What can one person do?

[Athenry]

I have become very disheartened. For hundreds of years people have been fighting for what we are fighting for. What has it achieved?

Julian Assange of Wikileaks is being hailed as one of the world's greatest fighters for freedom of the past decade. Sure, he has exposed a few crimes, but were the perpetrators ever held accountable? No. Julian Assange is now facing charges, the world wants him dead and nothing has changed.

It's the same for every revolutionary.

One man is but as powerful as an ant. Ten men, one hundred, one thousand, we're weak. We continue to fight against racism, fascism, corporate greed. But what changes? Nothing.

I live in a small city. There is a motorcycle gang that strikes fear in the hearts of everyone here. As a child I would see the members walking or riding around and I would be terrified. They had children at my school and used to attend school events wearing their gang colours. But everyone knows, they're here, they're a part of the city, it's just normal, it's just life. We have accepted a Nazi worshiping, violent, drug-dealing gang as a normal part of life.

They have a clubhouse full of Swastikas and Nazi memorabilia, drugs and weapons too. When was the last time it was raided by the police? Never. That's right, never. These people are murderers, drug dealers, criminals. Yet they are allowed to organize, why?

My city isn't even that bad, these people and clubs like them litter the nation. One of the most respected businessmen in my city, a millionaire hotel-chain owner illegally uses them as security. People, including this man, use them to destroy small-businesses that are just starting out, their competition. That man is my boss. I am so, so low down on the ladder that I've only met him twice and shouldn't know this, but the whole city knows it.

I walk home from work and am questioned by police, because it is apparently a crime to be out late. They ask me for my address, my name, my place of work and photo identification.

The city is littered with government CCTV cameras, we are followed everywhere.

I see swastikas and white power graffiti everywhere I walk.

The government has detained fifty-four citizens without charge or trial, indefinitely.

The socialist and communist parties have so little support that they win under 1% in the state elections, nothing in the federal elections.

I bet you're wondering where I live, perhaps somewhere in the Middle East or Northern Africa?

I live in Australia. A world-leader.

Perhaps it's time to face the fact that nothing will change, there is nothing we can do. Even if we take up arms against our enemies, they are greater in number and strength. We would be wiped out before we even started.

Seriously, I'm on my last breath. What the hell can we do to change the world?

[helot]

It won't be us that changes the world but the working class as a whole. I'd say the best bet we have is to get involved in bread and butter issues and agitate for more and more militant action and to try and link up struggles to not only make them more effective but to breed solidarity. I like to think of it as a game of building up reputation. I find it's easier to not feel despair as often.

Shit won't change over night but if we keep at it we can have a successful revolution within a couple of centuries. If we sit there accepting that nothing changes nothing will.

[Sea]

What is one man, or one hundred or one thousand to do?

The ruling class faces these issues of numbers considering how many they enslave. The single greatest thing that people in your situation can do, and I've said it before, is to spread information, anonymously if you can. Re-tool the crimes that citizens know and loathe with a "We won't stand for this, they're only strong when we're asleep!" perspective.

We have logic, reason and the ultimate unsustainability of capitalism on our side.

The issues you describe are the raw results of the things we're against. Don't let the fact that these issues are manifesting in your hometown discourage you. Let it give you more immediate real-life importance to our fight, and more reason to fight harder!

[Book O'Dead]

I have become very disheartened. For hundreds of years people have been fighting for what we are fighting for. What has it achieved?

Seriously, I'm on my last breath. What the hell can we do to change the world?

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and treat you as if you were as well-intentioned and naive as your post would seem to suggest.

Once you crawl out from under your bed you should make a firm decision to snap out of your pessimistic attitude by studying the fundamentals of revolutionary science.

The necessary resources are here: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/index.htm

The reason you feel so negative and so impotent is because you really know nothing about real defeats and the genuine triumphs of revolutions and revolutionaries through the centuries.

IOW's your real enemies aren't those whackos you refer to in your sob story; the real enemy is your own pathetic ignorance.

[Sea]

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and treat you as if you were as well-intentioned and naive as your post would seem to suggest.

Once you crawl out from under your bed you should make a firm decision to snap out of your pessimistic attitude by studying the fundamentals of revolutionary science.

The necessary resources are here: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/index.htm

The reason you feel so negative and so impotent is because you really know nothing about real defeats and the genuine triumphs of revolutions and revolutionaries through the centuries.

