We need to invite the Black Panthers to come to our communities and teach us how to use guns and methods of protesting. They have been doing it for years and have the experience. This is the first time in my life that I am thinking about getting a gun now that it is obvious the Govt is the enemy.
On the other hand, communist orgs in the USA still haven’t gotten serious about forming disciplined armed militias and cadres, and teaching people how to defend themselves and operate with squad tactics.
A communist org in the USA filled with people who don’t have guns is also just a de facto liberal party, existing at the pleasure of the state.
The reason why the black panthers had the political legitimacy to be able to be armed in their communities in a way that made their people feel safe was because they were effective organizers. And one of the major issues that the party ran into was people who are way too excited about guns, thinking that guns are the whole thing.
People are rightly paranoid as fuck about doing that! Anything like that has got to be underground, which is itself a difficult concept given the modern surveillance apparatus.
That’s not what I’m saying at all. Revolution requires some preconditions. These aren’t just things that we passively wait for, but neither can you just put the cart before the horse. You can’t have an ‘underground’ without a serious ‘aboveground’ support system. In some contexts, that means a countryside full of sympathetic farmers. In others, it means significant membership in leftist political orgs (worker and student unions, political parties etc).
exactly. the IRA didn’t have much problem getting guns and bomb materials because they had support in the community. If you wanna go blow up a pipeline today because you saw the movie instead of reading the book, you’re probably talking to feds before you buy the first bag of fertilizer
Ok, that makes more sense. I misunderstood and thought you were more advocating the defeatist Liberal argument of ‘we can’t do anything against the state it’s too powerful’
All good comrade. I’m mad as fuck too, but somehow neither of us are out there sliding on ICE yet. I am actually encouraged by the fight people are putting up, and it is a good opportunity to organize towards a popular front.
On the other hand, communist orgs in the USA still haven’t gotten serious about forming disciplined armed militias and cadres, and teaching people how to defend themselves and operate with squad tactics.
A communist org in the USA filled with people who don’t have guns is also just a de facto liberal party, existing at the pleasure of the state.
The reason why the black panthers had the political legitimacy to be able to be armed in their communities in a way that made their people feel safe was because they were effective organizers. And one of the major issues that the party ran into was people who are way too excited about guns, thinking that guns are the whole thing.
People are rightly paranoid as fuck about doing that! Anything like that has got to be underground, which is itself a difficult concept given the modern surveillance apparatus.
Ok then let’s just hang up our hats and surrender then. Revolution too scary.
That’s not what I’m saying at all. Revolution requires some preconditions. These aren’t just things that we passively wait for, but neither can you just put the cart before the horse. You can’t have an ‘underground’ without a serious ‘aboveground’ support system. In some contexts, that means a countryside full of sympathetic farmers. In others, it means significant membership in leftist political orgs (worker and student unions, political parties etc).
exactly. the IRA didn’t have much problem getting guns and bomb materials because they had support in the community. If you wanna go blow up a pipeline today because you saw the movie instead of reading the book, you’re probably talking to feds before you buy the first bag of fertilizer
Ok, that makes more sense. I misunderstood and thought you were more advocating the defeatist Liberal argument of ‘we can’t do anything against the state it’s too powerful’
All good comrade. I’m mad as fuck too, but somehow neither of us are out there sliding on ICE yet. I am actually encouraged by the fight people are putting up, and it is a good opportunity to organize towards a popular front.