Leftypedia:Suggestions

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This is the suggestion box, a space for general suggestions relating to the content of Leftypedia as well as the site itself.

If you can think of any sort of suggestion, it probably belongs here. Examples of possible topics include:

  • Article topics that you want to see on the site
  • Interesting or rare information that you think deserves a home, but you don't know where to put it
  • Meta-suggestions about policies, administration, and organization
  • Ideas for new site features

Some specific topics may be branched out into their own suggestion-type pages in the future.

For more casual discussion or general questions, check out the Community hub.

Content ideas

Consider these resources/ideas for articles. Find a use for them in at least one article, though they often have a place in many. Some ideas are unsourced rumors, and if they are found to be untrue or unsubstantiated in an in-depth investigation, they can be removed from the list.

Unsorted

USSR

  • Was a model because of rapid growth in face of poverty and immense opposition. More or less terrified capitalists in those countries where workers' movements were strong, may even have compelled them to make more concessions specifically because of the fear of Soviet influence.
  • Characterized by forced military expenditures against Nazi Germany and NATO. Mikhail Kalashnikov: "Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer. I always wanted to construct agricultural equipment."
  • Revolutionary Soviet names like Mel/Mels/Vil
  • Siberian tribes didn't know there was a Russian Revolution until the end of the USSR
  • US relations: US did not recognize the USSR until 1933, fighting Soviet influence was an integral part of the FBI, the US invaded the USSR in the civil war
  • CIA on Stalin's power
  • Address the claim that Lenin's views were the minority, he manipulated his way to the top, promised cooperation with other socialists but betrayed them and was unnecessarily harsh, doing things like killing intellectuals and clergy
  • Economy: Blackshirts and Reds: "Managers were little inclined … privilege of getting paid less." Other books and articles that bring up problems economies like that of the Soviets had include Alec Nove's The Economics of Feasible Socialism Revisited and János Kornai's The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism (although these, like most others, are from non-Marxist authors.)
  • KGB's fake KKK letters
  • Democracy: Mick Costello's Workers' Participation in the Soviet Union, Pat Sloan's Soviet Democracy, or the USSR Academy of Sciences' The Soviet Form of Popular Government
  • Other very important and worthwhile works include Albert Szymanski's Human Rights in the Soviet Union and Is the Red Flag Flying?, Cecilia Bobrovskaya's Rank-and-File Bolshevik, or maybe even Beatrice Webb's Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation? if you're okay with something extremely long, if you want a variety of looks at the USSR's form of democracy and the policies it developed for the working class.

Russia

  • Doesn't want to join the EU because it would get subjugated to Germany and France, has so many resources that it's instead worth it to stand on its own and not bow before other powers and become their satellite? Yeltsin however tried to join
  • Yeltsin 6 months after electoral victory had 3% popularity, terrible ratings continued afterwards
  • Putin praises Solzhenitsyn, he's taught in Russian schools
  • No worker protections
  • Infiltrates opposition and kills/imprisons leaders
  • Declining infrastructure
  • Wages decreased when adjusted for inflation
  • Life expectancy stagnated
  • Election fraud, elections are more so of a gauge of how much people accept Putin's actions
  • KPRF is weak, doesn't do anything and doesn't know Marxism; CPCR is hardline
  • NYT 81 cases of election interference in RU by US
  • https://youtube.com/watch?v=tO7HXrhHOS8 Yeltsin faked deficits to create crisis, Comrade Deficit
  • US worked with Black October porkies to pacify communist support after ban of CPSU by allowing Yeltsin to cheat and win
  • Budapest memorandum broken with the invasion of Crimea
  • https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2019/11/14/hm2-the-economics-of-modern-imperialism/ addresses whether Russia is imperialist
    • Key lines: "In our work, we used the IMF data ...", "The G8-plus countries own the ..."
  • Funds far-right parties
  • Putin 1994: political violence is criminal if aimed at market economy, pinochet-style dictatorship remark
  • Anatoly Chubais: oligarch who contributed immensely to making Putin and modern Russia
  • Clip: "So you've been snorting since you were 8" [1]. Documentary "The Children of Leningradsky"
  • Bush said he saw good in Putin's soul
  • https://youtu.be/37ySwMV4ezo Russia didn't hack US 2016 elections. Aaron Nate reported a lot on this subject
  • Blackshirts and Reds: "In late 1993, facing strong popular resistance to his harsh ..."

