I Have a plan for communist revolution!

[bellum33]

High School my comrades, the key is high school communist youth groups. I know it seems a bit stupid, but hear me out.:D I've set it up in about six steps and I am open to people's suggestions.

Step One: Join communist youth group or create communist youth group.

Step Two: Convince youth group to infiltrate school news/newspaper, student council/student leadership, spread communist pamphlets throughout student body, put up art posters in the hallway that have communist themes.

Step Three: Have school news/newspaper help people understand communism and push a communist agenda. Have Pamphlets help people get a further understanding of communism and push a pro-communist and anti-capitalist/imperialist agenda. Have posters depict communist events in history and communist leaders and give the school a general communist feeling to it. Have student council/student leadership organize communist themed or pro-communist events, a communist book club, art club, choir, etc.

Step Four: Organize communist demonstrations outside of school, preach communism in the streets and organize communist school rallies. Also establish Fact Commission to combat anti-communist pro capitalist propaganda spread by the teachers, school faculty, etc. .

Step Five: Through control of student council/student leadership form a Youth's American Red Army and Youth's American Red Army Choir. The YARAC will sing communist songs at school rallies/events and the YARA will preach communism in the street and also function as the preachers protectors in case of violence.

Step Six: When the student body seems overwhelming communistic, have a school wide vote to hand more power to the student council/leadership. After this is done change the student council/student leadership's name to the People's Council or if you're bold enough Supreme Soviet.

You'll have to repeat steps one-five every year so as to make sure that more and more people turn communist and later support communism in their lifetimes. While you are doing this in your school, spread the word to comrades at other schools. High-School is the last period of time before people start to become heavily set in their ways. With the amount of people we turn communist every year, we will be able to spread communism throughout the nation and see the long awaited revolution at last.:laugh:

[ellipsis]

Moved to learning.

Also OP is maine-iacal.

[Commissar Rykov]

So instead of being a movement for and by the Workers it should be a Student Union? Err what?

[Dzerzhinsky's Ghost]

So instead of being a movement for and by the Workers it should be a Student Union? Err what?

I second this statement. The revolution is to be lead by the proletariat, this is basic Marxist theory thus I'm a bit confused as well.

[Zealot]

It would be a good idea to use for raising class consciousness however.

[Geiseric]

Hmm sounds a bit cultish. Isn't that simple anyways, it'd be extremely tough to try. Organising as small as a reading group is a huge step.

[CleverTitle]

This is... ugh.

OP: Is communism a thing you're actually interested in or are you the sort of person that bases your perceptions of leftism on Red Alert? Tossing around terms like 'infiltrate' implies the latter.

[Os Cangaceiros]

this plan is so fucking BRILLIANT.

[Révolutionnaire Acadien]

You would have to chip away at years and years of bourgeois "red scare" type brainwashing. Ask the average kid what Communism is and you'll probably get an answer along the lines of "those bad guys with the nukes that we used to not like" or something like that. They won't know squat about any political theory. And if they could make any connections to Communism, it would be to the USSR, which isn't really a good example in my view, as Communism is supposed to be stateless. Getting kids today to read, much less getting them politically conscious is hard enough. What do you think a kid would rather do, sit there and sift through Das Kapital, or play Call of Duty Black ops, where ironically enough he will probably be killing Communists. :P It's easier to appeal to anti establishment rebellion type attitudes, if you can turn juvenile vandalism into organized class action, then you might have something going! The question is, are kids bored, or apathetic? Watch a movie called "The Trotsky" it's basically about what you are proposing. It's very recent, and has some good French Canadian music in it.:D

[Red Commissar]

Everything up to step two is normal I guess. Step three is where it gets weird. Step four and five made me "WTF?!"

Student Councils have no where near the amount of power you think they do.

[scarletghoul]

if only marx had thought of this, would have saved a lot of time and bloodshed

[thefinalmarch]

It would be a good idea to use for raising class consciousness however.
Nah, it's actually a piss-poor idea.

When we talk about workers becoming class conscious, we don't expect workers to absorb themselves in abstract theory and read all three volumes of Capital, which is similar in effect to what preaching in the streets and forming communist book clubs (lol nerds) entails. By class consciousness we mean fundamental awareness of our common position in class society and the actions we can collectively take to overthrow the ruling class and free ourselves.

[ZeroNowhere]

http://images.wikia.com/blackadder/images/8/8c/Baldrick_thumbnail.jpg

In any case, communism is not a game, it's the immanent movement of the proletariat.

[RedRose]

I don't think this is a wholly bad idea, yes, while Marx said that it is a worker's revolution, that doesn't mean everyone who participates in it has to a be a worker, as long as they aim to overthrow the class system then they're fine by my standards. Obviously, having a bunch of student unions rising up and claiming what's theirs is an odd idea, but I agree it's a good idea to attempt to at least spread the basic ideas of communism and class struggle when in high school, when they'll often have general anti-communist ideas taught in economics and history lessons.

