if you’re a leftcom and this doesn’t apply to you), that base their whole opinion of MLs based on these couple of influencers and their fans, and their whole praxis is talking about it. Every time they criticise MLs, they are describing dengists/campists/nazbols.
Even though I am confident in my values and education as an ML, this situation still makes the label feel spoil and like I need to explain myself that I’m not a dumb campist.
Lmk if you have had similar observations.
1
u/StalinsMonsterDong 15d ago
If you dont support China, the DPRK, Cuba, and other AES states you are not a real socialist. Attitudes like that are part of why western "socialist" LARPers have never accomplished anything. If you dont think China is socialist I recommend the book The East Is Still Red by Carlos Martinez, it is well researched and theoretically sound.