Just curious and getting a feel, but why?
I am not in a party myself, because I can’t see any active in my area that I like and those I tried getting in touch with never replied.
For now I’ve settled with joining the IWW and hope to organize my workplace at a later date when I am more settled in, but as of now I am a newbie to my industry and to my company.
Maybe once I learn organizing techniques and get a network of people I can trust in my area, I’ve considered organizing a new party locally, but as of now that is more of a interesting thought than something I can actually accomplish in my current situation with my current knowledge base and current network.
What about you? What challenges have held you up so far?
Comrades, please take care to not post locations, dates or any other personally identifying info in this sort of public space, thanks.
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Yeah, that org was probably the most consistent in not replying for me. I tried filling out their form, sending an email to the nearest branch directly, and sending one to their main branch. Despite the fact that I like their stated platform the most and have heard the most comrades recommend them, I have had to give up hope on that one. I hope you have better success than I have though.
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Check your spam!
Edit: it was curiously routed to spam 🧐 for yours truly
I tried getting in touch with SRA, same story as some other comrades, 2 messages then nothing ever again. I also tried out one of the Communist parties in my area that seemed to be pretty hardline ML, at least on the surface. I was with them for about a year. In that time all I really did was sit around and listen to Zoom calls where the old timers, mostly the General Secretary, would complain about the old days, how they were betrayed, how no one is as ideologically pure as them, and how we must do exactly what the leadership says because they “always know whats best”. There was extreme volunteerism with everything. The leadership, local but especially national, was not serious about getting to know their members and how best to direct human resources. Lack of a good new member onboarding process exacerbated this. They would constantly do contradictory things, for example, read a section for an educational that talks about tactics used to derail organizing then proceed to do that exact stuff such as bogging down meetings with needless points of order. The national leaders were totally out of touch with anybody under 30. Not only that but they seemed to also have no idea of the challenges facing a modern working class person and absolutely no plans to alleviate that struggle for me or anyone else. Finally, by the end of my stay things were getting culty around the General Secretary and the party was beginning to adopt the PatSoc line so I left.
My main issue with the groups that I have interacted with is that they really are LARPy. They don’t see what needs to be done; mass unionizing and worker struggles to pave the way for small-scale general strikes and building from there. Aiming for dominance of specific industries. A focus and a program to address the needs of the modern working class. A youth wing that isn’t Moleman dressed like Bart Simpson. These orgs need to look at what right wing groups have done for the last 60 years and copy that model because it works. Lastly, stop pussyfooting around the issue of security. It is inevitable that at some point leftists will be met with violence. Any serious org needs to acknowledge this, plan accordingly, and train their members for this contingency.
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I think a lot of people underestimate the effort that goes into starting up an actual working organization. Educating people, planning meetings, looking for stuff to focus on and find solutions for said stuff, organize protests, find new members, find money to do things etc. is pretty hard. In my experience a lot of organizations that call themselves communist/marxist/leftist/whatever don’t have a clue where to start. And in some cases there just aren’t any orgs nearby.
It took me a couple of groups to find out which ones were serious and which ones were not. The one I’m in right now actually had some sort of job interview and a vote by members before I could join. Might seem a bit over the top but this way they managed to collect a group of people actually wanting to do stuff.
I hope people on here who haven’t joined a group yet don’t get discouraged by what I’m saying. Keep looking for groups or start one yourself. But also understand that it’s a serious thing to do.
Internal party dynamics play a part. Some people are suspicious of people with no known ties to the party (and probably with good reason), others may not be willing to bring new people in, most of the time they are just lazy and don’t want to answer your messsages.
First I was just a “leftist” and I tried to join local SRA, they never got back to me.
Then, I was a Trot for a few months and was in the middle of reading the member manual for the IMT and finalizing my membership with my recruiter when I realized I wasn’t a Trot anymore.
Then I was an ML and was trying to decide between the CPUSA, the PSL, or trying to infiltrate the DSA, when a sudden drastic life change occurred and I had to leave my home indefinitely. The places I am staying at all have no such parties whatsoever, and I don’t know where I’m going to be living 6-12 months from now, and that’s where I’m at right now.
I get that if nobody else has done it that I should start a party, but I don’t know if I have that much spare time and energy right now–I don’t even have a reliable income right now–and the fact that my time here is indefinitely limited is not an encouraging factor to try and start something that will require heavy investment.
I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what made you realise you aren’t a Trot?
Not at all!