IOW's your real enemies aren't those whackos you refer to in your sob story; the real enemy is your own pathetic ignorance.

Posts like this are perhaps the most discouraging thing of all.

Making unfounded accusations if naivety is naive and rudely assuming on its own. To go on and suppose that someone is a pessimistic complainer at their best by patronizing them with your benefit of the doubt isn't much better. To do this while the person is obviously feeling discouraged and overwhelmed is nothing more than bullying. Add to that the blatant disregard for Athenry's situation (fascist gangs are hardly sob story material) and I'm not quite sure if I should be angered or embarrassed.


Is solidarity a hollow buzzword to you? Have you no concept of camaraderie, or do you simply choose to pit yourself against others?

[freeeveryone!]

one person can pretty much just try to make the most of their life as of right now.

[Book O'Dead]

Posts like this are perhaps the most discouraging thing of all.

Making unfounded accusations if naivety is naive and rudely assuming on its own. To go on and suppose that someone is a pessimistic complainer at their best by patronizing them with your benefit of the doubt isn't much better. To do this while the person is obviously feeling discouraged and overwhelmed is nothing more than bullying. Add to that the blatant disregard for Athenry's situation (fascist gangs are hardly sob story material) and I'm not quite sure if I should be angered or embarrassed.


Is solidarity a hollow buzzword to you? Have you no concept of camaraderie, or do you simply choose to pit yourself against others?

You don't get it, do you?

The post is an insult; maybe unintended, but an insult just the same.

To say that all of the previous revolutionary struggles have produced nothing is offensive when the very liberty one enjoys--however imperfect--was gained by long and intense struggles on the part of others. It demonstrates either a profound ignorance of history or a wanton disregard for the work of our revolutionary forebears.

[Athenry]

It won't be us that changes the world but the working class as a whole. I'd say the best bet we have is to get involved in bread and butter issues and agitate for more and more militant action and to try and link up struggles to not only make them more effective but to breed solidarity. I like to think of it as a game of building up reputation. I find it's easier to not feel despair as often.

Shit won't change over night but if we keep at it we can have a successful revolution within a couple of centuries. If we sit there accepting that nothing changes nothing will.

But how can we link up the struggles? There are so many Socialist and Communist political parties in Australia, it is so fragmented. They are at war with each other, trying to stamp our their competition like petty corporations. Nobody wants to work together anymore, in a world where we have the technology to work together on a global scale.

What is one man, or one hundred or one thousand to do?

The ruling class faces these issues of numbers considering how many they enslave. The single greatest thing that people in your situation can do, and I've said it before, is to spread information, anonymously if you can. Re-tool the crimes that citizens know and loathe with a "We won't stand for this, they're only strong when we're asleep!" perspective.

We have logic, reason and the ultimate unsustainability of capitalism on our side.

The issues you describe are the raw results of the things we're against. Don't let the fact that these issues are manifesting in your hometown discourage you. Let it give you more immediate real-life importance to our fight, and more reason to fight harder!

Your post is very inspiring, thank you. I'm finding it hard though, as far as I know of there are no groups in this city sympathetic to the cause. I have heard of no Communist, Socialist, Anarchist or any form of revolutionary group existing. It is difficult for me to do this by myself, especially when the majority of the people, especially the older generations, are stuck in their ways, with McCarthyist attitudes. I don't know how to get through to them.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and treat you as if you were as well-intentioned and naive as your post would seem to suggest.

Once you crawl out from under your bed you should make a firm decision to snap out of your pessimistic attitude by studying the fundamentals of revolutionary science.

The necessary resources are here:

The reason you feel so negative and so impotent is because you really know nothing about real defeats and the genuine triumphs of revolutions and revolutionaries through the centuries.

IOW's your real enemies aren't those whackos you refer to in your sob story; the real enemy is your own pathetic ignorance.

Sorry for my cynicism, but after finding out that the man I work for succeeded at least once in hiring a fascist gang to destroy a small business and nearly bankrupt the owner, I can't really help that.

Why are you enacting the traits of the ruling class? Elitism really doesn't help the cause.

To say that all of the previous revolutionary struggles have produced nothing is offensive when the very liberty one enjoys--however imperfect--was gained by long and intense struggles on the part of others. It demonstrates either a profound ignorance of history or a wanton disregard for the work of our revolutionary forebears.

