Conversation · Steban, the Student Communist

"Do you like her art?"

"Oh, sure. It's definitely interesting, I would say..."

'Interesting' -- isn't that just binoclard for 'I don't have a real opinion'?

"Wait, I thought 'interesting' was what people said when they don't have anything real to add?"

His companion's eyes widen with interest. He has a cold smile.

If this is what the Union man meant by theory combat, you've just scored a decisive blow.

"Come on. It's not that I don't have anything to say about Cindy's art. It's more that I'm... still working out the details. It's a complex question, you've got to take your time with it..."

You've flustered the poor boy. Now he's got to say something.

"Hmmm, I guess you could call her latest stuff a sort of counter-bourgeois calligraphy. She's got a real taste for radical slogans."

"It's too bad she hasn't developed the theoretical foundation to do truly radical work."

"I think she'll get there, though. She's still looking for a subject equal to her ambitions."

It's like you sucker-punched him with your words.

(Let it go.)

He sighs. "That's Cindy's stuff. She just sort of... moved it all in a few months ago."

"I'm ready... let's talk about infra-materialism."

"Yes, let's get right to it."

His companion leans forward, ready to jump in...

They're impressed that you dove right in to the most advanced parts of the theory. Half an hour evaporates and the conversation is still wending its way toward new and unexpected places...

A cool breeze coming off the bay wraps itself around the Capeside Apartments. In a nearly forgotten part of that glorified construction site, surrounded by rusted pieces of scaffolding and walls of faded tarpaulin, a detective of the RCM debates the intricacies of an abstruse theory with a pair of university students...

"... but if it's true that this individual possesses so much capital that light literally bends around him, then that must mean..."

"That capital produces its own form of plasm!"

"In 'Innocence of Capital', Puncher and Wattmann argue that communists must possess as little capital as possible, in order to keep their thinking undiluted by its influence..."

Watch out. You call yourself a communist and yet you've been accumulating a suspiciously large share of capital in just the last few days. It's almost certainly distorting your thinking.

"Again, he was just a regular high-net-worth individual. There was nothing extra-physical about him..."

Now the breeze has subsided. All is still except for the last bits of steam rising from the coffee pot.

"Well, on that note, I think we can call it an evening."

No, wait! Can this really be the end? You feel like you've just gotten to the real stuff.

"Yes. One of our better discussions lately, on the whole."

"Hang on, is that it?"

"What do you mean, 'is that it'? You've done the reading, we talked about it, what more do you expect from a reading group?"

"What if I have more questions, you know, about communism?"

"Well, you could always ask, I guess." The two young men look at each other a moment.

"He probably won't get a better chance, honestly."

"But it's getting late, so maybe pick the most important question?"

"Kim, what should I ask?"

"Detective, how should I know what questions you have about communism?"

"I need a minute to think about it."

"Come on. We have things to do in the morning."

"I changed my mind. I don't have any questions."

"He says he doesn't have any questions, Steban."

"Are you absolutely sure? A communist can't be afraid to ask questions, just because they don't know what the answer might be."

In other words, you'll forfeit their respect if you back out now.

Ask the most important question about communism.

The question you mean to ask is both very complicated and incredibly simple...

Take a deep breath. Best to go one piece at a time.

"If communism is all based on theories that are impossible to prove..."

The young man waits patiently for you to finish.

"... and the rest of the world keeps killing us for our beliefs..."

"Yes?"

Say it.

"... what's the point?"

The young man considers your words for a minute.

You're witnessing his ironic armour melt before you. This is his true self you're seeing now.

He's thinking about someone...

Forget it.

"The theorists Puncher and Wattmann -- not infra-materialists, but theorists nonetheless -- say that communism is a secular version of Perikarnassian theology, that it replaces faith in the divine with faith in humanity's future..."

"I have to say, I've never entirely understood what they mean, but I think maybe the answer is in there, somewhere."

"Wait, you're saying communism is some kind of religion?"

"Only in this very specific sense. Communism doesn't dangle any promises of eternal bliss or reward. The only promise it offers is that the future can be better than the past, if we're willing to work and fight and die for it."

"But what if humanity keeps letting us down?"