Hi comrade! I'm vegan.

I do think that being vegan makes one a more coherent leftist. And I encounter more vegans in left spaces than other spaces, so anecdotally this makes sense.

I do think that most people on the left are not coherent and that's something we just have to deal with, working to improve that state of things as we build for liberation and revolution. Every successful revolution has not been vegan, so I think it's not necessary for doing the work and I don't think there are new conditions that make veganism essential for doing our work here and now, objectively. I still wish everyone was, but I don't think of it as a necessity.

I think there is a similar situation we can compare to, which is people being COVID cautious. It is about people and not human animals, trying to be consistent in one's empathy despite social forces opposing this, it has niche communities, and it has both an individual action aspect as well as attpts at mass action. I think COVID cautious leftists are more coherent leftists as well. They have avoided one of the more obvious forms of liberal normalization, every leftist should've noticed and rejected that normalization, but most leftists are not that disciplined or coherent. Similarly, I don't think COVID cautiousness is necessary for revolution, but it would probably help.

I think it really is just resistance to self-crit and inconvenience 95% of the time. Those are strong forces among the people we try to organize with. Many already have trauma and that makes those forces even stronger. Moving past those things is a long-term process and not really about veganism (or being COVID cautious) at all, it is a more fundamental barrier. And I would bet that you and I have some barriers like that, too.

I've had lots of luck on helping people who are "trying out" veganism stick with it by helping them find foods they like and can eat regularly. Convincing someone that isn't already vegan, much less luck, though I wouldn't necessarily know anyways. I've seen people around me go vegan and start agreeing with me on things I've said, they just don't explicitly credit me. If there's something I'm doing, it's being someone people feel comfortable confiding in and looking to for help. Like various famous communists recommending that organizers be exemplary workers to gain the confidence of their coworkers, having social influence is also power to spread your own habots or ideas.