In other words, a socialist organization aimed specifically at the American diaspora. Perhaps as an overseas wing of a pre-existing communist party in the USA, or perhaps as its own wholly separate party/organization maintaining good ties with the better stateside socialist organizations.
The purpose of such an organization would be to provide analysis and address issues affecting the American diaspora in particular, to agitate for socialist ideas and against the two-party system in the American diaspora, to provide visibility for overseas Americans fighting against imperialism and colonialism, and to explore how overseas Americans can better utilize their status to this end. Things like this, at least. I think it could maybe be a nice thing, could be a little niche to fill.
techbrosleftists inventing shit that already existsDeath to America
im willing to bet that if americans who live in america are hard to reach, american expats will be even harder because they are probably wealthier. I mean i'm saying this with no evidence to back it up at all, just vibes, but americans immigrating to other countries seems fundamentally different than the other way.
You're definitely speaking to a real phenomenon of there being a lot of absolutely insufferable rich expats, but for other overseas Americans, the class contradictions would be more biting, not less. That's been the case for myself, and I've met or heard of a decent number of other overseas Americans who I'd consider to be class-conscious. These could all just be a bunch of one-off "flukes", but until someone actually tries organizing the American diaspora, there's no real way to know for sure.
But yeah, even if overseas Americans will on average be harder to reach because on average they'll be wealthier, shouldn't there still be people agitating among the "below average"? For that matter, will the fact that it's generally hard for poor people to leave the USA ever change, unless there's people trying to change that?
Yeah they're either wealthy or they're wealthy relative to the locals gentrifying a place like Mexico city and probably don't want to be told they're harming locals.
socialists are rare in this country because neoliberalism keeps diminishing our numbers like it was intended to do; but something like this could help stem that tide.
since there's so few of us, you're going to have to put in the work yourself if it doesn't already exist.
(i'm an ex-reddit liberal still learning the leftist ropes so i don't know if something like this exists already and assume that i'm full of shit).
To be clear, you aren't referring to a communist party in the USA, right? Because there's already things like the Party for Socialism and Liberation, who ran Claudia de la Cruz as their candidate in the presidential election — parties like the PSL just don't have an overseas wing or equivalent, so that's what I'm asking about.
that's who i voted for and, no, i wasn't referring to the communist party. (i didn't know they existed)
But anyways, yeah, you were saying that a leftist organization specifically for Americans living outside of the USA, would be good for building an American left in general? I don't disagree, necessarily, I would just like to confirm that that was what you meant and that there was no miscommunication.
yes. i feel that american leftists have a mostly warped understanding of leftist ideals/theory because of the american indoctrination that we have to unlearn to understand those ideals is a self-paced & unguided effort with very effective detraction from the majority; i think that an organization of americans who are closer to realizing those ideals because they're in friendlier environments can serve as a support anchor to help keep the leftists group from going down the unproductive paths that i experienced in the few collectivists groups that i joined in my past.
(this entirely anecdotal btw and, as i said before, lemmy has taught me that i'm barely getting started in my understanding despite being in this sphere of influence for almost five decades)
There are a number of different communist or socialist parties in the USA, a lot of them are really pretty cringe, like they're communist in name only, while a lot of others are decent but might have some faults here and there. Because I've never lived in the USA I can't speak for what organizing with the different parties is like, but if you're going to join a party, I would recommend asking around for different leftists' opinions on them. Common advice seems to be to stay away from the CPUSA, the "American Communist Party", and the "Socialist Workers Party" — These all exemplify the big problem of revisionism and opportunism in the communist/socialist parties in the USA, that there's a lot of infiltration to turn these parties into "controlled opposition". So it seems to be a very difficult task to organize in the USA.
The PSL is the most favored party I've seen, it's probably the best communist party in the USA, but I'm still skeptical to it.
i'm skeptical too because of my own efforts in the past in joining to leftist-collectivist groups; i learned that some are SIGNIFICANTLY better than others and the good ones tend to go bad eventually like you've described.
it goes back to my previous comment that leftists of all stripes (excluding liberals) are rare in this country; the indoctrination we get as americans helps ensure that we become liberal instead of any other sort of leftist (if not moderate or conservative). it takes effort to educate yourself on reality and to overcome the programming that you've been spoon fed since birth and both guarantee that an overwhelming majority of americans will never bother. add to that the money and efforts by our government to neuter leftist organizational strength and you end up with a country where an active-genocide-enabler gets more votes than all of the people who want to end a genocide, combined.
Exactly, exactly, well said. This is really a problem in a lot of countries, but it's maybe most pronounced in the USA.
... but it’s maybe most pronounced in the USA
this jives with my experience as well; the latin american groups that i encountered all seemed to have the same hallmarks of the good leftists groups that i joined
