The most sustained human rights violations carried out by the global oligarchs over the past few decades have been against workers, whether in the US rust belt or sweatshops in China.
My grandson had his 14th birthday last week and I gave him a copy of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”. I told him how it shaped my life when I read it as a teenager. Clearly he needs it in today’s world of predatory capitalism, as I did decades ago. Little has changed since the brutal days in the Chicago meat works. Courage, as you say Chris, remains the coinage of the day. Your own is exemplary.
Great work, and also great to see the work of Mr. Fish. I’m totally out of superlatives for the work you’re all doing, so I’ll go make some more and get back to you soon with a new batch.
Thank you for this homage to workers, Chris. Many newsrooms are celebrating the success of the Staten Island workers who voted for their first union at an Amazon facility, but yours is the first essay to convey all the blood, sweat, and tears that victory required and how very much the fight is not over.
As a trade union member in the teaching sector, I can only praise Mr Smalls for such perseverance and courage. It’s the modern David and Goliath story. A precedent in the gig economy!
A very fascinating piece, Chris. You and I diverge on some points here, but all-in-all there's no arguing with your main premise. Job well done, sir.
Two errata, though: Elon Musk is the world's richest man, currently worth ~$240B. Also, Disney owns ABC and ESPN, not FOX. Rupert Murdoch's entities own FOX News. Disney has a stake in 20th Century Fox, the entertainment side.
The big corporations own the corporate media. It's a club. The media is anti-union anti-peace. A handful of companies gives us an extremely bias, pro-greed view of the world. They can even make most writers non-persons. With 24-hour a day propaganda and the control of what is reported, everyone is brainwashed. There is near zero space left for free speech.
It’s amazing that so many are “ideologically” opposed to unionizing in the USA. One of the largest, longest, and most costly psyop subversion and propaganda campaigns (read long grifts) in history…
I don't think that unionization is the answer to crush the oligarchs (aka... the Billionaire Boys Club). The problem with unionization in this day of global competition and labor law largess (that mostly protects, and mandates benefits to, employees), is Hostess Corporation.
The problem is that our big government political establishment has connected with the Billionaire Boys Club to form a all powerful corporatist cabal. The founders knew about this risk and expected democracy to combat it. But... excuse me while I rant... the left... the Democrats... liberals... what ever you want to call all political people that own a left of center worldview... they keep voting FOR the very politicians that support the corporatist cabal and then exploit the damage to the human condition as a political wedge against their ideological opponent.
Now I hope that some of these left of center voters are waking up to the fact that the corporatist cabal is just using them... using the media that it owns to inflate their anger and fears to fight their fellow country men instead of the real enemy... the corporatist cabal.
Right of center voters mostly get it. Have gotten it for a while. They are the physicals and they live in the world of real things that they build, grow and fix for a living. They have been seeing the export of economic opportunity for decades. The urban-dwelling virtuals... the people that make money with paper services, words and images... they have not been hit as hard and as early as has the physicals.
The fate of the country rests on the center and center left. Either they really wake up and join with the right to demand politicians break up the corporatist cabal, strengthen anti-trust laws and actions, disallow national politicians and their immediate family from trading stocks while in office. strengthen conflict of interest rules for government employees, and pass a new civil rights bill that strengthens First Amendment rights and issues stiff penalties for institutions that violate those rights.
Economic opportunity for workers will improve when the small business economy grows again. We need to be making, growing and fixing more of the products we buy and use in this country.
We also need to build more housing and put a moratorium on non-resident purchases of residential real estate as investments.
As always, an excellent piece of writing, Chris. And you are correct about needing to do MORE than vote. It is as if we all have a barcode on our foreheads. We are a commodity. It is very depressing.
Sadly, today, unionization can only be effective where and when that-which-is-God-capital cannot flee. The capitalist rulers of the empire that own-controls the governments of the United States and the other vassal, Western imperial states, allowed labor unions to thrive in the United States only for as long as 1) capital could not freely and easily de-industrialize a location at will, and 2) the communist alternative to capitalism was considered to be an actual threat. Unions were allowed as proof that, within the capitalist system, methods other than revolution existed to improve workers lives. But those days ended in 1991, and our capitalist rulers no longer have any motivation to do other than attempt to destroy anything that looks like voices singing in chorus. As people come to realize, through their own dystopian life experiences, that the single-purpose of this system is to enrich an elite group of parasites; our capitalist rulers may, once again, find it necessary to feign interest in the lives of the wretched masses, just as they were forced to do when communism emerged with its workers-focused message of hope. If something new comes along to bring us hope, there may be another opportunity for humanity to break free of this tyranny; but we, of the "obedience is a great virtue" mindset, will likely continue to scurry about within the defined confines of the labyrinth our parasite masters have created for us.
