I became radicalized in the past 4 years, yes or no?

[citizen of industry]

To what extent is capitalism producing its own gravediggers? I'm wondering what percentage of RevLeft users became radicalized since the recession began.

EDIT: The "why" is also as interesting as the "when."

[Le Socialiste]

I certainly was, but it had more to do with my increasing dillusionment with the Democratic Party and my eventual break with it. Once I saw it for what it was I took the "Leftist" road and haven't looked back.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

I was radicalized once I actually learned what socialism was about and the realities of capitalism.I also attribute my new beliefs to when I actually started to look at the world in a realistic manner.

[citizen of industry]

I certainly was, but it had more to do with my increasing dillusionment with the Democratic Party and my eventual break with it. Once I saw it for what it was I took the "Leftist" road and haven't looked back.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me too. I was raised a democrat. I did my stint in the military and after I got out I voted for McCain in the election (because I got caught up in the whole "if we are going to have troops in Iraq, we should be providing them with the tools they need" garbage). I've never admitted that to anyone before. I figured if they were going to be there we should give them proper vehicles and body armor and stuff. But I felt guilty about it and really I just wanted our troops out but neither party was doing that.

Then I remember the Olympics and Michelle Obama and the media going on about her expensive black dress in Europe while they were trying to get the olympics in the US, with all these people without jobs, losing their homes and families, all these people dying and getting murdered overseas and I just lost it. Who gives a shit about the olympics!

That was my class-conscious moment, I was walking to my shitty job stewing over this and all the bullshit jobs I and my family had had, and all the pieces came together. It was a very rage-filled moment.

[Tablo]

I was radicalized before that, but my politics were god awful back then and only radical in certain aspects.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

I became radicalized ... around 4 years ago. Maybe 5, but I voted 4.

[DeBon]

Radicalized one year ago.

[tfb]

I voted "yes" but I don't think it was because of the American economy.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Radicalized little over a year ago.

[Ocean Seal]

I think that this poll is more indicative of the age of revlefters than anything else. As we tend to be young, early 20's and teens.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Radicalized around 2006, communist around 07. It was the war that got me...

But I like how I went from Republican straight to communist. Never saw hope in Democrats for some reason.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

2007. It was before the recession came full on. I was a social-democrat who spoke revolutionary. Once I started working full-time, living on my own and being balls deep in poverty, I became very aware of how capitalism must be abolished. Work and seeing the world as it is (I lived in a very hard-hit region for 2 years) helped me develop me ideas greatly.

[citizen of industry]

I think that this poll is more indicative of the age of revlefters than anything else. As we tend to be young, early 20's and teens.

True, but had there been no war and global recession the proportion might be a little more even, or there might be fewer posters. Bu that is a good point. A lot of older revolutionaries are probably not into sights like this.

[Dimmu]

Yes, i was in a liberal party and always leftwing, became radicalized when i became dellusioned with party politcs and capitalism.

[Le Socialiste]

I remember reading "The Communist Manifesto" back in the fall of '08, just a little before the election of Obama. I liked what I read, but I still had faith in the Democrats so I voted one in. It didn't take me long after to realize the Democrats are just as ruthless and aggressive in their efforts to exploit the working-class as their Republican counterparts are. Ever since then I've been shifting further and further left. My parents are concerned for me. :D

[Rocky Rococo]

I've been re-radicalized over the past several years. I first came to revolutionary politics in the mid to late 70s, getting broken in so to speak with a stint with ISO before continuing to develop independent ideas. Then like a lot of other people, acting with the best of intentions, I did the slow, stagnating sink into reformist politics, but by 92 or so there was no longer any way for anyone with left inclinations to participate in mainstream "reformist" politics. So I pretty much dropped out of politics altogether for the next ten years.

It was the invasion of Iraq that forced me back into politics, and I started where I'd left off, reformist stuff like Veterans for Peace and yes, I confess, the Howard Dean campaign. However, getting back in I discovered that the system today is far more dysfunctional than it was 20, 25 years ago. The ruling class have broken their own system in their pursuit of everything, and it's careening out of control. All my revolutionary learnings from my youth are back stronger than ever out of alarm at how badly things have disintegrated. Today there are no other ways out of the crisis, and it may already be too late, but that's no excuse not to do what we can to bring the only possible solution about.

[Veovis]

Heh, I'm still in the process. :D

[Nox]

I became radicalised about 3 years ago, it didn't really have anything to do with economic factors, more to do with the system itself.

