So I am being brought to one of these No Kings marches on Saturday. Any pointers on talking to libs in a way that they will listen and get curious about Socialism?
A couple orgs will be there including PSL, but from comrades’ stories from the last two of these they don’t actually bring up Socialism during their speaking slots and talk about imperialism instead. I would like to be more explicit in tying what is happening to Capitalism and especially try to get across that Trump is just a symptom of the problem.
Idea for an ice breaker: “What do MLK, Einstein, and Jesus have in common? They all supported Socialism.”
“Trump is the symptom. Capitalism is the disease. Socialism is the cure.”
“Why do you think Florida Republicans are so scared of you learning about Socialism and Communism? And why is it they never do the same thing for Nazi ideology?”
I don’t know if you want to spec into introductory quips for this crowd, unless you have like 5 seconds with each of them, which I think would be somewhat of a misguided approach anyways here.
Part of the thing with agitating in my experience—as well as having people hear you out in general—is you don’t want to come off as an evangelist/salesman. The second someone hears you using stock lines, they tend to put their guard up or just entirely tune you out. They’ll think you’re trying to sell them a bill of goods, which people are increasingly on guard about these days, as unapologetic scams and hustles gradually take over the American ‘culture.’
To break the ice, the best thing you can do is just ask them a conversational, surface-level question that allows them to talk about their own experiences and beliefs (e.g. “so, what brings you out here?”) Let them talk about themselves, and try to be a respectful-but-active listener when they’re talking (e.g. "yeah, no, same here. I get it, yeah, he sucks. You do xyz for a living? I’ve heard a little bit about that, how’s it treating you? Yeah, gas prices are wringing me dry, it’s really bad, they said it was bad under Biden, but now, oof.) Essentially, try to be/seem genuinely interested in hearing about them as a person, and show that interest by responding to what they are sharing in a way that shows them that you view them as an equal and you are engaging with them genuinely.
If you absolutely have to steer the conversation (i.e. if it doesn’t drift where you want it to after some time), try to naturally segue into your points with an innocuous hook (e.g. “you know, we’re out here, all of us, but it’s kind of hard to feel like we’re accomplishing much with what we’re doing here in particular”) though try to employ this only after at least a few conversational turns have passed, so that you veering off into it it isn’t jarring.
It’s a similar mechanism to how people build community/network in general, the first and foremost goal should be to front your interest in connecting with them as a peer. It doesn’t even have to be a deep/long conversation to get to the points you want to get to. You can get to explicit agitation in merely a couple conversational turns. You just open with something that immediately communicates your interest in them and their personal beliefs, which makes them in turn more interested in talking to you about why you’re out here, and then you get to share about yourself and bring up some of the things you’re thinking about that would allow you to naturally bring up your critiques. Because you’ve already shown good-faith interest in them and their beliefs, they’ll be naturally more open to learning about you and your beliefs.