How do we navigate?

[NotQuiteAsOne]

I find myself deeply troubled by the whole notion of communism. I am a firm believer in the tennants of communism, and believe that it is the right way forward for equality between humans. However, how do you uphold such values in the modern global world? I am not a true member of the proleteriat, if anything I am a member of the middle classes. I do my best to work towards greater equality among men - I donate to charity, do community work etc, but how much can 1 person really do in today's world? This has always troubled me, and I was just wondering how everyone else coped.

[ComradeOm]

Communism is not a moral code, its a political ideology. If you want to contribute then join a party/organisation that advocates and works towards a communist future

[Blake's Baby]

Firstly, I'm not a great beleiver in the middle class. If you exist by selling your labour power, you're a worker.

Secondly, as an individual you have no real power in the world. Your charity giving is essentially meaningless, your community work does make things better (I assume) for a few people and I'm not knocking that but it's not going to change the world. You, 'personally', cannot do anything meaningful to make the world a significantly better place, beyond 'being nice' and hoping that it does some good.

It is only as a class that we have power; the working clas has no real weapon except organisation, but even so what the working class as a class does is not exactly amenable to individual initiative.

If you really want to make a difference I don't really have any other answer than acquaint yourself with as much theory and practice as you can from all sorts of groups and then start working out which you are most closely aligned with, which ones make the most sense, which ones seem the most honest. Debate with people, join discussion groups (face to face is best but on the web is OK I think), go to meeetings, argue things out - in short, raise your own consciousness in a collaborative endeavour with other people. It may be that you then join a political group, or maybe you won't; but you will be able to navigate your way with a clearer idea of where you're going I think.

Good luck.

[AK]

I find myself deeply troubled by the whole notion of communism. I am a firm believer in the tennants of communism, and believe that it is the right way forward for equality between humans. However, how do you uphold such values in the modern global world? I am not a true member of the proleteriat, if anything I am a member of the middle classes. I do my best to work towards greater equality among men - I donate to charity, do community work etc, but how much can 1 person really do in today's world? This has always troubled me, and I was just wondering how everyone else coped.
In what way are you middle class?

[NotQuiteAsOne]

In what way are you middle class?

In that my parents are well to do (I am a student currently) and in all honesty, I have never known true poverty.

Also, thanks Blake's Baby, that is what I try and do at the moment, just seeing an individual's powerlessness in our corrupt world is depressing.

[MarxSchmarx]

Firstly, I'm not a great beleiver in the middle class. If you exist by selling your labour power, you're a worker.

Secondly, as an individual you have no real power in the world. Your charity giving is essentially meaningless, your community work does make things better (I assume) for a few people and I'm not knocking that but it's not going to change the world. You, 'personally', cannot do anything meaningful to make the world a significantly better place, beyond 'being nice' and hoping that it does some good.

It is only as a class that we have power; the working clas has no real weapon except organisation, but even so what the working class as a class does is not exactly amenable to individual initiative.

If you really want to make a difference I don't really have any other answer than acquaint yourself with as much theory and practice as you can from all sorts of groups and then start working out which you are most closely aligned with, which ones make the most sense, which ones seem the most honest. Debate with people, join discussion groups (face to face is best but on the web is OK I think), go to meeetings, argue things out - in short, raise your own consciousness in a collaborative endeavour with other people. It may be that you then join a political group, or maybe you won't; but you will be able to navigate your way with a clearer idea of where you're going I think.

Good luck.

I think it is important to understand that different people are at different stages of this. From what little I know about you NQAO this is sage advice - education in the broadest sense, in both actual activism and deep theory is very valuable.

I would add to this that you get at least a part time job, so you are not divorced from the practice of working. I do not know if you have worked ever before but even if in school at least the task of finding work will teach you a lot about what it is like.

Also I don't quite share blake's baby's resignation, however, because while as an individual it is unlikely you will "shake up the world", there is a lot of concrete things you can do to advance the class as a whole. organizing a work place, even if you are onlyo a student employee, with a half respectable union is the most obvious start. If your work place is already unionized, you can be active in the union and pushing the envelope there.

Finaly because the summer holidays are upon us in the northern hemisphere, I think it would behoove you to travel perhaps to a very poor area and volunteer in groups that are involved in empowering and organizing local people to make concrete demands. Sure you can't liberate the people of India say but you can probably help bring electricity to some remote village.

[AK]

In that my parents are well to do (I am a student currently) and in all honesty, I have never known true poverty.
You've got a strange idea of class. The working class is not this rabble that lives in poverty, it is all those who sell their labour-power to capitalists to make a living (Therefore it makes up the majority of the world's population). A lot of the working class has never seen poverty, either (but many - especially those in the third world - still do).

In what way are you and your parents well-to-do? Do they own a small business of some sort? (This is actually a bit of a misnomer considering some small business owners are worse off than quite a few workers)