The state of Texas is often viewed as an impenetrable cesspool of conservatism. Texas and other Southern states are known for the frequent attacks by the ruling class and their state governments against workers, women, immigrants, LGBTQ people, etc., and many people write off the state entirely, thinking that this stranglehold can’t be broken.
[Originally published at socialistrevolution.org]
I say to those people: you’d best think again! If you look beyond the surface, it’s clear that revolutionary sentiments are brewing throughout the state. Texas is not isolated from the pressures of capitalism and is impacted just like the rest of the world by events.
Capitalism is at a historic impasse, and this has massive consequences on the consciousness of workers and youth, Texans included. There are millions of Millennials and Gen Z looking for answers. All they’ve experienced is crisis, after crisis, after crisis. The experience of capitalist society in decay is now bringing untold numbers of youth and workers to revolutionary conclusions. So much so, that a recent poll by the Fraser Institute found that 20% of people aged 18–34 say “communism is the ideal economic system!”
We in the IMT noticed this massive shift in consciousness and realized the need to seriously connect with and organize this layer of youth that’s moving towards communism. We are asking the youth: are you a communist? And young Texans are answering with a resounding YES! In North Texas, we have been postering, stickering, and organizing many recruitment tables over the past few weeks, and we have been getting extraordinary results. Millions of youth in the state are disgusted by the reactionary state government—both the Democrats and Republicans alike—and are reacting against it.
Capitalism is at a historic impasse, and it’s been standing room only at communist meetings in North Texas / Image: Socialist Revolution
Even more importantly, a significant layer of these young people are realizing that they need to organize. In fact, the comrades in North Texas recently tripled the number of comrades in the branches in the span of just one month!
I want to show some of the online messages we have received, as they show this militant mood that’s starting to permeate throughout the youth:
This country only looks out for the richest, I’m tired of it.
—Richardson, TX
It’s getting frustrating to see how much the world is dying due to climate change and how many people aren’t able to live comfortably while billionaires have all the power in the world to fix everything. It’s immoral and we need to change things.
—Denton, TX
I believe communism is the only way that humanity can sustainably live on this planet.
—Denton, TX
Capitalism is only a system of exploitation through coercion. It threatens our very existence, and promises minority rule without protection for the majority. It is class warfare disguised as personal failure.
—Watauga, TX
We’ve received messages like these from virtually every major city in the United States. Increasing numbers of workers and students are starting to openly state that they are communists. They’re fed up with the current state of affairs and want to seek the overthrow of the capitalist system. We’re still at the beginning, but by organizing this layer of people we can lay the foundations for a future mass communist party. The construction of such a party will have a massive impact on the political situation in the United States and across the world.
The new layer of communists understand that only Bolshevism, built on the granite foundation of Marxist theory, provides an effective guide to revolutionary action / Image: Socialist Revolution
This new layer—the AYAC (Are You a Communist?) layer—they’re ready for action, but understand that this action can’t be taken blindly or unconsciously. That is why they’re seeking theory and education in order to find the correct path of action. Only Bolshevism, built on the granite foundation of Marxist theory, provides this.
Lenin’s advice to the communist youth resonates profoundly in this moment: “I must say that the tasks of the youth in general… might be summed up in a single word: learn.”
And comrades, we must take this to heart! We don’t have all the time in the world to build the mass communist party. We must learn quickly. Events are providing us with many experiences to draw lessons from. Ultimately, we must recruit, and train up this layer of communist youth in Marxist theory, so that our class, the working class, has the leadership it deserves. If you are a communist but you’re not yet organized, get in touch with the IMT, so we can build that leadership, end the barbarism of capitalism, and achieve the victory of socialism in our lifetime!