Russia Today

  • Fills gaping hole left by corporate media, uplifted marginalized voices from across political spectrum for better or worse that revealed the existing, deep divisions and manipulation in American society. Prominent antiwar dissidents given a platform the media didn't, along with third-party candidates, anti-capitalists.
  • Didn't always promote Russian narrative, Abby Martin voiced opposition to Crimea annexation, there was a rather hands off attitude, Abby for example continued work a year after her anti-annexation comments, left because of personal differences
  • MSNBC removed Phil Donahue who had high ratings because of his anti-war stance, Jesse Ventura signed a deal with MSNBC but they paid severance money when they realized he was going to be antiwar
  • Alan Kurdi's aunt went on MSNBC, never invited again for criticizing US funneling of weapons, her narrative was not convenient

United Kingdom

Finland

  • 1990s depression was used to rollback welfare state
  • https://soihtu.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/tyolaiset-ja-talvisodan-henki/ "Orwell reports the same story making the rounds among the republicans during the Spanish Civil War and dismissed it as wishful thinking. It sounds unlikely that anyone could have organized sabotage on that scale during the few months of the Winter War, especially since Finnish leftists generally saw it as a just war of defense. You only started seeing acts of resistance during the Continuation War, and even that was mild compared to what other resistance movements were doing. If the reports of faulty shells are true, it's probably because Finland's artillery during the Winter War was badly outdated."
  • Perus (right-wing party) infiltrated by Suomen Sisu (ultranationalist association) in early 2020s, they succeeded, its their form of entryism
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Wahlroos quintessential Fennoswede, major capitalist of the Baltics and Nordics and owns lots of property, his father was Chief of Staff in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in the 70s
  • "Finnish workers set up the Finland–USSR Peace & Friendship Society. Almost 40,000 people joined immediately (soon all the leaders were arrested and the org banned). After the "Continuation war" the most popular party among the war-veterans was the SKDL (Communist led 'People's front' party). In 1945 elections the SKDL was the second largest party (and that's very telling, since Communism was illegal in Finland since early 1920's)."
  • Exaggerated Soviet death count, counted civilians in military: https://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/molot1940.htm
  • Arndt Pekurinen: pacifist and conscientious objector who was killed
  • Tampere Workers' Hall, Lenin museum
  • Reporadio
  • Ylilauta: far-right since around 2016, fell in exactly the same manner as 4chan did; the brigading was extremely obvious yet Sopsy did nothing. Possibly a sympathizer, because he did host MV-lehti on the same server as ylilauta. The popularity [of this site within Finland] can be explained by a small domestic culture sphere where the kind of publicity stunts that 4chan also did have a larger impact. Sopsy saw the site as a business from the start and capitulated on the notoriety ruthlessly in order to grow it. High-quality site features like how per thread user IDs are implemented, instead of raw hashes. As a huge minus side, they do have user accounts and there wont be any effort to say make a trip code like feature usable, because that sweet data and user retention via stuff like tags. In that regard ylilauta is more a forum-imageboard hybrid.
  • Left Alliance leadership and the official party line has always been very pro-imperialist. They were not against Finnish troops in Afganistan, but supported it under the guise of "crisis management" or something. They have been hostile towards Cuba and saying the Left should not support Venezuela. Their party newspaper calls Maduro "dicatorial" and says "he should go". And all this has not been 'criticism from the left' but in essence pro-imperialist right wing criticism.

EU

  • Controlled by Germany and France despite small countries getting a disproportional amount of votes
  • Lenin on "A United States of Europe"
  • Macron wants a European army separate from US. This is difficult because US-made systems continue to dominate in prevalence. US wants NATO countries to spend on their own defense, but not have their own defense policy — just buy more US materiel. Aid to Ukraine makes the country dependent on US systems. France now the 3rd biggest arms exporter. Latest geopolitical tensions mostly benefit the US and the sale of F-35s, etc.
  • Brexit was a victory of US-aligned capitalists
  • Gorbachev described the EU as "the new European Soviet"
  • EU exploit proles, steals educated professionals, wrecks local companies in favor of French and German capital
  • East European companies like Dacia were run by French and German companies
  • In the 2000s the EU's leading nations placed tariffs on East European countries, but also tried to dominate their markets with own brands and franchises
  • Has a different trade policy from the US: wants de-dollarization, trade with Russia, Iran, and China (Ostpolitik).

Palestine

  • Palestinians do exist as a people and their culture goes back before the 1948 war
  • Have tried to obtain self-rule from the British multiple times but were refused in favor of Jewish settlers
  • Gaza suffers shortages, blockade, gets electricity for few hours a day because of a Hamas dispute with the Palestinian Authority
  • PLFP: large, Marxist group
  • PLFP spokesman: "The rockets are both a practical and symbolic representation of our resistance to the occupier ..."
  • Opposition was secular until outside group funding for Islamists, Israel created Hamas to divide Palestinians and make them look unsympathetic. West Bank and Gaza now successfully split
  • Israeli official Avner Cohen: "Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel's creation."
  • Mandela: "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians."

