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US American communists, where do we go from here? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/communism@lemmy.ml
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In the election mega on Hexbear, u/jack was pointing out that some PSL candidates got over 2% yesterday - which is a significant improvement over 2024.

An early exit poll showed 17% of people who voted identified as democratic socialist.

DSA-backed candidates performed really well, especially including the primaries earlier this year. And I’m including Angie Nixon in that, because she performed very well given the characteristics of Florida, possibly the most ideologically anti-socialist state in the union.

Plenty of polls over the last year show young voters in particular are very open the idea of socialism, even if they may not be working with a proper definition of socialism.

Anecdotallly, at a recent event for my union, in some personal conversations, there are quite a few brothers and sisters who are feeling very radical.

So my question is, in terms of tactics and strategy, where do we go from here?

I bring up all that above because I think they are indicators, and even the biggest anti-electoralist I don’t think would say we should ignore indicators. I am admittedly a huge weather station nerd. If I see my barometer drop and the winds start going east to west, I know a storm is coming. Right now our instruments are giving us a lot of useful information, but I’m thinking about how we interpret it and what do we do.

My early opinion is that we need to put more resources into educating and building up those US Americans who are sympathetic to socialism or identify as socialists but aren’t really educated on what that means or are involved in an org. I think we really need to build up leaders - everyone from savvy organizers to Marxist economists to people who can make cool art for their DSA chapter’s Instagram page to lawyers who can find little loopholes that can help us out. Obviously that’s a long term project and something we are already doing. But if you think of this stuff in terms of video game sliders, previously I had my “try and get people to not associate socialism or communism as ‘bad’” tuned all the way. Might pull that one down some and pull up “educating workers who already are down with socialism”.

But I’m just throwing that out there as an example of what I’m thinking, I’d rather hear from you all.

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[–] 10 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Describe the shape of the problem first, let the solution emerge. Don't try to be smart about coming up with solutions. Be smart about describing what is happening.

The US economy, and the Western economy more generally, is failing. Unemployment and underemployment are massive. Cost of living is out of control. The ecosystem is changing dramatically in ways that strongly affect human society.

The Democrats just won an electoral victory and have a particular narrative that will be shaped in the coming days and weeks.

BRICS is gaining economic leverage on the West every month. The US, however, has been doing what it can to disrupt them.

Maduro and his wife are still on US prisons. The US military is still the most vile force in the planet and still deployed and ready for devastating Iran. The Russo-Ukraine conflict is still raging and fuel and fertilizer are being threatened.

What was the harvest like this year in the northern hemisphere? What will see in the harvest in the southern hemisphere in 4-6 months? How will planting season go in the northern hemisphere?

We need to understand all of this and more if we're going to have any success in advancing socialism. Yes, people need to be educated and their consciousness needs to be raised to understand their role in class society and the historical processes they participate in, but before educating, there must be a connection. We cannot make that connection without having a better understanding of the things impacting everyone's lives and understanding where it's going and what politicians might do next to prevent revolt.

The Ds might try some Keynesian intervention a la FDR. What might that look like and where will it struggle against the present where it did not 80 years ago? How does the propaganda of the intervention change people's beliefs and how will the failings of that intervention be understood, explained away, and felt?

Describe the problem. The solutions will emerge from the problem, because solutions to problems are dialectical

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  • [–] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 child)

    The Ds might try some Keynesian intervention a la FDR. What might that look like and where will it struggle against the present where it did not 80 years ago?

    This is much harder to do now. The US has deindustrialized, empire is in decay, and re-racializing the Keynesian treats (e.g. redlining) would not be very popular.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 days ago

    Totally. But being right isn't enough. We have to assess what their actual options are, what they think their options are, what the masses think their options are, and how the contradictions that exist will create opportunities for consciousness raising, for organizing, for propaganda, for agitation, etc

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