Avoid any group that begins their political reflection with a goal (like revolution), and join those that begin from a need. Do the same, and paths will appear.
There's people who won't like me saying this, but I put a pin in the revolution talk to work on what's immediate.
Like you, I've tried local groups and found they tend to have small, disconnected local chapters and actions sometimes have questionable efficacy.
I think some of this comes from being so focused on "the revolution". I get it, groups like PSL don't want to get bogged down becoming a band-aid organization. They want to get rid of the broken system, not be a food bank in a system designed to make people hungry. I've done the reading so I understand where they're coming from here.
But then I attend meetings with groups that have about 10 regular attendees who mostly seem to tell each other to read more theory and paint a lot of banners. They get frustrated that the revolution didn't come after the latest sit-in, call each other every political science term in the book, and break off to form an even smaller, less effective group.
What I'm trying now are advocacy groups for specific causes I care about. They more often seem to include members of impacted communities and have a better idea of their needs.
Offline. Build community.
Yeah I'm aware of that part, I was looking for tips for how to find the offline people
Oh ok, I figured I'd start by volunteering in my community wherever they need help, maybe food banks? Any place you can get to know your neighbors.
Stop.
What youre saying would make a lot of sense if we were in the middle of a domestic war or complete social breakdown. That’s when you can successfully revolt. We are not in either of those situations so you can’t just jump to the group that’s gonna do the revolution and be a part of it.
Since you can’t storm the bastille, the next best thing would be to prepare for it, but that requires having some conception of what “it” is and that requires doing the work of reading and theorizing, which you said you won’t do.
So stop.
If you feel crazy and just want to be doing something, there’s a ton of anarchist groups out there that you can put infinite personal energy into for questionable gain.
You might also be a fed or an unknowing asset. This is a public website and what you are saying is public.
Revolution does not spontaneously become organized, organization needs to happen prior to revolution to turn crisis into a struggle against the system.
I'm not unwilling to read and theorize, but Capital is extremely long and dense. Expecting every member of a movement to be at that level of academia is a great way to alienate vast swaths of people and will seriously limit any real revolutionary potential. I'd rather be apart of a people's movement that includes the illiterate than strictly surround myself with intellectuals. How the fuck are we supposed to build a better world for everyone if we're unwilling to work with all types of people?
I've worked with people who read Capital annually and I can't get them to show up to an action on time or to get through it without calling a mentally ill unhoused person a reactionary.
I've worked with people who haven't skimmed the manifesto but work every week getting food for their communities.
The latter are much better to work with.
Ideal conditions would mean organizers are all super politically literate and active, but I agree with you that you can't expect every member of a movement to read stuff like this as a prerequisite to organizing. Cadre members? Of course they should read. But the fascists aren't making general members read hefty political tomes.
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