I haven’t posted about this yet, but I quit Communist Party USA in mid-November 2023. Since quitting, I’ve been focused on getting several major health issues treated, building the Flint chapter of the Michigan Mutual Aid Coalition (MIMAC), and in addition to our mutual aid work, trying to build the basis of an educational program...Read More “Why I Left The CPUSA” »
Hickel mentions this parable in the book, The Divide
You see someone floating down a torrential river, screaming for help, afraid of drowning. You dive into the river, and using all your strength, swim to them and carry them to the bank. You’re entirely exhausted, but you feel great that you saved someone’s life.
Then you see another person floating down the river screaming. You use your last remaining ounces of energy to save this second person.
Then it happens again, a third person floats down. You realize it will keep happening; there aren’t enough of you to save everyone, and you need to decide where to spend your energy.
Do you spend it continually exhausting yourself saving each individual person? Or would a better use of your time, be to find out where and why people are falling into the river, and stop the problem at its source.
Serving the people is of course important, but if that aid is not a long-term solution, but a band-aid, then its not going to solve anything. Better to analyze and focus on the root problem.
Wow… umm…
So your organization, that’s supposed to be strong enough to be trusted to wrest the reigns of political power from an entrenched elite, is also just an uWu smol bean that can barely save a few people.
That just tells me the org should have spent more time building its base and less time wish casting about what to do after the revolution.