Building the Network that serves Revolution Pt1
What it means to abandon electoralism, and what that looks like.
Every couple of years some new left-wing group comes seemingly out of nowhere with big promises to institute some kind of political revolution. Bernie Sanders wasn’t the first, and he most assuredly won’t be the last. The problem with these groups, is no matter how radical their platform, or their demands, the end result is ALWAYS the same: Abject failure and a sheepherding of young recently radicalized people being pushed back into the democratic party with the goal of taking over the establishment.
Understanding why these movements fail:
Well, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, most of those organizations are the brainchildren of liberal think-tanks and are built with funds and blessings from the Democratic party itself. You see, to understand American politics, you’ll need to understand business. The goal of every business, regardless of the vertical sector (that’s fancy lingo for what industry or niche it’s in) it operates in, is to make money. As much as it can, and as cheaply as possible. Political parties are no different. Their goal is to raise funds, as much as possible, as easy as can be done. So some of that money raised is invested into groups of marketing experts who come up with new and creative ways to rebrand electoral politics to rake in cash from people who figured out the Democrats and Republicans are all on the same team.
Sometimes that looks like loose pseudo-affiliated movement like Justice Democrats. Sometimes, its a whole new “political party” like the Movement for a Peoples Party (MPP) or just The People’s Party. Those aren’t new and different organizations out to destroy the two party system. They are brilliant marketing strategies to get people bought in and hyped, and to slowly and surely sheepdog them into the DNC.
Secondly (remember, there’s a few reasons these things fail!) upstart grassroots organizations who actually do want to dismantle the system show up, but run into a set of problems all their own, BLM or Occupy being excellent examples of this. They grow too quickly, and can’t get the infrastructure in place to utilize the passion of the moment, thus losing all their steam and fizzling out; or, leadership as the org grows begin to nitpick away from the original goals/mission because those things weren't set in stone on inception and infighting fractures the movements into multiple smaller, weaker organizations. In the case of BLM, millions of dollars in donations rolled in and there wasn’t a plan in place for what to do were that to happen. So naturally the power structures, seeing a potential threat, began a campaign to call into question their legitimacy and created hundreds of sock-puppet social media accounts to ask what is happening with the money. By sowing distrust they were able to deal a massive blow to the organization's ability to further fundraise. BLM isn’t the only group who’s had this issue. Dozens of grassroots movements have seen this problem, and it’s one the left needs to discuss and address. We need to trust those who lead these orgs, or if you aren’t sure, don’t give em money. Remember, someone grifting you out of a $10 bill is a reflection of them, not you.
Lastly (at least for the purpose of this article), sometimes, you get a grassroots movement, a proper leadership team with set goals, and the ability to expand in a way that is both quick and functional. In those cases, companies like the Democtratic party will simply spend some cash on destroying the movement through things like: manufacturing consent/dissent through the news; bot-farms on social media parroting stories of abuse/ineptitude/criminal activity/etc. which are all fabricated but when spoken enough, become truth; or just having the cops roll through and beat/arrest the leadership thus villainizing them across media and hurting their ability to recruit.
It should be clear, that if the goal is to vote away money and power from people, you need the consent of those in power to do it. Which, surprise! isn’t gonna happen. You’ll never see congress vote to give themselves term limits, or a pay cut, you’ll never see them vote to elevate the poor to their status. They thrive on being in charge and have no intention of letting that go. Yes, that includes your favorite politician who you are 100% sure actually cares about you, but is stuck fighting the good fight all alone. They are indeed fighting the good fight, just not FOR you, but rather AGAINST you. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but the sooner, we take the medicine, the sooner we can get to work feeling better.
So, we’ve decided not to donate, canvas, or vote for people. Now What?
Well first, I’d like to congratulate you on taking the first and hardest step towards freedom. But let’s not go breaking our arms patting ourselves on the back. That was step one of many. First and most importantly, we need to start building infrastructure. I don’t mean roads and bridges, I mean communication networks, methods to transfer money and goods, systems to provide healthcare to one another, housing, etc.
As you begin to exit the system, there is going to be a lot of pushback. We very much live in a Machiavellian system, which means the government's sole purpose is to sustain. It’s goals have nothing to do with peace, equality, or any of that. It’s goal is to last, for as long as humanly possible. And it will do whatever it takes to continue on. So obviously, the easiest way to wreck a movement or rebellion is to shut down it’s communication and its money. Without either of those things, you can’t organize, and you can’t procure supplies necessary to move forward. So those need to be the first and strongest push.
Before the internet, people organized in a number of manners. Through zines, in person meetups, book clubs, music venues, etc. They didn’t have cell phones to call one another and figure out when and where to meet. That was all done with a wink and a nod and a largely unspoken code posted on flyers and in printed works. It’s a tactic that absolutely needs a resurgence. Using the internet is fine, until you get moving and start winning battles, then all your chat rooms, social media networks, and even the internet itself will suddenly vanish from before you. You need a plan b. The code isn’t something that will be posted online or discussed in a forum such as this. This is no place for those things.
As far as the money front, apps like CashApp, Venmo, etc are all fine for now, but once again, if you start winning, those things will vanish. This is not a call to move to crypto. Quite the opposite. Stupid internet money has no value if you’re not online. Have cash. Like legit old school dollar bills. Take a fiver out of each paycheck and keep it somewhere safe. So if the time comes and you need a bit of purchasing power, you’ll have it. You see, the system needs the cash to remain worth something. It’s how it operates. So there is safety in that. Some folks will push for things like gold and silver, barter systems, etc. All of which are fine if your network is willing to use them. But those aren’t going to be universal. Not at first, so again, have a backup.
When it comes to things like healthcare this is again, where understanding the system and it’s loopholes comes into play. Hospital Emergency Rooms HAVE to see you. They can’t say no. So whether you got money or not, insurance or not, is irrelevant. If you need care. Go to the ER. Don’t stress the debts. You aren’t gonna pay that shit anyways. If the goal is to eventually crash the system, those will all go away when it does.
You can also do a lot to improve your own health at home. A little exercise each day (if able), eating a bit cleaner (remember last article about growing your own food? That’s gonna help A LOT), and having access to a small batch of medicines that you slowly stock up on can help in direct action situations. A good first aid kit is vital to survival even without revolution. It’s gonna be more so when that time comes. Something like the below list with some additional pieces should cover your bases1:
Personally, I’d add in some emergency shelters, ponchos, etc which you can pick up at an outdoor store. I’d also add more latex gloves, some needle and surgical thread, and some extra masks. From there, you can stock your home with a number of things such as herbal teas, honey, cinnamon, whiskey, and more to make sure you can tackle any minor cold/flu infections that come your way.
Next is the housing piece. It’s key here that when we build our networks, we make sure we are building a network of trust. If you wouldn’t let a comrade sleep in your house, they aren’t your comrade. As we move forward and housing crunches become reality, renters may see increased evictions, banks will foreclose on homes just to create roadblocks. This is where the community defense portion we talked about previously comes into play. Standing your ground and not leaving, as well as being willing and able to defend your neighbors homes as well will be necessary to ensuring success.
We’ll add more in Pt2 later in the week. If there is something you’d like a deeper dive on, drop it in the comments below. Stay Safe out there!
-EQ