It just didn’t feel like a complete picture to me. They gave me Marx, they gave me Lenin, they gave me Trotsky, and I’m grateful for that. But the little I had heard already about the USSR, Stalin and China ended up being more compelling at the end of the day than what they had to say. Some of it sounded compelling for a time…that Trotsky was the true heir to Lenin, that Lenin wanted Trotsky not Stalin. Talking about the USSR under Lenin, the withering of the state, the high level of democracy, etc. But I’m above everything else a pragmatist and a realist. And they could never erase all the good that the aforementioned did.
What’s more is specifically the IMT didn’t really sell me very well. Their methods and mindset seemed a little out of touch with the current reality of things. Their membership manual was a little sloppy too. Of course not everything comes perfect in a neat package with a bow, and I’d love to help turn something fledgling into something developed and masterful, but call it a vibe but I just wasn’t seeing a lot of potential. I’m here to take the victories and the failures of the past and let it inspire me to make something new, not cherrypick the failures outside of context and just wish for how things “should be.” Trotskyism for me was a last hurrah in the realm of “trying to be even-handed and sensible” before I just simple accepted that I was a total Holodomor-nuance-seeing Stalin/Deng enjoying piece of shit. It had a momentary appeal as “okay do yeah yeah yeah I’m communist but I’m not like THOSE tankies” before I was just like “But wait…they’re right. They’re so right.”
Great, so I just saw this. Just tried reading Trotsky and it does read very vaguely to me. The lack of adequate interaction with this tendency made me curious, I think.
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Absolutely. Thank you so much comrade. I look forward to building a better world when my life can settle down for a moment and I can get my head straight. TOGETHER! 🌍🌏🌎
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We have organizations, but none who could call themselves a party. If you’re not swept up in student politics you’re building your own local chapter from scratch. Searching on the internet is almost impossible because most of the time you will be redirected to American discourse and end up doing nothing for your country. If you’re not from one of the big cities, then you’re already lucky if your town has a communist affiliated reading group that accepts non-college students. I’m one of the few lucky ones, esp since we have semi-regular activities other than reading. Even if they’re trots. But I’m not even sure if any leftist organization in my country has more than a hundred members. We have at least a million dead communists though, if that counts.
No active ones in my area
Life getting in the way. Anxiety about dealing with new people in potentially confrontational situations, the lack of decent parties in the UK - Do you want to join the commie terfs or the other commie terfs, uh… I’d prefer a party that recognises my existence maybe?
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CPGB(ML) are the most prominent in that regard, they’re generally socially reactionary (and also a family cult basically).
Then there’s CPB who don’t get picked up on for it as much, but they also have a lot of social reactionaries. (someone told me once that their youth wing is decent but… eh, if the main party sucks that doesn’t really help).
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YCL is tied to CPB right? Guess they suck too, oh well lol. But yeah, the only party I’ve heard vaguely good things about is ‘Red Fightback’, silly name aside, I don’t really know anything about them other than that they are apparently not terfs.
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My brother and I were wondering if we should join our local PSL? Normally it wouldn’t be a question, but the branch is for the large city near us. Only thing is the city is kinda far away, like we can do stuff on weekends but I was wondering if anybody in the PSL could help us to know how involved it is, because if I’m supposed to show up to help canvass or organize like once a week I wouldn’t be able to do that, but a few times a month on weekends I could definitely do, basically just wondering how often they meet/how long do events last bc I’ve been reading their news for a while and I would love to join and help them in any way
In my personal experience, the organizers seem pretty keen on trying to ensure you’re doing what you’re comfortable with. They asked me about my availability, and I included that I still wanted days to do other human things as well :). They understood!
Of course, urgent actions / other current events do pop up, and the organizers present the option to join. I had work, but I bailed to join the pride march!
That’s great, I actually have weekends off for my job, but if something were to come up on a weekday I’m lucky enough to have a job that doesn’t care so much so I can call off for important stuff, so thanks for letting me know
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Thanks that’s a great idea, I’ll check my local page’s socials, I’m sure they probably talk about events they do because I know they allow people to join protests whether they’re members or not
Not old enough, still technically a minor, but I’m nearing the age of 18. I’m in the Philippines and I may look up some good socialist/communist parties here.
I live around 300km from the nearest party branch in the absolute middle of nowhere, the nearest town with more than a handful of people is over 100km, and my small farming area is filled with fascists
I live around 300km from the nearest party branch in the absolute middle of nowhere, the nearest town with more than a handful of people is over 100km, and my small farming area is filled with fascists
I’m a bit agoraphobic and large groups of people make me anxious. Like as soon as I am a part of a group with more than a handful of people I shrink back and get scared. Bullying trauma, probably. I’m working on it though.
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