politics

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It's cliché, but true and applies here.

"One day at a time" works for people who are recovering from addiction to substances. Why couldn't it help people recover from addiction to capitalism? Consumption is consumption.

"Just for today, I won't drink alcohol" can easily become "Just for today, I won't consume corporate products", "Just for today, I'll hold the picket line", "Just for today, I'll tighten my belt and live off bare essentials."

One day gives people a taste of what's possible without being a major deterrent or barrier to folks who can't afford to miss work for a week or a month. If it's successful, it demonstrates proof of concept and makes similar future actions more likely. It also shows the structures of power what we're capable of, puts them off balance a bit, and builds worker power.

People saying "what we really need is ______" are a bane to the movement that's happening. I'm not saying you're doing it on purpose, but don't fall for that rhetoric. A lot of it is coming from plants attempting to discredit and derail the movement.

Actions being done now are always more effective than hypothetical actions that "should be done," and they build towards greater action. Don't expect immediate perfection, because you'll always be disappointed. It's necessary to start somewhere, and this is a great place to start. If you want to be part of it, grab ahold and run with it. Otherwise, stay out of the way, and above all don't cross the picket line.

Ok let’s try one day first. You know, get our legs under us.

That's why a Government Shutdown makes much more sense. Europeans are always pushing us for a General Strike, but that won't work here. For one thing, many employers will just fire people for not showing up that day. The rest will just dock their pay. In Europe, workers have protections, unions, and worker friendly governments. We have none of that here.

Whatever economic impact will be minimal. Whatever people didn't buy that day, they'll buy the next.

A General Strike hurts us, and is intended to make the government feel empathy for us, and give us what we want. The MAGA government won't budge after weeks of a government shutdown, you think they'll budge after a General Strike of ONE DAY?

IN America, we have a mechanism that European nations don't have - we can literally turn off the government a spigot, and EVERYTHING comes to a halt very quickly. We keep going to work, collecting our paychecks, stimulating the economy, but they stop their atrocities, for the most part.

We can do that, Europe can't. General Strikes will work for them, they won't work for us. Why hurt ourselves, when we can hurt those who are causing the problems?

MAGA isn't going to act to alleviate our pain, exactly the opposite. They are sadistic, if they see someone in pain, their very first impulse is to increase that pain.

But inflict pain on them, and they scream like the cowardly little weenies they are. And nothing is more painful to these corrupt traitors that taking away their money. Let's make them scream real loud.

Bullshit

COVID killed the economy in a couple days

It's illegal for unions to coordinate a general strike. If they were signed on they would be pretty careful about it. That's why the UAW president was making waves by suggesting that everyone set their contracts to end on the same date.

I’m average. I will.

Quit thinking like everything has to be 100% successful the first time or it’s a failure. We have been propagandized and beaten down over the course of years to get where we are now, of course it’s going to take more than one try to get this thing together.

Without existing strong organization you're probably right, but it's more likely that the wheels will come off and a general strike would happen naturally with rising inflation and unemployment.

The shitter things get, the less tight your social ties need to be for collective action. Everyone's implicitly on the same page when you start missing meals.