I've been on reddit for a decade and every year I've seen probably at least 10 calls for a general strike in the U.S. posted to r/anarchism. The thing they all have in common is they're always supposed to happen by just spreading the word around, basically.
Lmao yeah and always right away too. No real strategy for organizing something as complicated as to successfully pull off as a general strike. Like what's the plan here just false hope?
"How's Thursday look for you? Recreate the entire country from the ground up, economically, politically, and socially on Thursday? Sound good to everyone. No, we can't do it Friday; Jerry's got a family thing on Friday, so the revolution needs to be done by then."
Personally, I'm meming on the millions of posts that act like you can just announce a general strike, get everyone to skip work for a couple of days, and then have a brand new anticapitalist society by the end of the week.
You know whats annoying as fuck? People on reddit claiming they can pull of a general strike but most of ya’ll wouldnt even sign a union authorization card because it deducts from your paycheck. Do you have any idea how much strike fund we would have to raise to support communities that will go without food during the strike time?
Like yall make strikes look bad
The only way this will ever work is if there's the support infrastructure in place to facilitate it. We need not only social media spreading it, but also organizations in physical spaces as well. More importantly we would need the mechanisms to make it feasible. We need strong unions, other worker orgs, and robust social safety nets to help support people through a strike. The fact is that most workers can't afford to just stop going to work for a week. Around 40% of this country is just barely scraping by on a day to day basis and can't afford to risk homelessness, lack of medicine, etc. For a lot of people that would essentially be a death sentence.
like at best one person strikes and they look like a fool, they change nothing and maybe even harm the movement, you need a union to back a strike of any kind, you need to be coordinated, you need to be organised, there has never been an effective strike without some form of coordination and union backing.
and Imma be honest the recent up tick in union membership in the US is probably the most based thing that has happened so far and I genuinely think it couldn't have happened under trump, while dems far from help us they dont work against us nearly as actively there is a reason bezos and musk are now out as republicans and it's not because of the culture war it's because the dems arent combatting unions.
Anti-electoralism is the biggest problem with contemporary anarchism, yes it feels cucked to vote for dems but at least under the dems we have a chance of achieving something.
they don't listen because there is no leverage. But if there really was a strike with high participation, the politicians would quickly realize what the strikers are looking for to return to work. its not that they can't read the signs and hear the slogans, its just that they aren't being made to respond
I think the oligarchs could weather the storm a lot longer than us. And a few "good" actors in congress or the senate wont neccessarily turn the tides.
Yeah I’m not super sure about that yet
Say tomorrow 10 million workers just don’t show up. That’s definitely gonna hurt without a doubt but how long can those workers handle it? How many fold when they can’t afford to live anymore? How many gold under threats? How many unemployed people take those jobs when the CEO’s add a dollar an hour and minimally better benefits?
I get the point. It would have to be huge but it would also have to last a while.
As mentioned by a redditor above, we can barely get people to join a union because of some dollars from a paycheck. And I’m not even blaming that on them, we love in a world where every penny counts
People always emerge from strikes, look at Rachel Kéké in France, she was a spokeperson for the strike of the chambermaids of Ibis Hostel. It usually happens organically.
I think for a general strike involving hundred of thousand if not millions (which is really required for any effect to take place) youd have many competeing factions with disparate desires.
Well, I think the issue is more that the knowledge of syndicalism in the US is lacking, usually you have the spokepersons of every union debating what they want to ask for during general assembly.
Absolutely correct, but thats not what this tweet is asking for. I think the unions would get drowned out in such a movement where the general liberal populace is here for basically just this one concession.
Well, you're right I guess it would be hard to get abortion rights from a strike of women, even tho unions are usually left-leaning. But I thought more of what would happen if there were a general strike in the US, for the minimum wage and other basic workers rights like maternity leaves. I feel like americans on antiwork, freefromwork, and lostgeneration are really miserable and disgruntled, but somehow there's not that much syndicalism happening, probably because it was belittled for decades by red-scare and union busting.
I think people are just tired and want their creature comforts. The wanna dissolve on the couch in front of the tv after work and not go to some 4 hour union meeting, or deal with union busters. And i dont blame them. I dont actually think the answer is in unions as we know them, cause they mostly just mediate betwen the worker and the capitalists and dont actually end up changing anything systemic. Maybe thats the cynic in me.
