I feel like actual Marxists are a pretty rare breed and the use of the term has become a dogwhistle for the alt-right the same way “Bolshevik” was used pre WWII. From my time talking shop in leftist circles I have drawn a few conclusions.
The average leftist usually is very personal freedom oriented on the vectors of expression of culture outside of anything attempting to assume a hegemonic role. Essentially - no state of being should be treated as a default.
On a personal property /economy axis Communism isn’t very common. Marxist Communism advocates for what would be personal property to be owned by the public /state and looks to the state to allocate resources…
What is actually way more common ground on the left is Market Socialism which has been sold in more right and centrist circles as “responsible capitalism” because branding anything as socialism tends to make anyone McCarthy poisoned shut down. Basically Market Socialism advocates for a high degree of publicly funded safety nets and services, tax code enforcement, anti-trust legislation, union power, a reinvestment in democratic selection policies and looks at potential conflicts of interest as matters of concern in government services…so less Marxist revolution and more Roosevelt New Deal. Market Socialism does still treat Capitalism as a given but where Liberalism tends to have a very hands off approach, Market Socialism is legislation heavy because it supposes that unchecked Capitalism will erode society and make it unstable. It also argues that certain spheres should not be the domain of private property. Where conflicts of interest intersect with a set of basic human rights those rights should not be treated as a market good.
While there are definitely a lot of other groups on the left they tend to not follow Marxist philosophy. Like. I have met actual Marxists… But it’s kind of like running across a unicorn. So rare that it stuns you. Leftist goups that advocate for indigenous re-patriation, foreign issue focused groups or ones that are more social philosophy based really aren’t looking to try and make a communist structure work. They are more just anti-imperialist and more about ethically engaging with different groups of people rather than trying to forcibly seize assets for government use.
So TLDR : Focusing on Marxism as a leftist bogeyman generally instantly loses you respect in most leftist circles because most leftists agree that while Marxist philosophy is very good at spotting society based problems it is fucking terrible at actually solving any of them.
I feel like actual Marxists are a pretty rare breed and the use of the term has become a dogwhistle for the alt-right the same way “Bolshevik” was used pre WWII. From my time talking shop in leftist circles I have drawn a few conclusions.
The average leftist usually is very personal freedom oriented on the vectors of expression of culture outside of anything attempting to assume a hegemonic role. Essentially - no state of being should be treated as a default.
On a personal property /economy axis Communism isn’t very common. Marxist Communism advocates for what would be personal property to be owned by the public /state and looks to the state to allocate resources…
What is actually way more common ground on the left is Market Socialism which has been sold in more right and centrist circles as “responsible capitalism” because branding anything as socialism tends to make anyone McCarthy poisoned shut down. Basically Market Socialism advocates for a high degree of publicly funded safety nets and services, tax code enforcement, anti-trust legislation, union power, a reinvestment in democratic selection policies and looks at potential conflicts of interest as matters of concern in government services…so less Marxist revolution and more Roosevelt New Deal. Market Socialism does still treat Capitalism as a given but where Liberalism tends to have a very hands off approach, Market Socialism is legislation heavy because it supposes that unchecked Capitalism will erode society and make it unstable. It also argues that certain spheres should not be the domain of private property. Where conflicts of interest intersect with a set of basic human rights those rights should not be treated as a market good.
While there are definitely a lot of other groups on the left they tend to not follow Marxist philosophy. Like. I have met actual Marxists… But it’s kind of like running across a unicorn. So rare that it stuns you. Leftist goups that advocate for indigenous re-patriation, foreign issue focused groups or ones that are more social philosophy based really aren’t looking to try and make a communist structure work. They are more just anti-imperialist and more about ethically engaging with different groups of people rather than trying to forcibly seize assets for government use.
So TLDR : Focusing on Marxism as a leftist bogeyman generally instantly loses you respect in most leftist circles because most leftists agree that while Marxist philosophy is very good at spotting society based problems it is fucking terrible at actually solving any of them.