Yup, my best friend is a communist, he’s the one that got me into it. He’s not the most articulate guy in the world but he’s intellectually honest and never stopped trying. I’ve been slowly converting more and more folks. Lucky for all of us it’s getting easier and easier to convince people capitalism is killing us. From there it’s not a big jump to socialism.

I joined a local socialist movement

My grandfather attended a few communist party events in late 1940s and early 1950s. He was later bullied by organized crime and tormented into early Alzheimer. I knew him in real life.

I grew up meming communism during the Bush years. Being loud and vocal will make you a lightning rod for other like minded people. Assuming you are good at keeping your friends the effect amplifies the older you get, the more you collect and convert

Yup, a few of my friends became communists. The big factor for them was that liberal world view just couldn’t explain what they were seeing anymore. Introducing them to material dialectics all of a sudden made things click for them.

I do have a few in my home town, and some near where I live currently. I think in Brazil it’s easier to know people left-inclined, even if they aren’t die hard commies. Many were like I was, left leaning liberals or soc Dems a few steps away from radicalizing.

I got several friends started down the path. Many of them got into The Deprogram once I started the push. Funny enough, I have never listened to it till they started. I was already through most of the Proles Pod so the Deprogram stuff was kind of like, baby commie to me. But I now support them because it made me realize how necessary their take is. They are probably the best bridge to get people on the right track. It’s also why I don’t complain when they have a takes that aren’t as “hardcore ML” as I would like.

Anyway, yeah, I have a few commie friends. Yes I had to turn them all commie myself. I have one guy I’m still working out some of the racism/sexism for, but he’s pretty much there otherwise. The gist is, don’t fucking attack people like the way you see online. All that does is turn them off. Be a good friend and kind of push and prod when appropriate. Be informed and knowledgeable. Always try to have an answer and a response. So basically, be a good communist just don’t shove it in their face. Some do better being taught. Other do better if they feel they came to that conclusion on their own. The guy that is still a little bit of a chud still, it’s more of a refusal to fully let go of who he was, and trauma from a fucked up childhood. He’s stubborn as fuck and it’s taken me years. He won’t listen to podcasts or anything. Basically I just had to always be right and sure of myself and he’d go home and persuade himself that he always believed what I was saying, or learned it himself by reading or something. He’s kind of crazy, but he’d also die for his comrades.

This is what it takes, more patience then you will ever see anyone give I’m some online forum. Some it’s easy. One guy it was practically overnight. Another took time, and one took years. But I got them there. As far as finding already commie friends… Probably just luck and maybe volunteering at the right places.

I think I got extremely lucky where my friend group of 5 from high school kind of all moved more left as time passed.

Yep, all my close friends are either organized communists or at the minimum agree with 90% of my takes I’m very lucky. Most of them I met organizing. I also hang out with non commies ofc but I couldn’t imagine not having the freedom of loudly praising Stalin without having to justify myself on a regular basis.

Yes, several, alhamdulillah. The white people I had to convert to communism, the non-whites were cool when I met them. I mean, they were all cool, just some less class conscious. It’s a journey. Social jobs tend to have cool people. Teachers, social workers etc. if they aren’t too bourgeois. People from countries affected by imperialism get it one hundred times faster. I’m talking days or weeks instead of years.

“Convert” might be the wrong word. I don’t actively go up to them and try to change their mind. I’m just open about my politics and if they want to talk about it, I do it friendly and one step at a time.

Also, if you want a cheat code for meeting cool people fast: join an org. Or just show up to an action or a protest and ask the organizers how you can help. Bookclubs are cool too.

I have one friend who reads theory and I am in the process of converting others, the first one was a raging liberal when I first met him but yea, all of my commie friends are people who I’ve converted

Start a book club/study circle with friends and radicalize them. They’ll learn and youll sharpen your own understanding of theory and history

Get into a socialist organisation if you can, that’s an easy way to forge lifelong friendships.

My own husband. When you listen to enough Joti Brar, Vijay Prashad, and great geopolitical shows like Dialogue Works and Neutrality Studies, you inevitably find that the Marxist explanation of the world makes the most sense and is the most consistent. Wouldn’t really label either me or him as Marxists yet but we’re learning.

I’m lucky enough to have two people close to me who are commies despite living in a deeply reactionary hellhole. Not much I can do to guide here because both were chance encounters at work and a music event and we just had the thing where neurodivergent people instantly click with each other rather than anything politics related.

I also know a few liberals that have been steadily radicalizing over the past few years. If people already know and trust you and the first cracks in the liberal worldview happen organically they can be quite receptive to communist ideas. Just listen to their grievances and chime in with bits of history and theory that is relevant to them. Nobody became a principled communist overnight, it’s a long process and sometimes you need to pick your battles and smile and dissociate when they slip into reactionary thought that you don’t have a good angle to attack yet, but I got people immersed in a deeply russophobic and anticommunist environment to consider that maybe the Soviet Union was… le good? Or at least not evil incarnate 1984.

Be cool, be open about your ideals without forcing them, know your stuff so that you can speak confidently and source your claims, be patient, and meet people where they are and you may be able to commie your friends but they have to take the first steps on their own.