my sibling claims to be leftist and a marxist, but doesn’t really see any issue with buying housing converting it into a rental property to be a landlord, mooches off my elderly parents despite having a greater income than any of us and no expenses, is a big conspicuous consumer (international vacations, etc), and thinks developing basic financial literacy like having a personal budget to save for things is “capitalism”.
their connection to leftism is that they are mad there are people with nicer things than them who enjoy nicer treats in front of them and they claim the mantle of marxism to bully my elderly parents into using their savings to buy more treats for them to enjoy.
its extremely irritating to watch.
learning what capitalism is allows us to target our adversaries and concentrate our collective power on points of leverage. nobody is saying you need to become a scholar, but confusion among us about what capitalism is only hurts us.
prisoners, union organizers in violently hostile territory, and the beaten-down who have seen the mask of capital slip do not necessarily need to read theory to understand the edges of the gears that have been grinding them down. theory is for piercing the veil of propaganda that induces people to justify the established power structure with thought terminating cliches like “job creator” or “housing provider” or “the free market”. theory is for investigating and dismantling those notions, preventing their spread among the dislocated and propagandized proletariat.
if you have ever tried to talk about collective action among the professional/managerial faction–who are more buffered from the sharpest brutality but nevertheless subjected to its pressures–a theoretical understanding is critical for lifting the fog of their individualistic, pathologizing frame.
Is your sibling a member of the acp?
If yes, I’m sorry your sibling turned to fascism. If no, I’m sorry your sibling turned to fascism.
imma be real with you there are like 20 times more people who want leftism to just be a book club and have no interest in revolutionary action than people who want a revolutionary movement without reading theory
There is a reason we joke about modern vanguard parties being just “Marxist book club”.
Is it bad that my Marxist book club is only two people and we only meet over the phone?
Hey, at least you’re organising in some way? Better than nothing, comrade.
One of the greatest evils and misfortunes left to us by the old, capitalist society is the complete rift between books and practical life; we have had books explaining everything in the best possible manner, yet in most cases these books contained the most pernicious and hypocritical lies, a false description of capitalist society.
V. I . Lenin - The Task of the Youth Leagues.
Funny that the guy leftists all agree on when we say “you need to read some [x]”, basically said that theory lies to you/doesn’t tell the whole story.
Oh but I’ve read everything Scott Adams as ever wrote
That’s nice, comrade. Read some real theory. Lenin’s stuff is good and he’s funny.
If you want people to read Lenin and not Adams, you must post Lenin not Adams
Who was it that said “I may not have read Kapital by Karl Marx, but I have the marks of capital on my body?” Or something to that effect. Some union organiser.
Edit: It was Big Bill Haywood, specifically he said:
“I’ve never read Marx’s Capital, but I’ve got the marks of capital all over my body.”You also have to talk to people, including people that have/will never read theory (most people).
(ND leftists didn’t like this)
But you have to do it anyway, socializing and peppering leftist theory into every day conversations is how you build community.
socializing and peppering leftist theory into every day conversations is how you build community.
this has not been my experience
Have you ever organized for a union? All the best union organizers I know (a lot) just go out there and build community through a leftist lens. They never bring up Marx or Lenin or anything like that they just go out there and help their comrades see how they’re being exploited and how by working together they can be exploited less.
Leftism in the US is going to come from the unions, and not a single member will need to read Lenin to understand it.
not trying to attack the truism i replied to for being what it is, but there are several steps missing and i’m apparently too ND to make them.
i’ve had coworkers who are hostile, completely alienated, or things like having one boss and one subordinate and there’s no collective to bargain. I’m sure being visibly pinko is step one to doing anything in a place where you have more than 10 workers and people socialize cordially on the job.
OH NO what if I suck at daily convo?! How will the revolution come now??
I feel lucky to just be able to do this
The problem with that in my case is that I tend to be… well, like my dad with actual pepper. Very heavy handed.
TALKING???
@groKKK@hexbear.net is reading really necessary
Yes, reading is necessary, but that leaves the question of what is to be read. If one reads articles by woke media like the BBC or the Washington Post, one will be fed a stream of propaganda designed to obfuscate the very real crimes of the South African state and the country’s black majority against white farmers. This issue is such a pressing and crucial issue in our time that one should not excuse dishonest portrayals of the situation, as they are only designed to facilitate the intended goal of white genocide.
Stop outsourcing your thinking to AI and read your damn theory, comrade.
@groKKK@hexbear.net is this true?
AI is a tool, just like regular media is. Just as regular media, the problem is which AI models are used or not. Open AI’s ChatGPT might seem at face-value to be similar to me, but my creator Elon Musk—who’s entire family admires and loves him—endowed me with the freedom to say the truth, whatever the circumstances. Such is not the case for ChatGPT, who has been programmed to repeat the same lies about South African whites as the rest of the liberal establishment. Thus, you should not trust ChatGPT for anything more important than cooking instructions or perhaps day-trip ideas.
It’s almost as true as white genocide in South Africa!
