In the imperial core, maybe. The onanistic FIRE economy is not fertile ground for a socialist revolution along any template we have seen before (masses composed of agricultural peasants or industrialized factory workers). People, even frothing fash who have fox news pumped directly into their eyeballs for a staggering number of hours per day, are not willing to cast aside their comfort and die (or even go to prison) for a cause. It is what it is.
One interesting historical point. Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. The Russian revolution didn’t happen until 1917, thirty-six years later. The leadup to these things is long. And things in the US are very far away from the equivalent of the Tsar being assassinated.
However, we have the time constraint of climate change. The material reality will either act as a forcing function for revolution or it will not. Impossible to predict.
True. I just wish I didn’t feel so powerless sometimes. I have to work on myself, I know. Get stronger, do what I can to help orgs. It’s just hard sometimes.
One thing that helps is understanding that nearly by definition you cannot be a main character in a socialist revolution. It ain’t all waiting on you. This isn’t to say your contributions are unimportant, because without lots of people just like you doing the thing out of some faith it makes a difference nothing good will happen. But the world is not on your shoulders.
In the imperial core, maybe. The onanistic FIRE economy is not fertile ground for a socialist revolution along any template we have seen before (masses composed of agricultural peasants or industrialized factory workers). People, even frothing fash who have fox news pumped directly into their eyeballs for a staggering number of hours per day, are not willing to cast aside their comfort and die (or even go to prison) for a cause. It is what it is.
One interesting historical point. Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. The Russian revolution didn’t happen until 1917, thirty-six years later. The leadup to these things is long. And things in the US are very far away from the equivalent of the Tsar being assassinated.
However, we have the time constraint of climate change. The material reality will either act as a forcing function for revolution or it will not. Impossible to predict.
True. I just wish I didn’t feel so powerless sometimes. I have to work on myself, I know. Get stronger, do what I can to help orgs. It’s just hard sometimes.
One thing that helps is understanding that nearly by definition you cannot be a main character in a socialist revolution. It ain’t all waiting on you. This isn’t to say your contributions are unimportant, because without lots of people just like you doing the thing out of some faith it makes a difference nothing good will happen. But the world is not on your shoulders.
That does help!