Hopelessness in Seeing Change and Lacking Confidence

In my current situation, I actually want to join and commit to political activism. However, I feel as though that there could actually be no hope of making or starting change due to the cynicism of some people that I know offline.

Despite this occasional and temporary demotivation, I am actually very outraged at the state that Detroit and even America as a whole is in along with the exploitative and degenerate nature of capitalism, and my conscience cries for me to take action. However, I am currently too busy getting my own life back on track since my six-month depression to actually sate my urge to fight. A feeling that I must do something resonates within me.

In addition, I have this damnable fear to express my political views due to a further fear of having myself be ostracized by my peers and family alike or even people in general. I don't even know where to start when it comes to introducing one to radical political views such as those that I espouse. How do I jump over the barrier between myself or a small group of like-minded peers and everyone else? And, when should I start expressing my views whenever I enter into a discussion about politics?

Uberak wrote:In my current situation, I actually want to join and commit to political activism. However, I feel as though that there could actually be no hope of making or starting change due to the cynicism of some people that I know offline.

The cynicism of the masses is perfectly understandable given how atomized and alienated society has become, and how pervasive false consciousness is. That is why materialism is crucial to socialist analysis. Were we, as activists, entirely dependent upon convincing people of the ethical and economic superiority of socialism, we'd undoubtedly fail—for, as Karl Marx said, "the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas." Fundamental change cannot occur until the present system suffers a significant legitimation crisis, e.g., by more severe economic crises and/or the increasing immiseration of the working class. Those events provide activists with the opportunity (sometimes referred to as a 'Gramscian moment') to present their ideas to a relatively receptive audience as a consequence of the ruling ideology being discredited in the public's eye. However, since the left has largely discredited itself due to its adoption of identity politics, defense of mass immigration, and promotion of cosmopolitanism in recent decades, it is the fascists and other elements of the far right who generally fare better in such instances.

Despite this occasional and temporary demotivation, I am actually very outraged at the state that Detroit and even America as a whole is in along with the exploitative and degenerate nature of capitalism, and my conscience cries for me to take action. However, I am currently too busy getting my own life back on track since my six-month depression to actually sate my urge to fight. A feeling that I must do something resonates within me.

We all have personal matters that require attending to at times, so you shouldn't feel guilty if they happen to take priority over your involvement in political matters. Establishing institutions capable of facilitating revolution is a slow, arduous task as it is—especially in the United States—so your absence from the process every so often isn't that detrimental.

In addition, I have this damnable fear to express my political views due to a further fear of having myself be ostracized by my peers and family alike or even people in general. I don't even know where to start when it comes to introducing one to radical political views such as those that I espouse. How do I jump over the barrier between myself or a small group of like-minded peers and everyone else? And, when should I start expressing my views whenever I enter into a discussion about politics?

People are vaguely aware that something is amiss in society today, but bourgeois ideology still prevails in terms of economic thinking. But if Mikhail Bakunin's hypothesis was correct, i.e., that humanity possesses an "instinct for freedom," when those aforementioned Gramscian moments surface, we can attract workers to socialism by highlighting the greater autonomy they would exercise in a cooperative commonwealth. Mankind also has a sense of fairness which is at odds with the exploitative nature of bourgeois social relations, so we mustn't neglect that dimension as well, when the opportunity arises. First and foremost, however, must be that socialism can provide them with the economic security and stability capitalism never could.

As for the best method to utilize when introducing your political philosophy to friends, family, co-workers, and the public in general, it varies with circumstance. The most important factor is to get a clear sense of where the individual you're conversing with stands on issues of economic import. If they seem relatively conservative, figure out why they are and modify your presentation accordingly. Do likewise if they're liberal. If you provide me with a concrete example, I can describe how I would approach the situation.

I agree with Uberak that for the majority of the working class passivity is the standard practical response to the current crisis. Instead of a wave of strikes we get workers turning on other workers who are in a worse situation than what they are. One of the components of this scapegoating is the large scale levels of immigration which drives down wages and conditions. Now while I say that these immigrant workers should be organised alongside their British counterparts to fight their exploitation there has to be a cap on immigration.

The economic situation will eventually push workers into a fightback and what revolutionaries do now will be vitally important to ensure that the pseudo socialists with their mistaken cosmopolitan ideas don't sidetrack this fightback which has to be based on a national programme of regeneration of society.

Dave55 wrote:I agree with Uberak that for the majority of the working class passivity is the standard practical response to the current crisis. Instead of a wave of strikes we get workers turning on other workers who are in a worse situation than what they are. One of the components of this scapegoating is the large scale levels of immigration which drives down wages and conditions. Now while I say that these immigrant workers should be organised alongside their British counterparts to fight their exploitation there has to be a cap on immigration.

The economic situation will eventually push workers into a fightback and what revolutionaries do now will be vitally important to ensure that the pseudo socialists with their mistaken cosmopolitan ideas don't sidetrack this fightback which has to be based on a national programme of regeneration of society.

I agree with you, other than on the section I've highlighted. There doesn't actually have to be a cap; once socialism is implemented, any and all immigration will cease to have an effect on the levels of payment workers receive.