Human rights

  • Bourgeois rights/parts of the capitalist system are said to be human rights, e.g. right of contract, freedom of capital, donations are free speech (Citizens United, McCutcheon v. FEC), freedom of press (to push their own narrative)
  • Human Rights Campaign says best place to work for LGBTQ+ equality is at places like Raytheon, but also rips at Bernie Sanders for embracing Joe Rogan's endorsement
  • Here's Why You Shouldn't Support "Human Rights" NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
  • Liberal conception of human rights is silly: piracy is theft but hiding money in offshore accounts is okay

Division of labor

  • It is the origin of classes
  • Only possible with surplus in society
  • Humans evolved to form large, complex groups that allow for each individual to specialize in a certain task
  • Accelerated in capitalism; capitalists accumulated plenty of capital that allowed them to set up large workshops and factories where workers were regimented into specialized roles that made it possible to produce things more efficiently, though many jobs became so simple they got replaced with machinery, which were more efficient than humans, who were pushed into new jobs developed in capitalism
  • Completely disappears in socialism because specific jobs are outdone by machinery, e.g. less-developed agriculture work becomes advanced. People then have to engage in holistic jobs; further worn away by socialist education which retrains people according to needs of society or their own inclinations

Stock market/equities trading

  • Marx in a 1864 letter to his uncle Lion Philips: "I have, which will surprise you not a little, been speculating — partly in American funds, but more especially in English stocks, which are springing up like mushrooms this year (in furtherance of every imaginable and unimaginable joint stock enterprise), are forced up to quite an unreasonable level and then, for the most part, collapse. In this way, I have made over £400 and, now that the complexity of the political situation affords greater scope, I shall begin all over again. It’s a type of operation that makes demands on one’s time, and it’s worth while running some risk in order to relieve the enemy of his money."
  • CNBC show Mad Money host Jim Cramer admits stock market is manipulated and how it's done

Movies

  • Movies about Thanos/Black Panther/etc. have a message that the status quo is flawed but revolution is worse
  • Many Disney movies are reactionary, e.g. The Lion King has a message that is pro-rigid hierarchy/unjust privilege that is never pushed back on, frames Scar's redistribution/desegregation as cartoonishly evil and bad for no explained reason, ends with the restoration of the holy, ordained monarchy where the rain/sun/plants/animals all just suddenly come back. Hyenas live in a ghetto and have a weird accent. "Circle of life" used to justify lion rule over all else on the basis that when the lions die, they will be eaten by other animals in a convoluted way.
  • Film more or less intentionally influences the audience subconsciously; has pretty much an entire industry (marketing)
  • USSR pioneered film: Soviet montage theory, The Snow Queen (1957) was screened internationally and is one of Hayao Miyazaki's favorites, Miyazaki inspired to found Studio Ghibli by Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)

Video games

  • Games often appeal to and reinforce people's lowest impulses, promote simple ideas that appeal to reactionaries like orcs vs. humans, princess rescue, "fighting the infection", fighting invaders, obsessively seeking a high score
  • Highway of Death and Yuri Bezmenov in Call of Duty
  • "Call of Duty is a government psyop: These documents prove it"
  • Game use for military recruitment
  • Gamergate was the prelude to alt right, catapulted Breitbart whose Executive Chair Steve Bannon became Trump campaign strategist and worked in his administration; Gamergate endorsed by InfoWars, Storm Front, the Daily Stormer. Gamergate featured doxxing, countless death threats predicated on false claims, under the cover of ethics in journalism
  • Link to left-wing games

Great man theory

  • Is surface-level and attractive because it's easy to understand, frames history with concrete heroes and villains
  • Used to distort history for use as propaganda, to create a national narrative
  • Stephen Jay Gould: "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops"
  • Leibniz and Newton came up with calculus independently and almost at the same time, electric light bulb similarly invented by Thomas Edison and Pavel Yablochkov, the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, the law of conservation of energy by Julius Mayer, James Joule, Herman Helmholtz, etc.
  • Generally incorrect but seems to be validated at times: Rome might have fallen without the military leadership of Scipio Africanus, USSR might have fallen if Bakunin took charge. Many aspects of American culture are due to the whims of one John Harvey Kellogg.
  • Individuals of particular merit succeed mostly because of material conditions – Lenin would not have been able to pull off the Russian Revolution a hundred years before he actually did if he lived at that time
  • People like Trump and Musk can only grow massive amounts of wealth if they start with great advantages; frankly their character is likely too poor to produce success if they had to start from little
  • Communist states are said to have cults of personality but people are blind to such cults in their own capitalist societies, where they are very prevalent. National heroes are created and romanticized, even depicted as flawless, like Abraham Lincoln, who massacred natives and gave away their land for white settlement but almost nobody knows, just like how few know of his racist statements, or neglect the role of the broader abolitionist movement in favor of upholding Lincoln.

