Cowbee

How familiar are you with leftist theory? I'm openly a Marxist-Leninist, I have an introductory reading list targeting general inquirers, but I don't know what specific questions you have so I can't give targeted recommendations.

Do you want the general list, do you have any questions about Marxism, or do you have specific interests in specific questions about theory? I'll do my best to help.

With no other information, my go-to is Blackshirts and Reds. It helps us understand what fascism is, who it serves, where it comes from, and how to banish it forever. It also explains how Communism and Fascism are mortal enemies.

In times of struggle, it becomes more important than ever to get organized and read theory.

You said you are keeping a MAGA hat to protect yourself, you aren't unclear about your intentions to do nothing. You say you want to organize, but you refuse to organize. It's all performative nonsense.

Again, I have explicitly stated that voting will not prevent fascism, we must organize against it, and you are pretending I am advocating for voting, rather than organizing. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Yes, Leftists were targeted first. That means we need to stick together and organize, not simply accept defeat and going along with the fascism.

I don't know who you think you're talking to, but I have posted what I believe others need to do in several other places. I'll post it below. I argue for getting strapped and organizing for revolution, because voting doesn't help shit. You're arguing for hiding and watching queer people, women, and POC getting thrown into the meatgrinder while you coast on privledge.

Here's what the Leftists were doing: actively fighting Hitler, hence why the Communists were the first to be killed off in Nazi Germany.

Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle.

-Vladimir Lenin

There is hope! It isn't easy, it isn't fun, but if we can know our circumstances, we can know our way out of them, and if we know our way out, we can get out.

1. Get organized. Join a Leftist org, find solidarity with fellow comrades, and protect each other. The Dems will not save you, it is up to the Workers to protect themselves. The Party for Socialism and Liberation and Freedom Road Socialist Organization both organize year round, every year, because the battle for progress is a constant struggle, not a single election. See if there is a chapter near you, or start one! Or, see if there's an org you like more near you and join it, the point is that organizing is the best thing any leftist can do.

2. Read theory. A good primer is Blackshirts and Reds. It will help contextualize what fascism is, what causes it, and how to stop it. I can offer a good introductory reading list regarding Marxism if you'd like, but this is a good starting point.

3. Aggressively combat white supremacy, misogyny, queerphobia, and other attacks on marginalized communities. Cede no ground.

4. Be more industrious, and self-sufficient. Take up gardening, home repair, tinkering. It is through practice that you elevate your problem-solving capabilities. Not only will you improve your skill at one subject, but your general problem-solving muscles get strengthened as well. Theory guides practice, which sharpens theory to be reapplied to better practice.

5. Learn self-defense. Get armed, if practical. Be ready to protect yourself and others. The Democrats will not save us, we must save each other.

6. Be persistent. If you feel like a single water driplet against a mountain, think of the Grand Canyon. Oh, how our efforts pile up! With consistency, every rock, boulder, even mountain, can be drilled through with nothing but steady and persistent water droplets.

This is an utterly contradictory stance to hold. If we do not organize, and can only do so in person, then that means you will NOT have the largest strike in US history. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Secondly, these orgs have internal organization networks, they don't communicate or organize on Social Media beyond recruiting.

Thirdly, it is wildly privledged to sacrifice people as a white man just because you will not personally be effected, even going to the length of signaling support for Trump. This directly harms queer people, POC, women, and more, and they will not organize with you if you are willing to watch them get attacked. Cede no ground, use your privledge to protect others, not watch them suffer.

You desparately need to read theory and get organized, just like I called for.

The scales are heavily tipped in Capital's favor, not necessarily the Republicans alone.

That's not the problem with Capitalism, the problem with Capitalism is that decentralized markets through competition result in monopolist syndicates. The endpoint is one single, centrally planned monopoly, at which point public ownership and central planning along democratic lines is critical. We don't have to wait for that point, but Capitalism cannot last beyond it.

Nah, I am directly advocating building Dual Power along Marxist lines. I am a Marxist-Leninist.

Are you asking how do we organize for revolution? How do we conduct it? How do we know it's fairly inevitable, and needs to be prepared for? All have different readings I can recommend, and questions I can answer.

One thing I do think is just fantasy is the idea that if "enough people" voted we could have all the things you listed. People don't pick policy, politicians do, and the politicians we are allowed to pick from are intentionally limited to pro-status quo individuals.

Secondly, you make a critical misunderstanding of fascism. Fascism is Capitalism in decay, it can't be voted out. It isn't an ideology to adopt, but something that rises with deterioration of Capitalism and Imperialism. I recommend reading at least the first chapter of Blackshirts and Reds to truly understand what fascism is, who it serves, why it rises, and how to banish it forever.

I realize getting people to participate is the harder problem than just saying an ideology will solve everything, but that’s the world we live in.

I am not saying "an ideology will solve everything." I am saying that voting is ineffective at protecting working class interests, and explaining why that is. I am additionally telling you what is necessary instead of hoping voting will fix anything, as we just saw, voting failed. I am sorry, I know that voting is easier than building up Dual Power, organizing, reading theory, correctly analyzing the working class movements, educating the masses, and more, but I maintain that this is the path forward.

Any realistic plan for revolution must at least include voting as long as voting is still an effective part of progress.

See, voting evidently isn't an effective part of progress, which is why I recommended the two most famous and revered works on the question of reform or revolution. Participation in bourgeois elections is good, but won't be anywhere close to the main path of success, it is a supplemental part of the whole.

"Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement."

• Vladimir Lenin, What is to be Done?

Both are revolutionary parties, they have the same stance Marx and Engels did:

that workers’ candidates are nominated everywhere in opposition to bourgeois-democratic candidates. As far as possible they should be League members and their election should be pursued by all possible means. Even where there is no prospect of achieving their election the workers must put up their own candidates to preserve their independence, to gauge their own strength and to bring their revolutionary position and party standpoint to public attention. They must not be led astray by the empty phrases of the democrats, who will maintain that the workers’ candidates will split the democratic party and offer the forces of reaction the chance of victory. All such talk means, in the final analysis, that the proletariat is to be swindled.

Straight from Marx and Engels themselves.

The US' First Past the Post climate will never leave without struggle and resistance, both parties cement it because they benefit from it. Revolution is necessary. Voting can't get us there. I recommend reading Reform or Revolution and The State and Revolution for why reform is pretty much impossible and revolution is necessary.

The two biggest ways are to get organized, like joining The Party for Socialism and Liberation or Freedom Road Socialist Organization, or an org more local to you or better aligns with your views. The other biggest part is reading theory! A good primer is Blackshirts and Reds. It will help contextualize what fascism is, what causes it, and how to stop it. I can offer a good introductory reading list regarding Marxism if you'd like, but this is a good starting point.

I made a longer, 6 point list of what is to be done, but these are the most important bullet points.

Revolutionary optimisim is one of the key aspects of being a Marxist.

Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle.

-Vladimir Lenin