Title basically. He has multiple times sent me anti-communist propaganda, hes leftist but he doesnt know enough about capitalism to hate it, nor marxism to understand it. He just goes with the western mainstream left of hoping things will change by voting, even living in one of the most corrupt western governments. And just like that he hates communism with the typical 8 morbillion dead argument. I think sending him any response about this is gonna make him mad. How do I deal with this situation?
From similar experience: If you want the friendship to last you have to play the long game and accept that you might not be able to change him. If he is a great person otherwise tell him about your position and ask him to stop sending you anti-comnunist material. Depending on his reaction either avoid politics all together or move on to the long game. People who are entangled in western narratives will not shed those thoughts at a moment’s glance if at all.
Best thing you can do is being level headed and calm even if he is spouting ridiculous nonsense. If you are organised you could introduce him to your comrades. Let him know ML’s are not crazy baby eating monsters.
You could also talk about all of the positive achievements of the UdSSR or current AES countries without mentioning the country in question by name. Think about the old joke where most people agree with the goals and aims of communism as long as you don’t call it communism or socialism. You could something similar and then after a few weeks/months tell him that all of this was actually achieved by country X,Y,Z. Be careful though. Depending on how you present it this could come off as very confrontational.
If you are confident you might be able to educate him more by yourself do it, perhaps you can even convince him to read some theory. Maybe start a book club together. If he is a socdem he has grievances wit capitalism but you need to help him to direct those grievances correctly.
Bottom line that all of this only works if he wants to learn and change. If he is completely entrenched in his thinking with no signs of doubt there is not much you can do. At this point it’s best to ask yourself if you want to risk your friendship or if you cut your losses and accept that he will always be a friend but never a comrade. In this case make sure you are treating him like an outsider when it comes to anything political. Even if you think you can trust him. I don’t know how close your country is to fascism or how severe punishments for communists might be in 5 to 10 years but it’s better to not risk anything and not give him anything that could be used to sell you out.
I dont think he is entrenched, I would say he is starting to look for a better capitalism, and right now thinking about northern-europe, he doesn’t research much so it might take time for him to learn. Just reading a bit of theory would do wonders, but I doubt that will happen. Otherwise yeah, I will need years of patience. We live in a country that killed all socialist some decades ago, we are some of the first people with access to leftist thought In our families and the Internet to ease information transfer. The culture generally is so right leaning here that telling the truth of whats happening feels like an attack to many people.
He is a great person and a good friend, he thinks Im a communist and thats why he is sending me the propaganda. Im afraid of having a confrontation with him and things going bad between us, I guess.
You could always ask him what he thinks communism is/means and whether he says tell him that’s not what you mean. If he’s sharing anti-communism memes, he can’t possibly have an accurate picture of communism. And, sure, communists made mistakes—but nobody is out here trying to relive the USSR exactly as it happened.