Bill Gates

  • In 1980 Microsoft scores a big contract thanks largely to Gates' mother being on the same board as the CEO of IBM, probably convincing him to take a risk in her son's company
  • Schemed to take Paul Allen's shares as he was taking a backseat role due to Hodgkin lymphoma
  • Berates employees and proposals often
  • After dot-com bubble his reputation fell, and shifted to focusing on media coverage about himself, creating the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and donating unknown figures that resulted in positive-only coverage
  • The B&MGF effectively privatized multiple international health organizations. It's the top financial contributor aside from US and China to the WHO
  • Huge proponent of lockdowns, possibly using them to buy up land because land value crashed?
  • Buys a lot of land because it makes a good investment when stocks fall and there is financial crisis. Owns more farmland than anyone else
  • Fully controls what products are grown on the land, how much, how it's run, who works there
  • Started meeting Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 officially for global health and other charitable opportunities, even though it was after Epstein's conviction in 2008. Cited as a reason why Melinda sought divorce proceedings
  • When asked about Epstein in a PBS interview, replied very suspiciously while wringing his hands: "there's absolutely nothing new on that", "well he's dead"
  • Stole tech: bought someone else's disk operating system, rewrote it and made it his own and then kept the source code and leased it to IBM
  • Aggressive and illegal patents on common stuff
  • Gets defense department contracts
  • Child labour doesn’t have to be exploitation – it gave me life skills: article sponsored by the B&MGF. Current version of the article is sanitized.
  • Kept COVID vaccines away from poor nations using IP law
  • Got Oxford to close source a mostly open source vaccine funded publicly, then made them get an exclusivity deal with AstraZeneca
  • Ruthless anticompetitiveness in the 90s: embrace, extend, extinguish
  • No experience in the medical field, still gets to make choices regarding the WHO, which relies on B&MGF
  • Owns more farmland than anyone else, forces anyone farming publicly to use his seed from other companies
  • Grandfather James Willard Maxwell was an influential banker and director of a branch in the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
  • Mother Mary Maxwell Gates was heavily involved in international charity network United Way, part of the group that "decides how to allocate money and looked at all the different charities"; determines which are funded and how much
  • Father William Gates Sr. was a very powerful philanthropist

John F. Kennedy

  • Khrushchev condemned his assassination and gave condolences. The KGB launched an investigation into whether it, its agents, or contacts had anything to do; they did not. Lee Harvey Oswald was a Marxist who used to live in the USSR. KGB investigated its connections to him and found they never tried to recruit him while he lived there since he was seen as unreliable. USSR offered all files on Oswald and publicly offered assistance because they didn't want blame or military escalation. KGB believed he was assassinated by far-right oil barons who would blame the USSR, invade Cuba, and start nuclear war. Some higher-ups didn't believe this but were still concerned a leaderless USA could allow a rogue general to launch a nuclear weapon at Moscow. Because of uncertainty, the soviet military was put on high alert, preparations for war were made throughout the Eastern Bloc. Soviet leadership had reservations about LBJ because they were unfamiliar with him, in terms of how strict would he be with the USSR and how much was he willing to engage in dialogue and cooperate.
  • LBJ blamed a communist conspiracy rooted in Cuba and escalated the Cold War by invading Vietnam
  • Kennedy wanted to focus on domestic spending and upset the deep state by not being as aggressive as they liked: refused Operation Northwoods and invading Vietnam, stood up to hardliners in the Joint Chiefs of Staff by rejecting use of force in Cuba
  • Military and intelligence agencies are rarely defied successfully, like by de Gaulle
  • Believed in multipolarity rather than pushing Pax Americana and forcing US hegemony
  • Possibly said he "wanted to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds"
  • Tapes show Jackie Kennedy blamed LBJ and Texas tycoons
  • Many world leaders don't believe the official assassination narrative: Nasser/de Gaulle/Sukarno/Castro
  • LBJ: "After tomorrow those goddamn Kennedys will never embarrass me again. That's no threat, that's a promise" (claimed by Madeleine Duncan Brown), "I looked it up: one out of every four Presidents has died in office. I'm a gamblin' man, darlin', and this is the only chance I got."
  • Many connected to the assassination mysteriously died

