Thank you for giving us hope. not fake fatuous hope, but an honest, tough, realistic description of what lies ahead of us. The cavalry is not coming. We are the cavalry.
On the bright side, we are the people, and there are a lot of us. We do the physical work. the caring work, grow and deliver the food, build and repair things, keep people and goods moving, and provide all the necessities of life. We prepare the payrolls and keep planes from crashing. We are the workers, the poor, the abandoned veterans, the professionals (including doctors, nurses , writers, actors, musicians and teachers) the owners of local and family business. That gives us a lot of power, if we can learn how to use it.
But we are so often propagandized, discouraged and isolated from one another. We are conditioned to dismiss others as unworthy, but in my experience there is a lot of intelligence, skill and kindness out there waiting to be freed from the limits imposed by fear and loathing of people who are different. I see it in everyday life. I see it when young people in various countries get on the internet to help each other with language skills and other academics, I see it on the Weather Channel, where people get in their pickups and little boats and rescue other people in a disaster regardless of who they are. Well, this is a disaster unfolding in a more violent climate and in the unearned and unwarranted concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a very few while the lives of the rest of us go downhill.
It will be hard, for sure. It will require getting out of our accustomed habits of mind and activity. In this hyper individualistic nation, we may have to change our ideas of success from me to us. We will have to be more choosy about who we trust with our lives. We may have to sacrifice. But it is necessary if we don't want a handful of juvenile billionaires, war addicts, wealth hoarders and dead eyed careerists to pillage our precious planet. I hope that we will be able to unite with kindness, creativity, fortitude and most of all with open hearts. Start there and I pray that the details of how to do this will become apparent.
Excellent speech. I’m having trouble figuring out how to make a donation on the workers strike back website. I’ll have to keep trying to figure it out.
"The trappings of this pseudo mass society are empty, cheap, spectacular leisure sports; parades where strangers meet, shout each other down and often trample each other to death on the way home; mass consumption of worthless super-suds or aspirin; ritualistic, ultra-nationalistic events on days to glorify the idiots who died at war or other days to deify those who sent them out to die.
A mass society that is actually a mass jungle.
The psycho-social dimensions of fascism become quite complex, but they can be simplified by thinking of them as part of a collective bargaining process carried on between all the elites of the particular state with the regime acting as arbitrator.
The regime’s interests are subject to those of the ruling class.
Labor is a partner in this arrangement.
At the head of any labor organization in the fascist state, there is an elite which is tied to the interests of the regime—and consequently tied also to the economic status quo."
George Lester Jackson (September 23, 1941 – August 21, 1971) was an American author, revolutionary, and convicted felon. While serving an indeterminate sentence for stealing $70 at gunpoint from a gas station in 1961, Jackson became involved in the Black power movement and co-founded the prison gang Black Guerrilla Family. He was murdered in San Quentin in 1971.
"We are not going to be assisted in our revolt by established unions. Union leaders, such as Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien, are bought off. They are comfortable. They are pulling down at least five times what rank-and-file workers make. They have sold out to the Democratic Party, or in the case of O’Brien to Trump."
This elite within labor, has been seen in the likes of Sean Fain of the UAW, Randi Weingarten of the Teachers' Union and a countless wad of overpaid, blinded labor bureaucrats ---- sell-outs.
Unions must get rid of union bosses and organize their own rank and file strike committees.
For fascism understands labor too.
“Fascism recognises the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade-unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonised in the unity of the State.”
Benito Mussolini, 1935, The Doctrine of Fascism, Firenze:Vallecchi Editore. (p.15)
I livestreamed Sean Fain speaking at a Bernie Sanders rally in Michigan. I agreed with what he said. He looked like an ally to me, someone who was in a position to rally one of the most powerful segments of the population. The Auto Workers elected him, so if they think his salary is too high, it's their call.
He is a class collaborator, given many awards by the bourgeois for his excellence in holding down rank and file committees and keeping the stock price high.
Don't be fooled by talking head labor 'leaders'.
"Fain was elected UAW president in March 2023, and his annual salary is over $200,000. Before his presidency, he was an administrative assistant within the UAW, with an annual compensation of $160,130.
In addition to his salary, Fain earns an extra $187,259 annually for his involvement with the UAW Chrysler Skill Development & Training Program, a non-profit training initiative. These earnings combined give Fain a total annual income of around $347,389. This places him in the upper echelons of income earners in the State of Indiana.