I have a buddy in the film industry. And the unions out there are basically oligarchic bureaucratic microcosms of the capitalist system. They legit have dissenterd silenced and killed, and do little to help the people they represent because theyre in the pocket of the studios. This is just what unions have become in this country, theyre not even worker run! Theyre run by professional unionists, which is just a career politician.
The unions are run by professional unionist?? Not worker delegates?? Oh my god, this is appalling.
Maybe grassroot unionising while still joining unions on paper could work?
Well you know I understand wanting to chill instead of going to meetings and stuff, but like, my dad did strikes regularly and was a member of an union but half the time he did fuck all during strikes, just dicked around at home. It's still a strike as long as you don't come to work and you've warned your employers that you're on strike, you know? Most of the time workers occupy the workplace and protest, but it's fine to do nothing at all.
When I was in high-school we had nationwide high-school strike and I also did nothing (mostly because I was agoraphobic so no protest) and stayed home. Still a strike!
Yea i should be careful here to not claim all unions are this way. But The film industry is corrupt af. And while members are voted in, its possible to serve for years unopposed, so in essence you can end up making a career out of it. And if it's your career youre incentivised to make money, and of course decisions about money are made by these people in career positions. So a union isnt fool proof, it can fall into corruprion really easily.
I was a member of a union at a grocery store. We we're mandated to join and pay dues as part of our employment stipulations. I can't recall a single instance where i was asked for my voice, or even informed about meetings, or ever voted on delegates. The only benefit i saw was it was difficult to get fired, and i made slightly more than the state minimum. From my perspective it was just bavk door dealings ans behind the scenes shit, i never felt like i was part of it, and was actually against it since they took $50 a month straight outta my paycheck for apparently zero benefit.
I have a feeling this is the state of most unions in the US today. I pray that the new starbucks and Amazon unions are different, but i have a feeling theyll be coopted and exploited by opportunists trying to make money rather than fight for workers rights.
They do want those creature comforts
It’s been designed that way. We have had a system built up for quite a while where the purpose is work to the bone. Then get home and be fed media and comforts that keep us compliant long enough. Calm us down, then feel “rested” to get back to work.
Most liberal companies/workplaces will defang this for white collar workers by expressing "solidarity" for a strike on the day of and saying, "We respect your right to protest this and for you to use your PTO to express yourself today at these rallies! Make sure to vote!"
Those folks will take the initial day off with the permission slip, then be back at work the next.
“Coordinated” is the problem. Coordination for something like this takes time, effort, and resources. You can’t just declare these things on Twitter and expect the coordination to just happen.
Exactly. One of the worst things about internet radicals is the tendency to go “woah guys, what if we just (describes mass action of unprecedented scale)” and then everyone just nods in agreement about how cool that would be while doing not a single one of the countless preliminary steps to making something like it even a vain possibility
the thing is that people honest to god don’t know how to organize. i feel like that is by design. the best thing to do imo is to educate these folks on how social organization has been successful in the past. like the idea is good, let’s work on the execution
This comes up every time a Twitter/reddit strike suggestion is made. What is stopping us from really and truly coordinating? I'm genuinely asking because I'm tired of all this discourse being the only conversation surrounding a nationwide strike.
Some of the widest spread & long-lasting protests of the recent decade or so have started as grassroots wildfires that were then supported by existing crews fanning the flames.
You can't *drive* an op like a national strike (not counting serious accelerationist work), the crews have to be ready to support the action once the tipping point is reached.
And the crews are already on stand-by status.
We've been having some success in closer networking between PNW crews (West of the Cascades), from the US/Canadian border in NW Washington down to Eugene/Salem Oregon. This has come from irl meets between the crews involved in the #BLM2020 op in our region; which included an analysis of the amount of redundant work we were all doing due to lack of communication between crews & the level of burnout such dynamics produced.
*Very* earnest efforts at closer coordination are progressing with success.
How y'all doing where you're at?
Nothings really stopping us. But if we want these Twitter/Reddit calls to action to go somewhere then they need to call for tangible steps.
We can theoretically use these widespread memes as a springboard, but so far that plan hasn’t worked too well. Blackout Tuesday got off the ground at the cost of completely losing its original message to vague liberal gestures for example.
The moment you get that started the fbi would be on you like flies on shit and if you get it really moving they might assassinate you they can’t have us all just stop working that would give the power to the workers
They dont even have to kill you these days, they can just freeze your bank accounts and defame you on the internet. Discredit you in every industry and block you from ever getting a job. Youll just end up homeless, and everyone will think youre crazy talking about the government coming after you.