Oh sure, it may be offensive. Of course I'm not saying they were fighting for nothing, but in the end many of the revolutions were reversed. Lenin achieved freedom for some time, but how are the people of Russia today? The same goes for Ho Chi Minh, Salvador Allende, the list goes on.

I'm not saying it was all for nothing, I'm saying that since then we've fallen into a rut, we have no power because we are very few. And even though they all fought and many won small victories, the world as a whole today, the world that I see at least, is not much better off.

I'm not very well travelled, but in the four nations I have been to, Australia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Malaysia. Those liberties your speak of are either non-existent or on the verge of destruction.

[Book O'Dead]

Oh sure, it may be offensive. Of course I'm not saying they were fighting for nothing, but in the end many of the revolutions were reversed. Lenin achieved freedom for some time, but how are the people of Russia today? The same goes for Ho Chi Minh, Salvador Allende, the list goes on.

I'm not saying it was all for nothing, I'm saying that since then we've fallen into a rut, we have no power because we are very few. And even though they all fought and many won small victories, the world as a whole today, the world that I see at least, is not much better off.

I'm not very well travelled, but in the four nations I have been to, Australia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Malaysia. Those liberties your speak of are either non-existent or on the verge of destruction.

Not only have you managed to insult past revolutionaries by asserting that their work was all for nothing, but you've also opened yourself up to the suspicion that you are a reactionary provocateur.

Just to cite one or two examples: To claim that the Russian people are no better off today than they were in 1923 is historically false and offensive to those of us who maintain that there is no such thing as a bad revolution.

To include Ho Chi Minh in any list of failed revolutionaries is to slander him and the Vietnamese people. After all, it was thanks to them and the inspiration that they drew from Ho that Vietnam expelled two foreign powers from its land and united a once-divided country.

Shame on you and goddamn your willful ignorance!

[Athenry]

Not only have you managed to insult past revolutionaries by asserting that their work was all for nothing, but you've also opened yourself up to the suspicion that you are a reactionary provocateur.

Just to cite one or two examples: To claim that the Russian people are no better off today than they were in 1923 is historically false and offensive to those of us who maintain that there is no such thing as a bad revolution.

To include Ho Chi Minh in any list of failed revolutionaries is to slander him and the Vietnamese people. After all, it was thanks to them and the inspiration that they drew from Ho that Vietnam expelled two foreign powers from its land and united a once-divided country.

Shame on you and goddamn your willful ignorance!

I'm not saying the people of Russia are no better off, I'm saying they're living under a corrupt government that locks up political dissidents. And again, I didn't say Ho Chi Minh failed, he succeeded, for some time. But Vietnam today is becoming more and more capitalist, the people en masse are suffering.

I never said they are no better off, I said that they are still suffering. And honestly, I'm sure Russia would have been better off at some time while the USSR was active than it is now.

[Comrade Samuel]

Not only have you managed to insult past revolutionaries by asserting that their work was all for nothing, but you've also opened yourself up to the suspicion that you are a reactionary provocateur.

Just to cite one or two examples: To claim that the Russian people are no better off today than they were in 1923 is historically false and offensive to those of us who maintain that there is no such thing as a bad revolution.

To include Ho Chi Minh in any list of failed revolutionaries is to slander him and the Vietnamese people. After all, it was thanks to them and the inspiration that they drew from Ho that Vietnam expelled two foreign powers from its land and united a once-divided country.

Shame on you and goddamn your willful ignorance!

Calm down there, there has been progress in the many years since Marx but it's has been very slow and very bloody. Ho Chi Mihn was no communist in my opinion and his leadership did cause many people to die (not nearly as many as the Americans did trying to "liberate" them however) perhaps vietnam was some sort of victory for anti-imperialism but over time Vietnam is now just another capitalist country but it's still a step up from being under the French's boot right? Russia is better off than it was during the early 20th century as well. While it is corrupt, nationalist and imperialist there is at the very least not mass starvation or a violent suppressive monarchy so once more it's not what we want but it is better.

Don't loose hope, it's not likely a revolution will happen in your life, the next generations's or even the one after that but slowly very,very slowly the workers of the world will eventually triuph.

[Sea]

It is difficult for me to do this by myself, especially when the majority of the people, especially the older generations, are stuck in their ways, with McCarthyist attitudes. I don't know how to get through to them.