Ronald Reagan

  • Collapse of the USSR was multifaceted and US military spending wasn't even a major factor, people still attribute it largely to Reagan
  • Talks of prosperity — really only for the rich. Administration characterized by homelessness, poverty, incarceration, real wages falling
  • He was the manifestation of racial, religious, and economic backlash against the New Left of the 60s and 70s
  • Dogwhistled to segregationists, conflated social programs with lazy blacks, etc.
  • Cemented fundamentalist Christianity with conservatism and anti-communism
  • Deregulation and tax cuts were just continuation of Carter, head of the Fed was the same
  • Economy would have grown without tax cuts and deregulation because of economic cycles
  • Cut taxes on wealthy, caused more inequality
  • Illegally sold Iran a shitload of guns and missiles in order to raise funds for right-wing anti-communist death squads in Nicaragua (and totally got away with it) to try and overthrow an elected left-wing government
  • Crushed the working class, unions, and wages, leading to the low-pay wageslave society America is today for people outside of Finance or Tech
  • Started the financialization of the western economies (along with Thatcher)
  • Funded fundamentalist Islamic groups in the Middle East for anti-communist reasons, ironically lead to 9/11 and other phenomena in the world we see today, including Al-Qaeda and the Taliban
  • Invaded Grenada to overthrow the leftist government there
  • Supported the Apartheid government in South Africa
  • Supported brutal anti-communist dictators
  • Fed policy focused on inflation to the expense of employment, put millions of people out of work. People forget the early 80s had a recession which saw 7%-10% of the population unemployed.
  • Robbed social security to pay for tax cuts for the rich
  • Invented the theory of trickle down aka give the porkoids whatever they want and they will create jobs
  • Defunded education, first in CA then nationally to own the leftist students
  • Air traffic controllers union incident
  • No coincidence he was elected at same time as Thatcher, global capitalism was segueing into neoliberalism
  • Neocon in the social area/neoliberal in the economic area.
  • Denounced co-workers for being communists under false accusations
  • Bought the awful theory that no matter what, western culture should support any anti-communist dictatorship abroad, no matter how bloodlust they are because communism never migrates to "democracy" (their western concept of democracy) and instead of losing relevance after the USSR falling, disproving the theory, his ideology is still relevant.
  • Proclaimed his support for "small government", though his administration was one of the greatest contributors to national debt, even including inflation. Took debt-to-GDP from 30% to 50%.
  • Defaulted the U.S. by not paying the debt in gold, and, because the U.S. is full of weapons, decided to instead pay in dollars — still proclaimed by ultras, rightoids, and far-right as some magnificent economist-manager for his decisions
  • Solicited astrological advice
  • Talked with Soviet leader (Gorbachev?) and asked him at one point if the Soviets were willing to pause the Cold War in case of alien invasion (this was likely Reagan, may have been some other president)
  • Said Soviets are like the empire and other Star Wars references, echoed by others in modern political Harry Potter comparisons
  • Denied HIV til '87
  • Cognitive issues which became pronounced after presidency, people who worked with him noted he made a lot of stories up

Basic Manual of Style

  • Commonwealth vs. American spellings? Harrystein (talk) 16:37, 30 July 2023 (UTC)
    • For the time being, I am using "labour" for consistency on all pages (being a very common word for obvious reasons) but otherwise retaining the spelling used on a given page. Wikipedia's resolution to this problem is to have a template which specifies to an editor which spelling to use. I don't think this is a huge deal other than for redirect purposes. Harrystein (talk) 18:00, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
  • Hyphens? (see Marxism–Leninism vs. Marxism-Leninism) Harrystein (talk) 16:37, 30 July 2023 (UTC)
    • Update: Resolved in favor of Marxism–Leninism, using En dash U+2013. Apply same for all other hyphenated tendencies (MLM, etc.) Harrystein (talk) 18:00, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
  • Anti-Semitism: Resolved: "anti-Semitism" and "anti-Semitic" arbitrarily chosen instead of "antisemitism" and "antisemitic". Harrystein (talk) 18:00, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

Decision process

Perhaps consider the popularity as well as the trajectory of popularity when choosing spelling using tools like Google Trends or Ngram Viewer. In the example case of "anti-Semitism", it seems it is currently more widely used than "antisemitism" though waning in popularity. Further, let's consider articles that address these topics, like this one. On that note, I say "antisemitism" is the better spelling. --Capuch1n (talk) 19:30, 29 December 2023 (UTC)

Your point is compelling. However, it seems according to the Jewish Virtual Library that even among the Jewish academic community there is no consensus, and the hyphenated form is more common in publications. It seems to me that there is not strong enough evidence to overturn what is already covered by redirects and links. Thoughts? Harrystein (talk) 23:09, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Notability policy

Much of this website's content is dedicated towards documenting websites which lack any clear notability or relevance to leftist politics. In order to prevent this encyclopedia from being the subject of soap-boxers who are able to freely promote their web content, we should implement a definite notability policy. Thank you. SociusVenger (talk) 17:35, 16 August 2023 (UTC)

Hi Wisconcom aka SociusVenger, thank you for your suggestion. We will be discussing a notability policy as the site develops. In the meantime, the policy will be determined on a case-by-case basis. I recommend clearly restating your case for non-notability on the talk pages (not LP:AFD) of the InfraWiki and ProleWiki pages. In addition, it is evident that 72 hours is too short for a small site such as this, so give users time to state their positions.
Finally, I would add that you have proven yourself prone to edit warring and other disruptive behavior on these topics. I have allowed you to remain on the site because you have shown at least a sporadic interest in contributing sourced information to other pages. I wonder how many contributions you have made to pages related to Enver Hoxha and his anti-Khrushchev positions which are not copy-pasted speeches or links to the blogposts of you or your friends. There is no reason for me to let you continue using this site purely to attack people who have banned you from one or two discussion forums out of the entire leftist internet. If you are interested in a website where you call everyone revisionist, I suggest you find another site. Harrystein (talk) 15:44, 17 August 2023 (UTC)
Thank you for your criticism. Regarding your last suggestion, I apologize if you got that impression of my intentions. I hope to use this site for productive purposes which are meaningful to Leftist politics. I likewise respect the position of this site relating to Left unity. While I have focused on documenting anti-revisionism and anti-revisionist writers in the past, this is largely because those topics are my area of interest and knowledge. I do not intend to abuse this site to extend online conflicts between me and ideologically opposed communities. SociusVenger (talk) 15:52, 17 August 2023 (UTC)

Licensing for images and content

User:Jack barn made a good point at Talk:Main Page about the license used on this site. Harrystein (talk) 17:33, 17 August 2023 (UTC)

Official names or common names?