[eyeheartlenin]

I was in the antiwar movement in the 1960's as a college student, and then I mostly dropped out of political activity until 2004, when I joined a small left social democratic group, in response to the endless US wars in the Middle East. In 2005, I started working with real leftists, and I have continued to do that. Further details are narrated in my post at: http://www.revleft.com/vb/your-political-development-t164513/index.html?p=2297201

[ВАЛТЕР]

I always claimed myself as a communist, since I was fairly young. However, not until these past 4 years have I turned from a revisionist to a revolutionary calling for blood in the streets. :)

I can't say what actually did it, but I can say that it was a gradual process which saw many of my ideas shot down by simply observing how the world was being run without any interest for the working man.

Eventually one day I woke up and was like: "Fuck it, burn the banks, kill the CEOs and seize the means of production by any means necessary."

[Zealot]

Well I've always been anti-war anti-bourgeois, the recession was the final straw though, especially when both my parents lost their jobs. What followed was a culmination of abandoning my religion, talking about Ho Chi Minh with my vietnamese girlfriend, googling Che Guevara (always wondered who the hell he was) and then reading the Communist Manifesto. The Manifesto was life changing seriously, there wasn't a single thing I disagreed with. My "Radicalization" was a slow process really and is continuous, so it's hard to put a date on it but I only started considering Communism about a year and a half ago, maybe 2 years.

[CommunityBeliever]

I became radicalised when I realised our "democracy" is a sham during the 2008 election, which made me give up all hope in bourgeoisie politics.

[thriller]

Radicalized around 6 years ago. Many reasons: war, LGBTQ issues, poverty. And the Manifesto helped too ;)

[socialistjustin]

Since 2006. Earlier than that really, but I had no idea what I was talking about. It was Chomsky's "Hegemony or Survival" that did it.

[PhoenixAsh]

3rd gen commie. ...though 4 gens back they were socialist :)

Raised a Marxist. Became a Marxist-Leninist. But I am starting a new tradition of Anarcho-communism.

[Rufio]

I became radicalised about 3 years ago, it didn't really have anything to do with economic factors, more to do with the system itself.
Yeah, the same (but more than three years ago). Probably around 2000-02, I don't really think it was to do with the world situation totally, I was a teenage punk so anti-fascist (I put an anti-swastika patch on my school bag despite having never knowingly met a fascist :)) and anti 'corporate' were just natural things to be. I think this was a solid grounding for the future. :D Plus reading about Che as any right thinking teenage would, then 9/11 happened and reading Noam Chomsky in the wake of that I learned to be anti-American, immature Anti-imperialism, in time for the Iraq war with Afghanistan already going.

It's an ongoing process, and always has been but I've been anti-capitalist to a greater or lesser extent as long as I've had political thought. Goes way past the current crisis.

[thriller]

Since 2006. Earlier than that really, but I had no idea what I was talking about. It was Chomsky's "Hegemony or Survival" that did it.

Omg such a good book! First book I read of his.

[Fopeos]

I'm about to sound really old but, I picked up Che Guevara, Economics and Politics in the Transition to Socialism back in '99. I was already working and was therefore aware of how much capitalism sucked. I'd heard of Che but didn't understand socialism outside of the old Cold-war propaganda (which, i'm old enough to remember, also). The theories in that book made it all seem so possible. I've never waivered since then. I still don't adhere to any tendency. I still have hope for the future, especially since I found Revleft. There are a lot more young people interested in socialist revolution than I thought.

[VirgJans12]

I always had a tendency towards communism since I was 14 and first heard about it. But I never did anything with it. Until I started reading about Marxism and the history of Communism. Which is like 1,5 or 2 years ago. I'm 22 now.

[ColonelCossack]

I'm 15 now, I was a (proper) communist when i was 11- in that i knew what communism basically was )classless, moneyless, stateless society). I* first called myself a communist when i was 8, not really knowing what it was- i essentially thought that everyone would share ball their apples, as a supply teacher at my primary school told me. But it was my dad that persuaded me to be a communist. parental indoctrination ftw. to the best of my knowledge, I'm a 3rd generation M-L.

[Tim Cornelis]

It was purely ethical reasons that radicalised me (sorry Rafiq).

[WorkingClassGirl]

I was agitated by a communist. I went to Antifa. I stopped that bullshit and have begun reading marxist stuff. Classic story.

[Revolution starts with U]

Ive been calling for the need for revolution for as long as I can remember. I had no idea why, I just knew it was needed. Around 11 I learned about Sacco and Vendzetti and started calling myself an anarchist and signing my name (Adam) w a circled A (still do, even on official documents; even my drivers license).

