The notion of "informational pipelines" needs to be explored more. Anti-Communism, and Anti-Capitalism as well, are almost always positions arrived at through a process that involves at least some level of development through more "moderate" positions.

So like the most dangerous entry-points for anti-Communist reaction are always first chipping away at "well, China isn't *really* Socialist... The Soviets weren't *really* that good..." and on from there

This is why children in the US are not taught about how the Soviets played the most vital role in defeating Nazism, and how the Chinese experienced genocide in a manner very comparable to the holocaust, yet the Japanese did not face punishment after the US took over

A similar "pipeline" exists in the opposite (I'd say *correct*) direction; CPUSA has grown by leaps and bounds this year. Our largest source of new Comrades? DSA. This is why I'm also very cautious about talking too much smack about them.

Yeah, DSA are DemSuccs, which at the end of the day are *not* Communists, but they play a key role in the development of many of us and I have to respect that.

Likewise, the pull towards reactionism that exists in the so-called "moderate" wing of the Democratic Party serves as the entrypoint into Conservatism, as visible by the old saying (at least here), that today's Democrats are tomorrow's Republicans

So we have 2 fronts that we need to be fighting on simultaneously here; the first, to undermine the right-wing "pipelines" and disrupt their functioning. And then also to facilitate and sustain our own.

This is why, at least more recently, I've been more soft on talking about certain issues with Progs, while also being extremely forceful on issues like China and the Soviet Union

Marxism-Leninism is a direct piece of Stalin and the Soviets' lineage; any attack to undermine them ultimately serves as a denigration of our own ideological/historical foundations. No one can come into Communism without first accepting this, or at least unlearning the propaganda

Similarly, the Chinese today serve as the leading force of global Socialism. We might not agree with them on everything, either past or present, but to decry them as "not real Socialists" is to take a pickaxe at the foundations of what our struggle is being built on

Again, equally in the opposite direction, consistently battering the US government's propaganda efforts abroad and open defiance of human rights serve as a strong disruption

A very strong, historically well-documented offensive against our own domestic history serves as a strong tool, imo, at pulling back the kind of exceptionalist thinking that often leads individuals down the reactionary pipeline

To reference a conversation I had today irl, the question is "well, if we are so exceptional then where has your retirement gone?"

I've found, ironically, that declassified handbooks from *certain organizations* are pretty useful in actually looking at how they've historically gone about this kind of work, as well as the threats we must continue to watch out for

One really keen thing I found in the "Simple Sabotage" manual were the tactics of pleading ignorance and/or being an obstructionist