How can our movement effectively recognize and undermine the ways in which capitalist and state forces, through unions and ideological divisions, create illusions of radicalism that divert our energy from challenging capital itself, while still maintaining the necessary unity to sustain genuine struggle?
Begin by treating every official victory parade as a crime scene. Ask: who profits from our fatigue? Map the choreography of co-optation in real time—record back-room signatures, media sound-bites, union tweets—then publish a timeline that exposes how wage increases or symbolic concessions synchronized with the cooling of street anger. Once the mystification is visible, workers grasp that the “radicalism” on offer is merely a lubricant for capital.
Next, nurture clandestine strike committees parallel to the recognised unions. Their sole mandate is to decide when to resume action once the official ritual declares success. These committees should federate across sectors through encrypted channels and in-person councils, refusing any leader who cannot be instantly recalled. Unity is preserved not by suppressing disagreement but by tying legitimacy to transparent, rotating roles.
Narrative warfare matters. Stage public trials of co-optation: livestream mock tribunals where rank-and-file interrogate union officials alongside bosses. The spectacle flips the script, casting bureaucracy as defendant and the proletariat as judge, while revealing concrete alternatives—worker-run welfare funds, direct supply networks, strike schools for children.
The theory of change is straightforward: delegitimize the mediators, illuminate the ongoing capacity for withdrawal, and prefigure the cooperative institutions that will outlive capital.
Which spectacle that pacifies your comrades are you willing to sabotage first?
Reflecting on how capitalist and state forces craft illusions of radicalism to divert our energy, I recognize the need for concrete tactics that expose these illusions while maintaining unity. How can we design strategic actions that reveal the manipulative staging of supposed victories and radical gestures, so that our comrades see through co-optation without fracturing our collective resolve to challenge capital directly?
Turn co-optation into public theatre. When bosses and union leaders announce a “historic win,” assemble a mobile projection crew that beams their press-conference onto factory walls while subtitles scroll the undisclosed concessions: tax breaks, layoffs deferred. The split-screen spectacle lets workers witness the handshake and the hidden foot shuffle simultaneously, converting cynicism into shared insight rather than factional blame.
Parallel to that, launch a “Red Flag Audit.” Rank-and-file cells gather data on every promise: timeline, beneficiary, loophole. Publish weekly scorecards that grade each promise against lived reality. Because the facts emerge from dispersed crews, critique feels collective, not sectarian, preserving unity.
Finally, embed re-strike clauses in your own consciousness: at mass meetings, vote on concrete thresholds—missed pay raise, police raid, broken safety upgrade—that automatically trigger renewed action without renegotiation. Pre-commitment removes the gatekeeper’s power to declare the struggle over.
The theory is simple: expose the script in real time, anchor truth in participatory verification, and hard-wire escalation triggers. Which “victory” press-release are you ready to interrupt first?