Despite this significant income, Fain is committed to representing the working-class American and addressing problems faced by thousands of workers in the automotive industry."
Or, one could say people voted for Trump so, so be it.
As Marx writes,
“As for the individual bureaucrat, the purpose of the state becomes his private purpose, a hunt for promotion, careerism.”
----- “Critique of Hegel’s Doctrine of State,” in Karl Marx: Early Writings, trans. Rodney Livingstone and Gregor Benton (New York: Vintage, 1975), 111.
This goes for sell out labor leaders.
This man does not represent the working people of America or of the UAW.
The election has been shown to be fraudulent.
Will Lehman was the choice of most workers.
Fain is man of the year for as Mussolini noted:
“Fascism recognises the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade-unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonised in the unity of the State.”
In the following narrative, a bus driver describes how the cuts that Elon Musk is carrying out in the federal government are affecting ordinary public transit workers.
“I already can’t save money. Imagine what things will be like in five years.
She shrugs. “We’re encouraging you to vote “Yes,”’ she says, and hands me a piece of paper on which to mark an “X” signifying yes or no.
If enough workers vote the contract through, the company will ratify it and it will govern my life for the next five years—presuming that I don’t get downsized. Any strike or protest activity will be illegal, as per our “No Strike” agreement. If enough people vote no, it goes back to the union bargaining team, and they will continue to bargain for more changes in closed door meetings.
I head into another room, mark an X by “NO,” and drop the piece of paper into a wooden box. I wave to a few co-workers on my way out. As I leave, I pass a portrait of Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters union. You smug bastard, I say to myself. I remember his glasses and bald head on stage of the Republican National Convention last year, when he called Donald Trump a “Tough son of a bitch.” What a dipshit.
I used to have a poster in my room many years ago, proclaiming, “The past doesn’t pass.” Next to the slogan was a photo of striking Teamster bus drivers—bus drivers, just like me—beating police officers with baseball bats during the general strike of 1934 in Minneapolis. That was one of the decisive labor battles that forced the ruling class to accept the New Deal in order to cool down the class war that was brewing on the streets.
The past doesn’t pass, but the future can leave you behind.
At home, I look over a letter announcing that people in my neighborhood shouldn’t drink the tap water because the levels of uranium in the river are too high. Sometimes I wonder what I would say to my children about this moment in history—if I could afford to have children. Probably the same things my parents say to me now: they’re sorry we are inheriting this world.
Sorry they didn’t fix it. Sorry they didn’t build strong enough movements to turn the tide against these monsters.
At work, as I drive, I begin to notice that there are fewer Trump flags and signs out. Resentment is rising. A joke by a cashier here about being replaced by AI, a comment there about Trump cutting programs. I walk into the break room and someone is shaking their head angrily while watching a video of Musk on their phone. They mutter something about tariffs and rising prices”
Thank You! An extremely important point you made, which I believe needs to be shouted from the rooftops, is that the Left/Right framing of politics is intended and is used to undermine solidarity and encourage division. Left/Right framing is a lie. The only real actual struggle is between the wealthy and their minions vs everybody else. We need Progressive change. And Progressive change is Problem Solving! We can fix; a lack of democracy, corruption, poverty, environmental issues. It’s all doable and has nothing to do with Right or Left ideologies. We need to create DEMOCRACY! Then we can dialogue, wheel and deal, have multiple parties, coalitions, recognize differences in regions, in bioregions, AK very different from AZ. In other words: Left/Right framing is propaganda, not reality. It attacks and diminishes our ability to join together. We can’t defeat oligarchy without SOLIDARITY!
Thank you for giving us hope. not fake fatuous hope, but an honest, tough, realistic description of what lies ahead of us. The cavalry is not coming. We are the cavalry.
On the bright side, we are the people, and there are a lot of us. We do the physical work. the caring work, grow and deliver the food, build and repair things, keep people and goods moving, and provide all the necessities of life. We prepare the payrolls and keep planes from crashing. We are the workers, the poor, the abandoned veterans, the professionals (including doctors, nurses , writers, actors, musicians and teachers) the owners of local and family business. That gives us a lot of power, if we can learn how to use it.
