Again, no fedposting. What the hell are we doing here USAmericans? are any folks getting more involved with their communities at least?
Obviously not all of us are in epicenters of obvious or extreme violence, but what are ways principled communists are stepping up?
No fedposting!
https://tankie.tube/w/sNaBFZt3rKRABM8oz4fUFq
I love that my phone wants me to tag the little Fidel.lol.
By no means am I saying you should find 10 people and kick shit off, but take these two pieces of media into consideration and ask yourself what sort of role you may have to play in the coming years. What skills do you have, what skills might be necessary? Acquire them, hone them. Prepare for the world as it is, not what you wanted it to be.
Look at how other resistance movements and folk heros operated under their fascist regimes. One of my personal favorites is Lucio Urtubia.
https://archive.org/details/lucio_2007
Other thoughts to consider:
- What sort information, resources, or property do you have access to?
- Could you leak something?
- Are you in a position to throw a wrench in the mix simply by making mistakes?
Shit like that. How can you be a thorn in the side of fascism?
Thank you comrade! Really appreciate the thoughtful response and links.
Welcome. It’s a topic I think about a lot.
Remember, it’s not illegal to suck at your job, and if you don’t say anything critical of the regime, or talk about this kind of thing, you can slow down the economy or even directly slow down the war machine by slowing down whatever it is your employer does. Misplace parts and tools if you maintain equipment. Misfile paperwork and create duplicate files with part of the information each, if you handle data. Make typos that introduce confusion (“miximum” is a personal favourite of mine). Abuse protocol to slow things down over minor issues. Don’t do anything monumentally stupid or obviously on purpose, but make little mistakes and accidents anyone could make while tired, distracted, or just half assing a shitty job, a few times a day. Remember, what’s more likely to the people who view low level workers as expensive idiots and not real human beings? That everyone who screws up their important job is a saboteur, or that underpaid idiots are underpaid idiots and governments and corporations get what they pay for and sometimes the guy who makes minimum wage and gets zero training is going to fuck up?
https://specificsuggestions.com/ has some other examples
That site is excellent. Tons of the original SSM, especially under Office Work, still very much works, but this is sorely needed and I’m glad it exists. I especially like the suggestions regarding dead batteries. I love that so much of this is as simple and petty as leaving the caps off the markers. At worst you’ll be thought of as an inconsiderate jerk if a co worker sees you do it “carelessly”, and yet, every man hour or dollar of basic supplies wasted by certain enterprises hurts the regime you’re fighting.
One of my favourites!
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
deleted by creator
I finally got my proof of citizenship and then immediately found out Alex Pretti was murdered.
I’m feeling too scared to go to any protests or join an org until my immigration issues are fully behind me but I’ve been donating to gofundmes
Staying safe when you are a target is a form of resistance. It’s not your tome to stick your neck out. It’s one of the necks we’re fighting to keep safe. Risk is domeone else’s job rn
I appreciate you saying that, comrade
There’s some guilt I have to get over because I feel annoyed at natural born citizen leftists that can but choose not to protest or donate while I also don’t protest. Rationally I know it’s different but I’m sure those people think it’s different for them too
Nah you are right to be annoyed. As GB said, it’s our responsibility as those of us born here, especially white settler descendants.
🫂
I’m radicalizing the people in my social circles. Increasingly I have people who used to repeat standard lib lines agree with me and proudly tell me they’re beginning to push back on others they hear licking boots, and saying things like “Nazi lives don’t matter,” and “self-defense is justified in times like these.”
It’s pretty amorphous and useless, relatively speaking, but it’s sewing the seeds of public opinion for when these fucking goons do get got. If any of these baby leftists make it onto a jury, zero chance they prosecute
, and zero chance they ever give police the benefit of the doubt going forward.Amorphous and useless
Making atmospheric changes always seem that way until one day when the atmosphere has changed. You’re terraforming the social environment
The first sign for me that things are changing was that Luigi incident. A CEO got shot and almost nobody gave a fuck, even many Republicans. If things keep moving in that direction, it will benefit leftists more and more. The less push back for leftist radical activity, the better.
Exactly, quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes.
No need to put yourself or your efforts down! This is a piece of agitation and education, and its always good to hear a comrade not leaving their politics at the door because its socially problematic or inconvenient. In some of my own relationships I’ve struggled with towing the revolutionary line (its a work in progress as always), but I do always try to push back on liberal and fascist narratives + educate and agitate when folks I know bring them up. Are you involved in any orgs?
