Comrades!

I usually do not use the term and also sometimes squirm when people use it. Though it depends on context, in some places using that term is just polite.

it was on this site that i was first called comrade. that it was lazy riser who said it made it all the better.

it was on this site that i was first called comrade. that it was lazy riser who said it made it all the better.

Lol

I don't know of many groups that use it in face to face meetings, apart from the ICC who only use comrade to refer to each other at meetings, which gets a little confusing and seems a bit weird although they are happy enough to introduce themselves afterwards. Actually I'm not sure why they do it, I assumed it was security paranoia but it might be egalitarian.

Anyway I think using it is fairly unusual among communists these days apart from stalinists maybe and I don' think anarchists have ever really adopted it.

I wouldn't use it at a political meeting. It's quite fun using it semi-ironically at work. Makes the right people feel anxious.

I got a nice card from someone who left recently thanking me for being a good comrade, which made me well up a bit.

My son calls me Comrade Mother. He's 15, a large portion of his raison d'être is to take the piss out of the oldies. :)

I don't think I ever say it in real life, although sometimes I use it in writing as a greeting ("hello comrade"), or as a descriptive term (e.g. "a Korean comrade…" to make a distinction between that and things like friend, acquaintance, colleague etc). So I think it can be useful in that sense. But yeah generally I think those of us on the left/ultraleft should avoid using "scene" language and jargon which alienates others

Fleur

My son calls me Comrade Mother. He's 15, a large portion of his raison d'être is to take the piss out of the oldies. :)

He should get you this for your next birthday

Nowt wrong with comrade.... er... comrades.

We use it a lot in the AF. I've always used it since becoming an anarchist. Nothing wrong with the term, people who find it embarassing are duped by the anti-revolutionary propaganda that's been thrust down our throats over the last few decades.

^^^ And that's the correct answer!

Welcome!

why is that unfortunate?

tane_mahuta

why is that unfortunate?

i took it to mean "everyone around my way agrees with each other and i have no-one to talk politics with"

Warboats

Sorry i meant there are not many like-minded people where I live, so yeah I don't have any one to talk politics with, my mistake

My problem as well.

Warboats

Where do you live?

The south east in the States. Nothing really happening where I live (at least that I can find). There really should be a website/tool to help people find like-minded folk/'comrades' and to organize with one another. I guess you could try Facebook. I would imagine the UK would have more opportunities (bookstores, organizations, meetups, etc.) for this sort of stuff (though your area might be different). Have you tried searching?

Warboats

A tool would be a very good idea, I only stumbled upon this website a little while ago completely by accident. Well, the Left in the UK leans more toward socialism than it does anarchism, it does have an anarchist party, which I tried to join a long time ago but after some correspondence I discovered there wasn't any activity in my particular area (Southampton) ... It's a shame, but there's certainly some interesting conversations happening here on this site, what I'd like to see is a global confederation of anarchists working in tandem, with clear objectives , but there are so few of us it seems, and I have little success in luring my friends away from socialism into something more radical.

Well, you always have the internet (except when you don't) if there's nothing happening in your area. With regard the tool, I had something like this in mind: http://slingshot.tao.ca/contacts/ Something like this with an interactive map would be a nice feature to have on this site, though it would need to include more radical stuff.

the disadvantage of a tool is that anyone can use it, including fascists. Although it is largley defunct now I think redwatch used to try to post real details of 'reds' online. They lifted a bunch of photos off a 'what do you really look like' thread, they also published taglines which were probably not that useufl for finding people. As far as I know nothing ever came of it, but security is worth thinking about.

jef costello

the disadvantage of a tool is that anyone can use it, including fascists. Although it is largley defunct now I think redwatch used to try to post real details of 'reds' online. They lifted a bunch of photos off a 'what do you really look like' thread, they also published taglines which were probably not that useufl for finding people. As far as I know nothing ever came of it, but security is worth thinking about.

Yes, I had thought that might be an issue, having far-right groups targeting all those locations, though there's surely a way to work around that and make it more difficult for the right to exploit it, only making it accessible to members or something like that. Still, I think it would be handy feature to have around.

Howdy there Comrade Warboats!
I use the word 'comrade' in many ways - for fun, ironically, to people that I feel a close affinity with in any area of my life. I use it sarcastically and aggressively as well but in its proper context I use it rarely and with great sincerity. It's a marvellous word and it's real political meaning to a communist, I feel, is that it defines us as the antithesis of the atomised creatures that capital mines for resources. Use it well Warboats, use it well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxsSEwsn5-Y

Warboats

is anyone on this site tech savvy enough to build an app? Something like tinder maybe?

What's an app?

Serge Forward

Warboats

is anyone on this site tech savvy enough to build an app? Something like tinder maybe?

What's an app?

You're a bit of a wag comrade. I like it!

Not really. In fact my local group members often take the piss out of me with "we'll contact you by letter" quips because I don't and won't use Facebook etc.