Being a Syndicalist in a Right-To-Work State

[WyoLeftist]

As you can probably gather from my username, I live in he 'great' state of Wyoming, one of the most conservative states, and least labor-friendly states in America. I was just hoping to some advice on how I should go about educating people in my local community, given that most of them, if they're even aware of other political ideologies besides Republican and Democrat, are on the 'far from center right' side of things, as I like to put it. Any and all advice would be much appreciated.

[heyjoe]

the only word i can think of is slowly. Having discussions with those around you who you socialize with, go to school with, work with etc who seem open to talking about might be the best way to go. You have your work cut out for you in Wyoming. Ive seen postings on other boards from people in Wyoming advocating secession from the US

[wunderbar]

Talking to people is the best way to start, but maybe don't use terms like anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, socialism, communism, etc. Not because they're "bad" terms, but because people might already have uninformed opinions about them (communism = authoritarianism, anarchism = chaos and early 20th century people blowing stuff up), and will just tune you out as soon as you mention them.

[WyoLeftist]

I've always tried to engage people around me in to political discussions at one point or another, and 9 times out of 10 I've come to find that they have absolutely NO understanding of what being a leftist (of any degree) means. Anyone on the left side of the political spectrum hates individualism, wants to 'steal your money,' and will 'kill anyone who disagrees with them." It's even difficult to talk to union members out here.

[RemoveYourChains]

Any and all advice would be much appreciated.

I agree with wunderbar's post - talk SUBSTANCE, and save partisan/ideological labels for later, as most of these have been saddled with all sorts of false associations and baggage by capitalist propaganda.

Many would be surprised at just how much of an audience there is for "radical solutions", when you can get past the pavlovian anti-communist indoctrination most people have been subjected to.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Move a state over and come join us in the Nebraska IWW :cool:

It takes a lot of patience and practice. You want to start off small and get their thoughts rolling in the right direction, don't start off huge with big dynamics and overwhelming ideas like socialism, communism, etc. Just point out work-place problems, community problems, how self-management and direct action can solve these conflicts, and the snowball effect takes place. It helps to get people concerned in local problems, and slowly introducing them to the bigger picture, or so i think. Think big, act small?

[LegendZ]

Embrace the suck.