In her essay collection Dirtbag, Amber A’Lee Frost usefully distinguishes between achieving socialism and being a socialist. I find this quite useful. In fact, Frost helps me get at some of my own issues with frustration on activist movements.
As Frost puts it, she does activism because she wants “socialism, and socialism for me is simply a chore that needs to be done.” She wishes it were “already done.” As she puts it, the goal of activism “isn’t to ‘be a socialist’ (whatever that means). The goal is to change the world so that we can live under socialism.”
I have to admit the notion resonates with me. Lately, I feel more than a little discouraged about certain issues in the world, like the Israel-Gaza war. On those issues, I see little I could do to achieve positive results. But I can easily ‘be a socialist’ by demonstrating my disapproval of the Israeli invasion. It just takes a few social media posts.
And, furthermore, much of the activism I see on the issue achieves the latter more than the former.
That said, I don’t resonate fully with Frost’s line on this. In fact, I think we can find joy in the process of achieving socialism. It’s not just a chore. We can come together and create fun and culture as a supplement to our activism.
But it feels like a chore at times. And worrying too much about ‘being a socialist’ takes our eye off the prize.
