The stance I take with my friends, which is genuine, is to largely distance myself from capital C Communism and focus more on the most immediate policies with anticapitalist heft. You can advocate for worker power and removing healthcare from the sphere of capitalism, and people will immediately equate these acts with Stalinism. I think the tact to take isn't to defend the Holodomor or something. Just advocate for these issues in their own right, and question why these things must be linked.
It's a more libby approach than going all the way and defending broader socialist ideas, but you're not going to be pulling out Das Kapital in some casual conversation. Better to stick to the core issues, and leave the next steps for later.
This is purely for when talking to friends, however. It's important to draw from much more radical leftist projects once you've formed a leftist movement and are planning actions.
Another reason not to shy away from that history is because you will be seen as dishonest if you're not up front about it from the very start. Every American has been taught that communists are the most conniving, wretched creatures who lurk in the shadows and poison the minds of the innocent and weak with sweet lies and false promises. Your first job when you set out to dispel that picture is to be completely forthright about your motivations as well as candid about how much work and struggle is involved. You don't ever want someone to find out you are advocating for communism from someone who is not you, they'll automatically assume you were trying to deceive them.
The stance I take with my friends, which is genuine, is to largely distance myself from capital C Communism and focus more on the most immediate policies with anticapitalist heft. You can advocate for worker power and removing healthcare from the sphere of capitalism, and people will immediately equate these acts with Stalinism. I think the tact to take isn't to defend the Holodomor or something. Just advocate for these issues in their own right, and question why these things must be linked.
It's a more libby approach than going all the way and defending broader socialist ideas, but you're not going to be pulling out Das Kapital in some casual conversation. Better to stick to the core issues, and leave the next steps for later.
This is purely for when talking to friends, however. It's important to draw from much more radical leftist projects once you've formed a leftist movement and are planning actions.
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Another reason not to shy away from that history is because you will be seen as dishonest if you're not up front about it from the very start. Every American has been taught that communists are the most conniving, wretched creatures who lurk in the shadows and poison the minds of the innocent and weak with sweet lies and false promises. Your first job when you set out to dispel that picture is to be completely forthright about your motivations as well as candid about how much work and struggle is involved. You don't ever want someone to find out you are advocating for communism from someone who is not you, they'll automatically assume you were trying to deceive them.