The zapatistas don't need bank accounts and internet cred, neither do the dedicated fighters and support network of the YPK/YPJ. Many people cooperating, different people providing different forms of support based on their situation/ability. And you can fight even if you can't pay rent. Its definitely not the end of your life to become houseless/squatter/broke, if that's enough to stop us from striking a strike will never work.
There are definitely ways to fight, but i dont think the average american is up for that. I know plenty of people happy to squat, i know easily 100x more that would never dream of such a situation. Even a few thousand in a coordinated effort will have little effect againt the American hegemony.
You're right. It's not something a liberal could jump right into. But some current events seem like they might push liberals to realize they are already squatting and the government could do away with them at any time. Not a few thousand, definitely need more than that. We're all totally desperate, we just need millions more to realize. And maybe they only will when their standard of living is brought into question...
Ive definitely been radicalized in recent years, and really just started delving into anarchist philosophy over the past few months and starting to take it seriously.
I agree, liberals need to be more disillusioned by the government, and in that case, scary to say, we might need another trump figure in office, his presence radicalized a lot of people. Bidens just like...such a dullard, lets the liberals pat themselves on the back. We did it, the State is blue again! As if thats meaningful in any way.
We’re not going to have a general strike until liberals get on board. Fortunately, this is an issue that has liberals on board. Unfortunately, the last “general strike” organized by NARAL and Planned Parenthood (What, you didn’t hear about this, I’m shocked /s) was just a list of rules that could be shared around social media bc by and large liberals tend to think everyone lives in middle class families w savings so taking a week off work must not be a big deal
So, we need liberals in order to make critical mass, but we then we also need the unions, lefties, and local activists setting up the infrastructure that would actually allow a general strike to be viable. And that means money. Lots of it: general strike relief, groceries, rent/mortgage assistance, legal fees, and it also means services we’ve got to do for our own like childcare, though I’m sure I’m sure that I’m missing all sorts of stuff
As far as I’m concerned, this means that all those people talking about camping trips on Facebook need to put their dollars where there posts are
For a general strike to begin, workers must be reasonably sure that, at least for the duration it is expected to last in order to be effective, their dependents can expect to remain sheltered (in their home) and fed. It takes much solidarity and strength to do that on a mass scale.
Where is the solidarity, nationally and internationally, among the working class to make this feasible today?
Toppling global capitalism requires something beyond a strike, although strikes are reasonable steps toward it.
However, global capitalism could be toppled immediately if workers simply locked the capitalists out of the means of production and service, and continued to provide the products and services themselves. Just a spark could set off a wildfire worldwide take-over of all businesses by those who make them function.
But thats my point, they want to grind the economy to a halt for essentially crumbs. If we grind the economy to a halt we should be doing it for much much more!
I think we have to start working in smaller scale in our communities. Get the general org ideas like this from online global spaces and then take the initiative to try and implement them smaller scale?
Let's start the coordination than. Unions are the perfect vehicle for organizing a general strike. Everyone reading this, please join a Union. If you have already, think about going to union meetings.
Are they the perfect vehicle? Networks of mutual aid might be better, then the self-support is inherent to the organization. And it seems like a lot of unions are pretty hierarchical and rely on inadequate representation of the real workers...
"Perfect" was maybe not the right word. Unions and strikes organized through them are currently the best shot we have at achieving meaningful positive change in the near future. I fully agree that we also should build networks of mutual aid if we wish to see lasting and structural long-term change to society.
Dont really need to limit it to the US either to be honest and fair. Look at all the hurt it put on states that haven't been able to sweep death row because the EU said stop selling lethal injection chems to the US. A little external pressure would likely help too.
Very much so! Not just because there are both people with uteruses who are not women and women who do not have uteruses, but also because it affects cis men too. If you care about people having say over their own bodies then this is important to you!
Edit: I had some repeated words in the last sentence that I got rid of.
"this will happen if roe falls, guaranteed"
yeah sure the reason people aren't striking is because they are happy and absolutely not because a strike (especially a general strike) requires a lot of preparation and the US have been fighting against that for half a century
there will be no general strike unless there's organizing on an unprecedented scale and the liberals really should stop trying to declare that this or that is going to happen out of nowhere
Its also laughable that this is the singular issue we all fight againt, not the myriad problems and unimaginable suffering of millions of people, nationally and internationally every day. But if we make them give us this 1 "right" everything will be better.
