What is Simplifying Socialism?

I would be doing everybody a disservice if I did not first explain the basis of Simplifying Socialism and my purpose in sharing before I dive in to this journey!

First of all, I’d like to introduce myself briefly—my name is Andrew, but I, at least for the time-being, due to the nature of this blog and the lack of privacy that comes from putting yourself out on the internet, prefer to keep things semi-anonymous and go by the moniker Comrade Drew. I am a twenty year old college student and writer with an emphasis on Communist and Socialist studies. My introduction to Socialism happened when I was in my freshman year of high school—my English teacher was very interested in the idea of the utopian/dystopian world and, as a result, I delved deeply into the books of George Orwell & Aldous Huxley.

Looking back, these authors are NOT a good introduction into Socialism and Communism, but, with my Progressive personal beliefs and my upbringing in a Conservative household, it was enough for me to begin thinking deeper about the world as I had known it—I read their work and I realized that I was seeing the worlds they’d crafted becoming reality. This journey of questioning the world around me led me to Marxism and the incredible work of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin. 

After I graduated high school, I took a year off to self-study and completely immerse myself in Marxist, Socialist, and Communist theory—during this year it became my goal to grasp a good, but not complete, for there is always more to learn, understanding of the foundation upon which Marxism is based, how Socialism and Communism comes to be, historical examples of revolution and their outcomes, the failures of past Socialism and what must be done differently, the consequences of Capitalism, imperialism and the havoc its caused, and more. By no means am I an expert. Everyday is an opportunity to learn something new and that’s how I go about life. My goal is to further my understanding and knowledge of Marxism, Socialism and Communism, while providing what I do know to, hopefully, further your grasp of their concepts, ideas and applications in the modern day!

With that being said, Simplifying Socialism is all about an understanding of both our current world and the historical contexts and applications of Socialism and Communism through the lens of Marxism. There are three posts currently up as I write this one—they are centered on U.S. foreign and domestic policy and aren’t necessarily what this Substack is going to be, for I wrote those three articles when I was writing on Medium and my goal was to be progressive but not exactly Marxist. It is still recommended that you check those posts out and see if you like them because I am always looking for suggestions on how to improve my content! You can expect written pieces on theory, Socialist/Communist principles, the historical background of Marxist thought and its natural progression, current world events through the lens of a Communist, understanding Capitalism and its consequences on the United States & the world as a whole, ideas about where we are headed and how to combat that, and much more! 

I am quite busy with college and other personal obligations, but I intend on posting at least once a week as well as interacting with you whenever I have free time. If any of what I said sounds intriguing to you then consider following and subscribing for free—you can also opt-in to receiving emails whenever I post! I hope you’ll consider joining me on this journey of slowly changing the world for the better for us all—it’ll take each and every one of us doing our part, whatever that may be, whatever our capabilities are, to make a positive difference on a planet that is ever-neglected by the bourgeoisie!

Thanks for reading Simplifying Socialism! This post is public so feel free to share it.