Patrisse Cullors created the hashtag, which is what the bulk of BLM is. The actual organisation will number far less than the people protesting. I doubt that everyone going to protests is part of some mass conspiracy to convert everyone to Marxism. Especially not footballers. Most are just bothered about racism.
Socialists appear at every protest, if it’s left wing inclined, and say stuff like Patrisse. It is a tactic they use to gain sympathy; if they go to a righteous cause people may think they’re good. Does this sully anything remotely left wing because the SWP and associated groups latch themselves on? So does this mean that protests against the Iraq war, student loans increases, gay rights, women’s rights, for the NHS and against spending cuts are/were actually for Marxist indoctrination instead? If so, why haven’t the far left groups like the SWP seen any kind of mass support in the many years they have been dallying around protests like a bad smell? Heck, the Iraq War protests were organised by SWP and CPGB types, yet no socialist revolution beckoned.
It could be that most who go to such protests do so out of solidarity for what it represents. The socialists often push themselves to the front, because they’re politically organised, but few in number. I don’t see why this should take away from the message; racism doesn’t become a non-issue because socialists get involved.
