Assume for our hypothetical we have a situation where you are faced with an unbeatable, seemingly unbeatable enemy, and you have tried two different approaches.
A leaderless, horizontal approach, and a direct democratic centralist style leadership with a actual figurehead and leader. Both of these approaches have failed. What is the third approach?
So the issue is that you are thinking a bit ahead, the vanguard only prosper when they meet the masses, the theory needs to be put in contact with the reality of who suffers, while no groups of Marxist thought get in contact with the masses and live with them and understand their issues together we will never connect with people in a deeper way, so when we put our theories to the practice we can form the building blocks to create a vanguard and a revolutionary party. The part that’s missing from the equation is to engage the masses that’s the crux of the issue learn with them build it together, the revolution is not made with leaders but with people, so we need good core ideals and for people to embrace them, and only the people can tell us how to get close to them, so from our theorizing offices we have only part of the puzzle we need to put it in practice. I’m not saying that I know how to do it but that’s the direction it needs to go, we need to include the most oppressed in the debate for they have a lot of knowledge about how the oppression works
That’s my philosophy with my brand. I know the brand, as a superstructure, is a capitalist idea. But I think the entire ideology of a brand can be detourned, as per the situationalists, to create that outreach to the masses, right? Especially in the gig economy era. If you’re an artist, if you’re a creator, if you’re someone of that profession, you don’t have a boss. You know, if you’re taking art commissions, or if you’re doing OnlyFans, or if you’re if you’re DoorDashing, can you form a union, really? Because you have no boss.
The people who are pro-capitalist will say, Well, it’s empowering. The gig economy is great. But as someone who is working as a 1099 contractor, doing IT work, and has been laid off, has no benefits, no outlook, I can tell you that it’s not empowering. It’s not very good. Essentially, the gig economy has sent us back a hundred years. No longer do we have a 40-hour work week and guaranteed benefits, guaranteed weekends, guaranteed breaks. Now we just have free reign. Do what you want. But at the same time, I see many brands who offer a sort of release valve for the dissatisfaction people have with our current system. I would say my target audience is probably the same people who would be into, like, FTP. But the problem is, these brands don’t actually say anything. They exist to promote rebellion for rebellion’s sake. And in that case, they exist to promote apathy for apathy’s sake. I mean, it’s in my bio. It’s really what I believe. And so I hope that if I can get a bunch of artists, a bunch of creatives, a bunch of people, even if they’re not explicitly socialist, together, that’s a start. That’s something.
I also think that we need to be building dual power. I don’t really care if we storm and chain ourselves to the Black Rock headquarters. What I care about is the fact that 25% of trans people in America are currently without health care that they used to have because of these bigoted bans. I care about amount of people who are homeless, who live in food deserts. I think any proper vanguard party needs to be addressing those issues. We need to be building systems and networks that can assist people in those regards.
I’m not saying that I think unions are a dead end, but I’m just saying that there is a whole expansive world of labor and working class people who the traditional tactics no longer work for. And that is a challenge that we’re going to have to overcome. I’m not saying I have the best solution, but I’m doing what I can. With the means that I’ve been given, that’s all we can do.
So there is a lot to unpack here. First of all a way out is possible, I have no doubt about it, when I think things are hopeless I tend to think about the Chinese revolution, and how FUCKING DREADFUL their conditions were and they still prevail, we have the truth on our side and that is no small thing. Second that’s why we need to be with the people, for every person that does well on DoorDash or OnlgyFans, there are a hundred that are doing that as a last resort and that are hanging by a thread. And I do think there is some potential for a Union movement, if not union in the classical sense, some unionlike organization, the important part is to listen to the people in that condition, we are taken by generalized notions, that is what is amplified, the: Gig economy is awesome thing, but if you look at hard data, things are fucked, for most everyone, and those people, in the absence of a true class struggle revolutionary movement, they are often co-opted by pseudo revolutionary movements like fascism. That is why we need to be among the people with the people and listen to their struggles see the shape of their suffering, and fit our revolutionary ideas to their reality, tell it in their language, make them part of the talk. To think that the hegemonic discourse is lost, is both untrue and counter productive, we do not have the answers, and sometimes we not even got the questions right, we need to be with the people of our own nations, to see what are the questions for their reality that need answering, and show them that the only way to truly answer that, is together and fighting for everyone. Cause no scapegoat enemy, no temporary measure no individual success is gonna change anything, is only as a collective that things work. Our struggle is complicated and sometimes it the way forward is not clear until we get more experience, but the way to do it is trying, learn with the past and move to the future, we will triumph, of that I have no doubt, it’s only a matter of building the how and the when.