Constantly trying to thread the needle of "my target audience is not other communists but "vibes based" leftists, punks, skaters, goths, etc.
Yet I am definitely not afraid to speak my mind, to be openly and unapologetically political. Yet I fear this will only end up alienating more than it will agitate or educate. We lack time, we lack will, so we need space, we can't build will without space. Space means culture, culture has been entirely co-opted by the system, thus you need to create a line of flight to the space (Deleuze), we can do this by working towards deterritorizing the "underground" (counter culture). In this way the 'brand' super structure itself can be detourned, re-worked into a rhizome, ergo "HOUDINI".
But thats all pretty heavy shit and I worry that the openly political nature of the detournément will alienate before the rhizome can grow. For example someone I consider to be one of the most important voices in the gaming space as it relates to the medium as an art form, that person offered to write some articles for the brand, to grow the rhizome so to speak.
This person is not openly political and I wonder to myself, does he not see the level of political discourse I attempt to engage in? If not, will learning of that push him away, limiting the growth and shrinking the space, thereby lowering the will?
I think this is a very misguided approach to communist politics. I'm not saying that you should not be tactful when approaching people to talk politics but there is a reason why Marx said "the Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims". We should be open about what our views are while at the same time meeting people where they are at and not treating them condescendingly.
That's not to say that you can't lie to bourgeois authorities to protect yourself and your comrades, but when your first instinct is to start by tricking regular everyday people that you are hoping to convince over to your side that shows that you don't respect them enough to trust them to make their own judgements when faced with an honest explanation of your ideological position and your world view. It is condescending and elitist.
That kind of tactic of deception suits fascists (they are the ones who popularized the "hiding your power level" meme) but it is completely contrary to what we as communists believe about the masses and their revolutionary potential. Of course you should not come right out of the gate with the most aggressive rhetoric possible that would have you come off as unhinged, violent, bloodthirsty, etc., but you also should not lie to someone if your intention is for them to eventually join your cause.
I will repeat this because it's so important: always strive to meet people where they are at. Ascertain their current views and their material situation and work from there. Above all be humble and know when to listen, don't just preach. And don't look down on people because they can tell when you do that.
Less about deception and more about toning down the more aggressive political stuff ie actual calls for armed revolution or more aggressive meme, not posting these isn't deception, but at attempt to, like you said, meet people where they are.
Like you can go on my site and most of the articles are about Palestine, I've called for a revolution, etc.
Have you ever read those Maoist video game reviews from the early 2000s? They are very off-putting and would probably only serve to alienate non-Maoist individuals from the movement. (Something Maoists love to do, but I get it)
While I'm not saying I want to deceive people, I am saying that in order to build space (and thus will) you need to control the spectacle, engage and meet people where they are, and not be off putting about it. Its those things I worry I struggle with.
On the whole i agree with that. I think that is also what I tried to express in my comment when i said you should be tactful, not come off as irrationally aggressive, and meet people where they are at (on their path to radicalization). I don't see this as hiding anything but as knowing how to be diplomatic and how to effectively reach people.
Well, I don't want anyone to think that my goal is to deceive anybody. That's not what I mean by, quote-unquote, high on your power level. It's more or less... The things that I believe in are probably more extremist than even some of the people on the server, or whatever it's called. So, how are you going to try to appeal to people who are... who don't know anything about politics at all, are not politically active, are not politically minded, but they do know that they like a certain kind of music. And sure, the music has been co-opted almost entirely by capitalism, with milquetoast non-political rebellion. But at the same time, why are those people attracted to that rebellious image, that gutter-punk image? It's because the system's fucked. At the end of the day, you can neoliberalize it. You can take all the rappers and all the punk bands and make them apolitical, and they just stand for being a rebel, for being a rebellion's sake. But it doesn't change the way that people feel. The problem is, if I come at it, and I go, hey, we should throw acid on transphobes, people are going to look at me like I'm fucking crazy. Even if I really do believe that, you see what I'm saying? To me, it's trying to appeal to the person who is apolitical, who is, I don't have a political belief, but also is someone who's already kind of pliable to the left. I make no qualms about the fact that I'm a communist, and I have no problem telling people that, but I don't want people to think that communism is some crazy, repressive, fucking malice cult or something. That's why I don't tell people I'm a malice, despite fully believing that a PPW is absolutely required to dismantle the settler state, most other ppl don"t.
Well you shouldn't be advocating for throwing acid on transphobes anyway because that doesn't solve the problem, we learned about the ineffectiveness of individual acts of violence from the failure of 19th century anarchist tactics. What is needed is collective and organized action by the working masses and their vanguard. It also doesn't make much sense to talk of PPW in the current conditions in the imperial core (yet), and we always have to be careful to not fall into adventurist tendencies.
In that sense it is correct to not talk about these things with the people you are trying to persuade because these are not the tasks that we are facing at present or in the immediate future. You should focus on making sure that they can begin to develop an understanding of the problem which is capitalism itself and the system of exploitation that is built up around it and which leads to the steady deterioration of the conditions of the working class.
Then you should introduce them to the idea that solutions do exist that involve the social and economic reorganization of society and that one doesn't need to simply continue to accept this status quo as immutable. Only once you understand the problem and understand the solution that you are aiming toward can you begin to discuss the variety of methods that can be employed in the struggle to get there, and more importantly learn to identify which circumstances are appropriate for which methods of struggle.
We know that time plus space equals will, but the problem is, I mean, just on the barest minimum, there's an act of genocide going on and climate change. We lack the time to build the space, to build the will. And this is a fundamental issue, because when you lack the time, then you start thinking rash. You start thinking, well, how can we rapidly establish certain things and leapfrog to certain things? And like you said, that just becomes, that's a slippery slope to adventurism. Adventurism should be avoided at it all costs, because ultimately, I think adventurism is detrimental to the movement.
That isn't to say that certain tactics can't be powerful. In the moment. I would consider what Aaron did to be propaganda of the deed, which makes sense. He was an anarchist, so that's going to be his root philosophy. And I think that what he did was a very powerful propaganda win. We've seen people resign from the State Department and mention his name specifically because they don't want to be part of this genocide. So I think it's all about threading that needle. Because we can't all do what Aaron did, because then there would be nothing left. You see what I'm saying? We have to just take a bigger picture approach, I guess. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head.
The problem is, fundamentally, we don't have a vanguard party. At least in the U.S. It's all feds. It's feds all the way down, all the way up. So you have to think, you know, you could do good work in those organizations because the people at the lower levels aren't feds, but at the end of the day, what those organizations advocate for, they're not going to deliver us the type of change we need. So then it becomes, okay, if you want to start a vanguard party, how do you go about doing that? Because it has to be a movement of the people, led by the people. You can't lead the people for the movement. You see what I'm saying?