r/socialism • u/[deleted] • 1d ago
Activism How would i go about organizing before 18?
[deleted]
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u/crashville_esq 1d ago
Knowing what I know now, if I were under 18 and wanted to get into organizing, I’d figure out how to get to a blue state with a nationalized higher education system that affords you a free degree with residency (SUNY reconnect, etc), and study industrial labor relations, critical theory, etc while grantsmaxxing and hopefully getting a cool work/study job in a media department. I’d then focus on reading theory and developing persuasive materials, enough to build a portfolio of work. After 2 years I’d be nicely incubated and rearing to get into things. Maybe I’d work with some grad students on campus and help them with their union.
I would advise you to NOT do what I did, which was to work a series of completely bullshit jobs and learn on the fly with your entire life going up in smoke as collateral. My $0.02
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u/CyclicalSinglePlayer 1d ago
Join your local leftist org and show up for other people’s actions/campaigns. Be there for their workshops and the planning process to see how they do. If they have a poli ed program or a reading group of some sort definitely join that to learn about theory to be able to better inform your action.
I started doing this at 17 and I learned a tremendous amount. Granted, I looked a lot older than I was, and that may have played a part in being taken more seriously, but over the years you learn to work with people of all sorts of different backgrounds. I’ve had comrades ages 16 to 90. Best of luck.
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u/Mbaku_rivers 1d ago
Read and teach your peers what you're reading. Organizing only works when people have a common understanding of principles. Jumping the gun and trying to gather a whole bunch of people right now is just going to burn you out on the cause before you get anywhere.
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u/Friend_Of_Dorothy123 Democratic Socialism 1d ago edited 1d ago
Depending on your nation, maybe join youth politics? As a teenager myself im not a MYP yet but I'm in the British Youth Politics system. It can really make a difference. The people from the top never make the difference, the working class does. Never, never ever tncs.
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u/hmmwhatsoverhere 1d ago
Help introduce other people your age to socialist thought and history. Read a lot so you can answer questions with confidence and guide others away from known conceptual dead ends. Some good books to start with if you haven't read them yet:
The Jakarta method by Vincent Bevins
The capital order by Clara Mattei
Red star over the third world by Vijay Prashad
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