Talking to members of the KPÖ can be exhausting; any time one speaks positively about Stalin or AES, one is met with criticism. In my experience, the Communist Party is a mix of different camps, and while there is a small group of anti-German scum who are pro-Israel, this is fortunately a very limited faction.

The KPÖ in Styria, however, differs notably from the broader organization. I think 2004, the Styrian KPÖ diverged from the rest of the party to some extent, due to ideological differences, for instance, on the EU. Though recent election campaigns have shown improved unity. Politically, I find the Styrian KPÖ to be more based compared to, for example, the Vienna branch, and it is also centralized in its operations, differently from the Vienna branch, as it depends on large part on the initiative of individual members, which is the case for most KPÖ organisations.

The National Council election campaign and results showcase a few other flaws within the KPÖ, namely, that it is social democratic, as it stands. If you look at the KPÖ election program, you’ll notice the absence of a clear class standpoint. While they critique “excess profits,” they fail to address the root causes behind these issues. Also, the party’s national focus on housing, though regionally relevant (such as in Vienna), was a really stupid choice for a primary campaign issue on the national stage. This explains why only 18% of KPÖ voters supported the party based on its program, while the radical right-wing FPÖ gained 60% of its voters specifically because of its program, first and foremost its position on migration.

In Vienna, KPÖ chose to run with a left-liberal party called LINKS, because they feared that they may not get enough votes. This decision, made by a few long-time members without broader consultation, was widely criticized and has since been viewed as a mistake by, I’d say, most members, not however those that made the choice, mind you. Additionally, the KPÖ simply doesn’t have any implementation of Criticism and Self-Criticism, which makes identifying and correcting errors within the party challenging.

It is worth noting that the KPÖ was once Austria’s wealthiest party, benefiting from the economy of the GDR, including profits from Turmöl, which flowed in a big part to the KPÖ. After the fall of socialism, Germany pursued lawsuits against the KPÖ, claiming that KPÖ’s assets were German property. These legal battles continued until relatively recently, forcing the KPÖ to sell significant land and property to cover the legal costs. I think one has to take that into account.

On a positive note, the faction pushing to remove “communist” from the party name has essentially disappeared. While very few older members may still harbor this view, it’s no longer taken seriously, they’re essentially dying out.

Despite the challenges posed by the diverse nature of the KPÖ, we Marxist-Leninists find an opportunity here. The KPÖ is currently quite malleable, and there is a chance to reshape it into a genuine workers’ party. I personally believe this transformation is achievable. At one point, an attempt was made to create an alternative to the Communist Party of Austria by forming the PdA, the Partei der Arbeit. This failed, however, because the PdA became dogmatic.

To answer your question more directly now, IMO the “bad takes” stem from its ideological fragmentation, historical compromises, and a lack of strong Marxist-Leninist principles guiding its decisions. The party’s structure is loosely centralized, and different branches exhibit varying political directions, which weakens overall cohesion and leads to inconsistent stances. This has led to policies and alliances, such as those with left-liberal groups, that compromise a strong class-based foundation. To add insult to injury, the absence of Criticism and Self-Criticism within the KPÖ stifles internal growth and ideological clarity.

The PdA is a dogmatic party that does not participate in any practice. So they may think well of Stalin, but what use is that if their positions are not influenced at all by practical work? All they do is sit and bullshit about how it’s revisionist to even participate in elections and that we need a revolution; and they do nothing beyond that.

I don’t agree with ppl saying it’s a waste of time to debate others. Depending on the person ure talking with, it may be very possible that you help them move into the right difection. Or maybe the ppl listening. That’s partially how i got here.

I have a friend who continuously asks questions abt communism, but will then counter my answers with an assumptions of his, but in a friendly, devil’s advocate kinda way. That’s pretty much a debate, I think and so far I could help him understand certain concepts. When I’m outta answers I simply say that I have no clue atm and know that I have to look up that certain topic and learn more abt it. So it’s helpful to myself as well.

While I don’t have anything to recommend for forming better arguments, in my experience, the better you understand a topic the better you are at arguing for it. Very often it’s simply abt not falling for the usually false, misinformed premise ur ‘opponent’ presents u with. I’ve also found that it’s best not to engage people at all who are just looking for a fight. Hope this helped.

There’s a German/Austrian greenwashed alternative called Avocadostore. Might wanna take a look at that. It says it has several requirements if one wants to sell anything on there, regarding ones business’ “climate friendliness” or so. Most stuff on there is on the more expensive side of things as one could imagine and I got no idea abt the quality. Regarding shipping, even to Austria the costs are like 10€ or so. Been a while since I took a look at it… Might be worth checking it out.

Yoo totally! Thx for the suggestion, I’ll make sure to look into him. Any specific work you’d have in mind?

I am a 5th year Animation student, currently working on my group’s and mine second 3d animation short so far. It’s anti-capitalist in its message, but I rly wonder how the storytelling could be different in a marxist direction. Obv we weren’t exactly taught to create communist films (tho we got at least one communist teacher.) Either way, I’ll take anything you can give me o.O

Russia being the bad one in the war with Ukraine. I used to tell my mother, that one can totally be against both Russia and the US, and I just didn’t get how she could talk abt them defending themselves from Nato and so on.

