You don't need to go shouting it, but if someone starts talking politics at you, fucking own it. Some coworker is like "trump sucks", say "yeah I know, I'm a communist". Your grandpa says "trump rules", say "no he sucks ass, I'm a communist". You're on a date and they ask who you're voting for? Say "I'm a communist". Cashier asks would you like change? "Yes, I am a communist".
Be open about your politics and lay claim to the title. Be a communist.
Why do they get to the be the ones shocked and appalled? They definitely know less than you and have much poorer political literacy. They react to your ideology in disgust instead of comfortably engaging with it only because their worldview is sanctioned and yours is demonized. Ignore this and then you are on equal footing; don't start from a position of the defensive outcast.
If it is a very negative reaction ask them why they don't like communism. "What do you think communism is? What does a communist believe?" Americans are really well programmed with thought-stopping ideas about communism e.g. "everyone the same" but they often lack even an rudimentary definition of it, so asking this can prompt original thinking. Or, ideally, ask them what they believe, how they think we should design society. Most won't have any sort of coherent answer to big picture questions, so you can ask about their current political concerns. This lets you know what they care about. Agree with them, amplify, explain how capitalism shits on these values and how your reorganization of society would help.
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You must always choose between subtle listening and agitation and outright embracing communism.
Once you're openly a commie, closed-minded people will shut their ears, and you lose the benefit of the doubt with intentionality when listening to someone's concerns.
Choose based on the circumstances and your own rhetorical strengths.
Many people are very intrigued by the open embrace of communism. These are my favorite targets because I can be more authentic. Plus, they're usually more willing to entertain theoretical talk. I find it easier to destroy belief in an overarching, abstract system (capitalism) than a bunch of smaller issues then have to connect them.
But understand that people do talk, so don't necessarily out yourself in an environment where listening and agitation would be more suitable.
This is all around great advice. If someone reacts with shock, disgust, or scorn, always ask them pointed questions to get a grasp on what they think words mean. Then it puts the ball back in your court where you can correct their definitions, and show that your definition is not worthy of their reaction.
Perfectly said. Asking about their ideals gives you hints on how to frame your own views to them. Rule number one should always be to find out what a person values. It should be your first goal. Once you have that, you just have to work to dislodge capitalism (and it's ideologies) from being the closest system to satisfying those ideals.
This should also be done with questions. You can dismantle someone's views by forcing them to rectify them with ideas & ideals they value more. They want to justify their beliefs, give them a challenging enough question or paradox, and they'll bend over backwards trying to mend two incompatible things, and destroy their confidence in that belief in the process.
Ex: Freedom
If someone highly values individual freedom, ask how a few people dictating what happens where people spend 8 hours a day than the people who work there making decisions together. Ask how the "freedom" to not have your Facebook posts removed is more freedom than having the financial stability to choose where you actually want to live or visit. Are you more free buying a car, spending money on fueling/maintaining it only to be stuck in traffic for hours a day or having a tiny fraction of that money withheld to build a rail system where you have another 90 minutes every day to do what you want with?
Always ask questions, express sentiment that you value their thoughts and input, and always pepper in lil "hmmm I've never thought about X from that perspective" type statements.