Educate, Agitate, Organise

Organising and How to Build Power

Morning Comrades,

Continuing with the theme of “What is to be done”, all puns intended, a few words on what organising is and more pointedly what it isn’t as well as how to build power in the real world. In light of the recent re-election of Trump there has been an upsurge of the need to organise, something I am entirely behind but as the age of identity politics and pastel-coloured IG slides is coming to a disastrous end, a time that existed to divide, placate and obfuscate a clear reminder of what this “organising” actually is and what it is for.

To be absolutely clear, one cannot effectively organise on enemy territory and this most specifically, today, means, online, including this here space, but decidedly social media platforms. Furthermore, power can and never will be derived from an top to bottom approach, that is so inherently the modus operandi of online “organisation” - and I use that term with all perceived sarcasm. At best, social media can exist to pass on information, the information that is allowed mind you, but it absolutely does not exist for organisation.

With that out of the way, let’s get into it.

The concept of "organizing" in Marxist theory, is a rich and rigorously defined practice, rooted in collective struggle, strategic mobilization, and a focus on dismantling structures of oppression on both a local and global scale. What organising is not is “hanging out with friends” as it is now being actively being rebranded as. The purpose of organising is the disciplined and purpose-driven work required for true political and social change.