I wouldn't have become a leftist without having been "converted" if you want to call it that. It took a large amount of breadtube to even get me to read the communist manifesto, I basically had to be spoonfed das kapital through audiobook format in snippets not too dissimilar in the way a priest would read the bible to their congregation. I think that the message that were trying to get across; abolition of property, lgbtqa+ and bipoc empowerment, and decolonization among other things would benefit from being spread in a manner not to dissimilar from a religion.

My leftism is clearly my belief system, it feels the same hole that religion would have filled. The only problem is that there is no social connection to any of this beyond the parasocial relationships I form with people online, the morally dubious breadtube personalities and maybe the odd polticial rally. What I think we need to do, as leftists, is start standing on street corners preaching the word of Karl Marx, we need to start competing with religions and start marketing ourselves as a superior belief system.

I spent some time in jail and they would regularly have religious speakers come in, there was various types of christian and muslim prayer groups being held, they would always give us something. Having a communist go into county and give everyone some books on basic theory would help create some zealots. I mean you have all this time to think a good amount of people leave having some sort of religious awakening.

I don't see a better way of converting people to leftism than by preaching it in a more religious way to Americans. Take the peoples temple for example. After learning about them they managed to do exactly this, and the way it all ended can be described as nothing other than revolutionary suicide. Jim Jones managed to build a cult from every walk of life in the United States and made a communist utopia for a few years until the feds came knocking and well they had to do it.

Maybe some of you think that we shouldn't proselytize, all I have to say to you is how you became a leftist? It wasn't something you were born as, and most likely it was given to you through propaganda from the internet rather than adopting it after reading theory by yourself or having a cool uncle. We need to start using the same structures that religion do.

  • OgdenTO [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The way I see it, the right, and religion, can easily proselytize because they have quick (wrong) answers to specific problems. Don't steal. Abortion bad. Etc. It's effective, but doesn't provide any insight or way to view the world outside of specific instances. It's ideology, but without an overall critical framework.

    As leftists, we have a more difficult problem, because all of our "beliefs" are the framework itself, with the specific actions stemming from that. Like, the ability to understand class relationships under capitalism isn't some rule to follow, it's a lens with which to make decisions. I guess a belief is improving material conditions and empowering working class people, but that also isn't a specific rule like "don't do drugs", but it helps with decision making around whether one should do drugs in a specific instance.

    So this may not be entirely at odds with what you're suggesting, though.

    However, I feel that a strict ideology with rules like religion and rightwing politics have, that don't give room for case by case critical thought is not really leftism, but pure ideology, even if it is towards leftwing ideals. Schniff

    Like, things that uphold class hierarchy are bad, but the same activities outside of a capitalist situation may be fine. Like, gun control - the state shouldn't take guns from anyone, because the state is upholding capital. If it is a socialist state, then, yeah, maybe there should be some gun control. I dunno, bad example.

    Anyway, now I'm rambling