you can be a malt liquor socialist if you want

walks out of an alley, sets down soapbox, steps up

Leftism is not a poverty cult.

Leftism is not about self flaggelation.

Leftism is not about the individual being responsible for the whole of a society’s ills.

steps down, picks up soapbox and disappears into an alley

Do you think all revolutionaries of the bolshevik were impoverished coal miners with very sad kids? No. It attracted people from all tracks of life, each bringing something that the other could not. Unless your job is at the puppy crushing factory or a cop, then it doesn’t really matter that much.

I don’t see anything to be conflicted about here. If I had to suggest something, maybe participate more directly in organizing so that you can feel confident that donation money is well-spent. Getting a personal sense for how serious a local party is can be revealing.

Just about every socialist has lived under capitalism. We seek to overthrow the dominant socioeconomic order. Existing socialist projects must still live and develop in capitalistic ways and have different experiments in how they diverge from this. But people there still have/had jobs, retirements, houses.

Sorry but… What do you feel conflicted about?

I see nothing to be conflicted about here. Unless you’re conflicted about whether you should be doing more to violently oppose the genocide in gaza or something, and that’s like, probably a conflict occurring in literally every single person on this site. Knowing what is happening and feeling powerless about it is rough.

But outside of that extreme conflict? I don’t know if there’s really something here to be too torn up about. I don’t think any of us are guilty for not completely sacrificing our bodies.

Sounds like you’ve internalized rightwing propaganda.

I come from a middle-upper class family in my country. Studied a Master’s at the best private university in the country and I’m very well economically.

Do you know what this privilege gives me the most? Time. Not money.

I am now a communist party member here. And do regular organizing.

Want to use your privilege to improve the world? Spend your time building it. Cause most people are too busy finding how to survive day to day to try and take action against the current order of things. That is the true privilege of being well off.

Do whatever the hell you want, just dont tell me about it

As others have said before, being a communist is not a poverty cult.

You obviously can’t escape the system you live in and magically live in socialism, you are forced to work for capitalists and do what you need to do to ensure that you and your family can live in acceptable conditions.

What makes someone a revolutionary under non revolutionary conditions is trying to create these conditions. Either by protesting, reaching out to people and making connections, funding or helping the party in other ways, you can do your own little part.

I don’t think anyone here cares what job you’re doing unless it’s for Lockheed Martin. Financial contributions to socialist orgs is good, but probably much more important is to be active and engaged in an org. Practice organizing people in your community/workplace. Lift up Already Existing Socialist states and the global south’s continuous fight against imperialism.

Listen we all “live in a society” right? The economic system is what it is. Someone here recently gave me a good perspective that might apply here.

As [socialists] you have to have two opinions about everything, one that is the true solution to a problem (overthrowing capitalism) and one solution for right now.

That sounds to me like what you’re doing already for your personal life, so I wouldn’t worry all that much.

Is it a contradiction? Maybe. But it takes all kinds to build a mass movement right?

you can only live in the system you live in… if you could choose which system to live in and you chose capitalist but maintained that you were socialist or communist that would be a contradiction