[TheSocialistGadfly]

What is really daunting right nowadays is the lack of consciousness, not only on the part of the proletariat (those who don't know anything about Marxism at all), specifically, the working class of the present, but also with the youth.
Given that schools and universities nowadays, consciously or unconsciously, are educating the students to become puppets of capitalism, which will eventually, as time goes by, become the puppeteers of the future. I believe that in this chain lies the life and possibility of capitalism.

So, how do we counter this chain of capitalism?

Well, bellum33 has this wonderful suggestion, and yes, I think that some, assuming that not all, of his/her suggested ways will do contribute in making a Marxist revolution possible. I do believe that it education is the key to make this revolution possible.
Education, well, not only with the working class, but also with the students, whom might in return, make this revolution possible.

[BuddhaInBabylon]

High school is not the place if you ask me.
How many high schoolers have you talked to recently?
If there is a place where anti capitalist views need to be expressed the most it certainly isn't a place where young people only give a shit about getting laid and being popular. The street is where the message needs to be.

[Commissar Rykov]

What is really daunting right nowadays is the lack of consciousness, not only on the part of the proletariat (those who don't know anything about Marxism at all), specifically, the working class of the present, but also with the youth.
Given that schools and universities nowadays, consciously or unconsciously, are educating the students to become puppets of capitalism, which will eventually, as time goes by, become the puppeteers of the future. I believe that in this chain lies the life and possibility of capitalism.

So, how do we counter this chain of capitalism?

Well, bellum33 has this wonderful suggestion, and yes, I think that some, assuming that not all, of his/her suggested ways will do contribute in making a Marxist revolution possible. I do believe that it education is the key to make this revolution possible.
Education, well, not only with the working class, but also with the students, whom might in return, make this revolution possible.
Education is perfectly fine and there isn't a Marxist against it. Yet to think Student Unions are going to be the core or the only way to create a Proletarian Revolution is utterly naive and devoid of any kind of analysis.

[MarxSchmarx]

High school is not the place if you ask me.
How many high schoolers have you talked to recently?
If there is a place where anti capitalist views need to be expressed the most it certainly isn't a place where young people only give a shit about getting laid and being popular. The street is where the message needs to be.


The OP is a joke but having said that, the youth are also the segment of the population least willing to be seduced by the idolatry of statism, the most open minded about things like gay marriage and the group with the most at stake (at least in places outside China and India) in terms of downward mobility.

Idiocy about stuff about the "young red choir" or whatever aside, I think it is inexcusable that we leave the indoctrination of people to the capitalist state and don't contest their hearts and minds just as intently as we contest the hearts and minds of people already in the labor force. The capitalists and the state understand that marketing their jingoism and their crass materialism to people when they are young works. We ignore them at our peril.

[RED DAVE]

I think that the OP is exactly the kind of weird shit that very young comrades come up with in the early phases of their involvement, when they have little or no experience, political contacts or knowledge of actual left-wing activity. I remember sitting down once with a bunch of young comrades and we all had plans like this one of one sort or another.

Comrade bellum33, you need to read up on some history, theory, etc. My favorite place to start, which shows my political bias, is Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution. It's a great read and will show you something of how politics are done. It's available free online.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/

Also, and I have raised this point before. I am opposed to the use of the word "communist" or its upper-case variation "Communist." I consistently use "socialist" and, if necessary, "Socialist." I believe "communist" is completely tainted, and if you use it, you will end up having to deal, constantly, first out of the starting gate, with the nature of the Soviet Union, which, you will soon find out here, is an endless topic.

Get your feet wet and your hands dirty in actual left-wing activity and politics in general before you start planning the revolution.

RED DAVE

[o well this is ok I guess]

So instead of being a movement for and by the Workers it should be a Student Union? Err what? Hey man May 68 started with the students I think probably
Whatever the point is we shouldn't wholly discount student movements from the left movement entirely.

[ckaihatsu]

it's a good idea to attempt to at least spread the basic ideas of communism and class struggle when in high school, when they'll often have general anti-communist ideas taught in economics and history lessons.


Do a web search for 'political educational diagrams' -- see what comes up....

[Nox]

Socialism in one school.

[thefinalmarch]

Socialism in one school.
Comrade, respectfully, I disagree with this. The revolution must be exported to the wider school district to prevent its stagnation and degeneration.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Maybe in the future, RevLeft members can have a little more finesse when addressing comments made by someone with 3 posts who may be still in high school.

