Before you join a socialist party

I’m probably a bit late writing this, but it’s freshers week and young people I care about are messaging me going “should I join X party” and I think my advice is probably generalisable.

This guide is party and group agnostic- It’s even partially applicable to other groups or societies you may be offered to join. It tries to be ideologically agnostic- I’ve tried to describe organising styles rather than dismiss them.

The exception to this is that I openly hate the SWP and think under no circumstances you should join them, for your own safety. A recent example of the reasons why you should do so can be found by my dearly departed friend Jude, here.

You join a socialist party(or any other left wing group) for a two main reasons. First among them is a desire to change the world- to overthrow capitalism, or at least oppose rising fascism. A less talked about second desire to to have community- You want to hang out with people who agree with you that capitalism and fascism are bad, go to meetings or protests or the pub afterwards with them, etc.

Both of these are good reasons. It’s up to you to decide how to fulfil them.

Find community

Many groups will expect you to, to some degree, socialise with the members of the group. The extent varies- If it’s made compulsory, and especially if socialising elsewhere is implicitly or explicitly discouraged, do not join that group. If you are in that group, leave now. This is often under the pretext of other influences being deradicalising or otherwise politically problematic.

Hopefully the group is somewhere on the other end of the spectrum- Maybe they go for drinks after a meeting or have a social group chat and an occasional group meal. Maybe they’re extreme and barely ever socialise. If it’s the latter, and you’re in a new city looking for likeminded friends, you may want to look elsewhere.

The most important advice here, beyond not allowing yourself to get isolated is: Do not have one highly interconnected circle of friends.

This is a key piece of advice for all people. You should not have all of your friends be from work, from your uni course, from the mosque, the party, your polycule, or one discord server.

Having friends with different contexts prevents you from becoming isolated and dependant on a group, and reduces the amount that they can coerce you or normalise dangerous things in you- This isn’t about any specific group being dangerous, it’s about having context, a space to vent, and different perspectives in your life. This doesn’t mean you need to hang out with people with diametrically different views- Hanging out with a socialist cadre and an anarchist Graf crew is not the end of the world, as long as you can manage to not eternally beef.

But when the anarchists start telling you that actually it’s fine for you to be left alone in the living room with the creepy guy for an hour, then you’ve got someone to vent to, who’ll tell you actually that’s dangerous AF, and help you fix things or get out.

Your life does not have to be, and IMO should not be(though, feel free to ignore this) 100% organising. Have a socialist cadre and an improv troupe, or a polycule and a knitting circle. Very few spaces, especially if you’re a uni student, are going to be hostile to you occasionally spouting Marx.

Some may be hostile to you being queer, or trans, or brown, but the stated politics of the space is no predictor of how cool they’ll be about that. An improv troupe may be in practice much less racist than a trot group which claims to focus on decolonisation.

Don’t let yourself become forced into the trap of thinking that just because you love talking politics and taking action that you won’t be welcome at the French lunch club- The French lunch club is both a valuable baseline social reference for you, a source of valuable skills(if you want to do politics, at some point you will have to learn to cook) and also probably a place where you can practice politics. Start cooking Algerian food, see how that challenges their perceptions.

Don’t be weird or obsessive. Don’t start trying to make it an antifascist French lunch club. Just know you don’t need to hide who you are and you should have contact with multiple groups of people. Don’t assume you have to only do politics.

Each group will be judged by their deeds

The other reason to join a group is actions. Before you give them your number, or even attend a meeting, ask what they do.

You want to do things- Most things are more effective with collaborators, especially experienced ones. So, ask them what they do. If you want to do mutual aid, the MLM reading group is probably not right for you- even a church soup kitchen may be a better fit. If you want to smash fascists faces in the street, consider an antifascist crew over a tenants union(though, there’s always overlap). If you believe change comes through organising workers, get to know the local unions- join, attend meetings and volunteer. If you want to smash up an arms factory, probably find a group which does that.

Even in small towns, there’s always different groups organising in different ways. Some advertise, some don’t. It is an eternal frustration among the left that many groups become highly focused on doing the work in front of them with the members they have, and forget to try and build more capacity to do the work better. You may have to spend a bunch of time googling or asking around online and offline to find a group allied with your beliefs.

If someone is trying to recruit you, ask who else organises locally. If they say no-one is, they’re lying- run. Ask about the kind of work you’re looking for, not the kind of work your recruiters group does.

The vanguard

An important subtype of left wing groups is the “vanguard party”.

If you encounter a left wing group calling themselves a “party”, and many who don’t who call themselves socialist, they almost certainly believe in a vanguard party- They may consider themselves to be that party, or consider it too early for such a party to be formed, or consider themselves a faction within it, or whatever.

The key is, they will be heavily influenced by the organising methods of the Russian revolution and the bolshevik party, and wish to build a party which can create a significant threat to capital by organising workers. They likely focus heavily on recruitment and political education- The aim is to create a “vanguard” of educated revolutionaries who can help workers understand their own conditions, influence their organisations(such as unions) and shape a movement to bring about a revolution.

This is why they’re hanging around the freshers fair: Recruitment is core to their movement. As is the second part of their theory of change, education: They’ll hold a lot of meetings discussing current events, or historical texts(expect a reading group or suggestions of texts to read, either historical or modern interpretations of these from their specific tradition).

Some will also hold protests. Approaches vary between groups- some, for example, organise and participate in antifascist actions for their own sakes, showing up with maybe branded placards or flags but not aiming to use them for recruitment or to unduly build their own media profile.

Others will come along with a “petition”(actually an attempt to gather emails or phone numbers of potential recruits), stall, copies of their paper and hundreds of heavily branded placards to hand out, all of which are primarily focused on building their membership base and profile.

If you believe that recruiting and educating like they do, building the party, is the most efficient way to destroy capitalism or opposing fascism, then you should consider joining one of these parties. It was an effective strategy in agrarian Russia in the 1900s. The methods of recruitment and education have, for many parties, been updated to keep with the times. However, this may not be the action against capitalism and fascism you desire.

It’s easy to be promised effective and immediate action on material conditions(for example, by materially supporting strikes or training and building for antifascist actions) and instead end up in an organisation that focuses on education and recruitment. Move with care.

In short

Don’t join groups which demand(implicitly or explicitly) you only socialise with them.

Make sure you have multiple references for social norms- Not ones hostile to you or your interests, but things you’re interested in which don’t have a ton of social overlap.

Don’t assume that a group which claims to be feminist or antiracist is safe for women or black people. Watch their deeds. If you’re uncomfortable, trust your gut.

Figure out what you want to do, and choose a group that does that stuff. If you want to recruit and learn, that’s a legitimate approach, but many will pretend to do other things while focusing on doing that.

If you can’t find someone right, then make sure to have a thorough search. Ask around. Ask people trying to recruit you. If they say there’s no-one else organising, they’re lying to you.

Choose a group based on what it does, not what it says.