GQEBERHA (South Africa), August 18– “I don’t know how to put it, but it seems that the more you do something the more you learn. When I come to meetings I learn after the meeting, and I have the confidence to talk to people about communism. Generally, I am not confident, and I do not know how to convince people”, said a comrade who attended our Sunday collective meeting in Uitenhage.
It was a very productive meeting. Eight comrades eagerly participated in discussions aimed at growing the party and recruiting more workers to join our fight against capitalism.
“Comrades, today we want to talk about our obstacles and the things that hold you back,” a comrade started. “I am sure each and every one here has something that holds him or her back in terms of recruiting more people to the party. We will do two articles in the latest Red Flag”.
We read “A New Communist Paper for a New Communist World” and “Communist Leadership” (on internal contradictions and opportunities). Comrades listened attentively as two high school students did the reading for us.
Then we asked each other the things that hold us back. One comrade said, “It is confidence for me, comrade. I sometimes talk to my friends and people in my circle. They all said if communism were to happen it would be nice. But they don’t see it happening given how the world is, where we fight about the smallest things”.
We discussed how we can gain confidence, both individually and collectively. A comrade said, “The only way we can build confidence is by reading the paper and talking about communism in our collective. Not only during meetings, but in our everyday interactions. Communism should be part of our everyday language”.
To make sure this happens, this collective will meet twice a month to discuss the Red Flag articles and developments around the world.
As one comrade said, “When we do something and repeat it, that is how we learn”.
Comrade Z said, “Indeed, comrade, we learn via practice. Sometimes the learning and change is not apparent, but you see the difference. When you do not have a collective struggle, we tend to stagnate”.
Comrade C said, “I remember when comrade Q first introduced communism and ICWP to me telling me about the world without money, I did not understand a thing. She tried but still I could not follow her. Not only that, I was not in agreement with her at all. But look at me now”.
She continued, “It was because I started to attend meetings where other comrades explained what communism meant that I started to see the light. Even now, when a long time passes without us having meetings, I start having doubts. So, we must meet regularly, comrades, so that we can grow”.
We plan to meet and discuss communism and articles in Red Flag every second week, to communicate in between meetings via WhatsApp, and to start small by recruiting those close to us like family members and friends. When we make that practice a habit, that is when we can gain even more confidence to recruit hundreds of people in our neighbourhoods.
ICWP Manifesto: Mobilize the Masses for Communism: here