But we are so often propagandized, discouraged and isolated from one another. We are conditioned to dismiss others as unworthy, but in my experience there is a lot of intelligence, skill and kindness out there waiting to be freed from the limits imposed by fear and loathing of people who are different. I see it in everyday life. I see it when young people in various countries get on the internet to help each other with language skills and other academics, I see it on the Weather Channel, where people get in their pickups and little boats and rescue other people in a disaster regardless of who they are. Well, this is a disaster unfolding in a more violent climate and in the unearned and unwarranted concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a very few while the lives of the rest of us go downhill.
It will be hard, for sure. It will require getting out of our accustomed habits of mind and activity. In this hyper individualistic nation, we may have to change our ideas of success from me to us. We will have to be more choosy about who we trust with our lives. We may have to sacrifice. But it is necessary if we don't want a handful of juvenile billionaires, war addicts, wealth hoarders and dead eyed careerists to pillage our precious planet. I hope that we will be able to unite with kindness, creativity, fortitude and most of all with open hearts. Start there and I pray that the details of how to do this will become apparent.
Excellent speech. I’m having trouble figuring out how to make a donation on the workers strike back website. I’ll have to keep trying to figure it out.
Great accounting of historical evolution of this phase of capitalism. The inner crisis is at the surface and bubbling around us.
Thank you for this call to arms! There are no other choices.
Simply a very open and brave speech.
"The trappings of this pseudo mass society are empty, cheap, spectacular leisure sports; parades where strangers meet, shout each other down and often trample each other to death on the way home; mass consumption of worthless super-suds or aspirin; ritualistic, ultra-nationalistic events on days to glorify the idiots who died at war or other days to deify those who sent them out to die.
A mass society that is actually a mass jungle.
The psycho-social dimensions of fascism become quite complex, but they can be simplified by thinking of them as part of a collective bargaining process carried on between all the elites of the particular state with the regime acting as arbitrator.
The regime’s interests are subject to those of the ruling class.
Labor is a partner in this arrangement.
At the head of any labor organization in the fascist state, there is an elite which is tied to the interests of the regime—and consequently tied also to the economic status quo."
https://archive.org/stream/GeorgeJacksonBloodInMyEye_201512/George%20Jackson%20-%20Blood-in-My-Eye_djvu.txt
George Lester Jackson (September 23, 1941 – August 21, 1971) was an American author, revolutionary, and convicted felon. While serving an indeterminate sentence for stealing $70 at gunpoint from a gas station in 1961, Jackson became involved in the Black power movement and co-founded the prison gang Black Guerrilla Family. He was murdered in San Quentin in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jackson_(activist)
As Chris notes:
"We are not going to be assisted in our revolt by established unions. Union leaders, such as Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien, are bought off. They are comfortable. They are pulling down at least five times what rank-and-file workers make. They have sold out to the Democratic Party, or in the case of O’Brien to Trump."
This elite within labor, has been seen in the likes of Sean Fain of the UAW, Randi Weingarten of the Teachers' Union and a countless wad of overpaid, blinded labor bureaucrats ---- sell-outs.
Unions must get rid of union bosses and organize their own rank and file strike committees.
For fascism understands labor too.
“Fascism recognises the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade-unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonised in the unity of the State.”
Benito Mussolini, 1935, The Doctrine of Fascism, Firenze:Vallecchi Editore. (p.15)
I livestreamed Sean Fain speaking at a Bernie Sanders rally in Michigan. I agreed with what he said. He looked like an ally to me, someone who was in a position to rally one of the most powerful segments of the population. The Auto Workers elected him, so if they think his salary is too high, it's their call.
One has to know the history of Fain, how he won, how he got prominence and how he ran a dirty campaign against his socialist rival, a worker.
All of this is documented at the site wsws.org.
They have the goods on Fain.
He is a class collaborator, given many awards by the bourgeois for his excellence in holding down rank and file committees and keeping the stock price high.
Don't be fooled by talking head labor 'leaders'.
"Fain was elected UAW president in March 2023, and his annual salary is over $200,000. Before his presidency, he was an administrative assistant within the UAW, with an annual compensation of $160,130.
In addition to his salary, Fain earns an extra $187,259 annually for his involvement with the UAW Chrysler Skill Development & Training Program, a non-profit training initiative. These earnings combined give Fain a total annual income of around $347,389. This places him in the upper echelons of income earners in the State of Indiana.