Anyway, I think it's great that someone would want to organize in their high school, when I was 17 the only organizing I was interested in was finding someone's older sibling to buy beer for me and my friends.

The first thing I'll say about this plan though is that it is hard to develop any kind of radical movement solely through ideas. I think aa place to start would be maybe having a reading group with other students and from there - and with a core of people - you could try and take on some kind of issue effecting a lot of the students, one that could expose some of the ways capitalism interferes with either the lives of students or their ability to actually get a decent education. If you go to public school I'm sure there are many options.

Through this process you, your friends or political allies, will learn how to organize and put your ideas into practice. You will learn to debate with each-other on practical matters: like how can we do this without being kicked out of school/how can we attract more people to help us/etc. You will potentially be able to show how things could be different at school for students and even teachers if people organize themselves and engage in concerted action. A big part of modern schools under capitalism is teaching students how to be passive citizens - how to just "accept" absurd and pointless situations or structural deficiencies. Organizing even something small will show in practice that people don't have to just take the cards they are dealt. When people learn this then they will be more bold in other areas of life and expect more when they enter the workforce or whatnot.

[RedMarxist]

I'm still in high school and Capitalism and racism heavily affects fellow students at my school. Sit and let me tell you a most likely pointless story that will go nowhere.:)

A person who was my friend found out one of their parents was arrested for being an illegal immigrant. their family was mired by deep financial poverty and the school I go to has a huge foreign and Black population with an equally huge white population so there were lots of income gaps.

I got so mad, effing pissed when I found out the fucking cops did that. I did not know how to vent my rage. I was flipping through a history textbook one day or maybe it was a science text book of all things that basically said Communism 'failed' in 1991.

Got me thinking.

If more people knew about what socialism has to offer, then more and more people would not feel trapped. After all, Capitalism breeds obedience thus no one think that their is another world that's possible.

I contemplated forming a socialist group with my friends or classmates(why did I think that was a good idea). My parents said that was stupid and the principle would not allow it. Every group I contemplated forming was said to be stupid.

So instead I decided to agitate in a club I was already a part of. Have yet to do it, but I have a couple of articles to read and discuss.


You do not spread socialist ideas through a grand 'socialist club'. You do it in just a club. You agitate as subtle as possible in class.

That is how you agitate for socialism.

Lenin talked about this extensively. So, I seek to follow his example and agitate.

[Bostana]

I second this statement. The revolution is to be lead by the proletariat, this is basic Marxist theory thus I'm a bit confused as well.

The younger generation will eventually have to grow up and get jobs. So when they are older, and are proletariats, they will have enough Communist influence that they will be sick of their Capitalist Government and want a Communist Government

[ZeroNowhere]

Maybe in the future, RevLeft members can have a little more finesse when addressing comments made by someone with 3 posts who may be still in high school.If they aren't scared off by everything else on Revleft, they can certainly tolerate this.

[Nox]

Comrade, respectfully, I disagree with this. The revolution must be exported to the wider school district to prevent its stagnation and degeneration.

Ice pick incoming...

[Seresan]

The youth certainly are key, there is no way around the change of generations, but you can't focus the revolution solely on them. What we need is:

1) Eliminate prejudiced fears of communism in the youth
2) Inform and encourage them
3) Organise the good revolutionaries (and politicians if you are feeling lucky)
4) Work in union with the main body of the revolution

It's more of a second front than a main path in my opinion, but certainly a front we cant risk losing.

[El Louton]

This is a revolution in a 'high' school not nationwide though...

[Jimmie Higgins]

If they aren't scared off by everything else on Revleft, they can certainly tolerate this.Yeah, he tolerated it so much he hasn't posted since.

[citizen of industry]

Does your high school have those lame-ass "young republican" or "young democrat" clubs? When I was in high school we had those, but there was also a "young democratic-socialist" club. "Democratic-socialism" to allay parental and staff misgivings. It was supervised by one of the liberal teachers. We studied the Communist Manifesto, that's it. I quit baseball and my parents were all pissed off, they made me choose another activity, so that's what I chose. I wasn't a socialist then, just did it to prove a point and I had a couple friends in there.

I didn't seriously consider socialism until my mid-twenties. But who knows, maybe that group had some subtle influence on my sub-conscious. I was aware of an alternative when I was jaded with capitalism.

The theme of this thread seems a bit overly confident, revolution through high school, but the germ of a great idea is there. If your school has young democrats/republicans you could get a democratic-socialist group off the ground. Just emphasize electoral politics and the principal would approve. I think our group had about 15 people or so. The members don't have to be die-hard revolutionaries and you wouldn't have to dive into Capital. Just mull over the manifesto or other short works.

If you know a liberal teacher you could approach them and get them to help you set it up, talk to other teachers/staff/etc. for you.