There’s no provenance for this actually being from Brecht, but it was originally published in Terra Nossa, a leftist periodical used to communicate Brazilian socialist ideas to English speaking Americans.

So weather or not Brecht, a Marxist, said those words or not: they’re not about voting!

[–] UnkTheUnk@midwest.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

but it applies to voting, we can argue about the effectiveness of voting as a tactic but people who vote are more politically engaged than the type of person described in the quote

[–] gayhitler420@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

this was published during the lost decade's tumultuous end before brazil even had an election.

a few years after the ops quote was written inflation hit 84%, people were literally fighting in the streets.

it's more than a little out of context to say that the quote applies to voting.

[–] TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think they're saying that it applies equally to voting, whether that was the originally intended meaning or not.

[–] gayhitler420@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i guess what i was trying to avoid saying right out is that it's an indictment of the seriousness of electoralism when the supporters have to roll out quotes about bodily struggling to create a livable home after twenty years of fascist military dictatorship so they can support it.

surely there's people who wrote stuff about voting that can be used to make the case for voting.

mobilizing words written to encourage peoples involvement in worker struggles as a call to vote doesn't do any favors for liberal democracy.

[–] UnkTheUnk@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

That doesn't really respond to what I said

but it applies to voting, we can argue about the effectiveness of voting as a tactic but people who vote are more politically engaged than the type of person described in the quote

There are many people who vote, and do nothing else, and that is condemnible. But unless you have direct evidence that the quote originates with someone who explicitly denied the effectiveness of voting in totality I see no reason why the quote would not apply to forms of political advocacy you happen consider ineffective

I don't particularly want to argue about the effectiveness of voting, beyond to say that I strongly disagree with any bright-line distinction between "electoralism" and whatever other strategies you would care to mention, and that EVERY successful movement (leftist or otherwise) that had the option had the ballot as part of their strategy.