My politics still had a long way to go; I had no idea what revolutionary socialism/anarchism was. But... that's the way it goes :lol:

Bush facillitated my absolute break from normal politics, and Obama only strengthened it. (Im 27)

[AConfusedSocialDemocrat]

Had some Trotskyite views when I was little, grew out of them and somewhat became a right-wing libertarian (yet voting libdem), then became disillusioned and started reading left libertarian literature.

[Smyg]

It was rather recently, even though I've managed to gain quite a bit of theoretical knowledge and practical experience since then. To be exact, it was 9/19 2010, which forever will be ingrained in my mind as a day of shame.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

I've always been interested in communism/socialism for as long as I can remember. I was always a little confused about Communism during High School and lost interest for a little bit when I kept being harassed about it by a family 'friend'. It was only when I left College about 5-4 years ago coupled with the financial collapse, tough times in my family and a rough time a work I decided to go back to my old Communist ways, finally being mature enough to sit down and educate myself about the subject properly.

[graymouser]

Jeez, it happened for me all the way back in 2004. I had gone through a rough time finding a job after college (working at a convenience store but not working as a computer programmer), and I lost my religion in the beginning of the year and started getting fairly liberal. Then, in April of that year, the Abu Ghraib photos came out and I became totally disgusted with the US and everything it was doing. I had been against the Iraq war but not in the demonstrations; those photos and the things I learned in their aftermath really shook my worldview up and I became a socialist because they seemed to be the best anti-imperialists and to combine the various struggles (workers, the oppressed, women, etc). Took me a long time to settle down with the right group but that process has been going on for years.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

I was radicalized about two decades ago.

[RedAnarchist]

I first became interested in revolutionary leftist politics in the early years of this century (I was in my mid-teens), and the anti-war movement really played a noticeable part in my move to the political left from the mundane, docile centre. I joined this site in 2003 at the age of seventeen, and have continued to remain ardently on the far-left.

[Leftsolidarity]

Became in anarchist in 6th grade. Idk what age that means I was but I'm a 17 year old senior now.

I came to revolutionary leftism through punk music. I heard stuff about anarchism and other things so I went and started reading and researching. Never stopped and now here I am.

[GatesofLenin]

Coming to Canada as a baby from Europe, I grew up in Montreal and have attended catholic school since kindergarten. I got really bored with religious classes and got put into a special class called "morals" where we did arts and crafts. My earliest memories of politics was the NDP party and Ed Broadbent. I remember voting Liberal when I turned 18 (voted for Paul Martin). Got pretty pissed off when the media reported that Paul Martin owned one of Canada's largest shipping companies and was registered off-seas to avoid paying taxes here. My whole family worked hard and paid our taxes on time and here we have a "liberal" millionaire avoiding taxes. Well, that did it for me.
I started reading Chomsky, all sorts of books on revolutions (Russia, France, Germany, Cuba, etc...) and of course the Manifesto. The book that really got me into studying Leninism deeper though was Slavoj Zizek "Letters from afar". I even sported a full lenin goatee at one time but look like Marx now. :cool:

[Void]

Since I was born I started to feel that something was wrong in the world. I used to feel that people are living so aimlessly and their economical problems were taking too much place in their lives. At least where I live, people needed to think about bread, water and electricity everyday, despite enough resources they could not be organized. Also what we were taught in schools made no sense. I hated school. Later I understood that it was not an education. It was just a policy of the state to make us more fool rather than to educate. All add together the failing health system later when people around me suffered because of bad healthcare pushed me to support communism. The philosophical reasons don't need to be mentioned but they are important too. Later I got even more radicalized seeing the people in my age living for consuming and capitalism creating more hedonist culture, people getting jealous of each other's cellphone and stuff since conspicuous consumption is very dominant here and it is very disgusting... People for example owning very big jeeps despite the fact they only need small cars in a city with narrow streets just in order to show their status.. Also I saw that when a guy actually stole a pasta from a supermarket and got caught and imprisoned and when a bank owner steal millions from people and he gets respected I had feeling of disgust. The lists goes on and on...

[El Louton]

About a year or so since Communist but always left.

[Boothe]

I believe that I became radicalized exactly three years ago after watching the 2008 presidential election in-depth. I really was amazed at the time at how remarkably similar the two major political parties actually were. Neither one of them offered any solution, and they were obviously only looking out for their own interests and those of corporate lobbying.

