effort

Many of you may or may not wonder what software to use. People may provide walls of text as a response, but you may just want something to reference without having to look into how the software works. I hope this can be that reference for all of you and anybody else who stumbles upon it. This is up for discussion and change, but I hope this can be a good baseline, as I myself have been making the changes to FOSS for a long time now, and it would be a good idea to have a recommended software/services page on Hexbear.

(The [*] marks the better option)

Workstations:

• OS: Linux, I reccomend Fedora with GNOME (for a new, but efficient and simple feel) or KDE (similar to Windows with more customization), but I know some people like Mint for new users. Install as much software as possible on flatpaks.
• Browser: Firefox with Arkenfox, Tor Browser (For reliable anonimity; DO NOT ADD EXTENSIONS TO TOR BROWSER)
• Browser Extensions: Ublock Origin (add Adguard URL Tracking Protection and Easylist Cookies blocklists), Libredirect.
• Office Suite: Libreoffice, OnlyOffice
• Password Management: Secrets on GNOME, KeepassDX on KDE. DO NOT REUSE PASSWORDS OR IGNORE THIS STEP!!!
• Music Downloading: Nicotine+ (Soulseek Client), make sure to use VPN
• Music Listening: Gnome Music (GNOME), Elisa (KDE)
• Network Permissions: Flatseal on GNOME, System Settings on KDE (search for "flatpak").
• BitTorrent: Fragments (GNOME), Qbittorrent(KDE)

Mobile Devices:

• Phone: Google Pixel + Graphene OS*, Divest OS
• Browser: Vanadium*(Only on GrapheneOS), Mulch, Tor Browser* (For reliable anonimity; DO NOT ADD EXTENSIONS TO TOR BROWSER)
• App Stores: Fdroid Basic*, Aurora Store (Google Play replacement, use as needed)
• Password Management: Keepass DX, DO NOT REUSE PASSWORDS OR IGNORE THIS STEP!!!
• 2-Factor Authentication: Aegis (Android, 6 digit codes), Hardware Keys ($$$). SMS Verification is better than nothing, but avoid it if you can. DO NOT USE GOOGLE AUTHENTICATOR OR MICROSOFT EQUIVALENT
• Music Streaming: Harmony Music
• Music Listening: Auxio, Fossify Music
• Network Permission: Graphene OS is the only OS that has this functionality, find it in permissions settings.
• Camera: Graphene OS Secure Camera*, OpenCamera
• Notes/To Do: Fossify Notes
• Weather: Breezy Weather (Fdroid Version)
• Navigation: Organic Maps
• Voice Recordings: Fossify Voice Recorder
• Keyboard: Helioboard
• Lemmy: Jerboa
• Youtube Front End: Libretube, Poketube (Web App)

Proprietary Apps (Social Media, Banking, etc.) are best used as Web Apps, as privacy and security benefit from the browser sandboxing.

General:

• Search Engine: DuckDuckGo (more consistent, proprietary), SearXNG (open-source, less consistent).
• Chats:
  • Large Groups (Like Discord, DO NOT USE DISCORD): Jami, Matrix
  • Small Groups/Individuals: Briar* (only on Android), Signal (Struggle Session on Signal, I know there might be something wrong but at the same time Signal seems to encrypt everything)
• Email: Proton Mail + SimpleLogin Aliasing, try to avoid email as much as possible, Chat options are more private and secure.
• File Sharing and Syncing: Syncthing, but don't forget that you can directly transfer files from devices with usb-c and usb-a cables.
• File Storage: Store files locally, sync between devices with Syncthing as needed. If you really need cloud storage, use Proton Drive.
• VPN: Proton VPN for free, keep an account for each device as the free tier is limited to one device, Mullvad VPN* at a premium for reduced hassle and faster speeds(5 Euros per month)
• Social Media: Cut down on big social media as much as possible. Relocate to the fediverse, and be careful with what you post, it's still public. Do not post too much identifiable information, do not dox yourself.
• Front Ends: Invidious (Youtube), Poketube (Youtube), Redlib (Reddit), and many others for a ton of different websites, all avaliable with the libredirect extension. I feel like the "datura.network" are pretty private and reliable, with a rotating IP to bypass blockage.

