Proselytizing for "non-reformist" reforms could be a good way to radicalize people. You demand something which is reasonable (such as medicare for all, defund the police) knowing full-well that the hegemonic powers will not allow it to pass because it would fundamentally alter the balance of power. People become personally invested in the campaign and once they are invested, they begin to notice all the subtle ways the hegemony attempts to crush it. It takes them through the paces of doing the liberalism thing in good faith only to see firsthand how futile it is. When the initiative fails, the people who were personally invested in it will now feel a personal animosity towards the people who went out of their way to ensure injustice prevailed. Those people will all become much more skeptical of the institutions and more prepared to adopt more radical methods in the future.
The thing is, you don't want to bite off so much that you're signing ordinary people up for a suicide mission. You also don't want to ram up against a brick wall and teach everyone who got involved that participation in politics is futile. You still need to do a good materialist analysis to figure out what you should be campaigning for, and what you're up against.
Lenin says that the vanguard and its supporters should be the most effective and good advocates for better conditions, this is to make people see and believe in them being interested in bettering the situation for the working class. That is to be combined with a clear line of communism and strife for revolt though, to show that only in communism will the contradictions completely absolved.
Proselytizing for "non-reformist" reforms could be a good way to radicalize people. You demand something which is reasonable (such as medicare for all, defund the police) knowing full-well that the hegemonic powers will not allow it to pass because it would fundamentally alter the balance of power. People become personally invested in the campaign and once they are invested, they begin to notice all the subtle ways the hegemony attempts to crush it. It takes them through the paces of doing the liberalism thing in good faith only to see firsthand how futile it is. When the initiative fails, the people who were personally invested in it will now feel a personal animosity towards the people who went out of their way to ensure injustice prevailed. Those people will all become much more skeptical of the institutions and more prepared to adopt more radical methods in the future.
The thing is, you don't want to bite off so much that you're signing ordinary people up for a suicide mission. You also don't want to ram up against a brick wall and teach everyone who got involved that participation in politics is futile. You still need to do a good materialist analysis to figure out what you should be campaigning for, and what you're up against.
Lenin says that the vanguard and its supporters should be the most effective and good advocates for better conditions, this is to make people see and believe in them being interested in bettering the situation for the working class. That is to be combined with a clear line of communism and strife for revolt though, to show that only in communism will the contradictions completely absolved.
:bernie:
Just saying
Remind you of anyone? :chapo: