I am not because I live in a pretty conservative area. So I try to get some leftist points through to coworkers without opening myself up to the ridicule of just being a “commy degenerate” in their eyes. So I think I can get through to them better without outting myself as a Marxist.
It might be where I live but almost all chuds I've met barely know what a communist is, much less declared us to be their mortal enemies. My experience has been more like being treated like a conspiracy theorist goofball who worries too much rather than some kind of outright hatred. I'm completely willing to say this might be some kind of white, masculine privelege I have.
no because i dont believe in telling my co workers anything as a self preservationist measure but im sure they can tell. (i dont tell anyone anything because im aware that im a black young woman who has experienced racism and misgony in other workplaces, often under the guise of inappropriate friendship so ive learned to be tight lipped about my personal business. but im still friendly and like, will give a nice anecdote about my weekend. we're just not gonna talk about the chauvin verdict because no matter how liberal the workplace, or how cool the boss seems, its downright near impossible to have an appropriate genuine relationship with anyone giving you a paycheck and telling you what to do)
as someone who does organizing work in a non socialist/communist/anarchist non profit I definitely see the benefit of being vocal about ones lefter political views and dont mind when other coworkers talk about it with me, but ive also seen a lot of career organizers who work for capitalist organizations (who are usually white grew up wealthy gentrifiers) insert their personal politics sometimes in black/brown poor organizing spaces meant to center their specific issues, and thats totally cool but alot of the times its totally cringe to be a white person who grew up in an owned home quoting mao to a small immigrant landlord actually from the community so eh
some people offer up their ideologies to find community but honestly in my experience its seemed to be brought up to either LARP or signal to a coworker that youre especially down (which could be helpful), but i try to take it a little slower with people, much more coworkers, unless i genuinely think they would want to organize with me, but at that point ive probably regarded them as a friend already
Nope, I'm a journalist at a pretty mainstream pub, so it would be VERYYYYY risky for my job. Inside the trusted parts of my union though? 10000%
lmaooooo no, unfortunately don't work for that corporately-backed mouthpiece of the revolution
I am. I've lost a few friends over critical support for Stalin though.
I don't talk politics at work, but I've been kicked out of a couple different communities and lost friends over being an unapologetic communist.
My Co-Worker gifted me a copy of a visual novel called "Marx for dummies" he found in the basement of the house he bought and I still can't decide whether that was out of respect and because he likes me or because he was dunking on me something fierce.
That is really advice for interpersonal relationships in the context of a party/organization.
So the first step is still to organize. Advice on how to conduct yourself among comrades isn't really relevant if you aren't comrades yet.
I wonder if there are any material differences between a post revolutionary society and the imperial core.
Yes and no. Not off the bat but if we have a political conversation I’m clear about where I stand. I don’t immediately hit people with bourgeoisie and stuff but say ruling class etc.
Once we’ve been talking a while (I.e. over various conversations, tho if it’s a particularly long convo I’ll say a little something) I’ll start being more overt about socialism and stuff. After a while I’ll just go full mask off. Most of my close friends and long time clients know what my deal is
This is kind of where I’m at. I’ve been slowly working on radicalizing my lib foreman. And at this point I’ve got him agreeing with me on a lot of stuff that I just think no one has really brought to his attention before. I’ve yet to go further than sowing the seeds of leftist thought. But I did catch him last week saying something about how our coworkers should band together for better pay and benefits. So that’s cool. :debs:
I’ve pretty successful radicalized most of my immediate friends to stuff. At work I find that people are pretty open to leftist thought I mean that’s why they propagandize it so hard and why the propagandized come to similar conclusions about things just reverse bc their brains are full of poison, this stuff hits home for working class people they feel it on an intrinsic level in a lot of cases.
