this post was submitted on 26 May 2024
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great job. What's your party like? I don't really know anything about Belgian politics
We started as a ML-maoist party decades ago and remained an active but niche communist party throughout the years. It was only since the 2010s that we started growing harder. In 2019 we managed to get some people elected and ever since the popularity is rising at a fast pace. We are nearing 30 thousand active members now and recent polls have us as the third or fourth biggest party in the country. Some of our politicians are the most popular politicians on social media. We are by far the most active party in the streets, with members at every social gathering, event, market, concert, etc. happening.
Growing at that pace brings its own challenges. You don't want to present yourself to the world as too radical as that might scare people that have been bombarded with anti communist propaganda away. You also don't want to abandon your marxist principles. A big influx of new members makes it that not all of them are principles marxists yet and they need to be educated. And while electoral politics are not a goal and we need actual systematic change to happen, you need to find a way to be a part of it regardless. We do so by having actual workers on our lists. People that work the factories, do the cleaning at the airport, work at the supermarkets, combined with experienced marxists.
All in all I think the party is managing to bring marxism to the general public in a way that is familiar for common people while also holding on to marxist thought. It is by far the most serious marxist party I have seen in Western Europe and I think we have a lot of potential.
Sounds like it! Happy to hear all that. I'm glad a marxist party is doing well somewhere in Europe.