this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2022
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Anarchism

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CMV: The first thing leftists should strive to do is get a good enough income (can include via setting up mutual aid) (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 years ago by sascuach@lemmy.ml to c/anarchism@lemmy.ml
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change my view

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/238912

If you've ever looked at how rightwing movements operate, it appears they throw a lot of money around. And because of the world we live in, it gets results, ex the canadian trucker protest having basically all the same amenities as a festival, nearly a theme park. Advertising budget. Funding institutions/youtube channels to spread bs.

I think the first thing a leftist should do is, in order:

  1. get a good enough income for themself. This can include mutual aid or even things like food banks, depending on your philosophy.

1b) study some finance, ex the finance diet and use tricks from financial sources to boost income. This includes stock market/saving for retirement. I can elaborate later if u want on why savings are important. Including trying to use tax loop holes for our advantage. The rightwingers get an edge from this, we need to even the playing field

  1. take care of other important things like enough exercise, good diet, dating

  2. actual left things. But starting with making sure other lefties are well off financially. I'm not sure how to do this and not create capitalists. But technically if you have 0.0001% of stocks, you (the worker) owns 0.0001% of the means of production of that company. A good approach might be starting a worker co-op, where you give people a good wage and recruit youngins right out of high school. That way they learn what a just economic system is and when they branch of to other companies, they will hopefully expect just treatment and be more ready to push for a union in their new workplace.

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[–] MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Laying flat is more effective, IMO. For those of us who are BIPOC, I wish I could explain to my white leftist allies just how much more difficult it is for us to get good paying jobs with decent job security.

I think telling largely poor people that the best thing they can do to destroy this system is to embrace it enough until they get a good income.

Personally, I truly believe money to be a drug and that no one is truly immune to the powers of corruption that money holds. I've seen far too many good people get corrupted by the power that money offers.

Edit: My brother and I were talking about this thread and he raised a good point. For every dollar you make as a worker, your work contributes to your employer making considerably more money in profit. This is why laying flat or at the very least living a life that requires as little money/reliance as possible is the way to go, I think. It's like fighting a war where for every bullet you produce, you inadvertently produce 10 more for the enemy and still expect to win the fight.

[–] sascuach@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

or those of us who are BIPOC, I wish I could explain to my white leftist allies just how much more difficult it is for us to get good paying jobs with decent job security

Not 100%, but to an extent, leftwingers ive met are in lower paying jobs like cashiers. Not that I know each person’s situation or yours. But have you tried to get into trades? No resume or experience needed. No tuition fees since it's paid on the job training. Heck, a lot barely pay taxes since a lot of the jobs are cash. At least over here, a lot of the labourers are BIPOC. A lot of the trades people ive spoken to enough are ex cons. I'm not sure how the job security is, but a career counsellor told me trades are highly in demand across the country.

[–] MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago

I've considered the trades but part of why I chose to get into research science was because although there's racism in science, I've found it less taxing to manage compared to racism in the trades. Trades i.e. carpentry, welding, etc... is just rife with racism. My brother's first day on a construction site, some asshole write "this is where [N-words] are born" on the toilet seat of a portapotty. The foreman was furious and called a meeting, but all the white workers seemed to think it was just a hilarious joke and refused to name the guy who did it. Plenty more racist garbage ensued after that too.

Experiences like that... I don't think I've ever experienced something like that in science. My brother thankfully decided to quit the trades after a while and now works in healthcare. Still deals with racism but nothing even remotely close to what he dealt with in the trades.

[–] KlutzyZebrasOutgrow@geddit.social 0 points 1 year ago

I don't agree with your framing. What is important is not to shame leftists with higher income, without centering them. Higher income leftists should quietly support the voices of the worst off, ideally, and avoid centering themselves.