A Further Reflection on Salem and Socialist Potential

As I look around Salem and see a city struggling to unite against Trump these questions, concerns and thoughts come up.

I haven't been around for that long and although I try and be active I am be no means an organizer nor experienced in activism. About two weeks ago I attended a meeting at the Racial Justice Organizing Committee here in Salem that served as an interesting small scale example of what I feel is happening around the whole country: the very broad left ( centrist liberals to communists of all stripes) has no center at which to organize. The questions always come up: what can I do tomorrow? People's lives are usually seperated from political activism. Unions can serve as an intersection: your 9-5 can become activism by being organized, organizing others and having demands in and at your workplace. Unions aren't always radical though, and some of our historically largest unions have been conservative, like the United Mine Workers under the leadership of W.A. Boyle. People can attend political meetings, meetings from People Power organized by the ACLU to meetings with DSA to the IWW, and walk away without concrete actions and still no inlet into which your view can start to become realized in the world.

I don't have answers. I wish people had the power to organize more spontaneously. People have to be educated in activism to organize their own rally, club and so forth. But where does activism end and where does it start? The Black Panthers are powerful reminders of this. In my opinion, their free breakfast for children is one of the most successful forms of activism. It doesn't directly make change but rather implements it deeply into a community. Giving food for free - for socialists a human right and something that unconditionally every human should have access to - to attacked and discriminated against people and creating a place of meeting serves to show people, in very practical ways, what radicalism and leftism is. Kids in the program knew who the real people with their interests at heart: not the State attacking their liberation and the police killing their families but the socialists giving them free food. 

What about organized sport clubs teams, sponsored by DSA chapters? How hard is this? You need a coach, organized meetings, a large time commitment and a place to play; a field, stadium or court. You need to disseminate your info through a community. Having a DSA soccer club can help kids after school and provide them with fun. Adults have a place at which their kids can be, giving them extra time in their busy days. This is also hard. But to have it up and running and its effects on the community would outweigh starting this project.

Every day meetings with political implications happen. Locally at schools, city hall and community centers. What would it mean for just a few people with the same vision to show up to Salem's town hall every meeting, walk up to the podium and have one demand? This is long, tiring and mundane work for sure but it plants seeds. And what if it expanded to twenty or fifty people each time. Would the demands happen sooner? Could that template and experience of doing it lead to it happening in other cities and eventually state and federal change? This same idea can be applied to the school board meeting or the local homeowner's association meeting.

What about direct action? As nazis get organized what does it look like to fight back? It does mean counterprotest, because this usually discourages them and gets future rallies cancelled. As the left has more people come out and react against reactionary forces these large demonstrations grow and get more people. Occupying spaces is a logical extension of this. With people organized and believing in a movement sit ins at oppressive institutions can provide material improvements for working peoples - changes coming from the left.

The question of how to get people to show up shouldn't be thought of in nihilistic terms. Canvassing and organizing people who show up, no matter how small, is up to the people who show up. No doubt that through repetition something grows, words spread, more people come next time and eventually a whole room of leftists are able to do a lot. There are a lot of disconnected people. A lot of people who like socialism (especially the young folks)  never come out to a political meeting or protest. What is the point when you are just another body amongst many? By expanding public perception and increasing and engaging in a wide field of activities people might join.

None of this is easy - at all. If it was I would have successfully striked, planned protests and be the coach of many soccer clubs. These are thoughts and reflect a leftist who is interested in direct action and decentralized organizing. Hopefully this encourages people to think in various ways about what exactly can be done to organize - what you can do tomorrow.