Honestly I just feel kind of powerless and hopeless.
Like...maybe I could join some organization, but left wing politics in the west just seems like a joke, either full of socdems or just fractured beyond belief.
One of the "easiest" things I guess I could do is just talk to people I know about politics. But, I honestly don't even know if Americans can be reached at this point. Assuming they can, I still don't know what the best course of action would be. Is it better to just be a super commie and radical to serve as some counterpoint to all their other influences? Or do people arrive at their own conclusions on their own time and I should just subtly plant seeds? One would certainly be safer, both in keeping my relationships intact and not having the government shove me into a van.
It seems futile, I am powerless against the osmosis of our society, even if I plant seeds, it means nothing if no one is there to water them. The one thing I can do on my own means nothing because I am a drop in the bucket of the cultural zeitgeist people are influenced by everyday. And any kind of collective action I could take just seems untenable.
idk I am just rambling
I know the feeling. I guess it's up to all of us to do the best with what we have. Have you considered alternative forms of helping? Basic antifascist work is a fantastic place to start, especially if you are a painfully online person - a good example is to check out the recent posts by Antifascist Cattle Rustler on Medium.
There are also community building exercises you could be doing in your local area - these might not at first look like political actions, but building community solidarity is an amazing place to start and a great place to push those further left; check your local community for community gardens, toy libraries, reading groups, men's sheds - anything that helps those less fortunate or looking for community themselves. This is instrumental in building the foundations for change, and can help you reach those that otherwise won't be reached by theory. Community work is always praxis.
If you're looking for a more explicitly political alternative you can always choose the electorialism path. While they may stand no chance in making it into your local / state / federal elections, there are bound to be some socialist / anarchist / explicitly communist groups in your area. Bolstering these with your support and participation can give you a sense of belonging in the real world, and can help you make real world links to even more ways you could be making change.
If all else fails, just never stop posting. We need to be loud, to be heard, and to show that there is an alternative out there for people. The more people we have sign up here, the less people we have thinking there are only two options in elections, the more conversation in these communities the better everything becomes.
I didn't feel like I had a place, but now I'm getting great fulfilment in helping out with the Chapo School. It takes skills that I have and applies them to strengthening our side.
We're with you comrade, no matter what. Together we can make things happen. I mean, fuck, if you listen to the libs, we've already had a (negative) impact on US elections as Bernie Bros. We wouldn't have been banned from Reddit if we weren't making some sort of noise. We can do things together. Communism is about the strength of us unified and the weakness of the individual. Consider yourself part of the group and we'll work hard to make change together.
Oh hey, that's my article you linked! Thanks for posting it. I just arrived here to do the same, but looks like I need to make some comments before I can make a new post.
ikd I've felt a lot better since going fully mask off communist IRL though that may not be safe depending on your area. You could also go the Beau route and do everything but mention your actual ideology and talk about concepts individually in context.
But, I honestly don’t even know if Americans can be reached at this point.
This is just not true. There are many, many people who are open to socialist ideas right now in the US, probably a greater number than any other point in US history. Capitalism is in multiple kinds of crisis, and people are actively looking for alternatives. You can’t really blame them for passing over small to non-existent alternatives to the left. Without big organizations we are not going to draw big crowds, true, but now is a great time to be building the foundation.
probably a greater number than any other point in US history.
Idk the US had a pretty big communist/hostile labour movement up until like ww2
There’s certainly been a stronger labor movement and bigger socialist organizations. I’m saying that the level of interest and openness to the ideas is probably greater now than in the early 20th century, the organizational component just isn’t there.
This is true. Most of us were (bigger) libs at some point. I fuckin loved Obama for like 6 years before I started learning more about American politics.
I wouldn't bother trying to convince boomers to change their minds on anything, but there are plenty of people who can be reached if you explain things the right way.
Do you think all those movements grew without at least some spontaneous organization of the working class? To build a movement takes many small ones and many small victories. Look for something in your community to organize around. Maybe that's a local labor union, maybe it's a tenant union. Even if you live in a right to work state there are organizers in different places trying to build up solidarity and organization.
Honestly I think this is something that leftists should be putting serious, scientific research into. Methodically finding out what works and what doesn't work, what's a waste of time, and what has the potential for real change. You know capitalists have think tanks and focus groups figuring this shit out for them, we should absolutely be doing the same. I'd even say putting together some kind of collective journal to consolidate research.
Jacobin launched one called catalyst a while back. It's pitched as a journal of theory and practice. There's also the socialist review which has been around for a long time.
They have a pattern of supporting the imperialist agenda before something happens then churning out mountains of anti-imperialist content but only AFTER the imperialists have got what they want. For example, they were aggressively anti-Evo before the Bolivian coup but if you go look you'll find mountains and mountains of content saying to call it a coup and blah blah blah.
Here's their position on Belarus.
This thread has a bunch on Bolivia.
It's not obvious because they churn out so much genuinely-good content. But it's extremely sus that right before any imperialist attack they're always taking the wrong side. The belief among a lot of MLs is that they're an outlet to stop people becoming principled anti-imperialists, provide socialists with content they'd like but soften the socialist response to any imperialist attacks by pushing the wrong messages to socialists at the most important time for anti-imperialism.
