Not to be an annoying grandpa but, I wouldn’t encourage visibly marking yourself with your ideology if you want to take part in revolutionary activities. Basically, being able to hide your ideology by simply not speaking about it is required to start organising secretly
By displaying your ideas like that you would throw away all possibilities of sneaking around the police/ fascists if class struggle became intense, it might even send you directly to prison if some sketchy distant relative decides to denounce you
When I see fascists with all their tatoos I’m like damn, those people would just be shot instantly during the revolution, zero questions asked, no need for trials and shit.
I just wann ask, do we want to give up the advantages of discretion?
Yeah I feel the same, the last thing we need is literal targets on our backs. If feds are trying to track us or build a registry then this is the sort of thing that can give you away instantly. The same way we can spot piece of shit Nazis in Ukraine, they’ll be able to spot us too.
It might be nice to get ones that have plausible deniability. A prominent hammsick might be a target on your back, but maybe if you get a slogan in another language or a meaningful, but not explicit theory quote you could still use it for communist pride without being too obvious.
I believe there may be a need for both. Or at least advantages to both. Subtlety and abrasiveness, sabotage and a show of political force, discretion and indiscretion. Even in times of great struggle, I think, and times of great danger.
Marking yourself as a threat to fascists and a threat to capitalists for life, it’s 1. pretty badass and 2. may ingratiate subsets of people to communism. This may sound lifestyist, but I believe especially among many gen z’ers, ink has become an appreciated way of sharing experiences and passions. People dig tattoos and like to talk about em. 3. It’s a form of revolutionary suicide. The Black Panthers didn’t realize their ultimate goal of national and social liberation, but I wonder if we could learn something from them, and their ability to always communicate their adherence to communist ideals, even in the face of death, and still integrate incredibly well with their communities as an openly revolutionary, armed mass movement.
idk. I may be wrong. I’d like to get a “Peace, Land and Bread” tattoo. Potentially dangerous. But the communist movement has to be prepared for complete social collapse if it’s even going to matter at all, and we’re all in supreme amounts of danger then anyway. If every user of this site isn’t on a list, the glowies ain’t doing their jobs, since they can access all of our web histories at the drop of a hat (ostensibly). Facial recognition is getting bigger. Cameras are fucking everywhere. If we aren’t prepared in the event of a crackdown on the left, we’re immediately fucked.
Although I also see your point about losing discretion there. I just think the state’s got information gathering tools we won’t know about for decades.
Not to be an annoying grandpa but, I wouldn’t encourage visibly marking yourself with your ideology if you want to take part in revolutionary activities. Basically, being able to hide your ideology by simply not speaking about it is required to start organising secretly
By displaying your ideas like that you would throw away all possibilities of sneaking around the police/ fascists if class struggle became intense, it might even send you directly to prison if some sketchy distant relative decides to denounce you
When I see fascists with all their tatoos I’m like damn, those people would just be shot instantly during the revolution, zero questions asked, no need for trials and shit.
I just wann ask, do we want to give up the advantages of discretion?
Yeah I feel the same, the last thing we need is literal targets on our backs. If feds are trying to track us or build a registry then this is the sort of thing that can give you away instantly. The same way we can spot piece of shit Nazis in Ukraine, they’ll be able to spot us too.
As one of my comrades always says “don’t fly the flag when you’re on a secret mission”.
Stay safe comrades!
Imagine an infiltrate KGB agent goes to America but he has a huge portrait of Stalin tattooed on the arm 🤣
It might be nice to get ones that have plausible deniability. A prominent hammsick might be a target on your back, but maybe if you get a slogan in another language or a meaningful, but not explicit theory quote you could still use it for communist pride without being too obvious.
I believe there may be a need for both. Or at least advantages to both. Subtlety and abrasiveness, sabotage and a show of political force, discretion and indiscretion. Even in times of great struggle, I think, and times of great danger.
Marking yourself as a threat to fascists and a threat to capitalists for life, it’s 1. pretty badass and 2. may ingratiate subsets of people to communism. This may sound lifestyist, but I believe especially among many gen z’ers, ink has become an appreciated way of sharing experiences and passions. People dig tattoos and like to talk about em. 3. It’s a form of revolutionary suicide. The Black Panthers didn’t realize their ultimate goal of national and social liberation, but I wonder if we could learn something from them, and their ability to always communicate their adherence to communist ideals, even in the face of death, and still integrate incredibly well with their communities as an openly revolutionary, armed mass movement.
idk. I may be wrong. I’d like to get a “Peace, Land and Bread” tattoo. Potentially dangerous. But the communist movement has to be prepared for complete social collapse if it’s even going to matter at all, and we’re all in supreme amounts of danger then anyway. If every user of this site isn’t on a list, the glowies ain’t doing their jobs, since they can access all of our web histories at the drop of a hat (ostensibly). Facial recognition is getting bigger. Cameras are fucking everywhere. If we aren’t prepared in the event of a crackdown on the left, we’re immediately fucked.
Although I also see your point about losing discretion there. I just think the state’s got information gathering tools we won’t know about for decades.
Your arguments are compelling