IMO, being outside of Meta (the company) space means being out of reality these days. But there are some things about socialism that would stick to the people you interact with. Like materialism: “Do you know that guy who talks a lot about you brain chemistry on instagram? So that’s materialism, trying to reduce a person to something calculable.” Something like that, you would have to adapt it to your circumstance. It’s hard, but you have to deal with it. It’s the people you care about or at least that you are obliged to deal with. Be smart about it.

i would recommend reading this red sails essay if you haven’t already. but it’s likely that you need to find someone with sympatheticish leanings (radlib or otherwise) and work on them specifically and slowly over time rather than try and fight every battle

Sadly, if you are in an environment where you are surrounded among petite bourgeoisie, labor aristocracy or their siblings, stuff like this will happen. Class and material conditions play a very important role in the defending the views that sustain our reality.

Depending on what you do, the topic and the class of the people; you can blend ML views in a very digestible manner. This is what is happening to plenty of Latam comrades(like myself) regarding US imperialism.

Focus on people that are more likely to be swayed. Radicalized workers that haven’t yet engaged with theory are best. Also focus on your own education and practice, so that you can better convey your points!

Push forward, improve your communication skills, eventually it will get through someone. Communism is rational, and each passing day it becomes clearer.

Never give up comrade but take a new approachs until you find something that works.

Ive found some limited success with having my friends and family predict what they think is going to happen and why. I then constantly repeating their claims so they cant forget and pointing out how they were predictably wrong. I mock the fuck out of them for it. Ive lost friends doing this too.

For example i had republicans and democrats alike predict that biden would pack the court, bring about universal healthcare, resign to make kamala president during his first term or that trump would fix inflation. These were all pretty obviously not gonna happen to me. Why would the bourgeoisie do any of these things? So i honed in on how stupid these predictions are and how dumb they were for not questioning the underlying assumptions that lead them tk belive these things.

I readicalized a former libertarian pretty well this way. I find anyone who isnt just team dem or team republican are easier to reach.

Its an uphill battle most people are so full of propoganda and thought terminating cliches that it feels impossible to get to them. The cia has a head start and way more funding but they wouldnt be trying so hard to continue their propoganda if they thought they couldnt lose.

Idk comrade i hope this helps or gives you a better idea.

I had similar experiences at a Dutch uni. I was mocked, stalked, isolated, terrorised and bullied into a deep and depression (with attempts) by people who claim they are “being political”, and “progressive”. These people also defended HR-policies (at a conservative uni) like DEI, and sustainability, and slandering me as if I was against “diversity”, even though I am literally a daughter of an immigrant, am an immigrant myself and have always lived with other immigrants and have not attacked or mentioned diversity. These people were also affiliated with my former supervisor who targeted me, she and her husband are now found guilty of academic misconduct, harassment and abuse. Sadly this all had a severe impact on me derailing my studies and life as a whole. Dear OP, I think its best that you find a political party or group within your country/area, or a group of likeminded people in IRL. Isolation is what reactionary lunatics want, pls get organized for your own sanities and quality of lifes sake.

I would say, find the people who are most willing to listen and try with them first. Especially ones who are in the middle of having a grievance with the system, find ways to tie it into an explanation about why those things occur. Under some circumstances this could be manipulative (playing off of people’s upset), but from the ML standpoint, the goal is to give them real theory and practice of solutions that can help them. Don’t get lost in the weeds of thinking they all have to agree with you theoretically if they aren’t likely to put it into practice anyway. Like… wages are shit, can a labor union be formed? Dealing with obnoxious landlords, can a tenants union be formed? I know unions alone are not ML (and it’s just an example), but things like that may lead to them being more open to listening on ML theory.

Cold opening on ML talking points can be a lot, especially for somebody who is really immersed in thinking “communism bogeyman scary.” So try to meet them where they’re at first and go from there.

And in general, try not to take it personally if you struggle to get through sometimes. In my experience, sometimes there are situations where one person is simply better at connecting with another and getting them to listen. Perhaps because their minds work similarly, I’m not entirely sure. Like I am good at talking in the abstract, on concepts, but remembering specific dates and events to cite is hard. This is not so much a problem if I’m talking to someone else who is similar because they may not find the events citing stuff all that moving anyway. But if someone does more think in those tidbit “trivia” events, it may be a person who can rattle off events is going to stick with them a lot more easily. This is a very general example and it is probably going to be a lot more nuanced in most situations, but something to think about.