For the title of articles relating to countries (particularly contemporary ones), shall we use the official name or common name (e.g. Federal Republic of Germany vs. Germany, French Republic vs. France, Russian Federation vs. Russia, etc.)? I bring this subject up as I have noticed that certain articles (such as United Kingdom) are titled with the short name of the countries, whereas others are titled with the official name of the country. Thank you. SociusVenger (talk) 14:59, 19 August 2023 (UTC)

The important question to me is about what the purposes of a leftist wiki are. People concerned about Marxist historiography and communist rhetoric surrounding the history of the UK are not interested in nitpicking about England, Wales, the British Isles et cetera. Whereas the DDR vs. BRD is clearly an important distinction.
I recommend a practical solution:
1. Pick one option for the short term. My vote is for a case-by-case discussion with a tendency towards redirecting common names to socialist-led states. See what I have done with Yugoslavia: plain name redirects to the full state name. "Germany" should go to the modern BRD (after 1990), since "East Germany" is the common name in English for that state. But if you want to be all "Communist Party of China" vs. "Chinese Communist Party" about it, then maybe we can poke fun at Wikipedia by sending "Germany" to the DDR page - the true Germany, as it were. At least that would be consistent. Lesser-known countries in the Anglo world, such as Albania (sorry) could easily go to the socialist Albania. (with a hatnote for the modern state.) Because how many people will be coming here to read about capitalist Albania over socialist? So it's a practical question.
Other takes:
  • Russian Federation simply titled "Russia", with a "Russia (disambiguation)" for Tsarist and other history. Recent history of Russia is important in modern politics.
  • Entire history of France simply titled "France". I can see an argument for limiting it to 1789-present.
  • "China" = PRC since 1949. History of Chinese states, perhaps ending with the Xinhai Revolution, at "China (disambiguation)".
I realize these are inconsistent. Discussion is merited.
2. Make a list of such redirects/conflicts, such as Albania, Germany, etc. with all redirects and alternate names included. I would be willing to do this myself. That way when the decision is reversed we can just change them all at once.
Ultimately, whatever solution gets picked, title consistency isn't as important as redirects. If someone wants to get to a certain sense of "Germany", they should be able to click a couple of links and hatnotes and end up where they need to be. Harrystein (talk) 15:19, 20 August 2023 (UTC)
I largely agree. It would likely be more preferable to settle this matter on a case-by-case basis. My only (small) disagreement would be that the GDR did not particularly claim to be the sole and true government of Germany in the way that the DPRK does in the case of Korea. SociusVenger (talk) 15:34, 20 August 2023 (UTC)