There are plenty of people, especially those that lived through the red scare era as you say, who have built a thick barricade of slander in their minds around communism. Some of these people are not against communism but rather against oligarchy, censorship, genocide and kleptocracy, things that they mistakenly see communism as representing. This doesn't preclude them from being on our side, they may support the ideas behind that mysterious 9-letter word. Indeed, the lingering effect of anti-communist (or more appropriately, anti-Soviet) propaganda is a great obstacle in the way of achieving class consciousness, especially in the Western world. But then again, as you damn well know there are also plenty of people chained at the hip to unregulated capitalism who are willing to defend it while bumping into the same psychological mechanisms that cause people to defend cults. I guess what I'm trying to say is that organizing could be easier if one avoids upsetting the sensitivities of the general public, allowing ideas to be discussed and thought upon without their light being dimmed by the veil of connotation. There are many more people who side with the left than who side with the left.

You don't get it, do you?

The post is an insult; maybe unintended, but an insult just the same.

To say that all of the previous revolutionary struggles have produced nothing is offensive when the very liberty one enjoys--however imperfect--was gained by long and intense struggles on the part of others. It demonstrates either a profound ignorance of history or a wanton disregard for the work of our revolutionary forebears.

The problem with this analysis is that you look at the end result without considering the classical-liberal capitalist goals that they had in mind, goals that are, as we all know, in turn conductive to situations that the OP is facing. (I assume that by previous revolutionary struggles you mean the French and American revolutions etc., feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

[blake 3:17]

To the OP --

Figure out what you're good at, put those skills to good use, and take care of yourself.

The world's a mess, and none of us are going to make it perfect, but there must be people in your city working for social justice on a local, regional, national or international level. No organizations are perfect but that doesn't mean not giving a shit.

I was deeply involved in a socialist organization, and found my time and energy was being wasted, and found greater personal (and broader social) benefits volunteering at an agency that helped teens in high risk situations. I didn't abandon any principles in the process, and was able to help out some of the more leftwing and activist people in the agency. I also learnt a great deal.

Some of my activism has had positive effects, some of it didn't amount to anything. After doing this stuff for 20 years I have figured out some things that are helpful that I can do, know what my principles are and that I'll defend, and try to maintain a faith in basic human decency.

It sounds like you've got some fairly powerful bullies where you are. Find the people standing up to them and work with those folks however you can.

[Leftsolidarity]

Not only have you managed to insult past revolutionaries by asserting that their work was all for nothing, but you've also opened yourself up to the suspicion that you are a reactionary provocateur.

Just to cite one or two examples: To claim that the Russian people are no better off today than they were in 1923 is historically false and offensive to those of us who maintain that there is no such thing as a bad revolution.

To include Ho Chi Minh in any list of failed revolutionaries is to slander him and the Vietnamese people. After all, it was thanks to them and the inspiration that they drew from Ho that Vietnam expelled two foreign powers from its land and united a once-divided country.

Shame on you and goddamn your willful ignorance!

Seriously, what the fuck is your problem?

-----

To OP: Your situation sounds rough but you most not get tunnel vision. There is much more to the world than what you experience in your city. You must also realize that people have faced similar situations in the past and overcome them. You can too. I've shared the same feelings and even the same fears as you before. I had about a half a year where I was absolutely terrified of drug cartels, the mafia, and bonehead organizations. I don't really know why I was so afraid because I never really had any major interactions with them but I was completely terrified and it made me have a doomed outlook on this. It was strange for me to hold those fears so I feel really foolish about it and usually don't tell people but you have legitimate concerns about your saftey so that is very understandable. The status quo stays that way because of fear, though.

Others can give you better pep talks and advice. I'm not very good at them. I'd just like you to know that I at least have a vague understanding of why you think what you do and I sympathize. Also, it's not all doom and gloom. Keep your head up.

[Costello74]

I'm intending on taking a gap year and heading to Australia soon. While their I hope to remain politically active as I'm a communist. Though from reading what you've said it doesn't look bright.
Maybe you's could do with a broader anti fascist movement?

[Ele'ill]

Seriously, I'm on my last breath. What the hell can we do to change the world?

Live your life the way you want to doing what you want and helping others along the way. Go and see many things. Make every year completely different from the previous and always keep learning. Make fiction irrelevant.

[Blake's Baby]

I have become very disheartened. For hundreds of years people have been fighting for what we are fighting for. What has it achieved?..

