Let yourself go

The project that is Socialism is one people seem to approach from 2 camps:

This is a gross simplification and these two categories are not distinct from each other. Delineation, however, allows us to see how Socialists come together successfully to form the party’s foundation. Theory and practice enforce each other: the Promethean idea refined through lived experience in a virtuous cycle which repeats until an authentic praxis is reached, theory and practice entwined.

As in any good system workers in both categories have their own specialties and through such collaboration a Socialist organization can grow and thrive. But drawing such distinctions can be as harmful as it is helpful. The real work of Socialism is to build solidarity, and in true solidarity the individual must collapse into the collective.

I am writing this piece while intentionally avoiding a rally—after making some vague inward gesture towards “self care”—in order to admonish myself for placing my own banal issues above the real struggles of others. Distant from the heartbeat of the crowd, there is in its place a dull absence.

I am ashamed of myself for failing to join with my comrades in the fight for justice and peace and all else Socialism entails… The origins of “self care” lie in social and economic privilege; real care for the self is, of course, care for others.

Solidarity brings incomparable strength to the soul. Feeling the collective heat of anticipation and the fluid strength of the crowd around you is an expression of communal strength that has largely been lost. Solidarity’s affect in a modern world defined by alienation is profoundly religious.

Solidarity is a kind of communal theatre: bringing together masses of people in performance has the affect of de-individuation, or intersubjectivity—of dissolving the divides between us. In doing solidarity the proscenium which separates our outward performative selves collapses, and what is left is an authentic intentionality towards a collective goal.

When we are “performing” solidarity we are doing the work of Socialism. Intersubjectivity allows us to fall into the liminal space between ourselves and others, a communal space long charged with a mystical energy.

In marches we often follow the solitary beat of a drum, which allows us to synchronize our cries effectively but which also connects us to the prehistoric act of ritual. And the staple of ritual has always been sacrifice. Solidarity demands a sacrifice just the same — not one of the flesh, but of the ego.

To show solidarity is the affect of gathering warm bodies together to hold firm against the coming cold. It is a religious feeling—it is the willingness to sacrifice your individuality for the sake of a higher power, the power of the collective. One is reduced to less than themselves in order to become something much greater.

Solidarity binds human beings together in a way no regime nor corporation ever could. Its foundation lies in the deepest reaches of our consciousness where no insidious power could ever penetrate. It is the basis for every successful collective action. It is the strongest weapon in class warfare, and it is what will win us the future.

In light of Charlottesville I leave myself with this admonishment and hope it is helpful for others, in similar situations: Whatever “camp” you feel you belong to — Whatever talents you feel you have or do not have — Whatever fears may hold you back. Join with the masses. Let yourself go. Allow yourself to be just another person in a crowd. Only with such a sacrifice will the path to collective power manifest itself.

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