this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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I am doing some study like a good Marxist. Currently I'm working hard at my job by listening through What is to be done by Lenin. I'm maybe 40% through...

And I am annoyed. People told me it would be a "banger" and instead it is very tedious criticism against "economism", retellings of some events that happened in the 1890s, and a lot of talk of some Bugotti dude who Lenin doesn't like. OK, so I get it, you think people pushing for economic reforms aren't doing enough. Why is this taking so many pages to explain such a point? And when do I get to the "what is to be done" part?

I swear so much theory I try to get through is exactly like this. I have enough exposure to soldier through it, but there's no way in hell I can give this to a radicalizing lib or anyone on that path and have them engage with it. It's a bad fit for my org's reading series because the people in this org still have lib brainworks to work out. This isn't going to be persuasive if it's hard to read in the first place.

So what's more "friendly" theory that can be more appropriate? Or if there summaries of these works in more pedestrian language I'm down for that. It's just so frustrating as someone who thinks I know some things to encounter these texts. The right doesn't propagandize like this! Why can't our propaganda be more like theirs since their propaganda works so well?

Skim through this when you get a chance: https://freelibrary.overdrive.com/media/4876007

Yes, it's right wing slop, but notice how it is laid out, how it is colorful, there's little comics and bits. It's a book that is accessible and looks appealing to read! It just happens to be capitalist apologia. I want a version of this but for our side.

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[–] happybaby@hexbear.net 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

This is really a great question and addresses our very important task. Accelerationist Comrade Trump is making the hidden contradictions of capitalism glaring and the glaring contradictions supernova, so now is really the easiest time to get through to people that capitalism itself is the problem i.e. we will not have a solution unless we ditch capitalism as a way to relate to eachother and the world around us. I would recommend some more straigtforward and modern authors like Clara Mattei and Richard Wolff.

The right doesn't propagandize like this! Why can't our propaganda be more like theirs since their propaganda works so well?

They are catering to honestly, deeply stupid people and have no regard for the accuracy of their statements. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Nothing at all like what we do. Following a link on that page you shared goes to this, which has a good gem:

Increasingly, the work of government is being done by people outside the government—unelected power brokers who are invisible to the American public but who pull the strings, set the agendas, create the incentives, and write the rules we must all live by. Using both government and non-governmental institutions, leftists have bypassed the legislative process to compel institutional compliance with partisan goals. The White House or the Congress may change hands, but the left remains in power.

In The Puppeteers, Chaffetz reveals how:

Susan Rice was put in charge of using the bureaucracy to make sure Republicans never win another election

The federal government now could be deployed to harvest ballots from Democrats

President Biden hired a Blackrock executive to run his economic agenda for the first two years of his presidency

State treasurers planned to use billions of government dollars to "address climate change" and "racial inequality," with almost no way for voters to stop them

Randi Weingarten makes more decisions for the education department than people who actually work there

Electing the right leaders is no longer enough. To take back our country, the American people need to understand that they're in a new fight. But it's a fight that's still eminently winnable, and Chaffetz reveals the playbook.

This is really not far from a Leftist line so in some cases we already have a foot in the door. Like

President Biden hired a Blackrock executive to run his economic agenda for the first two years of his presidency

This is definitely problematic and leads to concentration of wealth which then destroys the social fabric through lack of funding for public services and the destruction of democracy. Depending if your mark is liberal or right wing will define how you approach it i.e. "shouldn't we get these unelected bureaucrats out of here?" vs. "all the liberal gains since the New Deal are getting erased because of this!".

But yea, definitely not Lenin. I mean you have to first get them through Bernie and Mamdani before you even let them see Lenin.

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 4 days ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: