Treat it like nuclear fallout. Everything sucks right now. So much life is going to be oppressed. But eventually it will end, and we can begin rebuilding.
my dad always taught me not to let the workings of the world affect my personal mood
even if the world is going to shit, you can carve out a little slice of life for yourself and the people you love. take care of those people, take care of what you own, do the things you’re passionate about and let God worry about the rest
and I say that as an atheist. it’s a metaphor
Plenty of great advice here, but one more thing to think about is how such a large win for Republicans can be used against them a bit in the future. They won the Presidency and have majorities in the Senate, likely the House, the Supreme Court, and governorships. They have free reign to do what they want, which is scary, but it also means that they can’t blame the Democrats for any bad things that may happen in the next 2 years until the midterms.
Any law that passes with bad outcomes is solely their fault. If the economy gets worse, it’s all on them. If the deficit increases, they are the only ones to blame. If they don’t fulfill their campaign promises, it’s because they chose not to. If there is a government shutdown, it’s because they couldn’t agree on a budget. If bills aren’t being passed, they are arguing too much. They can’t even fall back on blaming the Democrats in the Senate because they have enough votes that they could cancel the filibuster while they are in office and reinstate it before they leave.
This means that you, and everyone else, can point out anything the government does that has a negative impact and say definitively that it is entirely the fault of the Republicans. If this is done frequently enough and loud enough, there may be enough frustrated voters to change the outcome the next time around. They will definitely do things that annoy almost every voter, whether they are going too far or not far enough in their agenda, and they can’t hide that it was only them that made those decisions.
The only way out of this situation is through.
The Senate does not have a filibuster-proof majority. They could potentially end the filibuster, but given that it’s the Republicans’ favorite tactic, there’s a decent chance they might not. Especially since the less extreme Republicans can use it as an excuse to let bills they don’t like die without having to vote against the.
The House margin is likely to be thin enough that the moderate Republicans will vote down the crazies. So even if the Senate ends the filibuster, the most egregiously stupid laws should still be stoppable.
Trump still has the ability to do a lot of damage, and he probably will. But if the Republicans piss off people too quickly, they’re likely to tank in 2026, with there being a decent chance to turn both the House and Senate blue and lame duck Trump for the rest of his presidency.
It’s going to be rough, but do not abandon hope.
No point in hiding for 4 years, shits not going to be the same when you come out. The only thing we can do is get the fuck out or stay and fight. Shit’s gone get real bad if we all just hide. Pretty much what caused the issue since I feel like we all have been since Covid.
One thing I know I’m going to be doing is reading “Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next)” by Dean Spade. From the first two paragraphs of the first chapter:
Mutual aid projects expose the reality that people do not have what they need and propose that we can address this injustice together. The most famous example in the United States is the Black Panther Party’s survival programs, which ran throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including a free breakfast program, free ambulance program, free medical clinics, a service offering rides to elderly people doing errands, and a school aimed at providing a rigorous liberation curriculum to children. The Black Panther programs welcomed people into the liberation struggle by creating spaces where they could meet basic needs and build a shared analysis about the conditions they were facing. Instead of feeling ashamed about not being able to feed their kids in a culture that blames poor people, especially poor Black people, for their poverty, people attending the Panthers’ free breakfast program got food and a chance to build shared analysis about Black poverty. It broke stigma and isolation, met material needs, and got people fired up to work together for change.
Recognizing the program’s success, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover famously wrote in a 1969 memo sent to all field offices that “the BCP [Breakfast for Children Program] represents the best and most influential activity going for the BPP [Black Panther Party] and, as such, is potentially the greatest threat to efforts by authorities to neutralize the BPP and destroy what it stands for.” The night before the Chicago program was supposed to open, police broke into the church that was hosting it and urinated on all of the food. The government’s attacks on the Black Panther Party are evidence of mutual aid’s power, as is the government’s co-optation of the program: in the early 1970s the US Department of Agriculture expanded its federal free breakfast program—built on a charity, not a liberation, model—that still feeds millions of children today. The Black Panthers provided a striking vision of liberation, asserting that Black people had to defend themselves against a violent and racist government, and that they could organize to give each other what a racist society withheld.