Miscellaneous to-do list

  1. Standardize spacing in editing (such as whether to put an empty line between headings and text, and whether to put spaces between text and equals signs (==Text== vs. == Text ==))
  2. Improve the CSS of the main page, and in this figure out whether all CSS should be directly in the source of the page or whether the CSS should be divided among templates, like on ProleWiki and such. The new front page should look good at different zoom levels and resolutions as well as containing a short guide on how to contribute to the wiki. And maybe find another place to put the "MediaWiki setup info" section.
  3. Probably merge the community portal into the main page because there's not much on both pages
  4. Offer periodic (monthly?) backups of the site available for torrent and download
  5. Deal with the spam filter not allowing edits to be posted that include links with, for example, "socialism" in the URL
  6. Make level 5 and level 4 headings look distinct
  7. Have a collapsible template for long quotes
  8. Figure out what license is appropriate. Some kind of Creative Commons one instead of the current GNU FDL one?
  9. Figure out whether Leftypedia should be hosted on its own domain and what service/country should be used so as to minimize censorship
  10. Improve search engine optimization?
  11. Prevent the visual editor automatically adding "" to the end of every article?
  12. Figure out dark theming. Should users get a dark theme they can enable in user preferences? Or should there be a button on the page that enables it?
  13. Allow the uploading of .svg and .pdf files
  14. Have relevant articles linked in the OP of cyclical Leftypol threads (e.g. Russia, Ukraine, USA) — Preceding unsigned comment added by capuch1n (talk • contribs)
I thought I would add my take on these. They are all good points and To-dos.
TL;DR: Maybe make a post on /meta/ asking for help with these issues, starting with the easiest fixes?
Thoughts
::1. Standard editing spacing. Doesn't seem high priority but if editors want it we can implement. I can adapt to whatever newline solution is picked but personally I edit with a newline before a header, and none after. == Header == vs. ==Header== doesn't bother me when editing source, but for the record, VE defaults to the first option.
2. Main Page style. My impression is that standard stylesheets are the way to go if you want things to scale well. I also have been thinking about adding mobile functionality; my understanding is that CSS would facilitate it. I don't know who put that MediaWiki thing there or why, but it should go unless someone says otherwise.
3. Merge Community Portal and Main Page. I say make front page more inviting and useful, but leave the Community Portal. The Portal is too busy and overwhelming for a front page, in my opinion. To my mind, Front should be for people who want to read or begin editing; Portal or similar space should exist for people who are ready to help and want direction. Maybe call it "editing portal" if you want. Front page should have links to useful shit, featured/"good" pages, maybe even news from /lp/ Newsanon? You know, like a real Wiki. Pictures too.
4. Periodic backups. Support 100%. Don't know how to implement.
7. Collapsible template for long quotes. If we implement this, it should be used only when absolutely necessary. Priority should lean towards shortening the damn quotes, paraphrasing when possible, and providing a reflink so people can go read the whole context. That's just my opinion. This site is supposed to make theory accessible, after all. But for the record, the template would take two seconds to make.
8. Copyleft license. I guess we should ask User:Jackbarn about this, since they raised the issue.
9. Domain hosting. wiki.leftypol.org was just intended to bring the old site back from the dead, right? I'm neutral one way or the other. I will say -- is maintaining a separate site more expensive or difficult? Maybe down the road.
10. SEO. I will look into how to do it. Do you have any starting ideas?
11. Fix VE. I don't know if we can edit the MW Visual Editor without a huge fuss. I'm truly sorry about that issue, and it definitely needs fixing.
6, 12. Header CSS; Dark theme. These are related to broader question of Skins. I suggest:
  • Add dark mode skins and option button. Put the button in the actual interface/menu, at the top or left somewhere.
  • Discuss default/main site skin. Decide if we wanna look fancy.
  • Once default skin is added or decided against, change header and other CSS at MediaWiki:Common.css. Start with this Stackoverflow post.
5, 13. Spam filter; Filetypes. Per what Disc said in the Matrix... we need to ask a dev to disable the entire filter for now (manually moderate for spam in the interim) until we figure out what the issue actually is. Really what we need is a sympathetic dev, or someone who will nag the devs, lol. SVG seems like an easy starting request.
14. Put Pedia articles in /lp/ OPs. That would be amazing. First step: make a decent starter article. Next: post it in the general and gain the approval or interest of Anons. Then: only ask the devs to do it when there is real interest. My Ukraine article is actually intended for this.
Harrystein (talk) 18:30, 27 August 2023 (UTC)
  • Larger default font size and other ergonomic fixes

NSFW/NSFL policy

I have added a graphic image to the WIP Anti-communism sidebar template. It seems to me to be appropriate for the topic as well as for the wiki. What should the policy on graphic images be? Do you approve of my choice of image? Harrystein (talk) 01:10, 29 August 2023 (UTC)

In my opinion, content on Leftypedia should not be censored so long as it is meaningful to the subject at hand. In the case of the image on the anti-communism sidebar, it accurately displays the nature of anti-communism (mass-killings, fascistic terror, etc.) and additionally blends in well with the black color on the border. SociusVenger (talk) 03:26, 29 August 2023 (UTC)

Manual of Style: Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism or anti-Semitism? Antisemitic or anti-Semitic? Vote now on your phones. If you don't care, I will pick one. Harrystein (talk) 19:51, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

I have arbitrarily chosen anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic and begun to apply it across the site (as of a few months ago already). This topic is closed and will be moved to the above "Manual of Style" header. Harrystein (talk) 17:52, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

List of former Nazis, on German Wikipedia

I have recently taken an interest in this article on German Wiki titled "List of former NSDAP members politically active after May 1945". It contains sections for both West and East Germany (and the occupation zones before '49). Would users be interested in this article being copied, translated, and/or revised for Leftypedia use? Would anyone have something to add about the East German politicians listed, or about de-Nazification in the East? Just a thought. Harrystein (talk) 17:03, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Please do if you can. A list like that in English could be very helpful in understanding de-Nazification (or lack thereof in the West). RedParabola (talk) 19:30, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Suggestion by 00: Reference tool for biases of individual sources

User @00: wrote an aside in a footnote to this edit at "2023 Israel–Gaza war", as follows:

It would be nice to get together an article or page which has a quick rundown of the biases and degree of control of large news-media groupings including the ones we use as sources here, to give people a reference to parse the claims they're reading

I either forgot this note existed or have only come across it now in the process of editing. It seems to belong at this page. I will add that a similar resource exists at Leftist news but only for, you know, leftist news. Harrystein (talk) 20:15, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

On the modern Hebrew language

I just noticed at the Israel page that @Capuch1n: added a BadEmpanada video there about the Modern Hebrew language and its development in the First and Second Aliyah periods. The video asserts strongly that Modern Hebrew qualifies as a "constructed language". I am not an expert on the topic but I have read works which contradict some of the basic arguments used. At some point I would like to create a "Hebrew language" or "Modern Hebrew language" (etc) page for the purpose, and I invite anyone interested to contribute. I need first to reread my sources and look at BadEmpanada's citations, but I feel this is something which could be hashed out or at least given a fair discussion with evidence. Harrystein (talk) 00:40, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Suggested Main Page Redesign

Any website should have an appealing front page which everybody sees. I've been working on a potential replacement for our current one which I thought was much more consistent and visually pleasing. If nothing else, I think it can give some ideas of things which we could try or improve (i.e. making all of the table colors consistent, etc.). Let me know what your thoughts are on it and if it could be implemented on the main page.