[the Left™]

Extreme disillusionment in 2009 2nd year of college after experiencing a significant amount of exploitation myself and reading tons of literature about third world horrors. I stumbled across Rev Left and its been :wub::wub:

[Marxaveli]

I guess it depends on what one means exactly by radicalized. I was born in a typical Democrat household, and taught the usual spoon-fed garbage (love your country no matter what, capitalism is rewarding for all, work hard and you will get ahead, the poor are usually lazy, yada yada yada). After working various unrewarding jobs and being told that upward mobility was possible (only to find out it really was not), I began to see things in a different light. I wasn't radicalized yet, but I knew something wasn't adding up. Went back to school two years ago, started as a business major. But I was taking a philosophy class, in which the political and enlightening discussion that took place there fascinated me. Shortly afterward, I knew I had found my true passion: politics. Changed my major to political science, and upon taking a sociology class and a poli sci class on Western Political Thought, I was introduced to Marx (among many other theorists). All my assumptions about socialism and communism went out the window, and from that point on, I would never look at the world the same way ever again. I was officially radicalized, and continue to become more so as my education, as well as my research and study of Marxist theory outside the classroom, continue.

[NewLeft]

Radicalized in 2010.. Was a center-leftist for a long time before..

[Commissar Rykov]

I became reradicalized I had left the Far Left before the recession due to some bad times in the CPUSA and I figured it was useless to fight Capitalism. This recession has just further reinforced I was allowing a party to drive me away from a movement I had and still agree with.

[Decommissioner]

I would say I first started to seriously consider myself a socialist around 2005. I think the turning point for me after reading some marx was engels abc's of communism, materialist conception of history and after reading "what socialist america will look like" by james p cannon. Some other things were reading some lectures by rick wolf, helped cement the notion in my mind that a truly socialist system is made up of freely associating and democratic workers councils (before that I was still wrestling with the meaning of the state under socialism, and whether state ownership truly translated to common ownership).

[Rusty Shackleford]

the recession definitely did it to me. It seems like all the stuff i have been experiencing before then sort of made that 'connection' when the recession hit.

[Marx213532]

I became a communist (marxist) about 3 years ago... before that I was just like any other brainwashed capitalist person.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

I guess you could call me a 'hipster' leftist up until the past few years really. During my studies I've come across countless indications towards capitalism's inherent flaws and evils as well as reading up on Marxist theories and Anarchist theories that propose an alternative and during my activism I've noticed capitalism's heavy handed opposal to those who wish to upset the status quo.

[ColonelCossack]

Wait, so some of you actually became communists because of capitalism? :D

I wouldn't know... I'm a product of parental indoctrination. :(

[Azraella]

I was raised in a fairly typical liberal home(though my parents are hippies), but it was when my brother died at 9-11 that I had a sort of angry "total destroy" mindset and phase, but I chilled out and I started to explore alternative religion and when I realized how ingrained cultural Christianity was... I started having issues. Not against the religion but rather against the hypocrisy that many of the so-called Christians we have in power and the lack of freedom we have when it comes to basic rights. I read socialist literature when I was earning my PhD and was slowly becoming radicalized due to my exposure to socialist theorists. Though this happened in steps. At first I was a social democrat, then I became a democratic socialist, and finally I became a libertarian socialist(an anarchist). My transformation had me change from a misathropic misotheist all the way to a religious humanist and anarchist.

[Black_Rose]

The person who influenced me to become a (Marxist-Leninist) leftist revolutionary is Henry CK Liu, and to a lesser extent Stephen Gowans.

Before reading Liu, I was a social democrat who was generally envious of the political economy in Scandinavian countries, but it was Liu who elucidated how financial capitalism works and convinced me that we need to remove the capitalist from political influence, supplementing his arguments with a prodigious knowledge of world history. Liu even had the courage to defend Chairman Mao.

