videos

Two closely related points on this -

• When your messaging is limited, I think there's a lot to be said for emphasising a position over a label. "SUPPORT COMMUNISM (plus let's make life better)" has a very different vibe to "LET'S MAKE LIFE BETTER (Communism can help)".

• Secondly, relatedly, there's a compromise between 'hiding it' and 'blaring it without context'. If you just say "I'm a communist" and then leave, people will ascribe whatever they want to you and you've probably done your credibility a disservice in the public's eye. If you contextualise that with some relevant position or two, then it becomes a lot more obvious and helps normalise the term.

The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of All Countries, Unite!

-- last paragraph of the Communist Manifesto

Yes 100% if possible if your starting something new you should not come out swinging with complicated positions/theories/political identities that people don't understand nor have the power to achieve when in the immediate term all you're really going to be doing is trying to revive unions.

Look at recent insurgent political parties in europe that achieved at one point significan results, both left and right, a lot of them do say the "neither left nor rigbt" thing, even when its obvious which it is, they also have non-ideological names look

Reform, Podemos(we can), Chega (enough), 5 stars movement, that new greek party, hell even macron's "republic en marche" etc

So all I can say is corbyn should name his new party Solidarity or Revival or some anodyne shit like that.

Crazy to think this guy and badmouse both started as ancaps and then noncompete went on to become a very thoughtful and intelligent leftist.

The common true answer to these kinds of thoughts is always, "it depends". Wanting simple and fast rules helps to frame questions, discussions, and solutions, but you would be incorrect to just say yes or no.

If a cop is harassing you, do you just call yourself a communist because you reject "hiding your power level"? Won't that just pointlessly make them go after you harder? Will any observers understand or care what it means for the cop to arbitrarily detain and arrest you after sharing this fact?

If you are tabling and are cagey about your associations, won't they, correctly, distrust you? Aren't you missing out on opportunities to spread consciousness and recruit?

This is actually a propaganda question, and for propaganda just about your very first thought should be about identifying your intended audience(s), what you want them to think or do after your interaction with them, and what threats might exist and how you will mitigate them. That should determine how open you are about communism. For example, if you are in the US at a party and calk yourself a communist to a stranger, they will probably not even understand what you mean by that. You will fail to communicate if you rely on this alone. You'd need to explain it shortly in a way that speaks to things familiar to them, like working a job and imperialism. If you lead with "communist" they may end up leaving before your explanation. Better to explain first and label later. On the other hand if you're giving a speech for a communist party.

Overall I think it is best to explain yourself as best you can to be understood when it comes to non-enemies. Sometimes that looks like hiding your power level and sometimes it doesn't.