^
Any response appreciated
Survive, take care of your health, and don’t get yourself in prison over something petty. Just be there if an SHTF scenario ever happens basically. If you can organize and help other communists aboard then great, but don’t beat yourself up for prioritizing your safety in a place where a very large chunk of the population hates you to the point of willingness to commit violence against you.
I think everyone would agree that reading theory(not to pat myself on the back, but I think I have a good but long reading list if you want me to link it, otherwise it’s posted on my profile) is a great thing to start off with. After that, try seeing what the left looks like in your area. In my area I try going to PSL events every few months when I can, sometimes I go to Union meetings for my company, just try communicating with other (sane) people that are vaguely related to politics in some way. Ho Chi Minh says that “Ideology without action is useless, action without ideology is destruction” so it’s important to try developing both sides in your paths through leftist thought
That depends greatly on what your situation is in the US. If your work environment is dependent on socialised labour, then you should get stuck in with organising your workplace for unionisation. If you happen to be in an area with an active SRA branch then get down the range with them and get involved there too. If there’s a communist circle active in your area then join their reading group and get on board with them. You have to get a lay of the land and see what’s going on in your area; be it anti-fascist organisers, community unions or simple reading groups, you have to be involved in them. This is where you will find the lowest hanging fruit in terms of other communists.
No matter where you are, the first step is to link up with like-minded, organisable people. You will never get anything done if you don’t get out there and build connections with other communists and fellow travellers. Cadre are the life blood of any communist community effort. You will achieve nothing if you isolate yourself.
Good advice. I need to do this. I need to get more involved with my local PSL.
Great stuff, if you want to build workers power in your area then you’re taking a step in the right direction by getting active. Please take the initiative and message them first; I’d recommend being polite but firm in wanting to get your foot in the door asap. 9 times out of 10 these guys will forget you exist on their list of names to ring. In the best cases this is just because they just have a lot on their plate, but often its because their work ethic is bad. Don’t let that stand in the way of you getting some skin in the game.
I gave them my name at a meeting but they never reached out. I hear this is common. I’m not going to criticize too much though.
How’d you even find a meeting?
I looked them up on Instagram. They posted something about an event. This was a few months ago. I’d like to get more active but it’s been hard to find the time recently.
Just want to caveat: SRA is problematic. I know this might come as a shock to some people, but nationals straight up ignored and rejected an outreach from us here in West Virginia trying to start a branch. I joined discussion on their subreddit too and found a lot of hostility toward red state folks, even though I am clearly a communist and everyone else in our group was leftist in some capacity. I brought this up with the mods and was told basically to pay for a membership to a group shitting on me for more productive conversation on official forums, which…if the sub and our rejected outreach attempt is indicative of the greater community, I fail to see any promise in that. YMMV, I hear a lot of good things, but I want to share a negative experience that may sit exclusively with red state folks or those in areas lacking affiliation.
SRA is so weird. I have a friend in there who is leaving because it was such a mess.
National doesn’t care about local chapters, they will tell you to figure things out yourself.
Recruitment is a joke, anyone can join the SRA and there is no onboarding process. This means you will have libs who sound suspiciously like feds and your local branch will be full of anarchists.
You think I’m bullshitting but the problem in her chapter was the predominance of anarchists in it. They formed a clique that protected each other and tried to have her removed as a member because she stood her ground on ML opinions. In all the time she’s been there she has yet to see the anarchists successfully organise something. It used to be only them in it and they could control the chapter and its members and just use it as their club, but now they can’t, and they got so mad over that they tried to have her removed. And all national did was say “you guys figure it out”.
An organisation whose leadership does not care about local issues is not one worth adhering to. They cannot claim to have any authority if they behave like this.
All of these are also issues. I’ve often voiced the recruitment complaint to other local orgs, to no avail. Truthfully, I don’t care to work alongside anarchists and libs as long as we can get a few things straight and keep the rest civil or leave it at the door, but it’s impossible most of the time so I’d prefer to avoid it.
One group, the founder and myself suggested we form a self-defense section, including firearms training and carry at demos. We had just gotten a threat on social media and so it seemed pertinent to address. All the libs wrote it off as “just some loser blowing off steam.” They said they’d be uncomfortable attending events where guns were present, even if concealed…but I watched the same nerds cheer on cops prior at protests and they clearly don’t mind attending to face off the conservatives and fascists who show up decked out. It was just internal purity policing and it pissed me off. Founder had a pistol in their bag the entire time during the discussion unbeknownst to anyone else because of the threat being new, and they were fine and would’ve been glad had we needed it (doubtful, but still).
That was what told me, “No more libs.” We combined a ton of failed groups recently into a statewide networking effort, and while it has its flaws, we can at least all be civil and agree on some things or table what we don’t. Most anarchists blow, but those who are in this group at least are rare gems that tolerate what they don’t agree with on the left and are willing to learn…future MLs hopefully lol.
Hearing this, the question on my mind is can this problem be rectified?
Who is it in their national organisation that has established this absurd hands off policy and is there any feasible way they can be influenced or otherwise swept aside for a more productive national leadership? Moreover, If this was the case, would it be worth it?
On the one hand, the structure of the SRA’s national organisation revolves around a national assembly of representatives in their 52 current chapters, meaning a substantial national campaign would be required to reform its leadership, almost certainly taking years of work to achieve. On the other hand however, it is already a large organisation of over 10,000 members. Splitting from that in order to establish a competing organisation would serve to dilute the organisational power of the working class in that sphere. So weighing everything up, what do you personally think think should be done? In your opinion, is this an issue on which self-identifying socialists and communists should attack or retreat?