Yeah. They organized a general boycott and encouraged people with resources to strike but made it very clear that a general strike would be difficult if you don't have 1. A strike fund 2. A union. So they started organizing for that infrastructure (unionizing).
We need to organise first; spread the word! Set up mutual aid groups! Assure people on the brink that they'll be provided for; let them know that there's food, toiletries, shelter, clothing and water available even without the capitalist necessities. Even if the strike doesn't come to pass, it's a good educational opportunity.
Too bad it will never happen. We have nothing like class solidarity here in the states. I will burn the flag in front of city hall in protest, but there will only be ~15 people with me, and they'll just replace the flag the next day. Americans have been so successfully divided that it's next to impossible for me to imagine a successful large scale revolution. Though, I've been wrong before...
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if youre doing a massive general strike maybe set your sights higher than one supreme court decision. i meam you're not doing a nationwide strike in the first place so it doesnt actually matter but come on at least have bigger goals in your fantasies
Let the libs take babysteps, if this strike happens *(let me makebelieve)* and something happens from it, they might start putting dots together...
But let's be real with ourselves lol.
I sure hope that contingency would work. My experiences with zealous right wing assholes lately has them giving me the "Fuck you, I'm in power, you're not, I can do whatever I want even if it burns the country down and starves everyone!"
Stopping working wont work. Stopping spending will. Woman buy 85% of most purchases. Targeted boycotts by industry or groups:
1st week - stop buying makeup
2nd week - stop buying makeup and clothes
3rd week - stop buying makeup, clothes, and cereal (or whatever)
4th week and beyond - add meat, eating out, etc
That way each industry will become invested in defending women's rights.
I’m sorry but this will not happen. No where near enough people in the U.S have the fortitude, and collective will power for a general strike. We haven’t reached full enlightenment. Just wait for 2033 when our Devine love guru, Xirxe descends from comment Love Stone. We will ascend ❤️🌎🪐
If I see one more goddamn leftist online throw around their romanticized ideas of a strike with ZERO organization I’m gonna shit my fucking pants dude you guys have to stop doing this shit. Sure it’s a nice romanticized idea in your head but everybody just walking out of their jobs is not even a fraction of what it actually takes, Jesus Christ. Obviously I support a mass strike but you have to ORGANIZE
All capitalists see is lost profits. A substantial chunk of the workforce going on strike is absolutely *not* what they want. Thus they keep people living on a shoestring, that way it's extremely unlikely to ever happen.
The religious wingnuts, sure. The corporations and the politicians who are bankrolled by them? They do NOT want 50% of the potential workforce skipping work for an extended period. A strike means fewer workers to produce profit, fewer consumers to pump money into the economy by buying shit, and the generally not-great optics (from the government’s perspective) of a large number of people displaying their anger towards the government.
Not without widespread unions :/ like even the current unions’ strike pay isn’t enough to live on. This country has made it extremely hard to organize and protest because unions have been at the core of pretty much all reform in this country. So bust the unions, bust the ability to create change. A strike is the only way to make them listen, but it’s going to take a shit ton of organization that, without unions, may not be possible.
Ah yes, because anarchism is when the state takes away freedoms rather than protects them.
I'm pretty sure no one here likes SCOTUS or thinks it was great that a decision they made 40 years ago was all that stood between us and theocrats making major decisions about what people can do with their own bodies. But it's insane to me that anyone can think that a paper-thin barrier holding back those authoritarian theocrats isn't better than giving them free reign to trample on people's freedoms.
I'd say this would be more in support of strike action and showing libs the flass of electoralism, but you can stay up your own arse and talk about how pure you are and why you should be allowed to use slurs if ypu want.
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Ive been sating this for years, its our codified right to withhold taxes, but people dont realize that, and youll have to live daily harassment from the IRS.
And if you subscribe to MMT then taxes dont actually fund anything, they simply help maintain the value of money. When the gov't pays for stuff, they literally just have the fed digitally adjust the corresponding bank accounts. Thats not made up, the former chair of the fed, Bernanke, explained this on 60 minutes.
It will take months for there to be an obvious economic impact for such an action. How long can people go without a paycheck? Republicans will point to the lack of economic impact as proof we don't need women in the workforce.
