That's right, the praxis thread is back, y'all!
Educated some friends? Shoveled a neighbor's driveway? Read theory? Helped a baby leftist friend dunk on the libs in an argument? Did volunteer work? Lets hear about it! Maybe it'll inspire others to get involved too! :)
Oh, I just posted this in c/marxism but this thread seems like a better fit:
A year ago I had the opportunity to give a 30 minute presentation on something of my choice to my housemates (a couple dozen people). I decided to do a brief explanation of Marx’s view of capitalism. Mostly I just ran through Capital but I also talked about how Marx’s observations are all still true, his predictions have been proved right, and his theories are still relevant today. Also a bit on how trying to solve the problem of automation without Marxism is a fools errand. It was pretty dense and boring, but today someone who was there told me that my mini-lecture convinced her to read a bunch of theory and she’s a Marxist now. So it had an effect on one person at least.
I wish someone had given me a somewhat formal explanation of Marxism. The only real communist I had heard about was Stalin, but he was the evil dictator, of course.
I have libs who love telling me that Marx was technically wrong because the revolution happened in Russia instead of Germany.
Marx was also wrong because he didn't predict that un-stoppable climate change would lead to the extinction of humanity but he was just some drunk in the 1860s, not a prophet of god, so I'd say he did okay.
No, see, "product of their time" reasoning only applies to people I agree with like our slave-owning founding fathers, not filthy reds!
Yo, you still have that presentation? Maybe I could help convince some of my lib friends thru it
I still have the slideshow but it's kinda just bunch of quotes and stock photos. my notes were on index cards unfortunately
Honestly anything is appreciated, even if you can't get pictures of the index cards anymore. I could really use the guidance
I’m sorry but this username....... please explain or simply face the wall
what do you mean my grey wolves enjoyer tag is weird i just like grey wolves
What, you don't like justice and development? everyone likes justice and development. only better party is iyi party
Not sure if this is praxis but I finally joined the DSA. HOWEVER, because I know the DSA is lib I joined my local marxist chapter of it as well. I’ve done organizing working for AOC and her campaigns before and I’m ready to kick shit up to the next level here. I’m so fucking hype about it. I know electoralism is bullshit but I swear one day I’m going to use what little power we do have and reclaim this government for the people I intend on representing. I want to hold office as an openly communist politician and send a fucking message. I’m so excited by the success of my local DSA getting working class men and women elected, I promise you all I’m going to do everything in my power to become one of them and hold onto my leftist values.
I got connected to my local Lib Soc chapter but haven’t done any work yet. They do a lot of mutual aid and I got get on that.
You can also start your own shot if you get enough people apparently so it doesn’t have to stay libsoc if you are good at recruiting 👀
No, I won’t because I already know the problems brought about by neoliberalism can not be solved through electoralism when the bourgeoisie own both the government and the businesses
It’s not meaningless word salad lol I’m literally telling you that these problems can not simply be voted or legislated away. That’s what we always mean when we talk about electoralism
But my local DSA chapter does a ton of mutual aid, helping people join unions, organizing protests constantly, running union members for political positions on pro-worker platforms, etc. These are all things that potentially improve material conditions and at the same time even if they are largely lib, opens more people up to the left
Because the original comment you’re responding to directly references me holding office.
Regardless, you sound like an absolutely huge downer. You’re going to have to accept that not every movement is perfect and as long as it’s not actively hurting the socialist movement, which the DSA and mutual aid does not, it’s a good thing.
You’re not even a member yet you make all of these big claims about how terrible they are, about how you know for a fact the marxists are lib lol, how they’re rebranded democrats despite the dem establishment always endorsing the DSA endorsed candidate’s challenger.
You sound like the kind of person who says shit about how demsoc is awful but you still would’ve voted for Bernie. Get over yourself.
Don't let them get you down! Your ambition and drive for change are inspirational! 😍🥺
Which socialist org are you organizing and working with? Here's all the marxist caucuses and groups that I know of in DSA.
https://communistcaucus.com
https://reformandrevolution.org
https://breadandrosesdsa.org
https://classunity.org/
https://twitter.com/revpower_dsa
https://dsaemerge.org
https://redstarsf.org
https://redcaucus.org
So you're just going to sit around and wait for someone else to come along and do the work or what? How do you think those groups were formed, just overnight suddenly? Are you part of any org? Do you do any organizing? DSA does a ton of labor organizing, tenant organizing, mutual aid, racial justice and environmental activism, anti war and anti imperialist campaigns, socialist education, etc. not just electoral work, and even in the electoral work its usually tied with community organizing. Having to have this dumb argument online with people on this site is haram, log off
Opposide:
But my local DSA chapter does a ton of mutual aid, helping people join unions, organizing protests constantly, running union members for political positions on pro-worker platforms, etc. These are all things that potentially improve material conditions and at the same time even if they are largely lib, opens more people up to the left
You:
My point is that the DSA is a waste of time at this moment.