“As revolutionaries, we don’t have the right to say we are tired of explaining. We must never stop explaining. We know that when the people understand, they cannot help but follow us.”

— Thomas Sankara

It is a revolutionary’s job to educate people. Good thing is that we have so much blatant, undeniable evidence in the news at this very moment:

1. How come the world’s most powerful men use Gmail to openly discuss illegal and heinous things, while talking online about these same things results in censorship?

2. Why should I care about Muslims from China and simultaneously not gaf about Muslims from Palestine?

3. Why am I, as an American, more concerned with the fate of Taiwan than the fate of Puerto Rico?

Looking at these issues through a liberal, logical lens results in glaring contradictions, but looking at them through a class lens within the context of a dictatorship of capital, it all makes sense.

1. Only things that threaten capital accumulation are wrong. The state will be activated to stop wrongdoing.

2. China does not support Western hegemony, while Israel is an important part of the Empire. Therefore, the great mass of people must be against China and in support of Israel.

3. Same as #2 with the addition that Puerto Rico acts as the Empire’s reserve army of soldiers. It used to be about sugar and slaves, but times have changed. PR does continue to be a buffer zone protecting the mainland though.

I’ve had the same experience (I think a lot of us have) but you have to remember that the USA has the best propaganda in the world, and a lot of people are totally hypnotized by it. In fact, I was too. I was a chud and a lib. Nobody’s born a good comrade, we have to read and struggle. I think you’re a good comrade. Don’t give up!

Lots of wonderful advice in the thread as is typical of Lemmygrad :) Let me add my 2 cents:

1. When online, post memes with anti-capitalist, anti-fascist content. But you know, memes of the fun types. Then see who get the joke and who don’t. Those who do are more or less predisposed to listen to further ML stuff. Those who immediately attack you for the memes are based fascists, they know what you’re trying to do because that’s what THEY have been doing for 10+ years. Humour is the “plausible deniability” which gives you some room to maneuver. Add wtf, it helps a lot in bringing down emotional barriers.

2. Join an org and get to know like-minded people in person. You’ll quickly forget you are the “odd one out”. Feeding the homeless, trade unions, political party… anything goes. As soon as you see you’re fighting the good fight, your confidence will multiply a thousandfold. When they mock you for feeding the hungry, the joke’s on them. You’ll remember the smile on the hungry person’s face, you will know you stand on the right side of history. And that’s just 1 example.

Truth is that some people aren’t reachable. Save your energy for organising and those who are actually reachable.

I push back when people claim outrageous things and I get mocked in return and called a fool

effects of a life under capitalist propaganda, the fight isn’t easy

but never expected for people, family, friends to actively not take any of this seriously

again, propaganda affects everyone, your family is not inmune (sometimes not even ourselves)

Should I just accept that ML views are so radical that people don’t even want to hear them?

they’re not “so” radical in many ways, i’d say that some people would agree to most of them and they can even have ideas comparable to marxism as a solution for the current world issues, but again…propaganda makes the open use of marx and marxism pretty “icky” for common people because they were raised with stereotypes and disinfo…

-“ugh, lefties are cringe!”

-“marx? that guy didn’t run a business!”

-“class war? that’s hating successful people!”

-“maoism? he was a predator and killed a gorillion chinese people!”

-“cuba? those are terrorists who hate freedom!”

“das kapital? i don’t want to read about pronouns and how there’s lots of genders and how we should hate rich people!”

Brother, I see these comments all the time about people doing the Thanksgiving dinner embarrassment thing, and I have very little sympathy for it. If you were better educated about Marxism-Leninism, you would understand that you are proselytizing to the petit boug, and it is not in their self-interest to recognize what you’re saying is true. In all honesty, it would likely be better for you to lie to people for fun, and focus on leaving the country. We tried fixing the spiritual problem behind the mindless short-term self-interest, and it just led to westerners falling at the feet of their leaders with an even more resounding thud.

Of course, I’m not trying to say that you’re a bad person or something. All of the online lingo that you’re presented with is telling you to act the way you are. You shouldn’t listen to them.

The truth/reality is a powerful ally, but it’s really fucking slow to turn up to the fight.

You’re gonna start to get jaded about talking to people. It’s exhausting just to stand your ground.

Learn to choose your confrontations. You’ll learn to spot when someone is receptive to discussion and when it would be wasted breath.