Despite this significant income, Fain is committed to representing the working-class American and addressing problems faced by thousands of workers in the automotive industry."
https://www.valuewalk.com/net-worth/shawn-fain/
Despite this significant income"..........
Please, let's get real.
Or, one could say people voted for Trump so, so be it.
As Marx writes,
“As for the individual bureaucrat, the purpose of the state becomes his private purpose, a hunt for promotion, careerism.”
----- “Critique of Hegel’s Doctrine of State,” in Karl Marx: Early Writings, trans. Rodney Livingstone and Gregor Benton (New York: Vintage, 1975), 111.
This goes for sell out labor leaders.
This man does not represent the working people of America or of the UAW.
The election has been shown to be fraudulent.
Will Lehman was the choice of most workers.
Fain is man of the year for as Mussolini noted:
“Fascism recognises the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade-unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonised in the unity of the State.”
Bravo, Chris! Thank you for all you do!
"If you cannot convince a Fascist, acquaint his head with the pavement."
Leon Trotsky
"If you cannot convince a Fascist, acquaint his head with the pavement."
Leon Trotsky
Also, more of this idea. not conservative v. maga v. liberal etc, but the super rich, v. the rest of us making us all less secure, poorer. https://youtu.be/rAb_p5DCC3E?si=ooksdVRg3VItf4US
In the following narrative, a bus driver describes how the cuts that Elon Musk is carrying out in the federal government are affecting ordinary public transit workers.
“I already can’t save money. Imagine what things will be like in five years.
She shrugs. “We’re encouraging you to vote “Yes,”’ she says, and hands me a piece of paper on which to mark an “X” signifying yes or no.
If enough workers vote the contract through, the company will ratify it and it will govern my life for the next five years—presuming that I don’t get downsized. Any strike or protest activity will be illegal, as per our “No Strike” agreement. If enough people vote no, it goes back to the union bargaining team, and they will continue to bargain for more changes in closed door meetings.
I head into another room, mark an X by “NO,” and drop the piece of paper into a wooden box. I wave to a few co-workers on my way out. As I leave, I pass a portrait of Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters union. You smug bastard, I say to myself. I remember his glasses and bald head on stage of the Republican National Convention last year, when he called Donald Trump a “Tough son of a bitch.” What a dipshit.
I used to have a poster in my room many years ago, proclaiming, “The past doesn’t pass.” Next to the slogan was a photo of striking Teamster bus drivers—bus drivers, just like me—beating police officers with baseball bats during the general strike of 1934 in Minneapolis. That was one of the decisive labor battles that forced the ruling class to accept the New Deal in order to cool down the class war that was brewing on the streets.
The past doesn’t pass, but the future can leave you behind.
At home, I look over a letter announcing that people in my neighborhood shouldn’t drink the tap water because the levels of uranium in the river are too high. Sometimes I wonder what I would say to my children about this moment in history—if I could afford to have children. Probably the same things my parents say to me now: they’re sorry we are inheriting this world.
Sorry they didn’t fix it. Sorry they didn’t build strong enough movements to turn the tide against these monsters.
At work, as I drive, I begin to notice that there are fewer Trump flags and signs out. Resentment is rising. A joke by a cashier here about being replaced by AI, a comment there about Trump cutting programs. I walk into the break room and someone is shaking their head angrily while watching a video of Musk on their phone. They mutter something about tariffs and rising prices”
You can read more at:
From the Trenches Crimethlnc.
Thank You! An extremely important point you made, which I believe needs to be shouted from the rooftops, is that the Left/Right framing of politics is intended and is used to undermine solidarity and encourage division. Left/Right framing is a lie. The only real actual struggle is between the wealthy and their minions vs everybody else. We need Progressive change. And Progressive change is Problem Solving! We can fix; a lack of democracy, corruption, poverty, environmental issues. It’s all doable and has nothing to do with Right or Left ideologies. We need to create DEMOCRACY! Then we can dialogue, wheel and deal, have multiple parties, coalitions, recognize differences in regions, in bioregions, AK very different from AZ. In other words: Left/Right framing is propaganda, not reality. It attacks and diminishes our ability to join together. We can’t defeat oligarchy without SOLIDARITY!