I still use them for some things, there's good content there for radicalising people, but I'm pretty suspicious of this pattern.
I think this article sums it up nicely. Whether there is really a conspiracy or not doesn't matter, the outcome is the same, softening the left's response to imperialism at the most important time.
They're not an op, but they have irreconcilable differences of strategy and ideology with people like the grayzone (who some like Ben norton I think are grifting). I strongly disagree with the above comment. The MLs calling it an op to stop anti imperialism imo are more just not coping with the idea people have different conceptions of reality and what anti imperialism is than them and really just not having a good analysis of class politics in a lot of countries outside the us. The stuff on jacobin critizing AMLO for example in that Twitter thread is completely reasonable and accurate based on stuff I've heard from talking to leftists in Mexico.
Ooo ooo I just found this post here on Chapo too that is probably worthwhile in this string. https://hexbear.net/post/17930/comment/127143
I feel like I've asked myself these very same questions multiple times over the last few months. I think this is one of those situations where there really is no universally right answer, but I find solace in the idea that if I join the wrong org or do the wrong kind of praxis, it'll only be a single person doing that. Do what you feel you must and trust your gut when it tells you its not working or you need to do something different, it's gotten you this far so you probably have some good intuitions.
Join an org
You're not achieving anything on your own
Plus like minded people will keep you sane and when you start producing meaningful work you will find your life has more meaning
There are orgs in the US that are very much ML/MLM if thats the flavor you're after. Setting aside the Greens, there's some serious parties that are not class reductionist and seriously educated in their line, growing fast. Don't rush yourself into joining under pressure, it should be a decision you make, but organizing is our only route to what we want. If we have any chance of seeing socialism in the US in our lifetime, all ~8000 of us on this forum need to realize we are a vast ideological minority, which makes each of us individually vitally important to laying the groundwork for real social movement. And if parties aren't your flavor, there's a lot more radical local orgs floating around most parts of the country these days.
And that's not to put any pressure. Honestly, the important thing is just living through this hell with your mind and body intact. People will eventually have to face the realities we live with every day. And by then, we'll be stone faced to it, and able to tell them exactly why we're in this situation.
idk, it just seems like every country that has been successful has had a large communist party or other type of organization. American doesn't even have that but like...small, we have a bunch of disparate groups. and like...idk, I don't know how any kind of revolution will pan out, or if one will even come in our lifetime. Will it be more regional based and it won't matter that there isn't some kind of national organizational unity? maybe. I guess DSA is probably the closest thing to what I am describing, but they seem very hit or miss, idk.
You're right in that America does not have a large communist party, but if everyone says that and never joins because its not big/serious enough yet, how will we ever grow one? Theory is just observation without practice, something I tend to be hypocritical at times but I'm certainly getting better. We can't afford to let history pass us by anymore, we are pretty much out of time on the climate front. There are rapidly growing parties (again, not sure of your tendancy) that need radicalized people like ourselves to grow to levels of a party that you're seeking.
And if you're looking for party/org recommendations, I'd be happy to suggest some, though I'm sure there are others with much deeper lists of recs than me lol.
I'm pretty nondenominational (haha get it because leftist groups are like religions) I probably lean more ML or Leftcom, but I haven't read enough to really say and again I find the whole process of doing so kind of pointless, feel free to recommend some. I am honestly just going to hitch my horse to whoever seems more likely to accomplish anything tbh.
PSL is growing fast and has pretty good politics and action. Their journalism site: https://www.liberationnews.org/ - and their political ed. site, where you'll find a lot of the core of their line: https://liberationschool.org/
DSA is going to be more large tent and less explicitly communist, though they have a revolutionary caucus.
Green Party claims to be socialist now but idk
CPUSA is still around but I don't know too much about them, apart from the typical rumors of infiltration and revisionism
There's a bunch of Maoist parties out there, but I don't know a ton about them and I think they're generally a lot smaller.
I don't think PSL has that big a presence in my state if they aren't on the ballot. I'll probably just look into DSA, it seems decently big enough and from what I can tell from twitter the local group doesn't seem that libby.
A few months ago I found an organization that just gave out a free cooked meal to whoever asked once or twice a month. It was pretty awesome to volunteer for them. Then I found out that the people in charge (a white married couple which had converted to Sikhism) were anti-vaxxers. They would say things like: "I'm not an anti-vaxxer, I just refuse to vaccinate myself or my children at all." I know people who are immunocompromised. Major disappointment. They own some kind of health store, and were using the free food program to launder their reputations.
Now that I think about it, even though an environment like that would have been almost perfect if not for the weird cultishness, it was still run in a top-down manner. The couple was in charge of everything and you did exactly what they told you, or you left. There was no democratic decisionmaking of any kind. It was a capitalist workplace powered by corporate charity.
Of course that's not to say all such organizations are like this. I live in what may be the most bourgeois place on Earth, so it was the best I could find. The number of real socialists I know I can count on one hand. If you live in a place with more active leftwing groups, please join one of them for me.
