Top 10 Marxist Positions!

A better, and more helpful way for young leftists to ‘do politics’ when you are young is not through media consumption, but through actual participation in politics. In particular, a very interesting breeding ground for these experiences is school politics, where you will begin, if you can even run a successful campaign in the first place (which is a learning experience itself) how systems of power actually influence the world, like how a 'democratic institution" is actually completely at the whims of an undemocratic bureaucracy.

For example, when I was a young rad-lib in high school, I was treasurer for two years in a row, with one of the major projects that happened in our first year being the development of a subsidized after-school study program for under-performing students that would actually pay kids to be there (we could only afford 5 dollars an hour a day, but it was better than nothing). This was because most of the kids I knew that were struggling in school also had other money problems this would require not doing expensive dances, but we felt that if we could get students even a little extra time, it could potentially get us more government money for the school in general. Surprisingly, most of the student government was on board with it. After running it through a bunch of different things, we eventually were able to vote on a version of the program that would run for only one month before standardized testing. Not great, but again, better than nothing.

After the vote, we went to the administration to iron out the details with them, and they immediatly put the kai-bosh on it, killing the program in the womb and telling us we were interfering with academic programming and that it was illegal. To be fair, it might not be legal to pay kids to go to school, but we didn’t know that.

The next year we were allowed to spend a bunch of money on a huge new American flag and huge dance venue on a military base, being strictly monitored throughout our voting process. You know, things that only benefit rich kids and subsidize costs that the administration themselves should be spending.

It was one of the eye-openers for me and really started me down the path of radicalization, more so than any event that was mediated (the Iraq war etc.) in particular it taught me not to trust what I believed at the time were ‘so-called liberal administrators’. My full turn toward M-L theory and communism came after watching and participating in the Bernie campaign, but I likely would have never done that without those formative experiences in actual student politics.

Meanwhile, almost every radical anarchist kid I knew in school (we didn’t have any commies at the time), that didn’t participate in student government because it was ‘lame and pointless’ (which, ya know, fair) has become some form of hyper-online right-wing libertarian or anarcho-natoist in their thirties. It’s one of those things where I feel like because they never actually are where the rubber hits the road, their politics are almost purely reactionary, as opposed to attempting to be forward thinking, program oriented and analytical. The real ones were big in Food Not Bombs, and aren’t as online.

Scolding the kids will only get you so far. They have to have time to grow up. That being said, I do not take the political convictions of teenagers very seriously, much like I don’t take the political convictions of academics very seriously, because neither are fully engaged with the life experience of the industrial proletariat.

Even Hasan would agree with this analysis lol.

That being said, he did say in a recent stream that “you aren’t going to vote the revolution in” so I’d say he’s more then a “treatbrained streamer”.

We live in capitalism. Whatever method we use, capitalism will be involved. If someone makes money on Twitch while helpfully radicalizing more people in the right direction, I see that as a good thing. It’s definitely worked in the opposite direction to make reactionaries, and there’s no reason to give up those methods.

It’s like how electoralism won’t save us but by running and being crushed Bernie helped radicalized a lot of people. He definitely did more good doing that and introducing socialist ideas, making more future anarchists and socialists than basically every socialist I know of, than every every podcaster or reading circle I’ve seen since.

Im not talking about streamers i mean on the left in general. Before there was twitter there were 400 groups writing position papers on each others position papers and getting nothing done

Respectfully disagree with the mods decision to delete this. Equating Hasan with AOC is an ignorant statement to make due to evidence of him being far more radical than her. Thus any attempt for me to reply to their argument in good faith, I feel, is tainted from the get-go.

I’m sorry you feel that I would reply in bad faith. I don’t understand why I would come across that way and frankly it’s hurtful that you think that.

don’t bother their analysis is purely vibes based and completely uninformed. theres a huge difference between AOC stanning for kid killer kamala and Hasan literally trying to infiltrate the DNC to provide a single pro-palestinian voice on the inside, and getting kicked out for interviewing the excluded protestors and uncommmitted movement. literally just watch a single stream or video of his, he is CONSTANTLY criticizing democrats, more often than republicans. its not just some kind of ‘’‘triangulation’‘’ thing, hasan is literally doing what a journalist is supposed to do in this situation, bringing the pro palestine anti genocide message to people who would otherwise not have heard it. idk what idiot footfaults got this opinion from because it sure as shit didn’t come from actually watching hasan.

i take issue with him setting up interviews with AOC and hanging out with the Pod Jons and hugging them and doing networking

What is wrong with advocating for Palestinian emancipation with other protestors outside the DNC, inside the DNC, and with the Uncommitted movement outside the DNC, and then getting kicked out for it?

I didn’t say that was wrong. You are deliberately twisting what I said.

What I was trying to highlight is that you can’t hold that position, but then also try and be friendly with the Democratic Party enough that they give you a press pass (he claims they gave it to him by accident?!?). Like you have to acknowledge that can have a chilling effect on speech. Giving him access, there’s a strong temptation to self-censor in order to not upset the Convention organizers. They eventually they kicked him out over the slightest of criticism anyway.

So in the end, what serves the cause more? Trying to be on “good behavior” so you don’t get kicked out (and get kicked out anyway)? Or being on the outside and demonstrating and not self censoring?

then he’s stupid, and he should know better, because she was never going to do that. What she might have done, if she wanted to appeal to youth voters, is give lip service to holding Israel accountable, like Obama and Reagan other presidents have done in the past. And if she did that he would be giving her kudos and promoting her.

This level of incredulity and naivety is frustrating to deal with. You and I and Hassan should all know Democrats are never ever going to fucking stop supporting Israel. If Hassan doesn’t know that, he’s a stupid radlib. If he does, he’s a networking grifter. There’s no good world where someone smart and marxist holds out hope Kamala will become anti-imperialist randomly.

I think that there have been plenty of times before the Convention where it was made very clear that she’s not going to change direction.

I felt this way, and for me personally it was the “I’m speaking” moment where it became clear to me. That was at least a couple weeks before the Convention.