Always explain, even if they’re a nutter, because there is always those people questioning who could see it. I was one. Explain, even if 100 explanations makes 1 person realize, because that is a whole person freed from capitalist ideology.
Exactly, I think it’s ultimately a numbers game. If each person convinces two other people who then each go on to convince to others then the ideology will grow at an exponential rate. Ultimately, we just have to keep reproductive rate above one to be successful.
Absolutely. Reading communism debates not involving me at all was ultimately what led me to becoming a communist.
The counter the current china lie operation is currently underway (つ ͡ꈍ ͜ʖ̫ ͡ꈍ
In all seriousness, I’m not naive enough to think that a reddit comment with 3 karma is going to change the world, but I recognize I can only do my part to add to the momentum of our people’s movement. People have struggled to even openly declare they were socialists. To toss in the can because oh man, liberals don’t wanna listen is doomerism. There are a lot of ways you can present an argument to make it unassailable to bourgeoisie criticism. Keep adapting, try to drink water, look at a school of ducks.
buff sankara
buff sankara
The question is whether one is able to explain and convince. I hardly consider myself an expert on Marxism, for example.
I may be reading into this incorrectly, please correct me if so, but I believe Lenin mentioned in “What Is To Be Done?” the important roles of ‘Propagandists’ and ‘agitators’. The agitator is good for bringing up one or 2 ideas to a mass of people, whereas the propagandist provides a mass of ideas to a few people. I.E, Talking about the growing split between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. Or low wages. Once the agitator does their job, there is a small group of people who are very receptive to the info and then the propagandist will convince these people of some of the core tenants of class struggle and Marxism. From what I understand, the propagandists are sort of the experts and can teach new people the ways of Marxism, while the agitator essentially creates an audience for the propagandist by preaching the problems of society and small obvious contradictions in capitalism. Once again, I haven’t finished What Is To Be Done, but that’s what I understood from it. So even if you aren’t quite an expert, you can point out problems and be an agitator
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Absolutely, even Bernie Sanders is (now bear with me) an agitator to an extent when he puts out videos on YT explaining that CEOs aren’t working 350x harder than their low-paid and hard-working employees. He doesn’t do this from a Marxist perspective and a Marxist agitator will be more effective, but the message is out there regardless. Hasanabi was my route into socialism bc he was more of an agitator than anything. Parenti is more complex and could be considered a propagandist
If you can t explain something simply, you don t understand it
And stop linking 1 hour Youtube videos that are tangentially related to the other person’s point
What are you talking about?
When are we allowed to draw the line if they just won’t listen? I’m really beginning to think that most of the population in the West is simply lost. Nothing except a full scale Chinese takeover and Xinjiang style vocational training will get through to most people. Americans are simply going to run themselves into the ground choking on the boot the whole way down. They will gleefully accept climate death and societal collapse if there’s some kind of entertainment product to keep them numb to the pain. Don’t waste your time on anyone over the age of 25 I say.
There are ways to make people listen, no matter what unless they are landlords or actually own capital, it is possible to get through to them because the socialist cause is in their best interest. The key is to know who you’re talking to and how you approach them.
A lot of them will be facing challenges caused by the current state of affairs in the imperial core, rising costs, job security and increasing inequality have already been stirring the masses for a few years now. But they’ve been mislead to think the problem is not the system but rogue factors like immigration or electoral politics which they think can be fixed by voting. Don’t open with revolutionary or radical ideas, start by getting them to question where their problems come from, then build off that.
Also it should be noted that this only really works on people in real life, its near impossible to change someone’s mind on the internet. To solve these problems we have to get out there and spread the word.
In my experience even if you come at people in the way you described they still just don’t get it. They really believe they are better off now under capitalism or they don’t want to give up their privileges or they don’t want to think about politics or they find that socialist policies are just “too radical and scary”. I’m mainly venting but people can be so dense it’s incredibly frustrating.
You can’t just tell them that that capitalism is bad. They have to come to that conclusion themselves, wink wink nudge nudge. Ask them if they know how capitalism works, and if they can’t answer try to get them to think about where profit comes from. Most people’s understanding is that just Capitalism has rich people in the minority, and that’s it, no value of labor, no means of production. Keep the conversation in the means of capitalism, sure capitalism has innovated but how come it has come to a standstill. Maybe bring up why the PRC grew so fast, they can’t deny that while it’s in their lifetime. You just gotta to be patient and empathize with what part of capitalism they are struggling with. Or maybe try to find people who are honestly trying to learn and start there.
I know it can get frustrating, but it is not impossible, we have to be patient, and more than anything we cannot antagonize and talk down to them, as tempting as it may be when constantly having to go over the same arguments over and over. Radicalization takes time, several months to several years depending on the person.
Never forget, when the first congress of the CPC was held in 1921, the entire party consisted of only 57 members, out of which some didn’t even show up. Now that very same party has almost 100 million members. And leads the worlds fastest growing superpower. We must persevere, revolutionary optimism is crucial.
this.
I feel it
