Claiming to be “communist” then hating on the blue-hairs (or w/e) until you bend yourself in half and become anti-communist.
ugh, i was guilty of this a couple of days ago and I regret it. Also, as a former dishwasher I might or might not have half-jokingly called for the gulag of all waiters and front house staff at certain points in my life.
What can I say, reactionary sentiments are convenient, easy to grasp, and alluring if you don't keep mind of them.
From what I understand (I've never actually worked in food service) grudges between kitchen staff and front of house workers are very common and seems like easy prey for the boss to stoke divisions. Little different from the age-old divisions between "skilled" and "unskilled" workers - the nature of division of labor in capitalist enterprise often means some workers have more privileges in the workplaces than others. It's only natural - not something to be ashamed of but more something to be recognized and overcome.
Yeah its like that everywhere ive worked where there is a division of foh and boh. A lot of the time its not too serious and everyone gets their shift drink and bitches about the managers and owners together
These divides are also functional. If workers are at each other's throats then that means we aren't organizing with each other to advance our shared interests.
But class interests have very little relation to the type of work you do. The proletariat is the part of society who owns no meaningful amount of capital of their own, who owns no land, no economically relevant tools/equipment, and no raw material/inputs to production that would allow them to participate in economic activity independently in a way that would allow them to sustain a decent living. The only thing they have for sale that is of economic relevance is their time, their body, and their labor, and therefore they are the part of society who is forced to sell themselves piece by piece and hour by hour in order to secure a living.
That is the shared circumstance that we find ourselves in as workers. The type of work we do isn't particularly relevant to class interests, because for the most part the type of work that is offered to us is outside of our control. The part of society who owns capital and who purchases our labor to operate that capital is who is deciding what work is being done, who is deciding how our labor is organized and which priorities our labor is being used to pursue, and who ultimately has the final say in what the conditions of our labor will be and how it will be compensated. So even if you could identify a job that is bullshit, or workplace dynamics that make your life more difficult in the case of BOH FOH feuds, it still isn't helpful to direct your ire at the workers in those positions because what jobs are offered for them to make a living and how the workplace is structured are out of their hands.
I doubt I'm saying anything here that is a revelation to you, I just wanted to take your comment as an opportunity to present these ideas in one place. Our critique/opposition to capitalism comes from the fact that those who own capital have a nearly unchallenged and unaccountable control over our lives and how our society and our labor is organized. Our plan of action for changing this situation must involve mass action and mass organization with the people who share the same circumstances we each find ourselves in. Capital only has power over us as individuals, but capital is completely worthless without our collective labor bringing production to life. Without our labor, the capitalist only has a dragon's hoard of depreciating assets and economic liabilities. Our leverage to wrest control of our lives and our labor away from unelected and unaccountable capitalists would be indomitable if only we manage to put up a united front. Which is why it is so important to do what you have done and put aside petty feuds between your fellow workers and choose solidarity instead.
ugh, i was guilty of this a couple of days ago and I regret it. Also, as a former dishwasher I might or might not have half-jokingly called for the gulag of all waiters and front house staff at certain points in my life.
What can I say, reactionary sentiments are convenient, easy to grasp, and alluring if you don't keep mind of them.
From what I understand (I've never actually worked in food service) grudges between kitchen staff and front of house workers are very common and seems like easy prey for the boss to stoke divisions. Little different from the age-old divisions between "skilled" and "unskilled" workers - the nature of division of labor in capitalist enterprise often means some workers have more privileges in the workplaces than others. It's only natural - not something to be ashamed of but more something to be recognized and overcome.
Yeah its like that everywhere ive worked where there is a division of foh and boh. A lot of the time its not too serious and everyone gets their shift drink and bitches about the managers and owners together
Reactionary sentiments are extremely convenient because they don’t ask you to re-examine any internalized bias you might have.
The important thing to remember is we all have varying degrees of these prejudices. The work is in dismantling them and killing the pig in your head.
So yeah, props for identifying you were doing that shit and then owning it.
These divides are also functional. If workers are at each other's throats then that means we aren't organizing with each other to advance our shared interests.
But class interests have very little relation to the type of work you do. The proletariat is the part of society who owns no meaningful amount of capital of their own, who owns no land, no economically relevant tools/equipment, and no raw material/inputs to production that would allow them to participate in economic activity independently in a way that would allow them to sustain a decent living. The only thing they have for sale that is of economic relevance is their time, their body, and their labor, and therefore they are the part of society who is forced to sell themselves piece by piece and hour by hour in order to secure a living.
That is the shared circumstance that we find ourselves in as workers. The type of work we do isn't particularly relevant to class interests, because for the most part the type of work that is offered to us is outside of our control. The part of society who owns capital and who purchases our labor to operate that capital is who is deciding what work is being done, who is deciding how our labor is organized and which priorities our labor is being used to pursue, and who ultimately has the final say in what the conditions of our labor will be and how it will be compensated. So even if you could identify a job that is bullshit, or workplace dynamics that make your life more difficult in the case of BOH FOH feuds, it still isn't helpful to direct your ire at the workers in those positions because what jobs are offered for them to make a living and how the workplace is structured are out of their hands.
I doubt I'm saying anything here that is a revelation to you, I just wanted to take your comment as an opportunity to present these ideas in one place. Our critique/opposition to capitalism comes from the fact that those who own capital have a nearly unchallenged and unaccountable control over our lives and how our society and our labor is organized. Our plan of action for changing this situation must involve mass action and mass organization with the people who share the same circumstances we each find ourselves in. Capital only has power over us as individuals, but capital is completely worthless without our collective labor bringing production to life. Without our labor, the capitalist only has a dragon's hoard of depreciating assets and economic liabilities. Our leverage to wrest control of our lives and our labor away from unelected and unaccountable capitalists would be indomitable if only we manage to put up a united front. Which is why it is so important to do what you have done and put aside petty feuds between your fellow workers and choose solidarity instead.