Sounds like they're making pretty damn good use of their time, if you ask me. 🧐
My chapter fed hundreds of people during the shutdown, my dude. Shut the fuck up unless you can do more.
correct me if I am wrong, but dont they make it clear the D in DSA doesn't stand for the same D in DNC?
I attended my first PSL Zoom meeting yesterday and absolutely crushed it. I feel I made solid contributions to group discussion, went try hard and quoted Michael Parenti, spoke with the same level of confidence I do here, and had dope takes. I was very anxious going into it, but I pushed through and rose above even my own expectations for myself - and I looked cute as fuck doing it with eye shadow that I'd never worn in front of other people before. 😎
I also got my best friend and her boyfriend to watch Capital In The 21st Century with me and answered any questions she had throughout the movie. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd I started looking into study guides for The State and Revolution to complete as I go through it.
No that's cumming it is counter revolutionary since Bernard was defeated.
Not much but managed to get 12 people to join DSA since the membership drive started Oct 1st. The drive ended yesterday with 13,000 new members.
Helped my nephew get of the street last week after he had gone Midnight Cowboy in Idaho for a few months.
19 year old kid is scared shitless right now at his sisters waiting for a STD battery to come back. Shooting junk on the street is very much not a good idea.
I sold a bunch of drugs and guns to narcoterrorists then gave the proceeds to a right wing central american... Shit, wait, shit, this isn't my sockpuppet account oh jeez!
Actual answer is I stole a book by Angela Davis (digital piracy no local zine shops were harmed) and I'ma read it and try to apply what I learn to my community.
Me too and I'm glad we've built something here that makes you feel that way! :heart-sickle:
She lives in one of the units and has a real job. As far as landlords that's about as innocent as you can get. Definitely praxis, the bank is by far more evil.
You helped a fellow prole in dire straits who happened to have property through family ties, and rents it out of need.
Definitely praxis. You went above and beyond, comrade :chavez-salute: Poud of you
you did praxis, you a proletariat united with a petit bourgeoisie your family friend, against the oppresion of the international bourgeoisie the bank, you did a maoism :chairman:
Today I was out in the park and a drunk guy came up and asked if I could help him get to LOCATION via bus. I spent 15 minutes looking up where the place is and figuring out a bus route for him. He wished me the best and said he hopes I grow huge fucking titties. True story.
What's the word on swords? They're really, really, really effective at killing people if you're reasonably fit and do a little practice every day. They're often highly regulated because the law remembers how good they are at killing but the living have forgotten.
maybe it would work one time against some riot cops, but aside LARPing it isn't useful as a sword could be as expensive as a shotgun or a pistol, so it isn't practical imo
Battleaxes are cheaper, easier to use for casual fighters and just as deadly.
Swords were always the weapon of the aristocracy. Fuck swords.
Look, we all love birds, lizards and other small creatures but I'm not convinced that catricide is praxis.
actually the lizards here are invasive, so the cats are a net benefit
This is because you don't understand E C O L O G Y we need to wipe out every last one of the furry little bastards, both to protect birds and so that native species will be able to re-enter the niche feral domestic cats have taken over. Nature is indifferent and uncaring, woe betide those who attribute motherly attributes.
That's 1000 times more cats than grams than there are on planet earth. Great job on killing the weighless cats!
Almost all dark matter is made up of cats killing billions of photino birds every year.
Might be a good place to use anarchist theory, actually, since with anarchism a power vacuum makes the difference between an anarchist society and a failed state. Even if you lean more ML, the way that a communist society would function after the withering away of the state would probably look similar enough for this to provide useful insight.
Mutual Aid (the book) probably has everything you need. A power vacuum would essentially be unfulfilled functions normally undertaken by a government, and you'd have to make sure the community as a whole takes on all of those functions so the power vacuum is filled and nobody can step in to exploit it. Like, look at Cherán in Mexico. They got rid of government and police involvement in their community. They also didn't leave a power vacuum, because they took over those functions themselves, and kept the people involved in the process through direct democracy. Moreover, they are doing a better job than the government or police ever did, and have stopped the cartels from illegally logging.
