seriously. it’s not that big a deal. if people in gaza are still standing up to their oppressors every day then you likely have zero excuse for not doing more IRL shit (political reading and writing at home are good, but don’t mean anything if you’re not applying that theory as practice and then assessing the results and adjusting your practice accordingly).
For what it’s worth, I think an org should also have other activities. That means like a bowling night or something. Or a movie night, dinner night, or going out to a bar night. And, this might ruffle some feathers, it should also be a place where you can meet someone for dating, a fling, etc. That’s how most people meet each other, through a shared activity (like school, a club, church, etc.). Democrats and Republicans meet each other in shared spaces like that all the time, but for some reason it’s like the ultimate taboo to talk about it in leftist circles. But why? Just cuz some peeps here and there developed sex cult personalities? How many comrades of the past met each other through the Soviet Party or the Communist Party of China or in Cuba or Vietnam? Probably millions.
dating within an org is only a problem when more influential members date less influential members, the representative of a local chapter probably shouldn’t start dating one of their members, it creates an imbalance of power, this isn’t limited to socialist orgs though, it applies to any organisational structure.
I think this, and also your org needs to be large enough that it isn’t dominated by a couple of de factor power players (it’s easier to police official positions with power than someone with a lot of social clout). Otherwise any drama just kinda nukes the org.
Yeah, small orgs need to have a very strict barrier for entry, to avoid wreckers and drama, but also need to avoid having a small group form the “core” of the org and decide everything through seniority. I will freely admit I’m not skilled enough at people management to organise an org from scratch like this.
Gazans have a shared living experience. I have 2 gay men who are repeatedly “adopting” their niece’s mistake children and work as feds for the Canadian military as neighbours.
Sucks living here 'cause all the bourgeois freaks from Ottawa are spilling out here to get the cheaper real estate while bringing their equally awful shitlib politics. So it’s them and freakish Canadian QAnoner types.
But what if I’m cringe IRL and I can’t change my username and pretend I’m someone else?
You can legally change your name.
I mean wasn’t Russian literacy super fucking low pre-Lenin? Many of the greatest revolutions ever done were done by illiterate people. Reading theory is good, but some people here treat it as far too important.
Back then, it would’ve been, like, the one guy at the factory who knows how to read, reading things to fellow workers, right? So reading theory would’ve been to a large degree a social activity back then, whereas now it’s often a pretty lonely activity. Even if you aren’t just reading alone, but are doing a book club or something… a book club isn’t quite the same when it’s 12 people from around the world on Discord, compared to when it’s 12 people in the room with you. And even if you’re going through the effort of making the information you learn more accessible to others, making an audiobook for the consumption of countless anonymous people online isn’t quite the same as reading something to someone in person; nor is translating a work and publishing it online quite the same as actually going through the effort of making a translation in paper and giving it to someone.
Basically what I’m getting at is that “theory” can and should be praxis in itself, and this is achieved by changing the ways we interact with and think of “theory”. That is, sharing information can itself be a productive, creative, and social activity grounded in our immediate surroundings, that builds the networks and skills to make us good revolutionaries, rather than just giving us explanations of why the world’s kinda messed up so that we can debate with internet strangers to prove who’s more well-read.
Someone please spell it out for me: what does anyone mean by joining an org?
An example would be joining the IWW. You pay dues, show up to meeting, talk about politics with people, and try to organize your workplace or help other people organize theirs.
A bunch of other orgs are basically like that, except instead of workplace organizing it might be electioneering or selling newspapers.
selling newspapers
Not really something that is going to fly these days, you’ll just look like a Jehova Witness. Especially in Poland, for some reason the amount of them has skyrocketed in my city. Since we are living in the internet age, organizations should definitely learn how to use it to their benefit. Adapting to the times and all that.
That doesn’t stop orgs in my area! There’s even a few IWW papers, but they’re more directed towards wobs and other’s that already share our ideological leaning. But yeah, distributing newspapers isn’t very effective.
