• DankZedong @lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    So, I know this is going to sound very LARPy on an internet board, but I don’t care about dying for a socialist cause all that much. At least it would’ve been worth it. I don’t want to, but the more I study theory and (socialist) history, the more I realize it is very much an option.

    I don’t expect anyone to feel this way. It’s just that I have made peace with this thought. I would have at least stood for something in my life.

    • Cyber Ghost@lemmygrad.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      That is fair, but what is the point of dying if we don’t at least destabilize the capitalists for good? So many socialist heroes have given up their life for the cause for the capitalists to come back, smear their memory full of garbage and brainwash a big chunk of the population to become class traitors. The capitalists surveil us non-stop, they can shut down our means of communication to prevent us from organizing and can use the police and military forces to squash us, while poisoning the populous brain against us with propaganda. How do we combat that? Is it not just about dying for the cause, but that just dying for the cause doesn’t seem like enough. And I, on my newbie Communist brain, cannot come up with any ways of defeating capital 😭

      • DankZedong @lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        And I, on my newbie Communist brain, cannot come up with any ways of defeating capital 😭

        The great thing about communism is that you don’t have to come up with a plan on your own. There are many comrades in this world, wanting the same as you do. Even the great revolutionary thinkers did not do it on their own. Lenin did not start the revolution, the collective effort of the Bolshevik Party did. Mao did not start the revolution, the collective effort of the Chinese Party did, Che did not… etc.

        Reading theory, organizing in a party (if possible) and talking to your relatives/friends/coworkers about your ideas can raise class consciousness around you. Combatting the propaganda, though difficult, is not impossible. Ask many comrades on this site how they ended up being a communist and the majority of them would say they started of as a centrist, or a socdem or something like that. I’ve even seen stories of supposed right wingers who turned around once they realized that being right wing will never improve the life of the people. The state and the capitalists have far more resources than we do but through the collective effort of the working class, their bullshit can be debunked. They have tried time and time again to stop socialism from gaining traction and while some of the movements were (violently) crushed, some of them succeeded and are still with us today. If we keep living in fear because of the monumental task that we are facing, they win.

      • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        And I, on my newbie Communist brain, cannot come up with any ways of defeating capital 😭

        I’m not an accelerationist, because that’s asking for bad outcomes, but capitalism eventually always undermines itself. That’s one of our few ways to wriggle out from under it’s thumb. It’s about striking when the iron is hot. We’re nearly there, a lot of people are pissed off with the status quo, and they’re looking for someone to save them from it, but most of them are too uneducated to know who to trust when media is full of lies.

        Some of it comes down to theory and communicating that theory, some of it comes down to human psychology and how to open minds to that theory.

      • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        for the capitalists to come back, smear their memory full of garbage and brainwash a big chunk of the population to become class traitors.

        The alternative is letting the bastards get away with it.

        Now I’m not suggesting you do anything that will get you killed! I don’t even like those organisations that try to get their members arrested at protests out of principal. Fuck that. Stay safe and practice good op sec.

        These capitalists and bootlickers will kill people for feeding the poor, sure, but only the most vocal and visible comrades. There’s a distinction between that likelihood and the notion of ‘going out guns blazing’, which is not generally a requirement.

        Of course, a lot depends on your identity, location, and the direction of the class struggle. A communist in Ukraine or South Korea, for example, risks a lot more than a white communist union organiser in Paris or Melbourne. But these factors just determine the actions you’re personally willing to take.