Got a lot of my info from here privacyguides.org, though some of this is based on my own experiences and suspicions.

If anything can be added, let me know! Love you all

I thought it might be a good time for me to write up a actual post about mass line. Both cuz it's a bit of a nebulous concept and typically not defined in its entirety and that it can hopefully help explain to people what use this whole like "federating to onboard cool people" idea has.

Principles of the Mass Line

First off, the mass line is defined in a few different Mao writings including On Practice and Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership but the description given never typically identifies the concept for all of its components.

Contrary to some people's belief, mass line did not mysteriously unexist until Mao coined it! Mass line has been a central technique to Marxist-Leninist organizing from the beginning with even CPUSA members notably having written practical pamphlets on it in the 1930s. Mao did however coin the term itself and wrote specifically about it, consolidating and adding to our understanding of it.

Principally the mass line is a method of categorization. The categorization follows that:

• The Advanced are people who identify that capitalism is the issue and are willing to organize to combat it.

• The Middle are people who may or may not be aware that capitalism is the issue, but are yet to actively participate in the organizing process. Single issue people are typically the middle.

• The Backwards are people who are reactive to the idea that capitalism is the issue. Democrat, Republican, Centrist, whoever what we care about is how aware they are that capitalism is the issue and needs to be overcome.

Within each category you can also categorize people as Advanced, Middle or Backwards within their category. There are Advanced (of the) Middle, Middle Backwards, and Backwards Advanced people. These categories serve multiple purposes. The most important thing to note is how the mass line relates to society at large: "through the Advanced we can reach the Middle" and "through the Middle we can move some of the Backwards". The task of "a vanguard" is to organize cadre to organize the Advanced to move the Middle and some of the Backwards. This formula is designed to allow us to pinpoint the leverage points in society.

Using the Mass Line to elevate Class Consciousness

Relevant to our "task" here (not sure if its really important enough to call task cuz i just like this place as a chill environment to hang but ig its a task if you believe it is) is that the mass line can be used as a practical tool to elevate the consciousness of people (it may be more accurate to say that mass line is the process that we use to move people whether we are aware of it or not).

When we are "mass lining" a person, we are trying to investigate their level of class consciousness as well as their class interests and push them to elevate towards a higher level of class consciousness. In essence, investigation is about mapping where somebody is in relation to mass line, and using this information to nudge people towards the next highest level. Online you really can't do any of this so more so its mostly guess work but the principal remains. You won't push the backwards into the advanced and you're wasting your time entirely when you could be doing much better things with your life. The best you can hope for typically is to move the advanced backwards and middle backwards towards the middle. Get them to believe in one of the actual issues of society. This could be incredible wealth disparities, this could be the liberal destruction of community and encirclement of the family, this could be the corruptness of the democracy of the US whatever. The backwards will never be able to accept capitalism in its entirety is the issue in almost all cases. If you can convince somebody to go from Backwards to Advanced in 1 conversation they were never really "Backwards".

What is integration?

When thinking about the middle the most important concept to think about is integration. Integration is about forming unities with the people you are talking to. It is about listening to people and helping them with their issues while elevating their consciousness of them. Again, it is a lot harder to do this online where there are few things you can do to help people with their problems while elevating their consciousness about them, although there aren't none, technically. Successful integration is translating the principles of Marxism naturally and having the person you are talking to easily understand them. Marxism makes sense and people can put it together for themselves if they really experience it and you aren't failing to integrate. Some people's material experiences also will just not have proven the accuracy of Marxism to them and that's okay! That is the whole basis of class struggle.

Summation

In short tl;dr, who gives a fuck about federating with completely backwards websites and users. Complete waste of your time while achieving very little. If your goal is to use federation to "introduce Marxist politics to greater amounts of people" you have to tactically decide on instances where the vast majority of the users are The Middle or The Advanced. Also libs if you are not actually organizing you are the Middle. Advanced Middle, sure, but touch grass and move to the Advanced; it feels good!