Writing for Red Flag: We All Need Your Story
“These May Day reports are exciting,” said a comrade. “But they all seem to say the same thing: ‘Lots of people with different ideas. Many were interested in our literature. We gave out all we had. Newer comrades were impressed. We went home tired but happy.’”
The editorial collective started thinking: The reports were “the same but different.” They all showed the potential for mobilizing masses for communism. But each could make a different political point.
El Salvador showed how industrial workers organized on the job can give leadership in the streets – potentially in a revolution. Seattle emphasized a worker’s positive response to distributing our lit massively for the first time.
Who are our readers? How can we communicate our ideas more effectively to them?
Long-time members and their friends. Newer members and their friends. Friends of friends of members.
Long-time readers. First-time readers.
People who know us personally. People who found us on the Web.
People who will read all or most of an issue. People who might only read one thing.
Party members are among our important readers. We don’t publish “internal” documents for members only. We share ideas through the paper.
But.
It is probably not a good idea to be addressing most of your letters to “Dear Comrades.” Think about the friend of a comrade who might show it to a co-worker. Write for them, too.
When responding to something, try to write so that newer readers can understand what it’s about and why it matters.
Whatever you’re writing, re-read your first draft. Try to clarify some specific political point. Ask for help with that. Write a headline that reflects that point.
It’s not easy.
Sometimes we are too far from the action. Maybe we’re writing about inter-imperialist conflict or strikes and uprisings where we don’t know anybody.
It’s easy to fall back on generalities. (“Haven’t I read that paragraph at least three times before?”) But it’s also easy to get lost in the details. First drafts usually do both.
Discuss your draft with comrades and friends. What should be the main political point? How can this article advance our collective understanding of communism and the tasks ahead?
But sometimes we’re too close to the action. What we are doing feels really important. And it is! The small steps we take to mobilize for communism today will eventually grow into a mass movement that will change the world.
But how can we describe this work in a way that others can see its importance? How can our paper help convince more people to do it?
We get out thousands of pieces of literature on May Day. And we go to write about it and maybe it doesn’t seem like much. Millions around the world are in motion!
So we just say, “The masses are open to communism.” Yes. That’s our line! Why did this seem remarkable? We were inspired! To do what next?
A few friends come with us on May Day and respond enthusiastically. Probably quite a few didn’t. “All that work, just for a handful of people?” How can the new comrades help us make a qualitative advance in the work?
How can we use this to convince more friends and readers to dip their toes into the water? Why is practice like this more powerful than long conversations?
Even a small communist meeting or rally or literature distribution or social event or conversation can be worth at least a letter. What can we say about these things so that a friend of a comrade halfway around the world would find our letter worth reading?
We need to take our work more seriously.
Sometimes, instead, we treat our feelings as if they were the story. “We went home tired but happy.” Why should that friend of a comrade care? Explain – or leave it out.
Our communist work, however modest, is an important story. And it is, of course, a story about us as thinking, feeling, active individuals and collectives.
But we are not the center of the story.
The masses are the center.
The historic struggle for communism is the center. For the abolition of class society. For the reconstruction of the world on an entirely different basis.
That’s what each and every story must be about.
Stories are a good way to get readers interested in the rest of an article. You’ve got a story! Tell it! And try to use it to make a clear political point.
Collectivity is the key. Let’s strengthen Party collectives to make our literature more effective at mobilizing masses for communism.