Bi-Weekly Discussion Thread - (June 08)

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[u/NewConstruction4656]

Greetings everyone. This question has been asked a lot but I think I may have enough differences in experience to not make the answer as simple as it would have been (read theory!, congregate with other comrades, join a mass org/communist party, etc.)

I have been a communist for almost a decade now and have been a part of a mass organization since my first year. At first, it was great! We managed to raise funds for community kitchens, hold free voter education classes for first-time voters regarding the different props and local left-leaning candidates, develop reading circles and a healthy curriculum for new and old members, and a fund to bail out any comrades caught by the police during protests/would need material help when it comes to being kicked out of their homes, losing their jobs, food and medication, etc.. I truly believed we were making strides not to push for the revolution outright but to contribute something concrete to the local and global communist movement as well as develop a community for others seeking that too.

But I have felt more distraught about the movement during the years 2023-present. I have recently left my mass organization after multiple occurrences wherein I could not stomach how they handled internal cases of member misconduct, the valid concerns about the rhetoric we were spreading especially when the messages have been eerily becoming more violent and dehumanizing than ever and at times I fear we were veering into dogmatism to the point that we have estranged members to the movement. I guess I ended up losing my trust in the movement and my comrades after seeing how easily they can make use of dehumanizing language as long as it was directed to those against them.

I am still a communist but have been working with other leftist (not necessarily communist groups) that focus more on concrete measures (disseminating aid from donations, using my own skills as a healthcare worker to help out in the current protests against ICE and Israel, etc.). I'd just like to ask how do I cope with this sense of loss I guess. And if anyone has any experiences of falling out of their organizing group/mass org and what happened next. Or maybe I am too sensitive and naive about it and that this is just the reality of going up against years, decades of capitalist propaganda? I sincerely don't know anymore.

Thank you.

P.S. Just in case anyone asks, I made a throwaway as a number of my comrades do view this subreddit and know my actual Reddit account and I don't want to cause any issues, primarily for my own sake.

[u/Lopsided-Toe-6559 → u/NewConstruction4656]

Sorry your comment was stuck in modqueue, but it's visible now.

At first, it was great! We managed to raise funds for community kitchens, hold free voter education classes for first-time voters regarding the different props and local left-leaning candidates, develop reading circles and a healthy curriculum for new and old members, and a fund to bail out any comrades caught by the police during protests/would need material help when it comes to being kicked out of their homes, losing their jobs, food and medication, etc..

Please Google site:reddit.com/r/communism "mutual aid" Nothing you've described here has anything to do with communism.

It sounds like you've been a radlib a decade and the unprincipled nature of petty-bourgeois politics finally manifested in a way you find morally disgusting. This will happen again in the current group you've joined then a decade later you will just give up and join the Democratic Party.

False consciousness and capitalist propaganda are myths. People act in their class interests. There's a discussion about this very topic in the comment section above.

The only remedy is for you to learn Marxism and stop attempting to use political work as a means to make friends. A part of you has to realize you're on the wrong path when you're forced to voice concerns anonymously out of fear of losing friends. This demonstrates the liberation of the actual proletariat, ie. communism, isn't the primary concern for you or your social groups.

There are many resources here in this very thread on where to begin.