Ep 225: UAW Strike Emergency Pod!!

thanks for sharing! a classic story

The Antifada

Good amount lol Long Island too!!

The Antifada

Sean if you read this just curious as a Jersey Chop myself how many of those Porckchops are shipped in from Newark and Elizabeth lol

self loathing egomaniac

The immediate genesis was I was affiliated with a very small group of comrades who disagreed with some of their coverage. After they were berated by membership for literal hours at a congress for their disagreements (and accusations that they were fed wreckers), I more sharply saw the cult-y nature of it. In fact, I remembered my first congress where my mentor was similarly denounced for us raising some criticisms about the National Committee's final assessment of Occupy. He was literally forced to eat alone and told me not to talk to him so I didn't suffer the same shit! It also fucked with a ton of my relationships for a long time; like, I literally couldn't interact with my immediate family without getting frustrated they didn't accept The Party Line completely. I could see a chasm growing between my new partner and I because of it as grad school really forced me to reckon with my orthodox analysis. Lastly, I really questioned what we did beyond writing for the website. I would go to picket lines and try to get quotes for articles in the guise of developing contacts, but most people thought we were a bunch of weirdos and directed us to unsympathetic strike captains. Few workers really stuck around because we just couldn't be normie and develop a plan of action together. Everything fell to "join the party"--but being a party member meant being an unpaid (and barely skilled) journalist. In the end I was tired of committing all my waking hours to it and feeling guilty when I did anything that wasn't party-related with my free time. Leaving was fucking rough--by the end, it was basically my only social circle--but it ultimately forced me to reckon with my mental health and develop a more realistic (and, I hope, effective) approach to militancy.

Sizzle Dizzle

what made you leave

The Antifada

finally became a Patron to hear what you have to save about my old political party. Yep, i'm ex-SEP - ask me anything

Sizzle Dizzle

Lmfao big bang revisionism. Yep, I’ll keep in touch

JK

jon, sorry if we came off to snarky--but we are leftcoms after all! it was great to meet you and we were psyched to have IMT interested in us in NY and Philly, even if they have given in to big bang revisionism. let's talk more fr!

The Antifada

accidently deleted a comment from jon, here it is again: Hey it's Jon. Yeah....THAT GUY from the Brooklyn show. My bad if I came off like I was proselytizing, or trying to recruit you fellas to the IMT. That wasn't my intention (but it would be kinda dope). I appreciate the advice Sean. I'm gonna read more theory, sharpen my elevator pitch, and tighten up my game. This is me doing better. As I mentioned at the show, I'm new to this whole organizing thing. I think I was more excited to share with you and Andy that after having you in my headphones for years I was finally out there doing something fucking real. I can't wait to meet more comrades and start putting all this theory to work in my own workplace and union. Every week my comrades get me fired up when we meet at branch, and I felt I should try and contribute. I already had my Brooklyn ticket before I joined the IMT, so I tried pitching an idea: There was a live show right up the block at Littlefield and it could be an opportunity to meet more communists...hell, maybe even create some ties with one of my favorite podcasters and have a collaboration. I feel a bit caught off guard. I was under the impression that we were all just trying to upend capitalism and didn't expect the (T) next to my name to make me feel like I was playing for the wrong team. Growing pains in my revolutionary journey I guess. I wish we had spoken about it more in person after the show. Now I'm hesitant to report back to my comrades, perhaps I'll keep this patreon episode for my ears only. But my emails in your inbox; labeled "ATTN SEAN" just like you had asked. I think you'd get a kick out of having an IMT comrade on and hearing what we have to share. When I came up with the idea to reach out and do something together I wasn't thinking about putting myself behind the mic. I'll leave that to my more experienced cadres. I was thinking about myself a year ago, listening to hours and hours of leftist ideas without a fucking clue of what to do with it all. What I would have given for someone to reach out say "Yo nerd, get in the car, we are getting organized. Time to touch some grass and start building something". The IMT couldn't have come at a better time for me and I'm sure there's thousands more listeners out there who are exactly where I was. I want more leftists out there to find what I've found. I hope this hits closer to home than my feeble star-struck parasocial attempt after the show. Anyway, you got my email and my number. I'll keep up my patreon sub as a showing of good faith, no hard feelings. Also, I think your Big Bang troll would have fallen a bit flat Andy. I graduated from Binghamton with a degree in Geology/Earth sciences, and I'm prettyyyy sure the Big Bang is settled science. Trots aren't all under the spell of an Elder Brain. Keep the content coming, I'm running out of episodes at work. Maybe I'll catch you at the Goth Socialist. -Jon -International Marxist Tendency -DSNY Teamster 831 -Trot fuckboy

The Antifada

Thanks fam, that means alot

JK

bro you seem super cool

Shawn Yoon

JK

When did you come to Philly??

Derya Meral

Didn't realize it would be part of the same file later on. I'm grinning, I'm dancing in my chair, I'm doing finger guns

Daniel Ammons

Can't wait for Trotwatch

Daniel Ammons