People in your community already need help. You and your friends can start building a mutual aid network today, one that can help queer people, black people, and women in need. You can decide what kind of aid you can provide. Maybe you’re offering rides to airports to women who need to travel out of state for medical care. Perhaps you’re providing safe places and spaces for the Trans population in your area. Whatever it is, you’ll feel more connected and more in control of your community, and put out a positive influence within it.
Along the way, you should also try and educate yourself so that you can educate others.
Don’t let the bastards grind you down. Take a beat of you need it. Take it one hour at a time, one day at a time, one week at a time. You can do this.
Get active. The absolute worst thing you can do is “nothing”. You will feel so much better getting out there and doing good work with your neighbors. Looking for local mutual aid orgs in your area is a good start. If you can’t find any, start one yourself! Another commenter here goes into greater detail, but you can start very small! Or arrange some meetups around skill-sharing. You probably have a useful skill or knowledge that others could benefit from, and I’m sure there’s things you’d like to learn as well. Doing things like this builds community bonds, and strengthens us all. Don’t wallow, get involved!
I think we overrate the ability of the government to change the living conditions in a country. The government is only one factor among others, such as technology, geography, ecnomics, history, climate, and the accumulation of small choices made over decades.
Just get on with your life.
I don’t know… revel in the fact that you are living (so far) through an event that could be epoch defining? Not everybody gets a front seat to history. That’s, uh, about all I’ve got for now. Sorry.
In times of struggle, it becomes more important than ever to get organized and read theory.
Any particular theory you have in mind, if you don’t mind me asking?
How familiar are you with leftist theory? I’m openly a Marxist-Leninist, I have an introductory reading list targeting general inquirers, but I don’t know what specific questions you have so I can’t give targeted recommendations.
Do you want the general list, do you have any questions about Marxism, or do you have specific interests in specific questions about theory? I’ll do my best to help.
With no other information, my go-to is Blackshirts and Reds. It helps us understand what fascism is, who it serves, where it comes from, and how to banish it forever. It also explains how Communism and Fascism are mortal enemies.
Thanks. I’m passingly familiar with Lenin and the New Economic Policy but I’d like to better understand the key differences to Marx’s Communist theory that it had/s. Also, without wanting to be controversial, a good piece about China. Is it Marxist / Communist or not - or is it more complicated than that?
Excellent questions.
Lenin isn’t a divergence from Marxism, Lenin is an application of Marxism to the era of Imperialism, with more clear analysis of Monopolist syndicates based on empirical evidence. The NEP isn’t a divergence from Marxism. Critically, Marxists believe that Capitalism gives way to Socialism because markets coalesce into Monopolist Syndicates over time, prepping themselves for central planning and public ownership. Russia was underdeveloped, it did not have these monopolist syndicates, the NEP allowed markets under State control to exist and naturally form these syndicates. Arguably, Stalin ended the NEP too early, which is an entirely different nuanced argument.
Why Public Property? as well as Productive Forces are two excellent essays on the subject of Scientific Socialism.
The PRC is Marxist-Leninist, or more accurately Socialist with Chinese Characteristics. The PRC “traps” its private sector in a birdcage model and, following the previous statements, increases ownership as monopolist syndicates form. Half the economy is publicly owned and centrally planned, with a tenth in the cooperative sector.
Socialism Developed China, Not Capitalism is another fantastic essay on the subject.
“Without Revolutionary theory, there can be no Revolutionary Movement.”
- Vladimir Lenin, What is to be Done? | Audiobook
It’s time to read theory, comrades! As Lenin says, “Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle.” Marxism-Leninism is broken into 3 major components, as noted by Lenin in his pamphlet The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism | Audiobook:
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Dialectical and Historical Materialism
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Critique of Capitalism along the lines of Marx’s Law of Value
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Advocacy for Revolutionary Socialism
And as such, I recommend, in order:
Section I: Getting Started
- Friedrich Engels’ Principles of Communism | Audiobook
The go-to FAQ of Communism. Quick to read, and easy to reference if you ever want to clear up a misconception you see or have.
- Michael Parenti’s Blackshirts and Reds | Audiobook
Breaks down fascism and its mortal enemy, communism, and their antagonistic relationship. Understanding what fascism is, where and when it rises, why it appears, and how to banish it forever is critical. It also helps debunk common anti-Communist myths, from both the “left” and the right.