One thing that is has achieved, is not letting 'them' win. The fight isn't over yet, we still have a chance to make a better world. That future hasn't been closed off much as the bourgeoisie would like it to be.

I think that's pretty important.

In more practical terms, well, the revolutions in Russia and Germany ended World War One, the most brutal slaughter the world had yet seen. It's been said that what the Allies failed to do in four years, the German working class did in four days.

I think that's pretty important.

It's arguable (I believe it, others don't) that the revival of working class militancy in the late '60s and early '70s prevented the Third World War from engulfing humanity.

But as I say not everyone accepts that was a real possibility so you don't have to count that if you don't want to.

Every social improvement, everything that has helped people - especially, poor people - has been fought and struggled for. It's not easy to change the world for the better - far to easy to change it for the worse.

A good friend and comrade told me something that has stuck with me when, some years ago now, I expressed to him a similar pessimism about the potential for revolution.

Don't mistake your own psychology for the consciousness of the working class. You think the class is powerless because you feel powerless. You feel powerless because individually you can do very little. But you are not the working class as a whole.

Individuals can feel helpless but as a class we're the only force that can turn this shitheap into a world fit for us all to live in. It is hard, especially if you're isolated in a bit of a cultural backwater. But there are hundreds and thousands of people all questioning the lies and hypocrisy, the futility and violence, the rank idiocy of the system that confronts us; and together, whether we all know it or not, we're strong enough to destroy it. My advice is, hold on to that.

[Rottenfruit]

I have become very disheartened. For hundreds of years people have been fighting for what we are fighting for. What has it achieved?

Julian Assange of Wikileaks is being hailed as one of the world's greatest fighters for freedom of the past decade. Sure, he has exposed a few crimes, but were the perpetrators ever held accountable? No. Julian Assange is now facing charges, the world wants him dead and nothing has changed.

It's the same for every revolutionary.

One man is but as powerful as an ant. Ten men, one hundred, one thousand, we're weak. We continue to fight against racism, fascism, corporate greed. But what changes? Nothing.

I live in a small city. There is a motorcycle gang that strikes fear in the hearts of everyone here. As a child I would see the members walking or riding around and I would be terrified. They had children at my school and used to attend school events wearing their gang colours. But everyone knows, they're here, they're a part of the city, it's just normal, it's just life. We have accepted a Nazi worshiping, violent, drug-dealing gang as a normal part of life.

They have a clubhouse full of Swastikas and Nazi memorabilia, drugs and weapons too. When was the last time it was raided by the police? Never. That's right, never. These people are murderers, drug dealers, criminals. Yet they are allowed to organize, why?

My city isn't even that bad, these people and clubs like them litter the nation. One of the most respected businessmen in my city, a millionaire hotel-chain owner illegally uses them as security. People, including this man, use them to destroy small-businesses that are just starting out, their competition. That man is my boss. I am so, so low down on the ladder that I've only met him twice and shouldn't know this, but the whole city knows it.

I walk home from work and am questioned by police, because it is apparently a crime to be out late. They ask me for my address, my name, my place of work and photo identification.

The city is littered with government CCTV cameras, we are followed everywhere.

I see swastikas and white power graffiti everywhere I walk.

The government has detained fifty-four citizens without charge or trial, indefinitely.

The socialist and communist parties have so little support that they win under 1% in the state elections, nothing in the federal elections.

I bet you're wondering where I live, perhaps somewhere in the Middle East or Northern Africa?

I live in Australia. A world-leader.

Perhaps it's time to face the fact that nothing will change, there is nothing we can do. Even if we take up arms against our enemies, they are greater in number and strength. We would be wiped out before we even started.

Seriously, I'm on my last breath. What the hell can we do to change the world?

Answer alot for good or bad
Gengis Khan pretty much took over the whole world in his lifespan
Rosa Park
Martin Luther
Charles Martel
Rasputin

[Os Cangaceiros]

What can one person do? Set themselves on fire, perhaps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi

I disagree with the notion that the battles over the last centuries have amounted to nothing, though. Many battles were fought, some over the grand scales of revolutions and national insurgencies, down to riots and insurrections, down to the smallest strike. Sometimes they were successful...more often, they were crushed. But struggle has played a large role in where we are today, in an era of unprecedented life expectancy in most countries, and a large decline in worldwide poverty from a century ago. Still a long way to go, though!

[Rafiq]

One person can learn. The more distinguished revolutionary theoreticians, the better.