Joining the Communist Party, direct-to-video movie style.

[KevlarPants]

So, I'm a 15 year old kid, and I wanna join the communist party. The problem is that my parents won't let me. I was gonna obey, but then they showed this movie in English class about some Indian girl who wanted to play soccer. Her parents wouldn't let her, but she sneaked into the team anyway. This strange source of inspiration spoke to me, and I decided to do some parental sneaking myself.

The monthly pay is voluntary, so I manage to hide some of my lunch money for it. When there are meetings, I just say I'm going out with some friends.

So, how do you guys think I should go about hiding this successfully? If I get caught I lose my parent's trust big time, and I don't wanna hurt them.
Also, do you guys think this is a good idea in general? This probably won't influence me to not do it, but I'm curious.

tl;dr: How do I hide my Communist Party membership from my parents?

[Ned Kelly]

Bend it like Beckham!

[Ned Kelly]

'That's it, no more class struggle!'

[genstrike]

If you're referring to the CPUSA or the CP of Canada, my advice to you would be "don't"

[RedAnarchist]

If you're referring to the CPUSA or the CP of Canada, my advice to you would be "don't"

I assume he's talking about the Portuguese Communist Party.

[PhoenixAsh]

A lot of communist parties allow members to register anonimously. I am not certain if this would be the case in Portugal. But it might be worth checking into.

[KevlarPants]

Bend it like Beckham!

Yeah, that's the one :lol:

[Broletariat]

Honestly, I think you could do yourself a huge favour by first reading Marx and discussing it here on revleft. You'd probably get a better understanding of Communism that way (I have no idea about the party you're talking about, but most communist parties tend to be shit anyway) and at much less risk to yourself.

I'd say that after you get an understanding of Marx you could focus on being "active" or what have you.

[blackandyellow]

Explain the situation to the local branch, I am sure they will be understanding and try to work something out. Or maybe just do some work with them and not actually join, and when you are a few years older join.

[graymouser]

Honestly, I think you could do yourself a huge favour by first reading Marx and discussing it here on revleft. You'd probably get a better understanding of Communism that way (I have no idea about the party you're talking about, but most communist parties tend to be shit anyway) and at much less risk to yourself.

I'd say that after you get an understanding of Marx you could focus on being "active" or what have you.
Theory and practice, in the Marxist method, are not separate things. Reading abstract theory without being out and active is not helpful and leads you into weird ideological dead ends. Doing practice without theory leaves you in awful groups because you don't understand where you are going. Both are needed and inform each other.

[Broletariat]

Theory and practice, in the Marxist method, are not separate things.

Correct, and in my case, they are the same in that my practice is my theory ;)



Reading abstract theory without being out and active is not helpful and leads you into weird ideological dead ends.

I don't really see how necessarily. I haven't really done shit as far as being "active" goes and I don't think Zanthorus nor ZeroNowhere have either, yet we all seem to be not in weird ideological dead ends


Practice sure can help theory, but it's not as if one cannot simply learn from other people who have engaged in practice. Language exists in order to communicate experience, lets use it as such and inform ourselves without putting ourselves at risk.

[tfb]

If there's a chance that you could be kicked out of your parents' house, I'd suggest holding off on going to Communist Party meetings. At 15, you probably couldn't make it on your own and, even if you could, it would be much harder and much worse for you in the long run. I don't know if you're planning on going to university or college, but it might almost be impossible for you without the support of your parents.

If you're eating shitty food or not enough food because of the fees you're paying with lunch money, I think you should stop paying them or see if you could pay less. At your age it's especially important to eat a proper amount of healthy food.

Getting an education (highschool, college, or university) and being healthy will probably be big assets to you in your activity later on, and will help out more than a few extra years of activity during highschool would.

By the way, if you go to college or university you won't have to worry about your parents finding out that you're in the Communist Party because they'll have no idea what you're doing, so the wait isn't that long. In the meantime, as Broletariat says, read up on this stuff. Not only for learning's sake, but because, if you don't study it, people who are against communism might lead you astray with lies or misleading information because you won't know that they're wrong. You might also end up with a bad tendency or end up wasting time being a member of a useless organization.

Good luck!

[tfb]

He's 15, so I think he should probably learn more (unless he's exceptionally well-read) before becoming very active because he might end up doing things that don't make sense or are counter-productive.

A vision of the future:

*Reads a bit* Hmm! "Seize the means of production"? OK... I'm on it! *runs outside to where some construction is going on, latches onto a backhoe* :marx:

"HEY! KID! GET OFF OF THERE!" :cursing:

Don't worry! I'm just integrating theory and practise! :cool:

[The Idler]

What are you hoping to get out of being a member of a party? I say, take your parents along to a meeting.

[OHumanista]

Explain the situation to the local branch, I am sure they will be understanding and try to work something out. Or maybe just do some work with them and not actually join, and when you are a few years older join.

What he said, I think if you just ask them not to send anything to your home your parents probably won't figure it out.

By the way, nice to see another portuguese commie (I am brazilian) :thumbup1:
Though I confess I am more of a BE fan (they should unite though, would make things much easier)