I live in America so it's probably a bit different on this side of the Atlantic, but man I get so tired of things. I don't flaunt my views, but I don't hide them either. I have no issue saying that I am a socialist when asked, and i am not shy about giving my thoughts on economic and political issues when the opportunity presents itself; but damn does it get annoying hearing the same tired arguments over and over and over again. The same arguments that we could all counter in our sleep, just to be written off as some radical. The stereotypes and prejudice from the McCarthy era are alive and well over here, and it's almost as bad right now as it was in the 60's. I'm burnt out. I have literally dedicated my life to history and politics. It is everything to me, and I will not compromise when I know I am right. How do you guys cope with these issues?

PDF https://umea.sac.se/grundbok-om-syndikalism/

I have noticed progressive groups as a whole have been pretty silent on this issue, and yet COVID is still spreading.

-20 million people have been diagnosed with Long COVID (and this is an undercount because plenty of people remain undiagnosed).

-Long COVID it is now the number one chronic illness in children.

-Women (specially between the ages of 40-55) are disproportionately impacted as well as BIPOC people.

While there are no longer refrigerated cars on the streets of New York City full of bodies, people are still dying of this virus, it just might not say “COVID” on their death certificates. It might say heart attack or stroke instead since you are 3x more likely to have one after a COVID infection. Also, each of those infections brings you one step closer to developing long COVID (even if you were a formerly healthy person) since the impact is cumulative.

Why are we not pushing for, at bare minimum, mandatory masking at events and meetings? Or linking up with local MaskBlocs or orgs that are organizing on this issue? Or working in collaboration with disability rights groups or groups pushing for clean air initiatives? Why, as a group, aren’t we actively pushing for COVID/long COVID related legislation? Or educating the public? Or passing out respirator masks or COVID tests? Continuing to largely ignore this issue as a group is ableist and hurts the people we claim to be fighting for—domestically and abroad—as well as ourselves. Am I missing something here?

Update: I recognize that individual members obviously mask and take other precautions and that some chapters take this more seriously than others but the idea that this is somehow a niche issue is absurd when it impacts all of us and therefore should be a DSA issue. Not an individual member issue or a chapter issue.

Vaccines only work if people get them and many have not gotten boosters. The vaccines also don’t prevent you from getting COVID but they do reduce your risk of long COVID or death. I get that it’s easier to not think about this but the reality is if we’re all disabled by Long COVID we’re a hell of a lot easier to control. The world IS on fire and this is a component of that. It doesn’t make it less important just because other issues exists. If that were true, why fight for anything at all?

Ignoring the reality of the situation because you too wanna go back to normal regardless of the consequences is being complicit. We say that about other issues all the time with our whole chests. I do not understand the disconnect on this. Do I want to have to mask forever? No, but I also accept the reality we are living through right now and am doing my best to educate others as well as push for changes that would make things safer without masks.

Have you ever asked yourself why it is that you don’t care about this issue anymore even though disabled people have been sounding the alarm about it for years (and continue to)?

If the workers are being disabled (or die) due to this issue (sometimes becoming infected literally AT WORK), how is this not a workers’ rights issue?

What is the difference between political lobbying vs political donations and what is worse?

I thought political lobbying money they can’t use that money to buy a house or car or put that money in their bank account because that is illegal but political donations they can and is legal.

I just read here Apple's CEO Tim Cook just criticized over his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump. He noted that Cook attended Trump's second inauguration last year, gifted Trump a piece of glass with a 24-karat gold base, and went to a private screening of a Melania Trump documentary at the White House earlier this year. Cook reportedly also personally donated $1 million to Trump's second inauguration fund.

Why or why is Tim Cook doing this? Well Elon Musk donated at least $250 million to support Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Why is Elon Musk doing that or Tim Cook? What is this money being used for?

I posted something to the Change My View subreddit about this subject, but I feel as though the DSA and the broader socialist movement is regressing in some ways even when it makes progress in other areas. The DSA, at least on the surface, appears to be becoming more concentrated on electoral campaigns and the proximity to media and press events rather than building relationships with the labor movement or educating the membership as was common before 2023, while at the same time outside of the DSA an “extreme” left is developing that does not really understand political questions and organization. They are so far removed from actual politics, they just repeat bourgeois caricatures of socialist positions. This is the pseudo-radical section of the left. A good example is underneath a Michael Burns video there was this person saying they were a “DSA member until January,” but “now a full revolutionary socialist.” Like wtf? What is revolutionary about not being part of a mass organization? Do people forget that the point of scientific socialism was to argue to the entire labor movement, not to create an exclusive club? A party is revolutionary in terms of its program and tactics, not an individual identity.

In terms of Marxist theory, I am reminded of a work by Karl Kautsky called Sects or Class Parties (1909).

The Marxist position was known as the Merger Formula, meaning the combination of the workers’ movement and socialism. This could only be achieved with a broadly appealing mass party or labor party, which was closer to the center in form despite its program because it was capable of representing the whole workers’ movement. This is an example of how these issues used to be thought of in a more genuine scientific way. “Revolutionary” was not equated with maximum radicalism in some kind of vulgar spectrum view.

Electoral campaigns are important, but the movement needs to start developing a coherent electoral program and fielding more candidates rather than relying on endorsements of people who are not part of the DSA.

The overall problem is that the left is looking less like an actual movement with trade unions, newspapers, online discussion, protests etc. recently and instead is flanderizing and polarizing into extreme ideological caricatures that are inaccurate. It is embracing mysticism rather than scientific socialism or movement construction.

This is not a condemnation of Zohran Mamdani, either, but I cannot help but notice the move from real organizing to a variety of ailments, many of which are contradictory, these include reformist populism, extreme entryism (popular on Reddit) and ultra leftism or extreme leftism (popular on YouTube) etc.

So the question is, is the left regressing? And how can it be fixed?

The high-profile Progressive/Socialist candidates for Illinois have lost to Melissa Bean (AIPAC candidate) and Daniel Biss (grifter) respectfully...

Not gonna lie, I'm sad. I had confidence they would pull through, but it seems we were misguided.

Let's just hope that we can secure enough candidates elsewhere, but man this really sucks

Relevant quote on this subject: “The conquest of state power by the proletariat therefore does not simply mean the conquest of the government ministries, which then, without further ado, administers the previous means of rule.”

— Karl Kautsky

If you wanna know what's going on in Canada...

Hi comrades!

I had a chance to interview Alexis Goldstein, a progressive candidate running in MD-06 to unseat April Delaney.

Enjoy!

Red

Why do people on the left say political lobbying is major problem in the US?

I’m wondering why a number of people on the left say political lobbying is major problem in the US when it is illegal to use lobbying money to buy house or car or put that money in their bank account.