Literally just say “petite bourgeoisie”
Counter point: "small business" is a liberal buzzword used to demarcate a sacred part of the bourgeoisie that paradoxically takes upon positive attributes of the proletariat. To the average burger brain, a pool supply store owner is working class. Using the label "small business tyrant" directly and explicitly shines a light on the contradiction.
Libs when you say small business tyrant:
Libs when you say homeless tyrants:
that's all you can saaay! that's all you can saaay! that's all you can saaay!
vraiment!
C'est la langue de <<douchebags>>
on hon hon hon
Shit everybody be cool it's the academie du francaise! We need to flush the neologisms!
It's something non-communists can immediately understand tho
Petit bourgeoisie:
- Pretentious academic jargon
- French
- Words that no normal person ever says
Small business tyrant:
- Normal words
- Is easily understandable to non-Marxists
- Emotionally relatable
- Pisses off the right people
Possible burger brain moment. Euro brains feel free to chime in.
Americans don't know wtf bourgeoisie means. If they've even heard the word before it was likely in the humorous context of something being "bougie" or in an old movie used by a guy with a shitty Russian accent playing the villainous Soviet soldier or something. They associate it (correctly, I suppose) with "overly decadent." They are not going to tie that association with the owner of a used car lot. To them, Steve (proud owner of Steve's Stinky Seconds used car dealership) is a jean-wearing, trickster who will absolutely rob them on that used car loan... but he isn't "bougie." Because they don't know what the word is meant to mean. Steve works hard and look at him! He's a normal dude!
But if you call Steve a small business tyrant, a play on small business owner, well, now they understand. Everyone who has had a job at any point where you worked for a private business owner, which is almost every American who can work or has to work, knows exactly who that version of Steve is. He's the asshole who acts like he does all the work but he's never around except when it's time to collect his profits. He's the clown that tells you to shave or he's going to fire you despite him coming in looking like coked up Don Jr. half the time sweating tequila into his shitty wrinkled dress shirt. Everyone knows that boss.
It's also a French word and a French-ish word. Saying small or little bourgeoisie is fine already. Small owner of capital... owner of a relatively little amount of capital... small business owner. Only one of these really rings a bell to most of my fellow burgers. And you can substitute in tyrant because every dipshit Yank loves lines about "watering trees of liberty with blood of tyrants" and shit like that. It's basically guaranteed to hit the intended burger brain audience in the way you intend.
They just think of it as a slur that commies use for people richer than entry-level engineers.
Agreed "small business tyrant" is better for the burger masses. Save "petite bourgeoisie" for when you are blessed with the company of comrades.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a petit bourgeois someone who has to labor alongside their workers? This is not true of all small business tyrants
That's true but the point where a business becomes profitable enough that the owner doesn't need to work anymore is usually when it's either illegitimate, or not small at all. So I don't know if the distinction is really worth making, it's kinda like multimillionaire vs capitalist. Not all multimillionaires are capitalists, but it's very rare to be one without being a capitalist.
Businesses don't really need to be that large for the owner to delegate the day to day business to a manager and sit back accumulating surplus value
It varies from industry to industry, but from my own experience I've heard of people making tens of millions who still have to pop in and drive a truck or handle a lot of paperwork if they're missing personnel for whatever reason. Even if it's not a regular thing, that would still fall under the Marxist definition of petite bourgeois.
No one making tens of millions of dollars has to do that. They choose to occasionally do that rather than hire enough workers to cover foreseeable gaps like someone getting sick or quitting, or simply hiring a manager who will do whatever they do, including occasionally pop in and do the productive work itself.
You: Literally just say "petite burgosee"
Everyone here: Petite burgo-, petite bourgo-, petite borgo-, petite burgei-, petite
etc etc
Bour: they're boring
Geo: they rule the world
Isie: spelling bourgeoisie is easy
The Mickey Mouse song works too!
B O U.... R G E... O I S I E! Bourgeoisie! (Bourgeoisie) Bourgeoisie! (Bourgeoisie) Who steals the surplus value from you and me? B O U, R G E, OISIE!
And if you aren't old as shit none of this makes sense or is helpful, so definitely listen to the above comment instead. But if you know the tune it'll make you giggle at least
no one knows what 'bourgeoisie' means or even how to spell it, and liberals think the word 'kulak' is an ethnic slur/genocide denial phrase, so idk what else to use
I thought all small business tyrants were petit bourgeoisie, but not all petit bourgeoisie are small business tyrants. It's a term for the anyone ones.
Yea but you get weird looks when you call the owner of the local lawnscaping company a "fucking worthless parasite" in polite company
I think they're a bit different, and "small business tyrant" is in some ways an improvement. Every small business owner is petite bourgeoisie, but not all small business owners act as tyrants. There are some (I've worked for them) whose businesses are scraping by, who are extracting little if any surplus value from workers, and who are generally treating their workers decently. Lumping these people in with a multimillionaire car dealer who exploits the hell out of workers is theoretically imprecise, in the same way calling everyone from a petty theif to a mass murderer "criminal" is.
Rhetorically, it also targets the criticism at the multimillionaire car dealer rather than the small baker with two employees. "Small business tyrant" does a better job of focusing the conversation where exploitation is most clear.