Also, I would suggest that if this main page design in introduced, some of the interface colors should be changed (like changing the light-blue color on the border of the main content box to red or at least grey/black.). I think red would be a better alternative as it's usually used to represent socialism.

Thanks. RedParabola (talk) 01:24, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

I find the redesign an improvement so far. We definitely intend to add the option for users to switch between different "Skins" i.e. styles. Your proposal is reminiscent, whether you intended it or not, of the old site's design, which I was unable to recover; it used the (L) logo in a similar way.

"Also, I would suggest that if this main page design in introduced, some of the interface colors should be changed (like changing the light-blue color on the border of the main content box to red or at least grey/black.). I think red would be a better alternative as it's usually used to represent socialism."

I also support a reskin like this, the current version looks too much like Wikipedia. Harrystein (talk) 19:57, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for the input. Let me know if I could move this design to the main page, otherwise I'd be perfectly fine waiting for more community consensus. RedParabola (talk) 20:58, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Draft for Principles Page

On the matrix server, Harrystein recently suggested 7 aims or principles which were agreed on, and should be included on a single central page.

I propose the exact wording for these principles should be:

Leftypedia aims to be: [or whatever intro is decided]

1. An easily accessible resource for socialists of all stripes to locate well-researched arguments and information on politics, history, and modern issues.

2. A platform for interested leftists to develop original discourse on relevant issues to fellow proletarians and socialists alike.

3. A source of information to better comprehend and refute the propaganda and fabrications of the bourgeois media towards workers' movements or opposed regimes. [such as for instance the Gaza atrocity stories (i.e., reports do exist of rape, but we can show why those reports are unreliable)]

4. A platform for leftists to synthesize, exposit, and even critique other currents of socialist ideology [like Marxism, anarchism, etc.] provided exact quotations and well-sourced arguments are provided.

5. A space for leftists to elaborate on their contentions with other socialist tendencies [non-maoists reading maoist infighting, or liberals reading leftist arguments] to better inform and expand the worldview of others.

6. A space for socialists to take advantage of the collaborative nature of MediaWiki sites [or whatever phrasing is decided on] to author detailed, informative articles on praxis and other forms of activism. Eventually to the point where its detail will rival other socialist websites which cover these topics

7. A space for leftists to create detailed polemics and essays without having to be so dedicated as to maintain a blog or other forms of media.

We will have to decide more on the exact wording and content before and after these aims are stated. Thanks. RedParabola (talk) 19:44, 3 April 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for posting my list (with solid amendments). I wrote it without much thought so I could illustrate my point, and as such, let me suggest my own revisions to the proposal (highlighted in bold):
"Our aims can be summarized in seven main points:
  1. An easily accessible resource for socialists of all stripes to locate well-researched arguments and information on politics, history, and modern issues. [unchanged]
  2. A platform for interested leftists to collaborate and develop original discourse on issues relevant to fellow proletarians and socialists alike.
  3. A reliable ["and balanced"?] source of news and information to help leftists better comprehend and refute the propaganda and fabrications of bourgeois media, including about working class struggles or foreign "enemies" of the state.
  4. A platform for leftists to synthesize, exposit, and even critique the writings of great socialists, using detailed sources and quotations, to innovate on past experience and to advance the science of socialism.
  5. A space for leftists to elaborate on their contentions with other socialist tendencies in order to better inform and expand the worldview of others. [essentially unchanged]
  6. A space for socialists to take advantage of the collaborative nature of the MediaWiki format to compile detailed, informative articles on praxis and other topics relevant to leftist activism all in one place and continuously expanding. Eventually to the point where its detail will rival other socialist websites which cover these topics
  7. A space for leftists to easily create and share detailed polemics and essays for others to engage with their views without having to be so dedicated as to maintain a blog or other forms of media." Harrystein (talk) 18:21, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

New logo proposal

Our current logo – a rather bland white raised fist – is not really memorable, especially comparable to other leftist websites. As an alternative to this, I created a new logo which would be much more memorable. I already brought this up on the Matrix space, but decided to post it here for public visibility.

Lp logo new.png

What are your thoughts? Should we replace our current with this? Any suggestions on improvements to this design? Let me know. Thanks. RedParabola (talk) 21:07, 6 April 2024 (UTC)

Kingdom of Italy split proposal

RedParabola has proposed we split Kingdom of Italy into one or more article in order to focus on the fascist era. Discuss at the talk page here. Harrystein (talk) 17:25, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

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