Everyone’s a Leftist Until it’s Time to Do Leftism
Stage
Something I love about Incubator is that it attracts leftists.
Maybe that’s true of every DIY house. Either way, now that we’re becoming a collectivist organization and moving away from capitalist structures, some of the most outspoken anti-capitalists are having hesitations.
It seems some people are having trouble visualizing a DIY space achieving long term sustainability through profit.
There’s an appeal to being a rag tag group of bohemian artists on the fringes of mainstream society. There’s a certain kind of honor in being the underdogs.
But that kind of thinking is what prevents leftism from being mainstream.
Many leftists have an aversion to making money because for as long as we can remember, succeeding meant stomping on someone else to get there. Getting something means it was taken from someone else unjustly.
But as a community, we can experience long term abundance without sacrificing our beliefs.
We can be an organization that uses a shared ownership model and democratic methods to ensure equitable outcomes for every member.
Leftism doesn’t have to be just theory. It can be something we do.
What does leftism in America look like in 2026 and beyond?
Currently, it takes the form of protest. A rejection of capitalism and the status quo. It can take the form of blogging (I know) or marching in the streets, but what if it took the form of a self-governing community? Run by rotating committees, with complete financial transparency and shared ownership.
Where everyone has an equal share and all individual power is temporary.
An organization where there’s a limit to how much money someone can get paid. And a limit to how much someone can claim private ownership over shared resources.
An organization like this has to be built on trust.
We’ve been building that trust for 2 years now and we’ll continue to.
Let’s do leftism and use it to beat the capitalists at their own game. Let’s help Incubator musicians make a living making music and prove that communities are more powerful than businesses.
We’re leftists so let’s do leftism. We’re a collective so let’s do collectivism.
More importantly, let’s do something. The status quo isn’t working. Let’s try an alternative.
Let’s not just protest; let’s participate… in capitalism and turn it on its own head. We’re going to participate anyway, so let’s do it as a community for our collective benefit.