Section II: Historical and Dialectical Materialism
- Georges Politzer’s Elementary Principles of Philosophy | Audiobook
By far my favorite primer on Marxist philosophy. By understanding DiaMat first, you make it easier to understand the rest of Marxism. Marxist states have historically taught Dialectical and Historical Materialism before Political Economy for that very reason.
- Friedrich Engels’ Socialism: Utopian and Scientific | Audiobook
Further reading on DiaMat, but crucially introduces the why of Scientific Socialism, essentially explaining how Capitalism itself preps the conditions for public ownership and planning by centralizing itself into monopolist syndicates.
Section III: Political Economy
- Karl Marx’s Wage Labor and Capital as well as Wages, Price and Profit | Audiobook
Best taken as a pair, these essays simplify the most important parts of the Law of Value.
- Vladimir Lenin’s Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism | Audiobook
Absolutely crucial and the most important work for understanding the modern era and its primary contradictions.
Section IV: Revolutionary Socialism
- Rosa Luxemburg’s Reform or Revolution | Audiobook
If Marxists believed reforming Capitalist society was possible, we would be the first in line for it. Sadly, it isn’t possible, which Luxemburg proves in this monumental writing.
- Vladimir Lenin’s The State and Revolution | Audiobook
Excellent refutation of revisionists and Social Democrats who think the State can be reformed, and not replaced.
Section V: Intersectionality and Solidarity
- Vikky Storm and Eme Flores’ The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto | (No Audiobook yet)
Critical reading on understanding misogny, transphobia, and homophobia, as well as how to move beyond. Uses the foundations built up in the previous works to analyze gender theory from a Historical Materialist perspective.
- Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth | (No Audiobook yet)
Decolonialism is essential to Marxism. Without having a strong, decolonial, internationalist stance, we have no path to victory nor a path to justice.
Section VI: Putting it into Practice!
- Mao Zedong’s On Practice and On Contradiction | Audiobook
Mao wrote simply and directly, targeting peasant soldiers during the Revolutionary War in China. This pair of essays equip the reader with the ability to apply the analytical tools of Dialectical Materialism to their every day practice, and better understand problems.
After reading all of this, whoever has completed these works should have a good grasp of the basics of Marxism-Leninism and be equipped to do their own Marxist-Leninist analysis, though tons of excellent works were dropped for the sake of limiting the scope to an intro reading list.
“Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.”
- Mao Zedong
Wow. What a resource. Thanks for putting this together in such a sharable format!
Thanks! I take theory seriously, and if you check my history all I have been doing is trying to lead people to Marxism, haha.
I want to point out that I just modified it, adding The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto.
That’s incredible - thanks. The idea of the ultimate endgame of capitalistic monopolies looking suspiciously like communism always confused me as it seemed they were just doing the communist legwork before the state intervenes. I’ll probably have a go at section 2, Engels / DiaMat, fairly soon.
Critically, Revolution is required to achieve Socialism, the Means of Production, once developed, need to be siezed by the Proletariat, and the only way is through struggle. Marx puts it especially well in Manifesto of the Communist Party:
The essential condition for the existence, and for the sway of the bourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital is wage-labour. Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the labourers. The advance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie, replaces the isolation of the labourers, due to competition, by their revolutionary combination, due to association. The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.
I do recommend starting with Politzer, philosophy may seem boring but in AES states they teach Dialectical and Historical Materialism first, because it makes understanding the rest of Marxism far easier. Politzer is clear and extremely easy to understand, and his work is immensely practical, though I won’t decry Engels’ work on Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, it’s in my list for good reason. It’s essential.
Let me know if you have any questions!
The federal gov has been nuked, act as if only your state legislature exist, organize unaligned party.
You just gotta fight back and live your life. Sounds simple, but in my country, we lived through “the perfect dictatorship”. We know this shit.
What were you doing from early 2017 to early 2021? I suggest you do approximately that, unless you’ve grown out of things you were doing at the time of course.
This is the conclusion I came to and what has kept me positive. Remembering that, while there was a ton of shit happening, I had plenty of happy memories from that time too. I finally made new friends after moving out of my hometown and I’m still friends with them to this day. I remembered all the great moments and memories I made during that time.
