Can’t a girl get a little whimsical in an unsure situation? You know, amid all the social malaise, I haven’t forgone my need to be playful. Look, I want a revolution as much as the next guy, but while I wait for capitalism’s inevitable collapse, I’m going to occupy my heart and mind with small joys: midday bathroom sex, reading tarot for guidance, frolicking in nature while being touched by sunlight, sipping decadent drinks in back alley coffee shops, playing games with my kids that I always seem to win, savouring medium-rare prime rib, listening to sad songs, wandering through cemeteries. Simple pleasures, really. Anything to get my mind off of current realities. But don’t you worry, I’m still disillusioned.
I know that my girl Rosa would be critical of the idea of a vanguard party. She’d claim it isn’t necessary for an effective revolution—maybe even destructive. Yeah, yeah, the power to change comes from the masses themselves. Rosa, have you met these idiots? If she were alive today, I’m sure she would see for herself that herding the 21st-century working class toward liberation isn’t as straightforward as it looks. Not with all the things we have, all the things we want, all the things we think we need.
Something has to give. Perhaps, like children being led through their mistakes and awkward years by dutiful and wise parents, we need revolutionary thought-leaders at the helm—ones who guide us until we’re mature (and educated) enough to go it on our own. After all, we tend to stray when shiny things are put in front of us.
But let’s not forget that no takeover is perfect. Power corrupts, to be sure. Even Lenin might agree. Remember that guy who came next—Uncle Joe? Let’s not go that far. Although, he was instrumental in handling those pesky Nazis.
Whatever is coming, I won’t give in to despair. I have a secret life in my head where I act out all the things I would do if I were free to do them. Can you blame me for wanting to feel a little more alive before the reckoning? For emancipating myself in small acts of defiance? I suppose you can’t have it all, but you can pretend for just a little while.
BRB, gonna see what the tarot says about all this…