i just found out that one of the artists i like is a gramsci-quoting karl marx-reading red to the bone communist, which is really nice to see

but they exclusively draw erotica (they are really good at it) so i can't really share a link to their profile with anyone

That's good to hear, I have a bunch of colleagues that kept talking about SENS being their only real option, this and SENS almost getting parliamentary power is indication that a growing number of people (out of the 50% of the population that bothers to vote) are getting closer to actual leftist ideas. SENS are no communists but everyone has to start somewhere.

If the reactionaries start shouting the slogan "AUR POT cu SOS!" I am afraid the coalition will become a foregone conclusion, no one could resist a slogan that ridiculous. It might even become the verse of a new manea.

Out of curiosity, how far away was SENS from getting the coveted 5%?

The regional breakdown of the two candidates is pretty much a slider where the more urbanized a place was, the more votes went to Lasconi and on the opposite side the more rural a place was the more votes went to Călin. As far as chances for a military coup go I'd say it's quite slim, but decades are happening in weeks here, so we can't entirely rule it out.

Update on the Romanian elections, two of the losers made appeals to the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) to nullify the results of the first round of elections that put Călin (Independent, extremely dubious neolegionary who preaches an anti-war stance) and Lasconi (USR, the "we aren't the duopoly" party) in 1st and 2nd place, one accusing Elena Lasconi of voter fraud, who barely went ahead of the PSD candidate by about 2500 votes, the other accusing Călin of campaign finance fraud.

A popular theory is that this is a blatant attempt by those embedded within the Romanian political power structure to nuke the two candidates, especially Călin, and replace them with the ones in 3rd and 4th place, Marcel Ciolacu of PSD (the do-nothing party, one half of the PSD/PNL duopoly) and George Simion of AUR (reactionary irredentist party).

It seems that the first appeal went through the court and now all 9.2 million votes must be recounted, but appeal number 2 was rejected. Now if the previously mentioned theory was true then that plan completely blew up in their faces because if Lasconi was thought to have slim chances against Călin in the second round then there's no way in hell that Ciolacu would ever beat him if the recount successfully eliminated Lasconi from the race. Romania has officially entered some interesting times.

https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/politica/primul-tur-al-alegerilor-prezidentiale-a-fost-contestat-la-curtea-constitutionala-3022837?__grsc=cookieIsUndef0&__grts=57760325&__grua=f51bb482c660d0eeadd1f058058a2b35&__grrn=1 <- article about the appeals themselves

https://www.digi24.ro/alegeri-prezidentiale-2024/decizia-fara-prececent-a-ccr-de-renumarare-a-voturilor-in-presa-internationala-risca-sa-pateze-credibilitatea-institutiilor-3025203 <- article about the international reaction to the decision to make a recount

So much for a stagnant political scene, huh? I guess we're finally seeing some movement.

My colleagues at UNIVERSITY have repeatedly called Georgescu both a legionary and a communist interchangeably, their brains are absolutely fried with anti-communist propaganda, but I sense that we, as communists in Romania, might be able to educate people on what communism actually is. If Călin ends up winning he will doubtlessly disappoint people on every promise, and he will be an example in living memory of what a legionary is, a miserable failure. I am not getting my hopes up just yet but people might actually get curious enough to at least read the manifesto.

Of course, I admit that this is wishful thinking bordering on delusion, but Romania is on the precipice of finally entering some interesting times, we must think of how to make the most of it.

Thank you tovarăș for compiling and summarizing all the information about these despicable figures.

I wonder when an actual left wing option will gain traction in Romania, at least Americans had the ability to vote PSL, we still have nothing. Of course, a leftist organization won't just materialize itself from nothing and come to save us all, people have to actually come together to build it, but people nowadays seem so thoroughly depoliticized and apathetic it's tough to even imagine something like that happening. Whenever I strike up a conversation about how China has achieved so much (while carefully not mentioning the words 'socialism' or 'communism') and how our country could also achieve greater things I am always met with either "Like that's ever gonna happen." or "Romanians are too dumb and stupid for that.".

While people dream of some nebulous form of change the status quo has completely robbed them of the ability to even imagine what a better future would look like, not to mention the drive to actually do something about it, it's quite bleak. That is without mentioning that decades of anti-communist propaganda fueled and legitimized by the austerity and excesses of Ceaușescu's leadership seems to have forever tainted anything even resembling left wing politics in Romania, so if we ever get any movement for change it will likely come from even more right wing, ultranationalist and irredentist parties with almost identical politics.

This election truly highlights how Romanian politics don't even have a leftist undercurrent of opposition, but I would like to hear what you have to say, what's your take on the future of left wing politics in Romania? Do you think material conditions would eventually get dire enough for people to start reading Marx and Lenin? Or are we doomed to a slow march towards AUR and eventually some modern day Iron Guard ripoff?

The Romanian presidential election is coming up this Sunday, as far as I am aware nobody here has said a single thing about it so far and I must say it's probably better that way. While many romanians love to make fun of the US and how much of a charade its "democracy" is I genuinely believe Romania might have the most stagnant political scene and the most transparently undemocratic "democracy" in Europe. There are 14 candidates and they all either range from center-right to George "" Simion.

@[email protected] tovarăș, what are your thoughts on this upcoming election? That is if you have any, I would not blame you if you didn't, this country's internal politics are so stagnant and geopolitically irrelevant I didn't even know an election was happening until someone told me about it yesterday.

bit idea: new movement for gender equality from liberals, but it is to change the term 'landlady' in the dictionary into 'landempress' for equality with the male term 'landlord'

Let's not forget the greatest 'freedom' of all, not only is it not enough to be effectively censored by the profit motive, but everyone is also severely hindered from developing artistic skill to a higher level if they do not find a way to monetize their skill, something which is so notoriously unreliable it created the stereotype of the starving artist. This phenomenon was a direct cause of what I would call a flattening of culture all across the globe as traditional arts faced mass extinction due to their lack of profitability.

The cold war was won by capital and lost by humanity.

It definitely was. I wonder when the next "decades within weeks" moment will happen and finally bring about a paradigm shift for the better. The imperial core is deindustrializing and steadily rolling back so many of the guardrails meant to keep capitalism from imploding one wonders if the theoretical endpoint in a couple centuries is some form of neo-serfdom and subsequently the modern reenactment of the fate of the Romanov dynasty.

I personally find that the most tragic thing about the internet is how if you looked at the way it was made you'd almost think it was the product of a socialist state. It is a product of intensive collaboration between different researchers, fully subsidized by the state every step of the way and the end result effectively given away for free to the public. Now it is rendered a wasteland, carved up and privatized, and with LLMs and image generators it can only get worse as everything gets filled up with computer generated slop.

However, let's take a moment to think about how much good such technology could do if it was subservient to the needs of a socialist state, search engines that actually give you what you want, central planning networks with unparalleled efficiency, social media that prevents the reproduction of reactionary thought, a free, fully organized and easy to access centralized digital library of all academic resources. I can't help but be hopeful for whatever society comes out of this capitalist hell.