These sound to me like people who don’t apply the Marxist method to actually understand and try to change society. Their perspective gets warped the more they continue to talk this way with each other. It’s sad that it happens, but I’m glad you recognized it and left (and it sounds like this org had tons more issues than even that). I think the next step is to work with the working class in real life. We all need more education all the time, but working with the people is an essential type of education that affects our ability to understand and apply what we read at home. It sounds like you’ve already read some good theory and probably need to start with real-life work with the people rather than another reading list. That being said, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire was transformative for me, and it sounds like it might be good for you right now too, and On Practice by Mao explains some of what I’m saying and is also really solid if you haven’t read that yet.

If there is no Marxist organization in your area, I’d begin with whatever vaguely left or even liberal organization can at least get you organizing experience and exposure to the people. It might be frustrating, but you’ll still learn. The PSL is a great Marxist organization, and you can join the PSL Action Network online from anywhere in the country and learn about what they’re doing in real life and start to connect with them through that. You can do that at the same time as whatever work you’re getting involved in locally, and it might help you make your local work more effective. Once you’ve learned through these things, maybe you’ll be the one to start the local Marxist-Leninist organization or connect with the people who can start it with you. It sounds like you’re thinking right and are prepared to do the work that needs to be done next!

His example proves how committed and educated and principled people can become a true threat to capitalist power very quickly, and it should inspire all of us.

I don’t know anything about this guy, but his post reads like someone who has never gotten offline.

Are you organized in real life? In addition to its necessity for getting anything done and for studying correctly, it’s very grounding to work with real people on real problems, and it’s calming to see even small wins. Rage is a natural reaction when you have nowhere to direct your feelings and are focused more on hatred for the capitalist class than on love for the people, but when you’re channeling your feelings properly into productive action, rage fades.

Yet again, the thing that the right has been fearmongering about for decades is being done by the right.

Yes, that has been the case in my life experience, and I don’t think they would say “all” if they didn’t mean that. That’s why I have never told anyone anything along those lines.

There are many. I know some of them. Zionism really isn’t pro-Jewish, no matter how much they want to convince people it is because that’s the last thin justification they have for what they’re doing, so Jews should have even more reason than anyone else to support the resistance.

I work and study offline with real people and avoid the counter-revolutionary negativity (and pointless online drama) most of the time. It helps, but of course we’ll all have difficult times. Do what you need to do to take care of yourself and find the things that energize you, whether that’s studying something new, getting involved in a new project in your community, taking on a new responsibility within your org if you have one, etc.

One frustrating thing about this is that disabled people do need job support, but this is rarely what’s actually needed. I’ve been disabled for 20 years; I don’t need some job coach at my doctor to give me advice about it. I need workplaces to be accessible and for accommodations to be mandatory and enforced, and I need not to be discriminated against or treated like a child just for being disabled and not to be socially ostracized. Even better would be a guaranteed job and a trained person to help place me where my skills, education, interests, and access needs best fit.

If they actually wanted disabled people to work more, they could use this money elsewhere a lot more effectively, but I guess getting to that conclusion would force them to question too much about how capitalism creates ableism and what it would take to treat disabled people as equals in the workforce.

I love this movie! It gives you a chance to imagine what life might have been like and the challenges communists faced.

Yes, I treat it like serious study. I highlight and make notes on things like important points, summaries of what I read, questions I have, things I want to look into more when I’m done, etc. (often divided into sections to make them easier to use later, although the process of note-taking is hugely beneficial even if you never look at the notes again). I read slowly enough to understand everything and look up anything I don’t know. If I find a text difficult, I stop and figure out what text will prepare me for it and read that first. I usually have at least a few books going at a time on connected topics so they can each support my understanding of the others. I read with an e-reader and take notes at a computer, but whether you use that or paper is just a matter of personal preference.

If you can’t do this for any reason, just absorbing what you can is a great starting place! No one should be stuck doing nothing because what they can do isn’t perfect, but we should all work on improving our study skills and take study seriously. I’m a teacher and love to help comrades develop study skills, so if anyone wants individualized advice, feel free to reach out to me.

Pushing too hard in my free time is a problem for me too. I sometimes set a timer for short breaks, especially during work or something I might get focused on like a video, and I also keep a list of activities that don’t require my eyes to make it a little easier to force myself to stop using them for a while when I have to. I hope things get easier for you!

I don’t have cataracts, but I have a bunch of other issues with my eyes. Eye drops of various kinds, heat for 10 minutes at a time to improve oil production (dry rice in fabric in the microwave is effective for moist heat, but make sure it doesn’t get too hot), eye breaks every 20 minutes (at least make sure you look until the distance), and massaging your temples might help with strain.

Federal Medicaid funding and ACA subsidies are at stake, and it would have long-term impacts. The healthcare cuts were already passed months ago and are about to go into effect, so many people have been waiting hoping something will change because they don’t know how they’ll get insurance for January. Hopefully the democrats see that this is deeply unpopular and stick with it for once to secure funding in time.

There are great news sources out there to get this information with a socialist analysis. This video starts talking about the shutdown at 1:10:00 and explains it in an accessible way. https://www.youtube.com/live/lmEO_YaPMro

This video has an actual Uyghur talking about her life experience and addressing some of the western lies: https://youtu.be/a1po9oTVtYw

This also has a lot of information and sources: https://redsails.org/the-xinjiang-atrocity-propaganda-blitz/

If I’m remembering right, the BE video had some true information (like legitimate sources), but the biggest problem was with how he interpreted what he saw through the absurd mental gymnastics of the western propaganda machine (one example I remember was him saying that a video of Uyghurs performing cultural dances for a reporter means their culture must be suppressed the rest of the time). There are way more informed sources out there.