FWIW most of my agitation time is spent with a local org where we use a variety of tactics to attempt to educate, agitate, and organize, and that feels (in a purely vibes based way) much more effective since we can reach a much larger audience and community members we’ve never met before. We do struggle with organizing actions to try getting folks on the ground and organized not feeling effective at times (or being somewhat liberal in nature, even if the rhetoric is revolutionary), and I would love to hear from other orgs on how they have successfully turned well meaning libs into thoughtful communists consistently.
I was, but they were hardcore Trots lmao. I pulled back from them several years ago (International Marxist Tendency, but as Trots do, they’ve split since then). I’d like to get involved with PSL given that it is the largest and most influential communist party in the US right now. Now that I’m recovered from some serious medical issues it’s about time I submitted an app/contact. There’s another more geographically limited org with a serious history that is worth reaching out to as well, but I won’t name it at this time for doxxing purposes.
I know someone who… 2016 she was an utterly worthless centrist. 2020 my estimation of her rose to “out of her depth liberal trying not to be completely useless”. Honestly, I was shocked when she was able to call Trump a fascist and mean it in the last few years. The bar was in fucking hell with her. Now? I’ve got her calling ICE the Gestapo and she usually says “the only good fascist is a dead fascist” before I have to say it. I don’t think she’d join a Bolshevik Party, but I think she’d have gone to that February anti war protest, y’know? And I don’t think she’d have fought for the Whites either, FWIW. She’s always called politicians “lying liars who lie”, but she says it a lot more in recent years. Not just about the US ones, either!
I don’t think I’ve done a lot to radicalize her, I mostly just listen while she calls a spade a spade and encourage her to call the fascists every insulting name she can come up with and sometimes make a pretty obvious comparison of my own to the Nazis, I think what’s brought her from “I don’t do politics” to “Fuck the fascists” is just… watching it all unfold so close to us in a country that used to be respected. (Also, she got a job in the school system after I’d already been pretty sure of my political read of her, and so she has a lot stronger Opinions on education policy now, which bleeds into every area of political and economic policy because she’s way better at this Political Economy stuff than most disinterested centrists. She says she doesn’t do politics, but get her started on education policymaking or budgeting and listen to her go.) Talking to her is when I feel the strongest flashes of “Is how I feel now, how European communists all felt in the 30s every morning when the newspaper arrived?” Because she really isn’t like me. She’s not a leftist of any description. She’s just a mama bear who opposes anyone who hurts kids. She hates the fascists because they’re hurting kids and breaking up families. And as soon as the stories of serious harm to children stop coming, she’ll stop caring. She follows the individual stories, not the broad problem itself. And she comes to me to scream about individual atrocities in the news, not the general worsening of the atmosphere.
But I still feel proud of myself for letting this happen and encouraging it and giving her someone she can say those things to and get enthusiastic agreement and more nasty names for the Gestapo, not pushback on whether fascism is inherently wrong, like she gets from her husband and son.
It’s important to just be a positive source of affirmation for the libs when they finally manage to put 2 and 2 together, if nothing else. I’ve lived in conspicuous ways that, admittedly, put me at risk professionally and from stochastic chud violence. But that’s a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, and no less than what Renee Good, Alex Pretti, or Aaron Bushnell have paid. But every chance I get I try to offer support and validation to libs as they begin to feel the cognitive dissonance of their programming. Peaceful protest and electoralism? In this economy? With these fascist death squads roaming our streets? Takes the most apathetic of libs not to get fed posting instincts. Being a safe person to discuss that with and otherwise educated and informed enough to make sense of it is huge in its own way. People who thought I was literally crazy/off the deep end 7 years ago when I talked about the US being fascist and maybe 10-30 years out from serious civil unrest resulting in balkanization have been forced by reality just to admit my predictions and diagnosis were right. Better late than never, and with that acceptance of the theory comes the acceptance -tacit though it may be- that my “What is to be done?” Part of the conversation has to be taken just as seriously as the diagnosis too.
It’s simple work, but just being patient and explaining to libs is a whole lot more than nothing.