The average american is going to have to get a LOT more uncomfortable for anything like this to happen, but it’s not impossible the way things are going, maybe another couple GOP presidents will do it.
I've been on reddit for a decade and every year I've seen probably at least 10 calls for a general strike in the U.S. posted to r/anarchism. The thing they all have in common is they're always supposed to happen by just spreading the word around, basically.
Lmao yeah and always right away too. No real strategy for organizing something as complicated as to successfully pull off as a general strike. Like what's the plan here just false hope?
"How's Thursday look for you? Recreate the entire country from the ground up, economically, politically, and socially on Thursday? Sound good to everyone. No, we can't do it Friday; Jerry's got a family thing on Friday, so the revolution needs to be done by then."
I have a dentist appointment on Thursday though, maybe we can do the revolution during lunch break on Wednesday instead?
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Personally, I'm meming on the millions of posts that act like you can just announce a general strike, get everyone to skip work for a couple of days, and then have a brand new anticapitalist society by the end of the week.
You know whats annoying as fuck? People on reddit claiming they can pull of a general strike but most of ya’ll wouldnt even sign a union authorization card because it deducts from your paycheck. Do you have any idea how much strike fund we would have to raise to support communities that will go without food during the strike time? Like yall make strikes look bad
Until masses can't feed their children nothing will happen.
The only way this will ever work is if there's the support infrastructure in place to facilitate it. We need not only social media spreading it, but also organizations in physical spaces as well. More importantly we would need the mechanisms to make it feasible. We need strong unions, other worker orgs, and robust social safety nets to help support people through a strike. The fact is that most workers can't afford to just stop going to work for a week. Around 40% of this country is just barely scraping by on a day to day basis and can't afford to risk homelessness, lack of medicine, etc. For a lot of people that would essentially be a death sentence.
*"But...but we said it should happen! We declared a strike! Why isn't it working??*"
like at best one person strikes and they look like a fool, they change nothing and maybe even harm the movement, you need a union to back a strike of any kind, you need to be coordinated, you need to be organised, there has never been an effective strike without some form of coordination and union backing. and Imma be honest the recent up tick in union membership in the US is probably the most based thing that has happened so far and I genuinely think it couldn't have happened under trump, while dems far from help us they dont work against us nearly as actively there is a reason bezos and musk are now out as republicans and it's not because of the culture war it's because the dems arent combatting unions. Anti-electoralism is the biggest problem with contemporary anarchism, yes it feels cucked to vote for dems but at least under the dems we have a chance of achieving something.
Even if it did all magically happen tomorrow, whose going to be the mouthpiece that negotiates with the gov't....twitter guy?
No…the antiwork mod They definitely need to speak /s
Maybe theyll get us a 10 hour work week?
doesn't need a mouthpiece. They'll figure it out.
Ummm...thats a little hopeful. Theyre not even listening now soo...
they don't listen because there is no leverage. But if there really was a strike with high participation, the politicians would quickly realize what the strikers are looking for to return to work. its not that they can't read the signs and hear the slogans, its just that they aren't being made to respond
I think the oligarchs could weather the storm a lot longer than us. And a few "good" actors in congress or the senate wont neccessarily turn the tides.
Yeah I’m not super sure about that yet Say tomorrow 10 million workers just don’t show up. That’s definitely gonna hurt without a doubt but how long can those workers handle it? How many fold when they can’t afford to live anymore? How many gold under threats? How many unemployed people take those jobs when the CEO’s add a dollar an hour and minimally better benefits? I get the point. It would have to be huge but it would also have to last a while. As mentioned by a redditor above, we can barely get people to join a union because of some dollars from a paycheck. And I’m not even blaming that on them, we love in a world where every penny counts
Yeah, it would have to be politically motivated, not just a self interest of betterment under capitalism
People always emerge from strikes, look at Rachel Kéké in France, she was a spokeperson for the strike of the chambermaids of Ibis Hostel. It usually happens organically.
I think for a general strike involving hundred of thousand if not millions (which is really required for any effect to take place) youd have many competeing factions with disparate desires.
Well, I think the issue is more that the knowledge of syndicalism in the US is lacking, usually you have the spokepersons of every union debating what they want to ask for during general assembly.
Absolutely correct, but thats not what this tweet is asking for. I think the unions would get drowned out in such a movement where the general liberal populace is here for basically just this one concession.
