We keep pushing. Giving up is never the answer. And the left is making progress. 10 years ago it was still taboo to call yourself a socialist.

There are mainstream political positions well to the left of Bernie Sanders now.

We are making progress

What we can do is continue to learn to be better revolutionaries. Material conditions have not gotten to "ripe for revolution" levels in America, but frankly, we're focusing on something that isn't realistically achievable yet; revolution requires much work–preparation, convincing and organization of the masses, and establishing material support systems before anything else. We must continue talking no matter how exhausted we become. And we must come up with ways to help those among the working class who are the most disenfranchised–people of color, LGBTQIA+ folks, immigrants, and the destitute.

It's imperative that we realize that we have to start from precisely where we find ourselves; if it's just one of us, we must find that second person. Now, we must think about what it is we want to do (find this second person) and identify the things working against this (the contradictions). Likely, there are many of these contradictions and they could be something that are severely out of our control, but others, likely aren't. We must identify what the most pressing contradictions are and come up with ways to tackle them and resolve them so that we can achieve the desired outcome–finding this second person, our comrade. Maybe identifying where it is one can meet another person? This will vary by individual, no doubt, but perhaps, we can try to adapt and work within our constraints. If we spend many waking hours at work or at school, well, luckily, we are exposed to people, here, so we can get to know people. Going out to the library, to some sort of "third space" or hobby area, perhaps we can find someone here, as well. We also have the Internet–we can look to see if there aren't already existing groups locally. If so, then we can reach out to these groups, meet them, learn about them, share our ideas, and maybe collaborate on creating a program that would mobilize these groups, if they aren't already, into going out, identifying who among the working community is the neediest, and doing something that can address or alleviate some of their problems. Then, teaching them about your mission goal (wanting to become larger, more influential and effective at helping the community, teaching them to–and making it realistically possible to do so–collaborate and help one another, or something to this effect), the sort of things you would like on a community level, and your understanding of why things are the way they are and why the system has failed at achieving that.

We must see, in the real world, though, that there truly are others like us and we're all not just a few hundred people scattered across the globe. When we achieve steps to becoming organized, we must realize that these are successes; finding a comrade or a group even within our own town, village, or city, is a very hope-inspiring thing, I would say! With two comrades, it becomes significantly less difficult to go out and find a third, then, a fourth, a fifth, or an _n_th comrade. These are all victories because we are advancing toward having a foundation that is capable, then, of going out and investigating–we meet the workers of our neighborhoods, our towns, our communities, and we learn from them their greatest immediate material struggles. Once they tell us what they need, we remove that guesswork of knowing what needs to be done.

I like looking and learning from the Black Panther Party and the community services they provided black communities; feeding them, providing clothing, teaching them, empowering them to resist oppressive forces, creating kinship and community bonds.

I'd like to point out that we, as individuals, don't have to do every single one of these things. That's why it's important that we meet folks who have a good idea of their strength in whichever regard. Perhaps some are better at cooking, others have more means or connections at acquiring material resources, some have transportation, some are tremendously well-read on Marxist theory and/or great teachers, some have good organizational, planning, and/or leadership skills, some are charismatic, and maybe some are better at agitating, inspiring the people, and making calls to action.

There is much that needs to be done, but beyond helping folks with their material conditions, it is important that they know how powerful even their contributions to the cause would be to expanding the effectiveness of this program to further help more and more people. I know there are already a lot of charity organizations or mutual aid groups, but many of these groups likely aren't actively going out to the community and instead wait for the community to come to them; many times, this isn't realistic, as the folks who struggle the most are likely preoccupied surviving and it lessens the chances that they will know about an organization's existence. We must learn from the experience of other revolutionaries; think of the pamphlets and fliers that they distributed. Remember that many community members aren't online, especially those who struggle and do some of the most grueling waged labor. These are the people we want to help with their struggle, even if it's just something like food or anything that would alleviate some of their material problems. When we improve their material conditions, something that the current state isn't doing, we gain legitimacy and credibility. And equipped with Marxist theory and a dialectical program, we can begin to teach them why it is that things are the way they are in their lives, within their local context.

I dunno if there are comrades with far more real-world experience, but I think doing this sort of work in a manner in which the revolutionaries go out and reach out to the masses, catalogue their problems, work towards solutions or at least alleviate their problems seems like the most effective at organizing. This is what I learned from reading parts of Selected Works of Mao Zedong; he stressed going out into the villages and interviewing folks or "investigating" (he loved emphasizing investigation–No investigation? No right to speak!). But before we can do this, it's also important to have others already by our side who are also willing to collaborate, provide efforts based on their ability and work as a group. There will obviously be folks who are more capable, under the current constraints of the system, to do this sort of work. When we make community with others and when people have been sought out and helped, that sort of thing does something tremendous and transformative for folks. I think that's when the spark and desire to help others comes in or sort of "propagates" among working people. Not to mention that if they're given that small "breathing room" to actually not have to struggle for survival every waking moment; this is, without a doubt, instrumental in giving people the real ability to contribute to helping others.

We always hear "get organized" and such, but never how to even begin. If we take a scientific approach to achieving this sort of "organized", we see that in the initial stage or granular level of an organization, it's just one, two, maybe a handful of people. This is organization in its infancy, as it buds. Much like our understanding of communism itself–something that we continuously work to achieve–its the same with organizing that desperately needed group. It starts small and it expands to those who are sought out and helped out of the problems brought upon them by the current system. When new members of this organization join, ability to carry out tasks and resolve problems improves. Everyone has value and something that they can contribute, but it's also imperative that they learn the program and foundations necessary for the continued growth of the organization, how to distribute material resources, and how to weaken the chains of the system that it has on individuals and their households.

Sorry if any of this seems out of order. My ADHD brain can become quite scattered and I sort of jump from point to point rather ungracefully, at times. For that, I apologize, but I hope someone can find some sort of meaning out of any of this. If there are any comrades who have a ton of real-life experience undertaking this, I would love to learn. Most of what I know is from what I've come to understand from my studies of revolutionary texts. But writing much of this out was revelatory to me. I'm very much inspired to seek out and find that somebody or somebodies in my town. I know I have my own strengths, and I aim to improve in other ways, such that these skills can be used for the organization of working people to help one another. I know it is a ton of work, but knowing that struggles can be overcome with combined efforts gives me strength and fills me with hope that there is, indeed, a path out of the current system.

First off, I love that these people always assume everyone that criticizes Chinese lack of involvement is automatically from the US.

Second off, it feels more and more to be completely ok on here to be an armchair revolutionary, so long as you are outside the US. In their minds, the handful of US communists don't deserve opinions because they aren't willing to run outside and immediately get themselves shot by our fascist police force, which has a budget large enough to make itself the third largest military on the planet.

The best US communists can do right now is ride the momentum and use it to convert people. Or at least open their minds.

US people aren't any more stupid than any other people in the world. The biggest problem of the US (the majority, since there are a few true comrades there as well) is that you expect every four years a savior will fall from the heavens and solve all your problems without you having to move your asses.

It's your job as a socialist to do something. If you have nothing better to do, read theory. If you know theory, then agitate. If people are agitated, then demonstrate.