I know there’s some Che quote about this, but I can’t translate it into the reality of living side by side with treatlerites. It rings so hollow. Some say a revolution only requires 3% of the population, but that assumes that you eventually gain the support of most of those remaining 97%. I just don’t see it ever happening. There has never been even a fledgling revolution in an imperial core country.
And with this mindset, I’m guaranteed to become an elitist asshole who plays perfectly into the stereotype of the ivory tower communist, further alienaiting and discrediting myself and the cause, reducing the odds.
I agree, but it’s exactly this outlook that makes me doom. White people are the overwhelming majority. (And yes, make fun of me, I’m white too. Basically every white communist I know either came to it via their family or extreme circumstances.) How do we approach this huge mass in a non-suicidal way?
We dont need to convince everyone. Even in DemSoc mode we just need 50.01% of people to agree.
I don’t know how to approach the huge mass. I also dont think it is up to me to figure thaf out alone. I guess my tips are about how to approach those I directly interface with and can influence. If I can get my “progressive” liberal friends to go deeper than “Zohran is pretty cool i guess” and actually face some difficult realities, then things suddenly.feel less bleak to me.
As discussed in one of the other threads here, theory and history tell us that we shouldn’t expect the revolution to happen in the imperial core. Socialism (etc) will be forced upon the empire after our comrades build revolutionary power somewhere at the fringes of the empire. It is up to us to weaken the empire’s ability to sustain itself, and by focusing our political praxis in a liberatory direction.
If you are trying to be the next Lenin in a place that does not breed revolutionary conditions (I mean, godspeed to you and all), it is gonna be a rough time mentally.
The Black Power and Red Power movements are key to moving in any liberatory direction in occupied Turtle Island. The exploitation is ubiquitous and the effects are not going anywhere until they are dealt with. These should be our primary engines of change, rather primarily using a Marxist-Leninist or other lens. Of course other frameworks like M-L still ought to be influential on your praxis, there is still great power there, but is Black and Indigenous liberation frameworks (which are totally compatible) will get us farther sooner.
This post went in a more lofty direction than I meant it to be, I can make it more practical if you still have questions.