[lbo-talk] Stray Thought

[Carrol Cox]

The purpose of any radical action is to recruit more activists. The key to
that is people talking to each other. The adage about preaching to the choir
has been ignorantly misused on this list at times. The premise of this
misuse was that we had to change the minds of those who heard us. This is
nonsense because no one has ever changed another person's mind. People
change their own minds. We therefore aim only at those who already agree
with us, but note, "aim" means someone who is not us. O.K. Who agrees with
us but is not with us? Those who are not activists but merely agree with us
passively. And passive belief has no importance whatever until it is turned
into action. Once passive belief is changed into action, the belief itself
begins to change as participants in the action talk with each other and
search for more knowledge and understanding by which they can make their
action (of turning passive believers into activists). Then they change their
minds; belief changes through action. (But action is not mere motion; action
is motion accompanied by self-critique, by debate among the actors of what
the meaning of their action is.

Probably in the case of rallies, forums, lectures, etc, this means that the
nominal "main event" must end at the very latest before people begin to
rustle in their seats or anyone leaves. This means the speakers must realize
that what they have to say is not in itself important: they have no new
information to give, no new understanding to offer. As soon as they forget
this, they turn their audience into a choir which they are preaching to.
This is where the adage bites. When the speaker thinks she is trying to
_teach_ or _reform_ or _persuade_ the audience, the speaker can no longer
say we.

(Personal gripe re this list. Whenever any poster says, Such and such is the
thing that needs to be don" I have to walk around the room a bit in anger.
Because that wording (or a passive) implies that someone else should do it,
that the world divides into and "I" who knows what should be done and a they
who should do it. If youcan't say we and mean it, we meaning you are engaged
already in doing it, do not suggest doing it. Leftists say WE. Even when
they are talking about what other leftists are doing; even when it was done
before the speaker was botn, the speaker says we.

I've been to a meeting today which was partly excellent and partly rotten,
hence this rambling on the screen.

But the core is: Audiences must become the speakers; people must talk to
each other, because only thus with new militants emerge.

I guess there can never be too much democracy.

Carrol