this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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Yeah I thought that was an odd addition. I'm open to hearing an explanation like how the schwashtika (sp?) is also a religious symbol but idk. Weird choice.
While the hammer and sickle may have roots in the USSR, I think it's more likely inferred individuals and labor movements worldwide appropriate it for the symbolism around labor rather than anything ideological around a government. We aren't taught shit about the USSR in the US beyond "communist government bad," so I had to Google the origins of it just now myself. I associated it with communism as a whole, which is often conflated with the USSR, but I wouldn't personally assume someone with it tattooed is giving explicit signal toward support of the old regime in the way a swastika signals a nazi (maybe they are, but I'd ask first, whereas with the swastika I will absolutely assume). Especially given how many variations there are these days. The religious swastika is also has distinct differences - flipped to a mirror image with dots around it. I'm partial myself to the romcom style where the sickle is shaped more like a heart, personally, though I'm not out here looking to get it tattooed. I only know enough to say communism is an economic system opposed to capitalism in the same way a democratic government is opposed (or should be) to authoritarianism. Workers of the world unite, something something, we have nothing to lose but our chains 🛠️❤️
Even the swastika depends a little on context. In Europe or the US, 95% of the time, it's a nazi, and that goes to 99.99% if the person is white.
Seeing it on the wall of an Indian's house next to an aum and a lotus flower? That's likely just a Hindu blessing of well-being.
Dude thank you so much for taking the time out of your evening to type this up and look it up. I've always been a supporter of giving people a chance to explain themselves and now I have a solid explanation for the use of the hammer and sickle! Also +1 on losing chains. Hoping to see more movement like we have over the last couple years. Power to the people!
If you want to learn more about Communism, I suggest reading Critique of the Gotha Programme, where Marx critiques a weak Socialist program and actually makes organizational suggestions. If terminology is something you don't yet know much of, The Principles of Communism is a great, shorter work.
If you want to learn more about why Capitalism is structurally doomed, Wage Labor and Capital is much easier to get through than Capital. If you want to learn about the philosophy of Marxism, Dialectical and Historical Materialism, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific is a great overview from Engels.
Good luck, comrade!
The hammer and sickle are sometimes used by more than just MLs and Sov apologists. But there's definitely... discourse around it.