MZT says that first we must analyze the primary contradiction in a society, from which all other contradictions build from.
My thought is that American working class do not revolt because our lifestyle is subsidized by the global poor. Of course there are impoverished workers (and lumpen) within America, but they are dissuaded by revolutionary organization because of this neocolonial dependence.
And I don't just mean "treats" although that's a big part of it. Many basic essentials are produced through the global supply chain and most people rely on income from companies who plunder the global south.
The financialization and deindustrialization of the American economy from neoliberal politics is the culmination of this. Why when workers made gains against industrial capitalists, production was moved to the global south.
I'm sure this has been discussed before by proper scholars, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm just reading through On Contradiction now.
definitely the same here and the direct action and mutual aid of the BPP etc is something that i can feel sorely missing from the world, even if i understand that it is more so overdetermined by historical conditions than "efforts of the lefts" or whatever.
something i think is particularly interesting and completely missing from the communist playbook that has historically been a significant point of class struggle is the demands for immediate relief. if you take a look at CPUSA's heyday in the ~30's they had begun to develop essentially American soviets as their mass tactics - at the time called "unemployment councils". but one critical element that should imo always be mentioned with mutual aid is that our job is not to share the poverty but to take back society from the capitalist state and immediate relief is the tactic to do that. immediate relief is essentially organizing people to demand relief from corporations for basic necessities and you can see it in the demands for protests like the Ford Hunger March that was organized by the CPUSA.
and its totally understandable that getting started is really the hardest part. i think also perhaps it might be good to try to get in touch with other like minded people so you are both not shouldering the entirety of the burden on yourself (which is asking for hurt) and also to have some community and accountability with your community. simultaneously i think you would have a lot of success even just going around talking to people and asking them about what problems they are facing in their daily lives and organizing around the issues that seem to be ubiquitous and would therefore maximize the effectiveness of your work. wishing you luck and don't beat yourself up too hard (but a little bit is okay) about getting started!
Thank you. My goal is to get more involved with DSA and see if they are open to the Mass Line tactics you laid out. And if not move on from there to a more radical org or something else.
good plan. getting active and staying active is the most important thing! also last thing to note is that many socialist organizations in the US today are propaganda orgs and not direct action orgs, so a lot of the ground work for what needs to be done in the present day is still semi untreaded ground which can be discouraging but I think that just makes the work that needs to be done all the more important.