I was all fired up to start actually doing praxis a few months ago. I started to engage with more serious groups online and joined a local community group looking to provide support and treatment options to people with addictions issues. Now the more I try to work in the real world, the more doubts I have. Everything takes so long. People are well meaning but somewhat directionless. I want to push more vocally for my values but its a very small town and I work in health care, I wouldn't want to alienate people from seeking health care because of my outspoken politics. I feel so stuck and angry.
What is to be done?
There's so much work to be done, but most of it's pretty easy.
Pace yourself - You're not going to fix the world's problems in half a year of pushing as hard as you can. Which is about how long the folks who don't at least have a hobby last before they burn out and become doomer armchairs.
Recruit other people - There's too much work to be done for one person. Also getting everyone on board is sort of the point and single-handedly implementing communism through the force of will of one person is pretty ideologically inconsistent.
Do some non-communist things with your communist friends - It'll keep you all feeling sane. See "pace yourself." (Don't have communist friends? See "recruit other people.")
Do some communist things with your non-communist friends - Splitting your life into two halves doesn't feel good either. Also see "recruit other people."
Keep going. Socialist revolution takes a long time until it doesn't, and then it takes even more time for society to truly proletarianize the remaining bourgeois actors. If you find that large actions and ideas are alienating your local proletariat, approach them with smaller ones. Build trust with them. Over time, the scope of what you can achieve alongside them will grow. If enough of us can achieve this within our communities, nothing can stand in our way. And any time you wake up and the task of bringing about revolution feels too daunting, remember that it was always that way. If it was easy to bring about a global proletarian revolution, it would have happened already. No, we fight because it is hard. Because no one else will stand up for the oppressed majority. That is the task we have before us. Keep going, comrades. If we do, then perhaps one day we can look back and see just how far we've come.
I was all fired up to start actually doing praxis a few months ago. I started to engage with more serious groups online and joined a local community group looking to provide support and treatment options to people with addictions issues. Now the more I try to work in the real world, the more doubts I have. Everything takes so long. People are well meaning but somewhat directionless. I want to push more vocally for my values but its a very small town and I work in health care, I wouldn't want to alienate people from seeking health care because of my outspoken politics. I feel so stuck and angry. What is to be done?
There's so much work to be done, but most of it's pretty easy.
Pace yourself - You're not going to fix the world's problems in half a year of pushing as hard as you can. Which is about how long the folks who don't at least have a hobby last before they burn out and become doomer armchairs.
Recruit other people - There's too much work to be done for one person. Also getting everyone on board is sort of the point and single-handedly implementing communism through the force of will of one person is pretty ideologically inconsistent.
Do some non-communist things with your communist friends - It'll keep you all feeling sane. See "pace yourself." (Don't have communist friends? See "recruit other people.")
Do some communist things with your non-communist friends - Splitting your life into two halves doesn't feel good either. Also see "recruit other people."
Keep going. Socialist revolution takes a long time until it doesn't, and then it takes even more time for society to truly proletarianize the remaining bourgeois actors. If you find that large actions and ideas are alienating your local proletariat, approach them with smaller ones. Build trust with them. Over time, the scope of what you can achieve alongside them will grow. If enough of us can achieve this within our communities, nothing can stand in our way. And any time you wake up and the task of bringing about revolution feels too daunting, remember that it was always that way. If it was easy to bring about a global proletarian revolution, it would have happened already. No, we fight because it is hard. Because no one else will stand up for the oppressed majority. That is the task we have before us. Keep going, comrades. If we do, then perhaps one day we can look back and see just how far we've come.