My grandson had his 14th birthday last week and I gave him a copy of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”. I told him how it shaped my life when I read it as a teenager. Clearly he needs it in today’s world of predatory capitalism, as I did decades ago. Little has changed since the brutal days in the Chicago meat works. Courage, as you say Chris, remains the coinage of the day. Your own is exemplary.
Great work, and also great to see the work of Mr. Fish. I’m totally out of superlatives for the work you’re all doing, so I’ll go make some more and get back to you soon with a new batch.
Thank you for this homage to workers, Chris. Many newsrooms are celebrating the success of the Staten Island workers who voted for their first union at an Amazon facility, but yours is the first essay to convey all the blood, sweat, and tears that victory required and how very much the fight is not over.
As a trade union member in the teaching sector, I can only praise Mr Smalls for such perseverance and courage. It’s the modern David and Goliath story. A precedent in the gig economy!
Chris's rage, wisdom, and clarity smash through the deafening sound waves of bullshit. Mil gracias.
A very fascinating piece, Chris. You and I diverge on some points here, but all-in-all there's no arguing with your main premise. Job well done, sir.
Two errata, though: Elon Musk is the world's richest man, currently worth ~$240B. Also, Disney owns ABC and ESPN, not FOX. Rupert Murdoch's entities own FOX News. Disney has a stake in 20th Century Fox, the entertainment side.
There’s always enough proles.
That’s why 1984 has an appendix.
And why hope springs eternal.
I wish you would run for president.
The big corporations own the corporate media. It's a club. The media is anti-union anti-peace. A handful of companies gives us an extremely bias, pro-greed view of the world. They can even make most writers non-persons. With 24-hour a day propaganda and the control of what is reported, everyone is brainwashed. There is near zero space left for free speech.
It’s amazing that so many are “ideologically” opposed to unionizing in the USA. One of the largest, longest, and most costly psyop subversion and propaganda campaigns (read long grifts) in history…
We are so indebted to you and other independent, truth-telling journalists
Thank you.
I don't think that unionization is the answer to crush the oligarchs (aka... the Billionaire Boys Club). The problem with unionization in this day of global competition and labor law largess (that mostly protects, and mandates benefits to, employees), is Hostess Corporation.
The problem is that our big government political establishment has connected with the Billionaire Boys Club to form a all powerful corporatist cabal. The founders knew about this risk and expected democracy to combat it. But... excuse me while I rant... the left... the Democrats... liberals... what ever you want to call all political people that own a left of center worldview... they keep voting FOR the very politicians that support the corporatist cabal and then exploit the damage to the human condition as a political wedge against their ideological opponent.
Now I hope that some of these left of center voters are waking up to the fact that the corporatist cabal is just using them... using the media that it owns to inflate their anger and fears to fight their fellow country men instead of the real enemy... the corporatist cabal.
Right of center voters mostly get it. Have gotten it for a while. They are the physicals and they live in the world of real things that they build, grow and fix for a living. They have been seeing the export of economic opportunity for decades. The urban-dwelling virtuals... the people that make money with paper services, words and images... they have not been hit as hard and as early as has the physicals.
The fate of the country rests on the center and center left. Either they really wake up and join with the right to demand politicians break up the corporatist cabal, strengthen anti-trust laws and actions, disallow national politicians and their immediate family from trading stocks while in office. strengthen conflict of interest rules for government employees, and pass a new civil rights bill that strengthens First Amendment rights and issues stiff penalties for institutions that violate those rights.
Economic opportunity for workers will improve when the small business economy grows again. We need to be making, growing and fixing more of the products we buy and use in this country.
We also need to build more housing and put a moratorium on non-resident purchases of residential real estate as investments.
As always, an excellent piece of writing, Chris. And you are correct about needing to do MORE than vote. It is as if we all have a barcode on our foreheads. We are a commodity. It is very depressing.
Always showing us the wary forward to justice. Both journalist and prophet.
Sadly, today, unionization can only be effective where and when that-which-is-God-capital cannot flee. The capitalist rulers of the empire that own-controls the governments of the United States and the other vassal, Western imperial states, allowed labor unions to thrive in the United States only for as long as 1) capital could not freely and easily de-industrialize a location at will, and 2) the communist alternative to capitalism was considered to be an actual threat. Unions were allowed as proof that, within the capitalist system, methods other than revolution existed to improve workers lives. But those days ended in 1991, and our capitalist rulers no longer have any motivation to do other than attempt to destroy anything that looks like voices singing in chorus. As people come to realize, through their own dystopian life experiences, that the single-purpose of this system is to enrich an elite group of parasites; our capitalist rulers may, once again, find it necessary to feign interest in the lives of the wretched masses, just as they were forced to do when communism emerged with its workers-focused message of hope. If something new comes along to bring us hope, there may be another opportunity for humanity to break free of this tyranny; but we, of the "obedience is a great virtue" mindset, will likely continue to scurry about within the defined confines of the labyrinth our parasite masters have created for us.