This is why the theory of third world development & first world class consciousness evolved way past the point which our friends on twitter are beginning to reach.
This is why the theory of third world development & first world class consciousness evolved way past the point which our friends on twitter are beginning to reach.
It's surprising certain people are so hostile to the discussion of financialization in the core countries and assume this is some kind of Proudhonist simping for industrialists. (Was Mao simping for the national bourgeoisie when he conscripted them to the anti-imperialist struggle? Just a short detour.) This is not about the exploitation of industrialists, nobody is crying for them, this is about the competition between industrialists and the FIRE sector to exploit labor. It presents an opportunity in third world countries because contradictions are starker following covid 19 and the sanctions on Russia. I hope Biden sanctions Iran. Do it you old bastard. I dare you
It really resolves the whole question of why Americans can be some of the richest people in the world, make the highest wages, and give it all up to the system and die, when you see stuff like JP Morgan Chase making 80% of its income from mortgages. This site is one of the best places to find discussion of this despite the occasional outbursts of idealism. Don't we all joke about where the money of the top 10% Americans gets wasted? Gotta finance another SUV! We need real analysis not tweets and literary references. Yes, small proprietors are evil, they grab people's asses, they talk shit for no reason, but it is a fact that they are screwed by financialization, by suppliers raising prices in "anticipation of rising costs". It seems like some people are looking for reasons to avoid any coalition with anyone rather than actually looking at the contradictions.
For most people, imo they're inundated with fear, not the American Dream. I think their uncertain precarity makes some dude who only knows how to post screenshots of Engels and imply they're relevant talking down to them about how they believe in propaganda because it makes them feel better about being a pampered westoid v unlikely to produce any success.
It's completely misunderstanding US inequality to assume these things. People are in fact pissed and not living the dream. Look around.
Opportunism isn't just about being "pampered," it's about the dual interests of labor in the imperialist nations; Roderic Day doesn't argue in "Masses, Elites, and Rebels" that we should avoid interacting with people who believe in propaganda, the point of the article is to shift people's approach (how you interact with them). The "avoiding coalitions" point, if not in reference to that, I hope isn't arguing that we should work with small business owners in the US against finance capital.
I think it's pretty easy to identify who falls into the category of not being worth dealing with. Ppl employed at like raytheon, in cybersecurity, building submarines etc, lotta people working at boeing are gonna be intractable as hell. See how during the recent debacle w Boeing that Prospect article just focuses on improving industrial productivity (& workers avoiding going to jail for literal felonies tbf and having benefits stripped), fighting off financialization to bring back GLORIOUS USA EAGLE BURGER PLANES. Not everyone who has a retirement plan but most of the people who have retirement plans and mortgages. That's crucial for understanding why they have these imaginary class interests of being fake investors and fake real estate moguls. Makes talking to people so aggravating that you're better off with the rest of the 90% of the population.
When we're online it's important to weigh how people we're interacting with are more likely to be people who can make money in their sleep, (or are children lol).
Like, workers at Google are drawn to telegraphed ineffectual labor action because they're able to get some of the last monopoly rents in US industries at the top of the value chain. Service workers have been much better at organizing. Having done a fair bit of service industry work and attempts at organizing [redacted shithead business] that doesn't surprise me.