There seems to be an idea among leftists that we must utilize the same strategies as other, previous revolutionary movements. Most notably, the concept of people's war seems to be at the forefront of Western leftist political thought. The left, such as it is, is utterly paralyzed and unwilling to do anything substantial because they lack a critical mass of popular support. They believe that they cannot act, and should not act, until the majority of the people are behind them and their struggle. Yet, they cannot gain any real popular support and make excuses about the pervasiveness of state propaganda and power.
However, this is an error. The simple fact is, the vast majority of westerners are opposed to Communism, in both a ideological and material sense. They are NOT just one speech away from becoming Communists, quite the contrary, they are only one crisis away from becoming fascists. The system benefits them and provides you with a good standard of living, explicitly at the expense of everyone else on earth. The average westerner is fully aware of this (if you doubt, ask them where their Nikes and Funko Pops come from. They will tell you about the kids in sweatshops even as they buy more), and still supports the system willingly under a concept of "better them than me" and a general sense of powerlessness. The fact that Donald Trump has been elected twice, and the second time his opponent's primary political stance was open and unambiguous support of the worst genocide since the Holocaust, should be all the evidence that is necessary of this truth.
The Western left is stunted ideologically and incapable of analyzing the material conditions of their own nations and then formulating a new path towards communism. Rather, they insist on simply copying older methods, used for vastly different material conditions and trying to shoehorn them into their own struggle.
To give an example, in Lenin's time, Russia faced a series of external crises (war) which led to the collapse of the state and the ability to wage a revolution. Furthermore, the Tsarist system intentionally denied education and held the masses in a system of slavery in everything but name, wherein your average peasant suffered from such extreme poverty and deprivation that your average westerner could not even imagine it.
In China, there was a similar system of brutal feudalism and external crises (invasion, century of humiliation, forced Opium importation) t
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.