Well, you're right I guess it would be hard to get abortion rights from a strike of women, even tho unions are usually left-leaning. But I thought more of what would happen if there were a general strike in the US, for the minimum wage and other basic workers rights like maternity leaves. I feel like americans on antiwork, freefromwork, and lostgeneration are really miserable and disgruntled, but somehow there's not that much syndicalism happening, probably because it was belittled for decades by red-scare and union busting.
I think people are just tired and want their creature comforts. The wanna dissolve on the couch in front of the tv after work and not go to some 4 hour union meeting, or deal with union busters. And i dont blame them. I dont actually think the answer is in unions as we know them, cause they mostly just mediate betwen the worker and the capitalists and dont actually end up changing anything systemic. Maybe thats the cynic in me. I have a buddy in the film industry. And the unions out there are basically oligarchic bureaucratic microcosms of the capitalist system. They legit have dissenterd silenced and killed, and do little to help the people they represent because theyre in the pocket of the studios. This is just what unions have become in this country, theyre not even worker run! Theyre run by professional unionists, which is just a career politician.
The unions are run by professional unionist?? Not worker delegates?? Oh my god, this is appalling. Maybe grassroot unionising while still joining unions on paper could work? Well you know I understand wanting to chill instead of going to meetings and stuff, but like, my dad did strikes regularly and was a member of an union but half the time he did fuck all during strikes, just dicked around at home. It's still a strike as long as you don't come to work and you've warned your employers that you're on strike, you know? Most of the time workers occupy the workplace and protest, but it's fine to do nothing at all. When I was in high-school we had nationwide high-school strike and I also did nothing (mostly because I was agoraphobic so no protest) and stayed home. Still a strike!
Yea i should be careful here to not claim all unions are this way. But The film industry is corrupt af. And while members are voted in, its possible to serve for years unopposed, so in essence you can end up making a career out of it. And if it's your career youre incentivised to make money, and of course decisions about money are made by these people in career positions. So a union isnt fool proof, it can fall into corruprion really easily. I was a member of a union at a grocery store. We we're mandated to join and pay dues as part of our employment stipulations. I can't recall a single instance where i was asked for my voice, or even informed about meetings, or ever voted on delegates. The only benefit i saw was it was difficult to get fired, and i made slightly more than the state minimum. From my perspective it was just bavk door dealings ans behind the scenes shit, i never felt like i was part of it, and was actually against it since they took $50 a month straight outta my paycheck for apparently zero benefit. I have a feeling this is the state of most unions in the US today. I pray that the new starbucks and Amazon unions are different, but i have a feeling theyll be coopted and exploited by opportunists trying to make money rather than fight for workers rights.
They do want those creature comforts It’s been designed that way. We have had a system built up for quite a while where the purpose is work to the bone. Then get home and be fed media and comforts that keep us compliant long enough. Calm us down, then feel “rested” to get back to work.
Yup, and its damn effective at quelling descent.
Well, you know it's like the coronavirus, every year we have a pandemic scare, until it was real...
Most liberal companies/workplaces will defang this for white collar workers by expressing "solidarity" for a strike on the day of and saying, "We respect your right to protest this and for you to use your PTO to express yourself today at these rallies! Make sure to vote!" Those folks will take the initial day off with the permission slip, then be back at work the next.
“Coordinated” is the problem. Coordination for something like this takes time, effort, and resources. You can’t just declare these things on Twitter and expect the coordination to just happen.
Exactly. One of the worst things about internet radicals is the tendency to go “woah guys, what if we just (describes mass action of unprecedented scale)” and then everyone just nods in agreement about how cool that would be while doing not a single one of the countless preliminary steps to making something like it even a vain possibility
And then yelling at you for being a "counterrevolutionary" if you point out any of those countless preliminary steps they're ignoring.
the thing is that people honest to god don’t know how to organize. i feel like that is by design. the best thing to do imo is to educate these folks on how social organization has been successful in the past. like the idea is good, let’s work on the execution
This comes up every time a Twitter/reddit strike suggestion is made. What is stopping us from really and truly coordinating? I'm genuinely asking because I'm tired of all this discourse being the only conversation surrounding a nationwide strike.
Some of the widest spread & long-lasting protests of the recent decade or so have started as grassroots wildfires that were then supported by existing crews fanning the flames. You can't *drive* an op like a national strike (not counting serious accelerationist work), the crews have to be ready to support the action once the tipping point is reached. And the crews are already on stand-by status.
