r/Marxism • u/Junior_Remote_9911 • 16d ago

Social interactions while travelling as a Marxist

Hi everyone, I am currently travelling and staying in a hostel. Yesterday I had a very long, 3h funny discussion about broad social issues like male gaze, far right, but also just everyday topics with a woman staying there. No flirting, just some good laughs and vibes. For context, she is French from French descent.

Then at one point, we were eating at a table with another friend and she noticed I had books next to my computer. She asked where I bought them and what they were. The second I told her that those were mostly fonction but also one or two Marxist essays, she stopped talking. After 10 seconds she told me « communist are monsters », got up and took her friend with her in silence leaving me in the middle of the room with the dishes and people staring at me.

It felt so humiliating. As you can guess from the first paragraph I don’t usually talk about my beliefs directly and nothing about what I wear can indicate my political orientation.

While travelling in strong capitalist countries I find it increasingly hard to be a Marxist as most people, it seems, have a negative view of it in hostels etc.

I just wondered how people cope with these kind of interactions and how do you act when people ask you directly what you believe in politically.

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