Handing out flyers at a progressive rally?

[Metacomet]

Good idea? Bad idea? Probably going to a moveon.org sponsored rally tomorrow. Wondering whether handing out flyers is a good idea or not.

[tbasherizer]

It really depends. What's the topic of the rally? What ideology will you be espousing in the flyers? Are the flyers very accessible language-wise, or do they go straight into "bourgoisification of the proletariat"-type language? Do you think the rally organisers would mind?

[The Idler]

Probably better than handing out flyers/trying to propagandise at a Tea Party like this guy
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[¿Que?]

The moveon.org rallies this weekend are going to be, I think, a come one come all type of thing. I doubt you'll run into trouble passing out radical leftist literature.

Btw, I'm going to one of those too :)

[Rusty Shackleford]

looking back on it. if you arent trying to advertise your own organization or just go there to recruit people, protesters are very receptive.

my work is currently around building March 19th. And really, if you arent invasive about it and arent like "join my organization" people dont get bothered.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Yeah if you have something concrete (that could appeal to a broad range from soft-liberal and progressives to the general left) then it could be useful in pulling people into more useful activist pursuits like a local coalition or something. MoveOn is a thoroughly liberal organization and have been able to attract many people to a passive level of activity - I'd imagine within that broader group are many people who are frustrated with the lack of results from a the efforts of lobbying and getting Democrats elected - they'd probably want to be involved in something that they could have more direct involvement in. Also radical politics could appeal to them more now than during the Bush years - we have a much better explanation of Democratic party inaction/betrayals and a more coherent view of imperialism that links both the wars as well as the democratic uprisings.

[Rusty Shackleford]

it was funny, there was a middle aged woman and man arguing about the usefulness of confronting the tea party.

and i forget how it go to this, but i said "sorry for budding in, but they are in defense of capital!" and they immediately understood what i meant!

i feel an uptick in class consciousness. i mean, complete strangers understanding marxian language! im sure they read marx at some point in their lives but damn, it was awesome

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Handing out fliers at a progressive rally is one of your best bets. Some people I know who are either radically-left or sympathetic towards our cause(s) started out as liberals. Of course, there's the usual tips:
1) It's about the message and the cause, NOT the organization or party.
2) Be polite and welcoming; If you aren't socially awkward, then you can tell when someone is interested or when someone wants you to get the hell away. If they raise their temper, don't bother. It's not worth a punch in the face.

[Jimmie Higgins]

it was funny, there was a middle aged woman and man arguing about the usefulness of confronting the tea party.

and i forget how it go to this, but i said "sorry for budding in, but they are in defense of capital!" and they immediately understood what i meant!

i feel an uptick in class consciousness. i mean, complete strangers understanding marxian language! im sure they read marx at some point in their lives but damn, it was awesomeAgreed. Even mainstream liberal politicians are having to talk about unions and the need for protecting yourself from your boss - of course many are doing this cynically and just need to keep slightly ahead of their base (especially since Liberal politicians were the ones who promised EFCA and Universal Healthcare and took both of these reforms off the table without even a fight). I was watching the PBS news and the liberal pundit on there was somewhat excitedly talking some old-style Democratic Party lines about the necessity of unions in maintaining working class living standards (he said "middle class" of course)... the guy such a long-time pundit that he probably had to go back to his file cabnet and dust off talking points from the 1970s when the Democrats still gave lip service to labor rights.

I don't know if people are using Marxist language exactly (no one has offered up talk about the labor theory of value or crisis of overproducetion yet:lol:), but some more general things like "class war" and "working class" and so on have re-entered the people's lexicon in the US. But definately people do have a much more concrete grasp of the concepts behind our theories and "jargon".

I really thank the Koch brothers too for being such Monty Burnsian villains - it makes it much easier to talk about how the class war really exists and there are interests that are opposed to our well-being because it gets in the way of their profits.

The crisis has really made capitalism a lot more naked and ruling class attacks so much more obviously connected. This is such a new world relatively because so many things that had to be argued and explained just a few years ago (just the idea that classes actually exist and that class conflict exists and that capitalist crisis exist!) are now common sense to millions of workers. Actually I think this class resentment has been building up for a very long time, but now people are seeing some examples of fight-back and they see that they are not necessarily alone and helpless in a sea of pro-capitalist tea-partiers.

[Rusty Shackleford]

2) Be polite and welcoming; If you aren't socially awkward, then you can tell when someone is interested or when someone wants you to get the hell away. If they raise their temper, don't bother. It's not worth a punch in the face.
this also.

again, some personal experience. i work as a retail salesman (burn me at the stake) and so, i act bourgie as hell at work.

i say sir and mam whenever i greet someone. and rarely do i misjudge. but, it is extremely awkward when you do, even if the other person is nice enough to not acknowledge it, it still feels awkward. dont bring attention to it, it will only make things worse.

but, seriously, dont say sir or mam, just say "excuse me, would you like one?" "have you already got one?" "have you heard of<insert whatever>"

if they already got one, or say they "already got one" just be polite and walk away.

dont interrupt conversations, or, if you do hand stuff to people talking, just gesture to them that you have something you want to give them. if they dont respond, or stare at you, just walk away.

if someone else is handing out stuff, and they offer something to you, offer a trade. they are likely active in organizing stuff so if you have something that is awesome going on, they might spread the word through their channels.

dont be afraid to talk to people.

you dont always have to be vocal either, you can just walk around and be ready to hand people stuff, just gesture towards them, if they dont take it, dont take offense.

dont get disappointed if you get negative reactions. just dont be pushy.

and something i learned from a few failures KNOW WHAT YOU ARE HANDING OUT!!!

[Metacomet]

this also.

again, some personal experience. i work as a retail salesman (burn me at the stake) and so, i act bourgie as hell at work.

i say sir and mam whenever i greet someone. and rarely do i misjudge. but, it is extremely awkward when you do, even if the other person is nice enough to not acknowledge it, it still feels awkward. dont bring attention to it, it will only make things worse.

but, seriously, dont say sir or mam, just say "excuse me, would you like one?" "have you already got one?" "have you heard of<insert whatever>"

if they already got one, or say they "already got one" just be polite and walk away.

dont interrupt conversations, or, if you do hand stuff to people talking, just gesture to them that you have something you want to give them. if they dont respond, or stare at you, just walk away.

if someone else is handing out stuff, and they offer something to you, offer a trade. they are likely active in organizing stuff so if you have something that is awesome going on, they might spread the word through their channels.

dont be afraid to talk to people.

you dont always have to be vocal either, you can just walk around and be ready to hand people stuff, just gesture towards them, if they dont take it, dont take offense.

dont get disappointed if you get negative reactions. just dont be pushy.

and something i learned from a few failures KNOW WHAT YOU ARE HANDING OUT!!!


I'm in retail sells as well.

Well there was already a group there. Socialistalternative.org (never heard of them) (They also didn't like Revleft "maoists" :rolleyes:)