In my country, for a very long time there has been a tendency towards constant splits from imperfect organisations of all kinds, to the point where the class conscious sections of the working class are now all scattered, bickering little sects. Naturally, this leans me towards fighting out issues like this whenever possible and resorting to splitting only as an absolute last resort. In that sense, I find this chapter of Lenin’s Left Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder sums up my position nicely with regards to this issue. Maybe things have changed and Lenin’s criticisms of his contemporaries in this chapter are now outdated, but I personally believe there’s a lot of value in what he has to say about carrying out work in reactionary organisations.
Considering the abuse my friend has been through in her chapter I would seriously consider telling communists to form their own gun clubs and leave the anarchists to their useless SRA. They couldn’t organise themselves out of a bag.
Edit : if the sra somehow got their shit together and practiced demcent, there would be so many purges that the 10k membership figure would dwindle probably below 5k anyway.
Considering the abuse my friend has been through in her chapter I would seriously consider telling communists to form their own gun clubs and leave the anarchists to their useless SRA.
That’s fair enough. There’re few people more venomous than snotty sectarians, especially anarchists.
if the sra somehow got their shit together and practiced demcent, there would be so many purges that the 10k membership figure would dwindle probably below 5k anyway.
Its a shame there’s no comprehensive survey of the political tendencies of the SRA membership, to my knowledge. It would make it a lot easier to assess whether or not it would be worth the effort to campaign over.
To be clear I’ve never been a member of the SRA; I don’t even live in NA. My friend has been telling me about the problems in her chapter for a year or more now though and she’s been talking about it so much it actually felt like I was there at times.
I’m having the same issue. Be careful is all I’d say. Sucks that it’s this way.
Get your mental health in check as much as you can, find something healthy you love and embrace it, and educate your peers on socialism whenever you can without being obnoxious(join PSL if you are interested).
I’m still working on the first part for sure.
What is the line between obnoxious and dedicated? I’m always scared to talk about it or bring it up in fear of being redundant or annoying
Figure out how to talk about socialism/communism/Marxism without using the terms us nerds use, even avoid socialism in general as term. Make your language common tongue to avoid both misunderstanding and red scare bs.
Most people I have found actually want to talk about this stuff if you don’t make them feel stupid or bad about who they are/what they do.
Don’t talk about it all the time, pick your moments, especially when it comes up organically (like elections or a new law or poverty or whatever it may be), it takes time to learn, I suggest using reddit /r/politics and /r/news to practice the mindset of engaging with non-radicalized people I n’a productive manner.
I disagree with “don’t talk about it all the time,” but I think we’d agree in spirit. I only take issue with the wording because you can bring up politics once in a passionate manner and people will blow it up, associate only that with you, suggest you talk about it all the time, etc. Even some bad faith actors who disagree with you will suggest this just to get you distrusted.
However, I think you definitely should keep it topical and around folks you have tested the waters with. That testing the waters is key. Learn how to steer convos by inserting bait to see how they react. People will let you know very quickly where they lean or how comfortable they are.
I speak three languages at work and my language can be weird sometimes. I agree with you, it sounds like I’m telling them to not talk about it and I don’t mean that at all.
Nah, you’re fine. I understand and relate as a linguist and being a bit too verbose sometimes lol.
deleted by creator
On top of what others have said, resist imperialist media and narratives at every turn. Do not let yourself be fooled. Encourage others to educate themselves and question things. Even if it’s not under the guise of communism, label it media literacy, critical thinking, worldliness, whatever you must.
The two most important things a Western communist can do in my opinion are fight the empire from within and prepare to be there for those around you. The latter can include learning practical skills, organizing skills, theory, etc. You can, will, and must find opportunities to apply whatever you know, in order to be useful and prove us to be trustworthy and that our cause is the most beneficial to them.
Definitely don’t go around telling everybody you are a communist, that’s a good way of getting yourself on a watch list
Anyone posting on this forum worried about being on a watchlist, probably a bit late for that comrade lol
I deleted my comment from earlier but I’m going to rewrite. Basically:
My rebuttal to that is that, one, I already am for sure on a watch list. And let’s be honest, we all are. Snowden showed us that. It’s just a matter of how high a priority you are on it.
Second, I always found the sentiment of not telling anyone I’m communist odd. I want everyone to know. I’m a normal person, and a communist. We exist. Furthermore, if I’m not scared to even identify as a communist, how could I expect myself to be brave enough to engage in actual revolutionary activity? I don’t know.
I’ve had a hammer and sickle on my car for a year now and wear pins on my clothing. I live in a conservative area and the worst that has happened is a question and a dirty look. Maybe I’m an anomaly, and communists get beat up everywhere but here, but something tells me there’s a bit of a paper tiger when it comes to persecution from everyday people.
Maybe I’m totally out of touch, let me know.
Biden literally asked people to turn over socialists and communists. You might be on a watchlist somewhere, but that’s different than the local Kops also knowing you’re a communist. Be careful with who you tell.
Holy shit, seriously? I know the red scare never ended, but I wasn’t aware of actually openly calling for persecution of us.
I will.
Let me clarify, I never said don’t ever tell anyone that you are a communist, I’m saying before you do try to get a general idea of what that person is like and how they might respond.
I see. Thanks!
deleted by creator
Put a stash up in a secret place up in the wilderness.
Are you talking like prepping? Once I have the money I would like to start a little. I need to work on relationships with my neighbors for when the west fucking crumbles lol
Me and dad just came back from backpacking… I figure its livable up there in the mountains for extended periods of time with the right provisions stocked…