I have one client that is frustrating but I’m getting there. He’s a conspiracy brained dude, think like ‘weather machines cause the hurricanes’ and stuff. He’s extremely anti govt and that’s the angle I’ve been going at. And it’s funny cuz hell agree with me about stuff but when it challenges the brain worms he has i can see him trying to reconcile, fail, and then disregard the new info he just agreed with to keep the worms. But he’s learning a little over time. He’s stubborn but I’ll get him eventually haha
I hope to one day face the guillotine for not being sufficiently revolutionary by the younger generation. :kim-salute:
you know what they say: if you're not a revolutionary communist by the time you're 20 you have no heart, and if you're not fantasizing about violently purging your enemies by the time you're 30, you have no brain
hey I know it's been a while would you still be able to have your friend help with logic? sorry for replying here, main is read only
Just asked, currently they are a bit busy with the new semester and courses, lets see what they come back with.
Ten years ago I would have been genuinely shocked to hear a classmate was a communist or even democratic socialist.
No, pretty much everyone in the department I work in is a hardcore chud of some variety. The most “left leaning” person in the company before me is a lib who uncritically supports Obamacare and celebrated Biden’s win.
Also another thing worth mentioning since it’s semi-related: Every year the higher-ups hold a day long, company wide meeting to discuss the plan for the year and “company values” and other corporate shit like that. The last time they did this they played Jordan Peterson videos.
God, i'm glad i've never had to be to a meeting like that. The few times i've been to powerpoint meetings, it was basically the ground crew roasting the bosses and middle management to their faces.
“Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence.”
― Karl Marx
I've had the opposite feelings, mostly because I feel opposition must be mantled and maintained by an organization that can really punch with these things. And I dont really trust the "Left" as Bernie Sanders and AOC or Cory Booker as socialists who have married themselves to the Democratic party to adequately combat everything. Abolition of the current state of things means destroying most of al the current power structures or radicalizing them to something never seen before. We are the only ones that can do that, and we have to call ourselves Communists when we do.
I caught myself using leftist terms when talking at work, nothing extreme, just something like calling stuff "capital".
Supply and demand.
What does it mean? How does it relates to anything? Where did it came from? Where did it goes?
Supply and demand.
The law of supply and demand describes markets very well so long as there is sufficient competition.
It turns out that one of the only markets where that is consistently true is the labor market. So whenever some cultist of the free market goes on about how supply and demand will regulate everything without needing any intervention, you can tell them that the law of supply and demand is exactly why it is inevitable that the people who work for a living and sell their labor on the market as a commodity will always see the price of their labor (i.e. wages) consistently get pushed down further and further to basic subsistence, while simultaneously needing to work longer and harder.
The whole selling point about how free market competition is what allows you to buy the best possible products at the best possible prices is something that applies most significantly to the ownership class who buys and sells our labor.
It's an awful idea to let your boss know you're communist, wtf are you thinking?
In unrelated news my chuddy boss definitely knows I'm always communist because I can't keep my mouth shut, but for some reason he still really likes me (we bonded early on over boomer rock, I guess I do a good job at the company, etc) so hasn't been a problem yet
I don't go around saying "hi I'm a communist" but I have a red star on my hard hat, and when politics inevitably comes up, I don't pull any punches. Had it gotten me in trouble? Sure. But I have moved a lot of lib/chud coworkers positions
I tell anyone who asks. I directly call myself a communist or Marxist. It so far hasn't had the slightest impact on my life. Most people already guess I'm some level of delusional or I'm from a different planet. Being a communist just kind of confirms it to them. Most people I've talked to don't take it like a "hello I'm a scary radical" kind of thing but rather a "I'm a little goofy and I think the CIA is broadcasting alien brain control waves" thing. I come across like Dale from king of the hill to most people. Has anyone else experienced this? I mean like leftist stuff sounding identical to tinfoil hat ramblings to apolitical folk.
Most people at work and around where I live wouldn't be able to explain what a communist is. There's just kind of an assumed conservatism, so communist is just a synonym for "weird foreign thing." my coworkers reserve their true hatred for Democrats, who are apparently directly to blame for everything from low wages to covid to high gas prices to annoying workplace sensitivity training. (they're not wrong sometimes)
The only people who truly care I'm a leftist are my cousins and extended family, who actually never want to see me again. Some people in my family are klansmen, so no great loss honestly.
