The general population does not even see capitalism as a specific system, but rather "natural" like the birds or the trees i.e not anything to give a second thought about.
Leftists treat the military in the same way. Despite being aware that it has always acted as the primary tool of the ruling classes throughout history, too many leftists, even "revolutionary" ones, think of it as an institution that must necessarily exist.
This explains why there is no serious materialist or Marxist analysis of the military itself in academia. This is a mistake, in my opinion. No military = no ruling class. It's that simple. We should focus our ideological and practical efforts on forming a people's militia and taking real power(guns, tanks, planes etc) in our hands. That is true "revolutionary" action.
This is not me being blackpilled and I'm not a fed, I'm simply stating the truth. Any leftist political action that isnt arming and organising itself with the open intent of military action is useless. Thanks for listening to my FED talk.
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You're giving an example of organizations doing illegal shit. Organizing a militia isn't illegal. It's a right protected by the constitution. You don't need the entire working class on your side before starting one, that is just lazily putting the task to a later date. There are already millions of socialists in the US. More people will join us when they see socialists being serious.
Do you really believe that the American state actually cares about the constitution more than performatively? If you are not a threat they will ignore you. The moment you become dangerous to capital, even in a minor capacity is the moment that all stops mattering. COINTELPRO is not going to consider whether you have a "constitutional right" to organize a militia, they will be too busy planning hits, drawing up other charges, infiltrating, and inciting criminal incidents from within. Your "rights" mean nothing. Without strong mass support this is adventurism. The many socialists in the US, and those people more will not be informed by the actual character of a movement not based in mass support either. They will be informed by bourgeois press. The press will uncritically print what the American state tells them to. Without the support of the masses these are "terrorist cells", and the masses will not defend or aid them.
Negative consequences are not a valid excuse against necessary actions. Yes COINTELPRO will try to wreck, but their tactics are well known, and can be countered.
Mass movements don't arise magically from nowhere. They begin as small movements. The same is true of mass militias.
Negative press is not a bad thing for socialists. The default opinion of the population is already negative. Bad press will lead to curiosity and involvement. You can utilize bad press as propaganda, to get the message further ahead. Bad press is not fatal.
I'm not saying that we should actively take over the military, I'm saying that we need to begin a militia with the long term plan of doing so. So mass support is not a necessity for the moment.
All I'm saying is, you have to start at some point, and there is no real reason not to right now.
It is functionally illegal, the constitution is a piece of paper. You're falling into an ultra-left trap and getting far too ahead of where the masses are at. If you brought your ideas into action, it would just be the Weather Underground or Austin Red Guard all over again.
The military doesn't do anything actively to show their power. Yet they have power all the same. This is what I mean. I never mentioned that we actually need to do anything. All i said is we need to form a militia.
The Red Guards are good example of adventurism because they had a specific program and ideology and do stupid shit like disrupt DSA meetings. What I'm suggesting is we start something without any specific ideology and that doesn't actually do anything other than grow in size and concentrate power.
that creates an institution rife for opportunism and liberal or even fascistic co-opting, if it even got to that size since the repressive arms of the state will use agent provocateurs, bad jacketing, false flag attacks, etc. to justify labeling the militia a terrorist organisation and promptly round up the leaders. The working class movement must be grounded in what the working class actually want and are ready to do, and as of right now that does not involve creating extremely organised militias (although some cities are probably prepared for the nascent stages of that development, which are community self-defence clubs)