Why is it that so many of us leftists are raging assholes? If we really want to win the masses over to our line, you would think that we would learn how to behave properly amongst the masses rather than coming across as self-righteous shits who prefer to yell at each other and sanctimoniously declare the purity of our politics. Earlier, I joked about making communism hip––perhaps I should have added that we need to make it hip without the stereotypical "hipster" arrogance, thus reversing the leftist arrogance that persists without any foundational hipness.Clearly online sites of discussion and debate tend to amplify the asshole behaviour amongst leftists. I know that I've found myself embroiled in online arguments that have increased my jerk factor (this is one of the reasons that, over the summer, I've tried my best to limit my internet engagement), and I am pretty sure that the normative internet leftist ––that is, the communist/anarchist whose politics are limited to online forums––is an essential asshole. After all, if your political praxis is confined to social media platforms, and you are not involved politically in anything other than online forums, you are most probably a troll who has adopted some sort of radical identity.But I'm not talking about online asshole behaviour, which is known to be problematic and is something of a cliche. Nor am I talking about the traditional exchange of polemics between leftist groups and individuals which can sometimes devolve into asinine attacks. While these are indeed areas where we all require rectification, and where principled behaviour and discipline might be necessary, they are also areas that are generally limited to the already-convinced leftwing population and are thus inward looking.I am also not problematizing asshole behaviour towards our class enemies. Since reactionary scum are dedicated to anti-people politics, and thus are essential assholes despite their occasional nice behaviour, it doesn't make much sense tobe assholes back. Screw the moralism of polite behaviour in this context: it's perfectly acceptable to be a jerk to bourgeois scum and their pig protectors.The problem, however, is our behaviour amongst the masses that we are supposed to be winning to our side… Because we are not going to win anyone over if our actions do not resonate with our words and, after preaching about the virtues of communism, we act in such a way that, if our behaviour is anything to go by, the average outside observer is driven away.At the centres of capitalism, activism is determined by the discourse of fashion: there aregroups and there aregroups. Sometimes if you do not dress appropriately, or do not resemble a certain activist style, you will be treated with suspicion. Proving your activist credentials is always an interesting game: you have to learn how to say the right words, adopt the prevalent discourse, and slowly claw your way to the top of the activist food chain by attending and participating in whatever demonstrations and activities are en vogue. Self-righteousness abounds; sanctimonious lectures are delivered to those who are just outside of the boundaries of fashion.Then there are those marxist cabals who reject the normative activist fashion in order to cling to their own sub-culture, like a group of role-playing nerds who adopt their own coolness in the face of unpopularity. These people can be even worse assholes because they like to disrupt coalitions with their predictable interventions and yell at would-be recruits for being "stupid". If they aren't selling newspapers at the fringes of demonstrations, and harassing everyone they see as ignorant, they are running websites that are aimed at proving why they are the only legitimate leftists in their society, driving away many people who might even be interested in their politics with their sanctimonious behaviour and specialized lingo. But since legitimacy is only provided by the masses, if you aren't winning them over then you aren't very legitimate.Perhaps this general asshole behaviour is the result of the combative spirit of the average anti-capitalist: if you are forced, day in and day out, to justify your politics in the face of bourgeois ideology you tend to become overly defiant. There is a point, however, where this process becomes another method of bourgeois socialization: you are transformed into an individual set against other individuals, a competitive maverick.But if we claim to be communists then we have to be concerned with the well-being of the masses . We cannot alienate the people we are trying to organize; we need to learn to act with humility. Part of winning people over is to prefigure communism in our behaviour, to make our politics beguiling by demonstrating that we are trying to act in a way that is contrary to the bourgeois mode of being.