I just went down to our local lib demonstration. All I could really feel was depressed. All those people waving signs but I wonder how many are willing to do anything more than that? Shit most of them were pretty old, tbh. I approached some people I clocked as comrades but I was very awkward and we didn’t have a conversation.
I guess I don’t really have a question here. Just feel like everybody has identified (some of) the problems, but have totally misidentified the solutions. Will these protests ever accomplish anything? Can we radicalize the protestors without them having to get beaten by cops? Or is that what it will take?
I don’t think they would fight a left militant movement until after the current rulers were toppled because I agree that it would be popular. It’s the moment after this where I see the most danger of a revolution being co-opted by reactionaries. It wouldn’t be hard for them to wrap the popular ideas you mentioned into their own platform that appeases the masses but doesn’t reject capitalism. Social democracy is far more popular in the US due to propaganda-based fears of authoritarianism. I’m not saying that a popular movement can’t support socialism and lead to a socialist revolution, just that people here are so lost when it comes to the subject of a revolution and where to go after that it would be relatively easy for them to lead back to liberalism unless there is some education along the way.
I don’t think direct action cannot take place or precede education to some extent, but if we don’t direct a portion of our efforts towards this simultaneously, we risk any mass movement outgrowing it’s own roots. People need to understand where a movement is going and why if you want them to support that movement through the reconstruction phase It doesn’t mean pushing theory reading onto the masses, but building education into our other programs, similar to how the Black Panthers did. The vanguard should read theory and history in order to pass this knowledge onto others, but that will mostly be by talking to them, in media meant to agitate, and in organizational meetings. It needs to be integrated into the movement early enough to head off the influence of reactionaries. You can’t teach away all reactionary culture before direct action, but you can’t have a revolution and then sit people down to explain why they can’t just go back to how things were a few years before it got bad for them.
When you say people need a reason to want to learn, I agree. I’m just saying we need that education to flow naturally to them through our organization efforts and we need to be deliberate about integrating education into our programs now if we don’t want a popular movement to be co-opted. Simultaneous efforts can be made to organize militant action, but if we ignore this problem now, we are going to run into major problems in the future.
I now better understand your position, and believe that we are in agreement. Thank you for the well thought out response. ❤️
Yeah, sorry. I’m notoriously bad about not fleshing out what I mean as much as I should the first time around in my comments. I agree that we are probably on the same page, I just don’t see the education aspect focused on as much as I think it should be it talks about organizing.
It’s all good. I definitely agree that educational courses should be a big part of organizational work. People just don’t show up to that kinda stuff in my experience though, which is a damn shame.
If you’ve got anything like that going on, feel free to hit me up in dms, I’d certainly go out of my way to attend something over zoom or discord or whatever. :)
I’ve had the same experience. When it’s pitched as education, no one comes, but if you integrate it into other activities (think the Black Panther breakfast program), it’s easier to get people there and you can relate what you want to talk about to the other action you are taking.