His revolutionary fervor is quite impressive:


I am not in denial. I know more about the danger China is facing more than anyone else on this list. I just have different interpretations on what is going on in China. The CPC is essentially interested in hanging on to power and this is a good thing. Some in the leadership mistakenly think that the way to hang on to power is to welcome market capitalism. But history has proved that any political party in China flirting with market capitalism, with its inequality and foreign domination, will eventually fall. This is the guarantee that the CPC will sooner and later return to socialism. I will pay any price, including freedom, to preserve socialism in China. The day I support civil liberties in China has to be the day that I become satisfied that the call for civil liberties is not a camouflage for Western capitalist sabotage. Debating China with the Western left is very frustrating, because the Western left is not the enemy, despite the fact that it increasingly acts like one. I do not share the Western left's celebration of the fall of the USSR and Eastern European socialist states, however distorted they might have become before their demise.
emphasis mine

http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2001/msg03672.html



Doubt is reactionary. Every statement is a form of generalization. The test is where the generalized statement leads to. Revolutionaries cannot afford doubt. They must be convinced of the correctness of their ideology. The right to believe that some people should starve while others drink champaign is not a civil right. The right to a decent diet for everyone is. We can have freedom of expression only after the total demise of capitalism. At this moment in history, freedom is a capitalistic tool. Revolutions are not debating societies in search of self gratification for passive intellectuals. Revolutionaries know where they are going and have not time for those who value personal freedom above the need to forge forward the movement's objectives.


http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2001/msg03644.html



The CPC is both the solution and the problem. The solution because socialism is the only solution. The problem becuase the CPC is fighting a defensive ideological battle with the rest of the world which is under the control of capitalism. In order to interact with the rest of the world in this age of forced globalization, the CPC has to face facts which are contrary to both reason and ideology at this moment in history. There are those within the CPC who argue that to survive, the party has to make compromises. The are others in the minority that argues that compromises are merely a slow raod toward surrenderism. The global left has essentially given up and has taken refuge in the establishment's tolerance for intellectual freedom, notwithstanding the fact that such freedom is granted as a sign of establishment security. In other words, leftish ideas are no longer considered dangerous to the sytem. China is not free for good reasons. Freedom of expression and though is dangerous to the socialist cause not only in China but in the whole world. Capitalist democracy is one integral concept.

http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2001/msg03558.html

[Lokomotive293]

My parents are both typical green social democrats, so I was always rather left-leaning. I first read the Manifesto about two years ago, when I got really disillusioned with the political establishment. Strangely, though, I went through a short phase of being a free market libertarian last year (that was my idea of teenage rebellion then, I guess), and only became a communist when I realized that I was a hopeless idealist and completely disconnected from reality, and that capitalism will always be disgusting and inhumane.

[Rooster]

To the people who say that they were vaguely leftist and then became radicalised, what caused that? Did you read Marx or something in contrast to before without really knowing what being a communist was?

[Sputnik_1]

To the people who say that they were vaguely leftist and then became radicalised, what caused that? Did you read Marx or something in contrast to before without really knowing what being a communist was?

well, yeah, basically.

[Marxaveli]

My parents are both typical green social democrats, my father is even an activist with Greenpeace, so I was always rather left-leaning. I first read the Manifesto about two years ago, when I got really disillusioned with the political establishment. Strangely, though, I went through a short phase of being a free market libertarian last year (that was my idea of teenage rebellion then, I guess), and only became a communist when I realized that I was a hopeless idealist and completely disconnected from reality, and that capitalism will always be disgusting and inhumane.

From libertarian capitalist to a commie in a year :D Now that is a true great leap forward (no pun intended).

[pastradamus]

I've been radicalised over ten years now I think. I read a book about Che Guevara (the john lee anderson one) and I said to myself "this guy makes sense". Then I looked into his influences such as Marx and others and that was that.

[Left-Internationalist]

About 2 years now. Philosophy had always interested me, and when I went to university I got exposed to Marxist ideas in a sociology class, but I didn't internalise anything politically yet. It must have been partly set off by my history teacher, who taught us the Russian Revolution in school. As well as the French rev, with the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The concepts of socialism and anarchism interested me, so I spent a lot of time reading up on the internet, and discussing with others over news, events, politics, etc. I read every argument for and against, and found that I was essentially an open-minded libertarian socialist, drawing from the experience of both the socialist and anarchist traditions, as well as a bit of classical liberalism (i.e. John Stuart Mill,etc). I found socialism best fit with my humanist,enlightenment rationalist ideas.

[The Dark Side of the Moon]

i became interested in the soviet union, which then turned into communism, then into leninism.....
sounded pretty neat to me

[Blackburn]

I'm 35. I grew up and was stuck in regional Australia for a big chunk of my life.

I've always had an orientation towards social justice.

When I was in High School, at certain stages I was top of my grade for Modern History. My mind was open when we had to examine historical reasons for war and I read all the historical evidence for the USA lying and manipulating to get into war. (Mainly Vietnam).

