As the title says.
I want to help organise a Marxist-Leninist movement in the US, but I don’t really even know where to start.
Join an org. Join the PSL if they have a chapter in your area, if not get in contact with them and ask them for guidance how to start one. You can also try to organize your workplace and form a union if you don’t have one, join or form a tenants union. Form a community defense group or a donation fund for legal defense of marginalized people victimized by ICE or police. Organize mutual aid for your local community, join a group providing food for the homeless, or even just a study group. It doesn’t need to be explicitly Marxist-Leninist at first but you can progressively introduce Marxist-Leninist ideas to your comrades in a way that is palatable to them and on topics that are relevant to your current organizing.
…or even just a study group. It doesn’t need to be explicitly Marxist-Leninist…
This cannot be emphasized enough. There are people who are already organizing around you. Your library has volunteer opportunities, there are soup kitchens, running groups, anything that gets you in contact with community. You don’t have to nor should you do organizing alone.
Okay. Thank you for the suggestions. I will look for organisations in my area, and look into forming some local support organisations.
Does the PSL support socialist countries? I went to an RCA meeting, but they were western chauvinists and hated on the Chinese for no good reason. I don’t want to end up with a bunch of white people telling me how to do socialism correctly.
Yes, they do
I’m not American but from what i’ve heard it’s at least better than most other orgs there. Still probably a mixed bag, we’re talking western leftists after all, can’t expect perfection and total lack of chauvinism/liberalism.
In fact no organization is perfect. The important thing is to start somewhere, and you can improve over time.
look into who organises locl protests. see if there are reading groups on campuses or in libraries.
when it comes to convincing people? you have to spread communist ideas and be a communist openly. you wont convert everybody overnight, its important to plant that seed inside peoples minds.
be firm, dont try to dumb it down or lib it down. these days i see some people insist that you will turn everyone away if you use ideological terms and ideas. right wingers are not afraid to say that theyre for freedom of speech, anti-DEI, pro-military, small government or whatever bullshit theyre into so why should we try to dumb it down and say eipstein class instead of working class/proletariat for example.
be respectful. this goes without saying, one of the things that got me into communism was the openness and respect of people even if i was ignorant. there are definetly some people who are against it on a nationalist basis and see communism as the enemy because of historical conflict. calmly explain why thats not the situation. depending on your area, you might encounter chinese americans, korean americans etc. its important that you educate yourself on why different groups hate communism so you can have context on your response. im from a post socialist state and grew up hating communism because i learned it was snoopy russians and dictatorship but when communists told me that nobody gives a shit about my situation to base a whole ideology off it i gaven up on it
i wouldnt expect to convert people over night, it will take time and every party has to start somewhere.
an option i dont see a lot is having mutual aid networks and helping people who are fucked over by capitalism. even though europeans were really anti communist many people came to accept it after ww2 because soviets helped immensely and provided a better livelihood. i see a lot of americans have started neighborhood networks to help their immigrant neighbors who are afraid to leave the house due to ICE. they buy food and other necessities and help them. talk to people who fear ICE and teach them about why this is happening if they want to. straigthen people up, get them into rehab, teach them about their situation and the material situations behind it if you can do it. i see many american comrades talk to their friends and neighbors about communism and having ideological meet ups and thats also helpful but dont hesitate to help people. people in the US deal with drug addiction, poverty, illiteracy for a reason.
every single socialist project was so successful because of the last point. russia went from poverty striken monarchy to the first country in space. cuba saw their life expectancy go through the roof. people are not interested ideologically half as how much they are through action.
