My friends and I are all in our early 20s, most finishing/ out of college. A few years ago they were all liberals who either turned their nose up at the word socialism or were "apolitical".
Now, having been through a pandemic, living through a housing crisis, working in minimum wage jobs, witnessing the rise of European fascism and seeing the sheer disrespect capitalists have for us, all of them, without exception, have become or are becoming leftists. I don't even talk about politics that much with them, although they know I'm a communist. They have all voiced dissatisfaction with capitalism and named capitalism directly as the cause of their problems. Some of them openly call themselves socialist. None of them have any faith in liberals.
My main political issue now is to get them to become active in politics. I've encouraged them to join workers and tenants unions and will do that more every time I'm drunk. I try to get them to pro-Palestinian protests. I have high hopes that within a few years, I will successfully convert most of them to communism
it is never joever for the working class
Same experience here, but am a bit older and the people around me have become very anti-capitalist. Including older previously very turboliberal ex-hippies. But most still are Nato leftists at best and discuss Ukraine or any actually important topic from the national news pov. They are still entirely sold on the myths of equality, social democracy and electrolar politics. There is a lot of petition signing, lots of bourge media consumption, lots of sending money to ngos and also a lot of brunch.
And lots and lots of voicing discontent as long as the current outrage lasts and then going back to brunch and forgetting about it.
Most have work, studies, kids, lots of dept and no time or energy to engage with any of this on a serious level.
How to get these people to really care is the big question for me too.
in the words of Engels, it will take a few very bad years