And then I became a dirty lil Commie.

Also the term “Tankie”. I rly thought (due to influencers like NFKRZ) that tankies were stupid ppl who didn’t understand history or so… AND THEN I BECAME A TANKIE - Proudly so.

That’s a rly interesting perspective. I too feel like I can’t remember important stuff from the books I read cuz the information mushes together in the end, but I never thought abt reading another book to counter that.

Imma try that and see if it works lol

Oh, true. I only read Lenin’s “Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism” as of yet. Do you have any specific book recommendations from him?

Damn bro… So many ppl are reading several books at once apparently. I don’t think my brain could manage so much information at once honestly o.O

I’m reading “Blackshirts and Reds” by Parenti. Am on page 119 rn, and I gotta say I still enjoy Parenti’s simpler style of writing as opposed to Marx’. Also I was surprised how Parenti went into detail abt czechoslovakia even. Specifically abt Vaclav Havél’s privatization campaign. Never thought he’d go that direction. I feel like I learned a LOT through this book and I’ll keep recommending it to everyone who hasn’t read it. I think anyone can profit from reading this.

After I’m done with this book, I thought I might pick up Mao’s “On Practice”? I read “Dialectical and Historical Materialism” by Stalin and “How to be a Good Communist” by Liu Shaoqi, so I hope that book might additionally help me understand philosophy more.

BRO I feel exactly the same! This horror is unraveling right in front of our eyes while people in their ignorance are simply siding with the oppressors… I’ve been so frustrated lately with the sheer stupidy of people. Yet I don’t wanna stop debating with them, cuz I feel like it’s our job to try our best to correct and educate those ppl to at least show them that there’s other ways of thinking out there - beyond the propaganda. But I swear, some ppl’s takes have been permanently scarring to listen to, and I’ve been so upset about my lib friends who cannot help themselves but say stupid shit QwQ

Thank you for sharing, fr… This world is sick, but I’m at least glad to know what the antidote is and to have my comrades with whom I will fight for that antidote as long as need be. It’s not much but it fills me with hope.

I agree, what Palestine and Hamas are currently doing are the only actions left to them by their oppressors. After so many atrocities committed by Israel and so much hatred and violence against them, the Palestinians literally are fighting for survival. Thus, I couldn’t, in good conscience, tell them to ‘dial down their violence’ or whatever it is shitlibs want from them.

And thanks for ur comment. Imma think abt meaningful distinctions.

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Well, I kinda get your point… Though in all honesty I couldn’t blame children for being born there. I’d argue there are civilians.

I’m supportive of Hamas’ and Palestine’s fight for liberation though, just to clarify.

Thanks for this; I shall use this knowledge next time I speak to them. Tho honestly I think my energy is better spent elsewhere.

I was talking with two friends yesterday. Apparently they always supported Palestinians, but once they saw Hamas soldiers screaming Allah Ackbar and kidnapping civilian women, they are of the opinion that they’re not better than Israelis. “It’s just two Nazi Germanies fighting against eachother.” Was a banger I heard during that discussion. Another banger: “You don’t see Ukranians murder and kidnap civilians, do you? They are respectful of POW.”

I tried my best arguing; to no avail. Whatever I said, I was countered with smth like, “well i support them too, but this kind of force is totally unjustified”. So in short I failed the argument.

Oh yeah. They worked out some weird pyramid-theory right? I have heard about it in conversation a week ago, but haven’t had time to look into it. I agree with a comrade of mine tho; simply making everyone the imperialists doesn’t help u at all in analyzing the world.

First Thought on YouTube and a german communist newspaper called “Der Funke”

Yeah that’s my concern xD. I’m one year away from graduation so I actually have to think about getting a job. And while I have one job offer, I think at least in my field, jumping from one job to another is pretty normal, so that could potentially be rendered impossible for me in the worst case scenario.

The way I personally thought about posting art is that I’ll keep the message more hidden for the first few years… Tho it also feels bad to limit oneself so much just cuz of some liberals. Not saying that’s the best way to do it, especially cuz I love seeing artworks like these and I’d hate to see them disappear. If there were openly socialist companies or networks that had money and would hire people, ya know that would be a dream come true. Tho it’s prolly impossible.

Either way, good job with the artwork. I love the artstyle and hope to potentially see more!

Yo we got Mario on our side!

Fr though, real nice artwork. What program did u use?

Btw, as a fellow artist I have a question: how do u publish ur art without losing job possibilities? O.o cuz that’s smth I’m worried about. I wanna work on projects and later maybe fully fleshed films that are openly revolutionary, but outing myself as Marxist to all my future employers really strikes me as not the smartest thing to do, considering I want to get jobs firstly.

Sry for this long of a text, I always meant to ask someone but I couldn’t find a comrade who’s also an artist.