I wish there were more in my area, I've done some stuff with local DSA chapters, but most of my best stuff has been just spreading class consciousness to co-workers and getting them to start thinking collectively about things like wages.
You'd be surprised how many people in R2W states don't even think about asking for raises. Like half the people I've ever worked with have never gotten raises and even more have never asked. Sometimes just reminding them that they need to look out for their own interests while showing them that everyone else they work with is in the same boat actually gets goods. Especially if you can get everyone to ask for raises around the same time, or if you can convince people to all go to management about the same thing or speak their mind at meetings and we all have each other's backs.
By the way “protests” in most western liberal democracies are a sham and your political work has to be more than that. Most of them are glorified photo ops for lib politicians and the leadership of captured unions.
Where I’m at it’s barely worth showing up as a commie org because everyone there is either already affiliated with one org or another or are terminally liberal (or both), so it’s not even a particularly good place to recruit or do outreach.
I’d like to see another version of this poll which lets people pick multiple options of “what forms of political organising have you participated in recently” because genuinely if it’s just going to protests and posting it isn’t enough.
Fair enough if you have legit reasons why you can’t do more, but if you aren’t just because you can’t be bothered or are scared someone will call you dumb because you haven’t read the last 6% of Lenin’s letters to Kruspkaya that you’re gonna get around to any day now, it’s really not like that. You’ll learn just as much from being in a good org with principled comrades as you will from theory.
Yes, protests are not organizing, they are mobilizing, that is correct.
Yeh but when they’re only mobilising libs it’s pointless. You need them to be led by communist parties.
Whoever you're mobilizing when the time comes, if you didn't do any organizing first you're not building a movement you're just walking around with people who already agree with you
if it’s just going to protests and posting it isn’t enough.
louder, for the people in the back
ive heard too many horror stories from orgs
the only org I've heard good things about is the DSA and they have their issues too...
Lmao.
The international chapter/IC seems cool with their foreign policy statements though
That’s just human interaction. I’ve heard horror stories about local musicians. That doesn’t mean I’m never attending a concert again. Organizing people is sometimes like herding cats, but it’s also sometimes like feeling empowered and at home for the first time in your life. It’s worth incorporating your own experience into whatever critiques you have
I’d like to see another version of this poll which lets people pick multiple options of “what forms of political organising have you participated in recently” because genuinely if it’s just going to protests and posting it isn’t enough
I considered this, but even a poll this broad still got accused of fedposting. I was hoping to make it general enough that it wouldn’t scare people off and bias the results too much
Trots organise all the big unions in my city so I tried to organise with them as we have crossover.
3 meetings in and they both-sided Israel-Palestine.
I am once again partyless.
I am once again partyless.
You left a union in you own environment because people active inside of it had bad takes on foreign policy? If you only want to engage with people who're already at the same level as you are, you're never going to achieve anything.
I didn't leave the union, I decided to stop going to trot party meetings because they think Palestinians are equally at fault for being kept in an open air prison.
Just a friendly reminder that meditating or doing squats or pushups or breathing exercises or yoga - or even just learning about/fixing your nutrition or sleep to 7+hours is praxis; while doing any of these you also gain the power to teach and help others.
Every tiny bit of it is worth - you will be healthier and less dependant on food/medications in the long run, thus directly taking money AWAY from your local fascist regime. Hell, even just go out and walk for 5-10 minutes! :porky-scared-flipped: :meow-bounce: :porky-scared:
Everyone in the great satan should at least join DSA. It has chapters in all 50 states and as a multi-tendency org there are caucuses and working groups you can get involved in locally or remotely that suits your interests and goals. The left is so weak in the US right now it doesn’t make sense to split efforts amongst us. DSA is the only org that receives any attention, recently receiving pushback from the white house about their less than fawning stance on Russia and NATO.
In the larger cities you can get involved in a lot from local elections (where you can actually get something done for people through electoral politics) to housing justice to anti-imperialism. Right now I’m less involved than in the past but I’m working on the data team for local petitioning campaigns and in the past I’ve done more with phone banking mutual aid as well as endorsed candidates.
Outside I’m not so sure but even being part of a unified a voice counter to liberalism and fascism is important. You can also talk to your friends and with enough members start a DSA or YDSA chapter in your area, national will reach out to you on best practices for organization. However they are not a centrally organized group, so your chapter will be largely autonomous in any priority campaigns or endorsements you decide to make.
There is a membership fee, but no one is turned away if you’re unable to pay. https://act.dsausa.org/donate/membership2020/
recently receiving pushback from the white house about their less than fawning stance on Russia and NATO.
Yeah more than anything that should be a rallying call for US communists.
The DSA has it's issues among certain local orgs but the fact that they had a good take on Ukraine and that the US gov. officially condemned them should be an indicator that they are the real deal.
I pay my dues for the DSA, have done the occasional protest, and have done some mutual aid a while back.
A lot of days I think I would like too or should do more but there's just never enough hours in the day and I do still need some me time between work and parenting.
If it’s a struggle to get out to do something, 5-10 minutes of textbanking or data entry are very helpful roles for a lot of chapters, especially during election seasons but also just for petitioning for priority campaigns. Just something to consider if you ever have downtime.
My mistake was saying yes to too many irl things and now I’m constantly getting texts about shifts and I panic, but this is much more manageable and still helpful for the cause.
Look into your local dsa, a lot of local chapters have an ML contingent and a lot of the work does actually end up sharing the same goals.
:indonesia-cool: they killed like a million of us and is still hunting us down :agony-shivering:
sigh Another reminder that I'm a Leftist Slacker. Although, in my defense, life has been hectic. Does raising a baby count as leftist organizing if I'm playing the Internationale in her cradle?
I've tried doing a meetup and FB group using a fictitious name. Obviously the feds would be able to tell who I am, but for locals it's just Steve ButtBidet.
