This is particularly concerning to me because leftists are supposed to be able to bridge the gap between the (presumably) uneducated or ignorant working masses and the fairly esoteric intellectualism of leftist theory.
I have never been able to do that before, ever. I can understand all these Marxist concepts myself, about workers democratically owning MOP, about what socialism or barbarism means, about the purpose of the state, about anti imperialism, but if Im talking to someone who’s totally apolitical or even just a woke liberal I have no idea where to begin bridging the gap and radicalizing.
Im sure a large part about getting regular people on your side relies on community building and mutual aid projects that demonstrates to average people that an alternative is possible and that the party is better at working with and meeting the needs of the people than the state/market is.
But lets say your just talking casually to your average non-redpilled friends. Im not trying to sound edgy but whenever the conversation switches to something inane, superficial, or material (particularly when it comes to consuming something or engaging in consumerism, which dont get me wrong I enjoy partaking in all the time) I just feel like cutting my head off. The world is fucking dying and burning all around us, we’re already past several “points of no return”, injustices are being perpetrated at all times everywhere, and the most important thing we find to talk about is some material shit that doesnt even matter?
At the same time though, thats what makes normies the normies they are, and I cant help but feel envious of their carefreeness. And its up to us to introduce them concepts within leftist theory. So how do you do that?
Learn about sports and other hobbies and be chill and ironic and shit. If people spout bullshit, laugh and gently counteract it. Especially concerning stuff about Trump. People have an idea of leftists in their head and what is important is to contradict and transcend that idea by presenting them a material actuality of you, as a real person who they probably like.
(Edit: This way of thinking about things on a micro level is a part of dialectical matierialism, from what I understand, from memes. And some theory not concerning this particular topic.)
Remember, individuals and ideas are not super important. The material conditions speak for themselves and people will vibe with what you say if you speak to those conditions. Also, speaking as a student of history, without a party organization behind you or a popular worker's movement of some kind, this is all just shop-talk, so again push often but gently. Shit takes time. Time that we admittedly don't have, but thems the brakes. Matierialist analysis is a cruel bastard.