I’m new to your writings. I find your assessments thought provoking and would like to believe that a more communal egalitarian economy will arise from the collapse we are facing. But I am am shocked at your use of terminology that is outdated and utterly irrelevant to the socio-politics of U.S. and world economies today. A term you use that is especially derogatory in current contexts is ‘the masses.’ Marx’s use of ‘the proletariat , the masses and the working class’ came at a still young period of the industrial age, when the Euro-American economy was largely driven by factory workers, capitalist overlords and the landed gentry. Proletariat and The Masses do not even remotely describe people working for a living today, which is just about everyone, the super-wealthy, the wealthy, those getting by and those struggling to make ends meet. Today’s U.S. workforce encompasses a vast complex of specialized professionals and service workers -- from lawyers, medical and social service providers, government employees, teachers and professors, professional advocates, investment and advertising executives, product designers, the military and the police, etc. to well-paid systems maintenance specialists (automotive, electrical, plumbing, roofing and low wage workers (clerical and service staff) as well as minimum wage workers. Not to mention small business owners, farmers, or the self-employed who earn a living in a variety of creative and essential ways – from free-lance journalism to accounting and bookkeeping. Almost none of the above is accurately described by the 19th/early 20th century terms ‘the masses’ or ‘working class.’
The personal identities of individuals within this vast and complex workforce are not aligned with concepts of the masses or the proletariat. Your use of these terms leaves your arguments for the rise of ‘the masses’ gasping for air in history’s dustbin. Not that we don’t live in a class-based social order. We do, but class today is defined by a number of things, primarily by wealth and power, but also by ideologies and value systems – from racism, humanism, science and the horrors of nation-state militarism to ‘middle-class’ non-profit work across multiple sectors, to the ruling class and Bernie’s working class, to churches raising millions of dollars to further their advocacy.
If Marx were alive today, I trust he would see the quest for Justice in this larger context.
The problem today is corruption, corruption, corruption and it won’t be solved in ivory towers. Eg., what happened to all the U.S. aid to Haiti? Check out the article in the April/May issue of Mother Jones about Haitian workers fleeing grinding poverty and violent bands of criminal murderers only to land in a grotesque work and living situation in the U.S.
IMHO it's not so much corruption as the inherent momentum within late stage capitalism -- working as it's intended. Shifting wealth from the many to the few. As that shift gets more and more difficult, capitalists must find alternative means to extract wealth regardless of the level of morality.
Our only hope for real and significant change is via solidarity of the working class. If you'd like to join those of us within that strategy I encourage you to check out these two movements:
With you entirely: https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/haiti-a-communist-state-modelled
I’m new to your writings. I find your assessments thought provoking and would like to believe that a more communal egalitarian economy will arise from the collapse we are facing. But I am am shocked at your use of terminology that is outdated and utterly irrelevant to the socio-politics of U.S. and world economies today. A term you use that is especially derogatory in current contexts is ‘the masses.’ Marx’s use of ‘the proletariat , the masses and the working class’ came at a still young period of the industrial age, when the Euro-American economy was largely driven by factory workers, capitalist overlords and the landed gentry. Proletariat and The Masses do not even remotely describe people working for a living today, which is just about everyone, the super-wealthy, the wealthy, those getting by and those struggling to make ends meet. Today’s U.S. workforce encompasses a vast complex of specialized professionals and service workers -- from lawyers, medical and social service providers, government employees, teachers and professors, professional advocates, investment and advertising executives, product designers, the military and the police, etc. to well-paid systems maintenance specialists (automotive, electrical, plumbing, roofing and low wage workers (clerical and service staff) as well as minimum wage workers. Not to mention small business owners, farmers, or the self-employed who earn a living in a variety of creative and essential ways – from free-lance journalism to accounting and bookkeeping. Almost none of the above is accurately described by the 19th/early 20th century terms ‘the masses’ or ‘working class.’
The personal identities of individuals within this vast and complex workforce are not aligned with concepts of the masses or the proletariat. Your use of these terms leaves your arguments for the rise of ‘the masses’ gasping for air in history’s dustbin. Not that we don’t live in a class-based social order. We do, but class today is defined by a number of things, primarily by wealth and power, but also by ideologies and value systems – from racism, humanism, science and the horrors of nation-state militarism to ‘middle-class’ non-profit work across multiple sectors, to the ruling class and Bernie’s working class, to churches raising millions of dollars to further their advocacy.
If Marx were alive today, I trust he would see the quest for Justice in this larger context.
The problem today is corruption, corruption, corruption and it won’t be solved in ivory towers. Eg., what happened to all the U.S. aid to Haiti? Check out the article in the April/May issue of Mother Jones about Haitian workers fleeing grinding poverty and violent bands of criminal murderers only to land in a grotesque work and living situation in the U.S.
IMHO it's not so much corruption as the inherent momentum within late stage capitalism -- working as it's intended. Shifting wealth from the many to the few. As that shift gets more and more difficult, capitalists must find alternative means to extract wealth regardless of the level of morality.
Our only hope for real and significant change is via solidarity of the working class. If you'd like to join those of us within that strategy I encourage you to check out these two movements:
Generalstrikeus.com
Shutdown315.org
Peace to you and yours
All these things you’re talking about are a construct of capitalism.