The collapse of the American empire would benefit almost every other country. I am starting to feel that since I live in America I should want to accelerate the collapse (or make sure one happens if things start to go back to business as usual). Can someone tell me why this is a bad idea so that I don’t make a mistake here.


Accelerationism means actively working to make things worse for most people. Not only is it unnecessary because the decline is already ongoing and an eventual crisis of some sort therefore inevitable, but it is also bad strategy. Communists should not be seen to be making things worse, needless to say that is very bad optics. We should be seen as those who are most strongly on the side of the working class, defending and advancing their interests.
We want the masses to see us as trustworthy and reliable, as having their back and as those who they can trust to lead them. In order to win that trust you need more than just the right words, you need action. You need to show to the people by standing side by side with them in their struggles against capital, landlords, fascists, state violence, etc. that communists are those who will fight the hardest for their well-being.
By helping workers in their struggles you also contribute to the sharpening of contradictions as the limitations of the liberal bourgeois system are exposed and the need for a radically different system in order to fulfill all the needs and demands of workers becomes evident for more and more people. Organizing the working class is also how you prepare for “after the collapse”, it’s how you prepare the working class for eventually seizing power.
It is not sufficient for a collapse to occur, revolutionaries must be prepared and have the necessary support from a sufficiently large class conscious subsegment of the masses (in order to achieve this educational and agitation work is necessary) as well as the organizational infrastructure to be able to quickly mobilize the masses and fill the vacuum of power before our class enemies do.
I will add one caveat to this which is that you will frequently see the term “accelerationism” used incorrectly by disingenuous liberals in an attempt to intimidate or shame communists and other leftists out of sticking by our principles. According to these people the definition of accelerationism is “when you don’t vote for or support Democrats”. That is of course ridiculous and people who say such things should be ridiculed.