My Essay of how America lied to get involved in Vietnam was used as an example by the teacher of the way to do essays to next years class. Yay Catholic School! :tt1:

All this was before internet. I lived in a town where the nearest university was 5 hours drive away, and the state capital was 22 hours away.


I'm happy to say I've never voted Conservative.... I've never bought any BS Capitalism lines.

But none of this matters now. Today in 2011, there is the internet and I get to hang with you fine gentlemen and ladies!

[ComradeZeldar]

When the financial crisis began around autumn 2008, I followed my family believing firmly in that the free market and capitalism was the best form of government and supported the conservative party here in Norway. One day there was a documentary about the cold war, though the documentary itself was pretty much some guy going on and on about how the soviet system failed, I still felt interested in the new idea (for me) of communism. So I started reading up on it, and later Karl Marx, Lenin and other men or women important in shaping communism. So I'd say yes, I have been radicalized in the last 4 years.

[LuckyStrikes]

I was first moved to communism while studying about the Soviet Union in school. I loved the ideas that these men had, but was disheartened by my teachers attacks on communism, the whole, "it's a great system in theory" lines that most reactionary, intellectuals attempt to feed us. So I started doing my own research and found a great system I believed could be set in practice!

[IndependentCitizen]

My father's a manual labourer, my mother is a special needs support worker within schools. A typically working-class family, my family always voted Labour, and my father was in militant during the 80s. However, he kind of became apathetic towards politics after having me and my brothers. I always was interested in politics, however, I grew up on an housing estate, and witnessed low unemployment, my area was pretty much 80% unemployed during the turn of the millennium, so I personally witnessed friends who had no choice but to resort to drug dealing to make ends meet. My first glimpse of left-wing politics however was actually by accident.

I was playing Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. I always liked playing as the Russians, which were then the soviet forces. I was well into military stuff then, so I felt the urge to read up on these so called soviet troops in 2005, and alas found communism. I never was one to judge it entirely, but I just read basic literature around communism, never the writings of Marx et al, just on communism and was attracted to it simply because it meant that everything I was surrounded by could essentially be gone. The elderly and sick looked after, and the capable in work to be able to put food on their family's tables.

I then begun looking at communist groups (still oblivious to Marxism) and loved the big protests filled with red flags and etc. I stumbled onto Marxism in 2008, but didn't take note of it and begin reading it until November 2010, this is when the local branch of the Socialist Party leafleted about the rise in tuition fees, I got speaking to the guys there. Very helpful, and gave me some pamphlets on Marxism and I begun hooked. I gave them my number so they could contact me about future details of protests and etc. They contacted me to ask if there was a chance I could form an anti-cuts group at my college, and then from there we built a fairly strong and dedicated team of about 30 individuals who on 24th November 2010 (exactly a year at time of writing :D) we organised Brighton's biggest protest of 3,000 students + a mass walk-out of students within 2 weeks.

It took a lot of work, but we pulled it, and then next few protests didn't gather as many, but remained about 1,400+ students. Eventually, I became a delegate for my group to attend the city's anti-cuts coalition, and from there eventually joined the SP. I quit in May, but I think this was down to personal reasons rather than that of the party, I still remain a sympathiser.

So yeah, past 4 years for me have seen an eventual radicalisation (new word for me ;)) But it's worth it, everything I have done in the name of socialism IMO has been worth it, as there's nothing better than fighting for what you believe in.

[Franz Fanonipants]

my folks were marxists. i spent my early college years travelin through different identity politics matrices, but then realized that Marx answered most of my needs as a model for dealing w/social and economic issues.

i also had the misfortune of being 18 when bush stole the 2000 election, and my 20s has basically been the story of bald US imperialism and the recent, apparent collapse of capital. so, i feel like i'm pretty much radicalized for life.

[Renegade Saint]

My first full-time job out of college did it for me. We knew that the contract we were working on was extremely lucrative for the company, hell, management told us to our face that it was, but we were getting paid shit with no benefits whatsoever and a bad work environment.

[Philosophis Pony]

I've been radicalized around when I was 13 So its almost 2 years now. It was my quest for philosophy as means of freedom from bigotry and baseless religion that caused me discover about anarchism and marxism, I must say though its been a hell of a ride researching and going from many ideals though currently I am an Anarcho-Marxist.

[freethinker]

My parents are Roosevelt democrats and until this summer I was center left, then I began to study on Hugo Chavez and the 1924 Party Congress.. Then I fell in love with communism when I read a biography on Valdemar Lenin
Just finished reading the Communist Manifesto two days ago..
I consider my self half revisionist