Recently I posted a pretty harmless meme in my DSA chapter’s Discord (see image). It was in response to South Korea’s recent spate of Fascism.
In response I had comrades jump down my throat, attacking me for critical support of AES states like DPRK and China. According to these comrades “there is no real Socialist nation.”
As tempting as it is to quit DSA I think I should stay and try to educate.
Comrades also jumped on me for a comment I made months ago in response to some right wing BS where I said “maybe Democracy isn’t always a great idea”. The point I was trying to make was that Trans rights and other basic freedoms should never be put up to a popularity contest… I’m ok with a state that defends these rights and doesn’t allow a reactionary majority to vote them away!
During this thread, people brought up multiple times that DPRK isn’t Democratic because the Kim’s have always been the figurehead, China isn’t Democratic because “reasons” (racism), China lies about their suicide rates to WHO, etc.
Frustrating. I’ll post more details in the comments.
My question: What constitutes a “real” Democracy? Is it leadership changing hands every few years? We don’t have that in the U.S. Is it secret ballots? All the nationa above have that. Is it that the people’s votes and voices actually change the government actions? We saw this in China unfortunately when people demanded ending the COVID lock downs early. It was the wrong thing to do but done for the right reason.
And is there any hope for these people in my chapter? One of them was basically racist against Chinese people and they seem very set in this “not real Socialism” mindset.
I thought of DSA as a “big tent” but for the Left. NGL It’s tempting to leave but I also want to organize 🤷♂️
Just gotta hope the people who aren’t chiming in read the links and see where I’m coming from.
Organizing with demsocs is better than doing nothing IMO. I had it out with members of the previous chapter of the DSA I was in a couple of times, but I don’t regret my time there because we did important work with our city’s homeless and poor.
Same, bro. Same. When I joined my chapter when it existed, I was a bit intimidated by the fact that there might be actual Marxists, since at the time, I thought I was a baby socialist. But I found out real quick that I was substantially further left than most of them. I guess I can’t fault them because they were genuine focused on local issues, which is noble.
Look into the DSA’s Marxist Unity Group(MUG). It’s an internal Marxist committee that seemed promising when I was lurking.
I’d say don’t be directly combative if you can avoid it, and just keep being correct and also “normal”. Most people will catch on but it may take many months (or a few years…)