Yeah. I find it really difficult to be patient with these people, and I can’t really be conspicuous, but making use of my general profile as a known leftist but generally non-threatening and unlikely to encourage radical action or engage in any myself, to be someone that people like her know they can come to when they just want to call a fascist a fascist and not be called crazy, to just be there and listen, and offer a non threatening suggestion or none at all, is something that seems to help and I don’t suck too hard at doing it, and every time I have someone who used to dismiss me as a nutjob commie tell me I’m right or come to me screaming about the Gestapo, I feel a little less shit for being bad at being a leftist and not Doing Anything or being involved with any local organizations (if there even are any). Because these people aren’t going to talk to a Card Carrying Commie when they’re scared. But they might talk to Alex, a friend’s younger friend who’s just a little left of the liberal parties and has been saying it like it is since before 2016.
There’s very little I feel like I can actually do as a leftist, besides quiet ideological alignment and agreement, because of the physical capacities I lack and the support I need in various areas that I lose the ability to get if I piss off a particular person who will never be any further than left of center and even then she’ll only be generally left if it’s out of necessity on a pet issue, but just being someone who can tell liberals around me starting to see how the world really is that they aren’t crazy, it’s everyone else who’s crazy, that I can do, and it won’t piss off that person… because half the time it’s her I’m doing it for. Or she’s doing it and I’m backing her up, which feels so good.
The answer to “what is to be done?” is always “build and strengthen the party of the working class”. The US has not started accomplishing that sentence yet. Maybe they’re on the B of build, if I’m being generous.
Agitate, educate, organise.
Certainly in agreement with that, and hopefully many users of the bear site and other adjacent instances are involved with, or getting involved with, their local orgs. It’s also crystal clear that USAmerican leftists do not currently know how to pull the masses towards the direction of liberation. I guess I’m personally looking for tactics and strats that folks on the ground are using and how they are working or aren’t working so people outside of those hyper local contexts can re-apply effective tools in their own cities.
The US has not started accomplishing that sentence yet. Maybe they’re on the B of build, if I’m being generous.
With the compounding situation in places like Minneapolis and large peaceful demonstrations, I think there’s a decent chance of the dress rehearsal coming. So we gotta do what we can to prepare for it.
That’s exactly why a strong, militant, class conscious working class party needs to be built. Otherwise it’s just going to be leaderless spontaneous outbreaks over and over again as conditions deteriorate.
Seeing the suggestions here gives me some pause.
The SRA is a fine entry organization. Join that. Shut the fuck up about sectarian issues, make some friends.
Buy a 9mm Glock and an AR 15 chambered in .556.
Next you need to start training. Local range for paper static targets. Dry fire.
Try the dry fire drills.
After that, start learning shoot and move drills. At this point you need a belt, holster, plate carrier, level 4 plate, ifak and radio (baofeng).
You need friends. There are going to be local groups in major cities. They’re not going to have a Twitter. You are going to need to wear patches at competitions or start making face to face friends.
At this point you’re better trained than the fucking feds fucking around.
I have seen nothing from DSA or PSL that is remotely ready for what I think comes next.
NB: one untrained person with an AR 15 scared the shit out of all the cops at Uvalde.
There is no de-escalation coming from this regime and there is nothing the dems are going to do. Trump could dissolve Congress and we’ll get some angry letters in response. If you think you can run to anywhere but China, I think we’ll all find that Canada and Mexico are not safe.
https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-dagger-full-size-s-9mm-sw2-rmr-pistol-black.html
I’m attending a local progressives meeting on Monday. It’s at a church. There’s no DSA or PSL chapters near here and at this point I’m a person with kids to protect before I’m a communist. I need to be in touch with the people who are most likely to be organizing shit around here once ice comes to town. They’re already in the closest city and I’m trying to tap into that a bit too but the drive is like an hour and a half.
You can still be an at large DSA member. There are new chapter cropping up all of the time
Are there advantages to being an at large DSA member? I’d still have no one to organize with locally, correct?
At first, maybe. At large members are fully fledged members, you can join national committees like the new rural organizing committee if that suits your situation. There is an unofficial DSA discord which can put you in touch with other active members in your state.
EWOC can help workplace organizing if that is something you could take on, and as a campaign could organically create a local chapter.
The organizer who conceived of and delivered the rural organizing cmte has helped grow and develop their chapter immensely, they actively engage with individuals and chapters in adjacent regions to make sure they are connected to the work of their closest chapters. And he’s a young person too, this isnt a DSA old head with like decades of experience.
Like, if it doesn’t exist yet, you could help build it. There may actually be a chapter in a city near you. In my own circumstance I’m active in my chapter but live outside the city. I often meet people who live further out, many joining DSA quite recently.
If you want to get into the nitty-gritty of your situation, DM me and we can chat about it, even if its just informational I’d be happy to talk.
