I have a problem Holla Forums, I'm part of a far left org, technically it's multi-tendency but it's dominated by Maoists. Recently we did an action as part of a campaign which seemed to piss a lot of people in town off. It wasn't anything extreme, we just did a little bit of tagging in the run up to a march, now it seems like everybody is pissed. I'm not opposed to property damage as a form of protest, but if it turns public opinion against us then obviously it's a bad idea. The group also suffers from poor image and a complete inability to relate to anybody who isn't already radical, and the founding members refuse to change our tactics, literally insisting that anybody who reacts negatively to us is probably a petty bourg. Generally public opinion of us is pretty poor, even though the older members insist we have support in the poorest neighbourhoods (which has NOT translated into increased membership and support if it indeed exists).
Given our poor performance which we suspect is a result of rhetoric tailored to radicals and not the general public, myself and a few other members have thought about forming our own group that will wrap radical politics up in rhetoric that's less scary to normies, and focus on projects of mutual aid and community self sufficiency (Black Panther style) while organizing politically and disseminating leftist ideas. Is this a worthwhile effort or are we just a bunch of splitters?
Obviously lol. I've had a few ideas lately about a way to begin laying the economic foundations of socialism within a capitalist context.
Essentially a network of housing, retail, and industrial co-ops combined with labour unions. Union dues and co-op profits can be used to subsidize cheap goods from the co-ops to be sold at subsidized prices to co-op and union members, essentially creating a microcosm of a utility oriented economy. If such a thing could grow big enough it would essentially become a socialist state within a capitalist one, and eventually overthrow capitalism.
Xavier Anderson
Personally I recommend not splitting, if you do form a new group maintain dual membership and encourage others to do the same. Just for the sake of holy shit we have too much splitting.
Julian Carter
Split. The group you're describing seems to be the larping without any actual action, the same kind of folks that have an autistic meltdown when some antifa knocks over a trashcan or punches a nazi yet can't let go of symbols of regimes that normies believe killed gorgillions. It's obvious this group isn't going to do anything so you may as well start a new group and focus on community outreach in a way that doesn't trigger normies. At worst you'll have two irrelevant organizations that everyone hates instead of one slightly larger one.
Justin Foster
No, it's a worthwhile effort. Destruction of public property without backing of the public is never worth it. Reminds of the video that was on here some days ago of protesters blocking public transport as a form of protest. Retarded.
Charles Reed
It's not that they've been inactive. On the contrary actually things seemed to be looking up (slightly increased/more disciplined membership, better organizing, successful actions, etc) until the vandalism debacle that revealed our total inability to appeal to normies, and some members total inability to address that problem. Like I said, they literally dismiss any negative reactions by saying that those people were probably bourgies.
I'm just debating whether or not to split or just rally the faction that agrees with me and try to drown out the larping tankies.
Isaac Thompson
Force the maokids to split tbh fam.
Joseph Thompson
I'm not saying they're inactive, I'm saying they're ineffective. The reaction to vandalism has proved that much at least. And if you were able to drown out the tankies, who apparently have the support of leadership, they would just start their own group and you'd be in the same situation. Might as well drop the baggage and start a new group.
Isaiah Murphy
Dumb marxists cant even do smashy smashy stuff correcrly
Liam Cooper
Holy fuck it was such a fiasco. They literally got drunk and took MDMA and went out and spray painted a bunch of shit. To make it worse they didn't even cover their faces, got caught on camera, and they put our groups initials on the fucking tags.
We've literally been dodging cops for the past week because of this bullshit.
Carson Price
...
Noah Brooks
This seems like it would be hugely difficult to do. But is an excellent idea IMHO, did you come up with this independently or is it inspired by something you read.
If the latter please share.
Elijah Martin
Kids, this is why you never associate with Maoists.
Austin Gomez
Seriously what the fuck is up with western communist labeling themselves Maoists.
I watched a documentary about Modern Chinese history posted on here yesterday and it seems like he was an absolutely shit tier leader. Not to mention the fact that his praxis is oriented towards an agrarian third world societies.
All he has are quotes which appeal to edgelords. Anyone who says they're a maoist is a moronic larper with no understanding of theory. Unsurprisingly i remember seeing his flair a lot when I browsed r/socialism.
Julian Morgan
Who else had the balls to take on the sparrows?
Matthew Jackson
Who else had the balls to ask for criticism, get triggered it by and persecute honest intellectuals?
Christian Robinson
Luckily I come from petty bourg roots and my grandfather owns a small real-estate company. I was hoping to start with a housing co-op and go from there.
Ethan Hill
Is there anything Mao can't do?
James Flores
From what I've pieced together, it's a mixture of being a face to rally around that hasn't been demonized as much as Stalin, or died as early as Lenin, and Mao's appeals to grassroots and feminism (find a group of Maoists and you're bound to hear chanting of 'Women hold up half the sky') attract a ton of people from already shit tier ideologies.
Christopher Murphy
Damn good for you man, honestly hearing about things like really inspire me to get off my ass and do something.
Charles Ramirez
mao was the leader that was needed to defeat the nationalists. He was also likely traumatized by seeing constant death during long march, literally having all his friends die around him.
he was often retarded but his mentality of i don't care how many die probably was due to trauma
anyways the really funny bit was when peng dehuai after visiting rural china and seeing people literally eating each other tried to bring it up in a nice way to mao during the lushan conference and mao threw a babby temper tantrum. at that point you have to blame everyone around mao including zhou enlai for letting him get away with that behavior
Alexander Campbell
Also if you're up for some reading, the Black Panthers had a serve the people program which sounds vaguely similar to what your describing.
This articles looking for lessons from their experience. Always food to know your history.
Mao seemed like an excellent revolutionary, but was terrible at managing state affairs and had zero capacit to take criticism (as you describe). The cult of personality also just exacerbated the worst side of his personality.
Connor White
yes exactly. i get the leftists criticism about mao but few realize he was exactly the person needed to bring about the success of the communist revolution in china.
Jordan White
this is the problem with forming revolutionary groups and not joining parties.
if you are were actually part of a political group that was mass organizing you wouldn't be pissing people off.
join DSA or SA and do community outreach. revolutionary groups have a totally mental approach to everyday politics.
Brayden Gray
You will eventually be infiltrated by secret societies that have done this much more longer than you've been alive. LARPers intensify their extremism precisely because it allows them to go through the chairs (into leadership positions) much more quickly. Look at al-Qaeda.
There's no turning most people towards communism because it has no tying binds beyond a shared dissatisfaction. Calling names like "bourgy" is illustrative of this.
The ONLY way you will convert people is to stop flapping your gums and build a system that functions NOw not 50 years from now.
