How do you recognise a comrade in the wild?

Usually it's the breath. We all have the same breath because we all use the same toothbrush.

do tell

Lmao, this guy doesn't know the codeword.

Nice try, fed

When i ride the bus and i here people say "Another krakkka down, endless genocide to the white race" i feel like there might be some leftism going on.

I was at a local bookstore/clothing consignment/vinyl shop with a friend because he collects vinyl. I was looking through the books and spotted "A People's History of the United States" by Zinn and ended up picking it up for another friend. I started talking to the owner as I was ringing up about the few leftist texts that he had and how it's kind of cool to see that sort of thing in the TX panhandle since there aren't really many leftists here and he simply replied "yeah, we're out there."

I now call that place the "Commie Record Store" lol.

Last time I was there he had a 4th print edition of State and Revolution from 1935, that is now in my possession. The book is super old and the spine is brittle and I don't know what to do with it, but I feel like it's somehow special now.

He now acts as my source for physical books. I mostly read digital but I would like a small collection of "the classics" so to speak.

And similar to comrade Queerecommie, I have a hat with several buttons that anyone here would recognize but the average lib won't. I also use the big nerdy Marx words like dialectics, material conditions, praxis, bourgeois, etc.

the stench of failure

It’s the mouth feel

When I met my former coworker for the first time, she said material conditions and that's when I knew.

I was at a wedding once and some random cool dude who sat next to me used the term "historical materialism" so that seemed pretty obvious.

I know only one person who is conscious about politics and he is a weird libertarian.

Someone at the park asked me if I listened to blowback. That helped

Someone doing organizing or even clipboard warrior stuff I'll assume the best of them. Like even if they're not actually a comrade it's whatever most of the time. Maybe it'll end up with an annoying conversation about how the USSR wasn't actually communist or something, but you've gotta assume the best imo. A lot of people just wanna 'make the world better' without doing theory and you can just give them books when you're done with them.

When my co-workers recognize who Thomas Sankara, Malcolm X, Ronnie Kasrils, Nelson Mandela, Muammar Gaddaffi, Fidel Castro, etc. are and generally have positive views of them, even though it's suppressed since I am in that one country V

I quote lenin casually enough that my coworkers know me as the communist

I used the word "use-value" in the presence of a group of progressives today. They were pretty unanimous that housing should first and foremost be a provision for living, rather than a financial investment.

Honestly it’s difficult to tell. My friend is a huge China Stan and straight up told me that he’s a communist but I’m still not 100% positive.

I'll let you know when I meet one.

I'll usually try to float rhetoric about workers/bosses, mention class and see if the person responds to it. Generally libs and chuds don't care about class because their perspectives preclude it as a meaningful category.

They usually say 'Would you like to join my vanguard party, Stalin's Angels?'

Seriously, though, I don't think there's a way to tell. The number of 'decolonisers' that cross picket lines… or the number of 'Marxists' who turn out to be post-third gen Frankfurt School… disappointing.

My only experiences are with "leftists" who are social progressive, economically variable, geopolitically completely co-opted. Best I have gotten to date was an unlabeled leftist who said she felt NATO had it's part to play in the conflict. 99% the only people I've talked to with positive views (or willing to listen to positive views) of China, Russia, NK etc. are people in weird post-alt right/apolitical/center right spaces. If I ever met a real not-bigoted not-Andrew Tate-ified ML in real life at random and not some half-assed Maoist, Trot, leftcom, Russiaphobe etc. I would probably scream in joy. My expectations are not that high.

Communists might on first glance appear like wizards or sorcerers when they hold wands adorned with crimson cloth or when they don caps inscribed with the carmesin pentagram, and they certainly share their love of physical tomes to carry with them, however they differ from those classes in that they like to flock together, and it is not uncommon to encounter a whole party comprised entirely of communists

When they unironically say “based” or use “Marxist” or positively (multiple of my teachers have done this, I’m super lucky to live in a relatively non hell hole part of the US). Also when they say “communist” positively or talk about how they like Cuba (my peers have done these). A more subtle way is if they talk about dialectics or “people’s history.”

Also, the way you’d pick me out is my “toadal commie” shirt, my “death to amerikkka” shirt, my baret with a red star on it, or my Lenin pin on my backpack. That’s by looks, assuming you haven’t heard how I always talk about communism whenever I get the chance.

Edit: almost forgot the pro-union/Sankara/antifa stickers and patches.

Trans people that have come out. It isn't anywhere near 100%, but they generally tend much farther left than the average person. I also have yet to meet a conservative trans person in real life (perhaps I've met some closeted ones, but I would have no way to know).

I often say at work, "I'm selling my labor for less than it is worth" and I gotta imagine anyone with a shred of leftist understanding is catching on to that

Anyone who mentions Tito and 'good old times, can't miss.

Maybe if they talk about "Unequal Exchange" and the Global South, and I'm pretty sure you've got a potential tongzhi

Start speaking to them in standard maoist english

_/j

This classic.

Special handshake and manner of ear grabbing.

Usually for me it's if they don't point at me and make a loud screeching sound when I mention unions are good and maybe socialist countries aren't as bad as the US media makes them out to be.

Permanently Deleted

Unless I see a Che shirt or something I have literally no clue. There isn’t a Commie haircut or facial hair type that’s seen as communist here in the USA at least. Can’t speak for the rest of the world, or even for the rest of the US now that I think of it. When it comes to the MidWestern comrades idk tbh, I wear Commie Soccer Jerseys (mostly bc they look cool, partly bc they’re lefty) and a Deprogram hat sometimes but I doubt that everyone knows I’m a commie when I wear a Motörhead cutoff or my Jordan UCLA shirt. TL;DR You have no real way of knowing if someone is a Lib or an anarchist or anything just based on how they look, especially when capitalism sorta makes some people feel uncomfortable displaying their beliefs in public. I definitely think there are a decent amount of people who are too scared of the word “COMMUNISM” to call themselves Commies, but hold beliefs similar to us in many ways. And those people DEFINITELY aren’t dressing in commie clothes

i use the term labor time a lot

I also just remembered of "contradiction".

I know this doesn't answer your question, but if you are looking to meet comrades, find your local communist party. If one doesn't exist, there may be a pre-branch starting, and you should get in contact with a party like PSL to find out if there is one near you or even help start one. I contacted PSL and luckily found a pre-branch near me, and now I am helping with building it to become an official branch. I have met some pretty cool people this way. We come in all shapes and colors, and we each have our own mannerisms and come from different stages in our journey towards ML.

If you are not from the US, I hope the same advice still applies.

In Brazil I recognized one by listening to a rap song by Racionais MC's about Marighella and he complimented me lol

Permanently Deleted

You say PSPSPSPSPSPSPS because we're all cute catboy/catgirls

pass them the boof

Ask them to browse linkedin for 10min and watch their facial expression.

The DemSocs are the dominant party in my region so most of the people I come across could be potential comrades.

I live in a place that is pretty left and almost everyone I hang out with is queer. Marxist/leftist is basically the expectation when I meet a lesbian in my area. There are libs but their vibes stand out so much to me that its a pretty avoidable situation.

I can, pretty accurately, guess political affiliations without talking about politics. Vibes, culture, speech patterns, it makes things obvious most of the time.

My ANTIFA hat is pretty good at making me friends and enemies alike.