Don’t be a lib, join the
. Best way to get involved is to come out to events and speak with the organizers. Or pslweb.org/join if you don’t like near a branch.Yep. Get involved locally. Start creating stronger communities.
Does PSL send physical mail? I live with my parents, and it would not go well if they started getting mail from a socialist organization.
Only if you join the PSL action network and check the box that says “send me physical mail.”
Gotcha! Thanks!
I Have Two Hands, and I Must Fedpost
I’m not looking to fedpost, but it is clear that none of us are safe. I find myself with some extra cash so I am about to purchase my first firearm, likely a cheap 9mm rifle just so I can work on my marksmanship as well as protect myself.
But also, I work at a small print shop and am dying to figure out how to utilize that to spread literature that can benefit my community
Get a PSA dagger 9mm. Get a 556 AR 15 from PSA. Upper and lower combo is about 350, just priced them out.
Whatever you get, have it take Glock and AR 15 mags.
I promise you I know what I’m talking about.
Yeah 9mm glock mags are going to be overwhelmingly available because that is what cops use and AR 15 is just the most available platform in the west in general but especially in the US for the same reason.
Also a great time as you said to go to local public ranges. Lots of libs are finally also arming up and might be out there and desperately need someone to guide them so they are not mistaught as we discussed in the last thread like this.
I’m investing in China so I can profit from the Chinese century and America’s fall
What are you investing in?
Involved? Like what blowing whistles in clouds of pepperspray? Funding a billoard? Calling the reps to send out a flatrened ass tweet?
Can’t really tell what the intended tone of this is. Kinda reads like you’re calling me a lib for using the word “involved.” If this is meant as a joke, all good, I appreciate that we are all dealing with shit atm.
If this is meant as actual critique I would urge you to be more direct, as your post stands now this reads like a reddit comment or a very liberal critique from a disingenuous socdem.
The tone is sarcasm /
Is this tone policing a new form of sealioning? I really don’t have the time or santity left to entertain sealions anymore.
I have an issue by that phrase and “the struggle continues”. Like some coping mechanism other than to find community to further cope and deal with this hell world.
There is no form of peacefully “getting involved” that is going to change this. From MLK to Bernie people need to understand there is nothing but
left. The powers that be are leaving little choice.
[no fedposting]You’re seeing that play out in Minnesota now. We saw it at Standing Rock, Occupy, Battle for Seattle, opposition to the Iraq war. The only thing that changes things is when the powers
making yourself a felon.Even when exposed nothing changes. Look at what they did to Snowden, Assange,
and the Boeing whistle-blowers. Hell 
. Nothing changed. The capitalists still went on and did it more knowing they can get away with it because the accepted modes of opposition left are toothless.I think this country needs a new Declaration of Independence. That isn’t going to come from anything that isn’t
Mao said Political power grows out of
Call me whatever names you like. I didn’t call you names. This isn’t personal.
Thanks for elaborating and the tone indicator. I had to look up what sealioning even is - I certainly wasn’t trying to tone police you, I was just asking you to clarify your tone since I couldn’t infer it from your original post and it clearly mattered.
I have no way of knowing how you feel or what your intentions were when you replied and really thought I was going out of my way to politely ask for clarification while pushing back with some critique. I stand by what I said that you should be more direct but in hindsight I should have phrased it differently - suggesting you were lib or socdem rather than more directly saying that your original post (if it was in earnest, which you have clarified it wasnt to some extent) smacked of a form of liberalism was not a very useful shorthand, and I apologize for that.
No harm was meant in my original reply to you, i was really earnestly asking for clarification. Thanks for spending the time clarifying comrade.
The answer is obvious: Vote.
Where can I go online right now to hear people talking who are as fucking upset and gutted as I am about this? What are the streams? What’s the website? Seriously I need something. I can’t feel so fucking powerless frustrated and alone.
Woke.net (not a joke lol) Looks like they are done for the day but check back tomorrow
Hasan is usually pretty good on these things
I’m getting more deeply involved in my community, such as it is, and the network of mutual aid groups here.
And yes it’s full of white libs, and no there’s not any revolutionary potential but fuck, man, what else is there to do? I gotta believe that a revolution is possible someday, even here, although I know I’ll never live to see it. But until then, the working class has to keep surviving somehow.
I know I’ll never live to see it.
Remember Lenin thought the same.
it does seem like time’s up
I’m working with a mass organization to get a study group set up in my area.
