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SpiritOfTito OP wrote

Oh absolutely. Trots love to talk about the paper and measure class consiousness by how many papers sold (Jesus wept).

But on the flip side I see the paper as pretty much a chance to strike random conversations with people and win them to our ideas and if possible recruit for our org

On the flip side (as I only really have the trot org near me, the other party is the gbcp which carry pictures of Stalin around. And whilst I largely agree someone as brutal as Stalin would've come to power given the capitalist encirclement of the ussr, I'm still no fan of Stalin) what do other parties do in way of organizing?

The paper allows you to be agitating 3-4 times a week in public

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sudo wrote

I didn't mean to come off as anti-newspaper; I, too, distribute newspapers. I was just making an amused observation.

Also, what tips do you have for kick-starting a conversation after giving someone a paper? Usually, for me, I'll ask if they want a paper, and give it to them, but I don't know what to say after that ("So, uh... capitalists, amirite?") What do I say to get them to talk about socialism?

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SpiritOfTito OP wrote

Well you should largely consider your role in distributing the paper isn't just selling the paper. If selling the paper was an end goal in itself presumeably we would already have socialism and we would no longer need to sell the paper.

The paper should be considered your reason to stand in the street promoting our ideas. Not only does it sharpen you as an individual to become more socially engaged with randomers but it also sharpens your arguements when you inevitably encounter someone brainwashed by capitalist ideology.

So when you hand out your paper you should be asking "what do you feel about X" give them time to respond in full then present your (our ideas) on that subject.

As I said it'll sharpen you intellectually but the end goal should be recruitment of more comrades.

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sudo wrote

Interesting; I'll try to do more of that. Also, we don't sell our paper; we give them out for free, and we especially try to distribute them to homeless people - they're the most interested in it, anyways.

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