• redtea
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    10 months ago

    A bit. But not really. We are part of the collective, the mass of the world’s workers. Our fate and that of the working class is the same. Whatever happens, either my comrades will stand with me and I with them or we’re all fucked, anyway.

    There’s no greater human force than unified thought and action. Once you see yourself as part of the collective, there is a lot less room for fear. Either we all get free or we’ll all be killed and whittled down individually in one way or another, anyway. There’s no option where the bad things don’t happen. Only some control over which ones and how we respond.

    For the fear that remains, I try not to think about it. Whatever happens to me, they will never stop history. Marxism takes away much of the fear. It’s no coincidence that the bourgeoisie don’t want you to read Marx and don’t want a united working class.

    I was more scared before, when I thought changing the world meant sticking my neck out on its own. When I thought I’d have to be the main character if I wanted to change the world. Now I trust the working class will do it whether I like it or not. The only choice is to work with it or get in it’s way—and that one’s easy.

    As for those who came before. They were titans. They didn’t so much fail as they failed to achieve everything all in one go.

    Our earliest comrades basically had to start from scratch. Few examples, no theory, insufficient lessons to learn from. Still, their mistakes we’re not in vain. They achieved so much.

    They stopped the Nazis, ended colonialism, brought about the concepts of: the welfare state, paid time off, redundancy pay, weekends, limited working hours, universal suffrage, universal healthcare, universal education, universal housing, universal jobs, universal dignity. Before the unions, socialists, communists organised to fight back against the ruling class, these things didn’t exist. That’s a legacy to be proud of and we join the legacy by joining them.

    However bleak the world is, however unevenly spread are the fruits, the world still reaps the benefits of what previous comrades fought for. It’s not done until it’s done and unfortunately it can’t all be won in a lifetime. Luckiky, this all started a few lifetimes ago so we might be able to win what’s left to be won within ours.

    On the one hand if we must try and fail so the next generation will succeed, then that’s our lot. At the same time, with climate change and China’s rise, we (a) don’t have the option of failing and (b) are already winning. The communist states, being dictatorships of the proletariat, are us and we are them. The fight is half won already.