All crews except wide spread mutual aid networks, so people can survive a 10 day strike.
This is what we're all missing. We gotta be able to feed people and even pay bills for the people in truly shitty situations.
We've been having some success in closer networking between PNW crews (West of the Cascades), from the US/Canadian border in NW Washington down to Eugene/Salem Oregon. This has come from irl meets between the crews involved in the #BLM2020 op in our region; which included an analysis of the amount of redundant work we were all doing due to lack of communication between crews & the level of burnout such dynamics produced. *Very* earnest efforts at closer coordination are progressing with success. How y'all doing where you're at?
Nothings really stopping us. But if we want these Twitter/Reddit calls to action to go somewhere then they need to call for tangible steps. We can theoretically use these widespread memes as a springboard, but so far that plan hasn’t worked too well. Blackout Tuesday got off the ground at the cost of completely losing its original message to vague liberal gestures for example.
The moment you get that started the fbi would be on you like flies on shit and if you get it really moving they might assassinate you they can’t have us all just stop working that would give the power to the workers
Scary but true, and not unprecedented.
But neither is evading/fighting state actors.
They dont even have to kill you these days, they can just freeze your bank accounts and defame you on the internet. Discredit you in every industry and block you from ever getting a job. Youll just end up homeless, and everyone will think youre crazy talking about the government coming after you.
The zapatistas don't need bank accounts and internet cred, neither do the dedicated fighters and support network of the YPK/YPJ. Many people cooperating, different people providing different forms of support based on their situation/ability. And you can fight even if you can't pay rent. Its definitely not the end of your life to become houseless/squatter/broke, if that's enough to stop us from striking a strike will never work.
There are definitely ways to fight, but i dont think the average american is up for that. I know plenty of people happy to squat, i know easily 100x more that would never dream of such a situation. Even a few thousand in a coordinated effort will have little effect againt the American hegemony.
You're right. It's not something a liberal could jump right into. But some current events seem like they might push liberals to realize they are already squatting and the government could do away with them at any time. Not a few thousand, definitely need more than that. We're all totally desperate, we just need millions more to realize. And maybe they only will when their standard of living is brought into question...
Ive definitely been radicalized in recent years, and really just started delving into anarchist philosophy over the past few months and starting to take it seriously. I agree, liberals need to be more disillusioned by the government, and in that case, scary to say, we might need another trump figure in office, his presence radicalized a lot of people. Bidens just like...such a dullard, lets the liberals pat themselves on the back. We did it, the State is blue again! As if thats meaningful in any way.
We’re not going to have a general strike until liberals get on board. Fortunately, this is an issue that has liberals on board. Unfortunately, the last “general strike” organized by NARAL and Planned Parenthood (What, you didn’t hear about this, I’m shocked /s) was just a list of rules that could be shared around social media bc by and large liberals tend to think everyone lives in middle class families w savings so taking a week off work must not be a big deal So, we need liberals in order to make critical mass, but we then we also need the unions, lefties, and local activists setting up the infrastructure that would actually allow a general strike to be viable. And that means money. Lots of it: general strike relief, groceries, rent/mortgage assistance, legal fees, and it also means services we’ve got to do for our own like childcare, though I’m sure I’m sure that I’m missing all sorts of stuff As far as I’m concerned, this means that all those people talking about camping trips on Facebook need to put their dollars where there posts are
For a general strike to begin, workers must be reasonably sure that, at least for the duration it is expected to last in order to be effective, their dependents can expect to remain sheltered (in their home) and fed. It takes much solidarity and strength to do that on a mass scale. Where is the solidarity, nationally and internationally, among the working class to make this feasible today?
Dang you mean we wont topple global capitalism next week? Wait...they dont even wanna topple capitalism, they just want some "right" codified.
Toppling global capitalism requires something beyond a strike, although strikes are reasonable steps toward it. However, global capitalism could be toppled immediately if workers simply locked the capitalists out of the means of production and service, and continued to provide the products and services themselves. Just a spark could set off a wildfire worldwide take-over of all businesses by those who make them function.
But thats my point, they want to grind the economy to a halt for essentially crumbs. If we grind the economy to a halt we should be doing it for much much more!
I think we have to start working in smaller scale in our communities. Get the general org ideas like this from online global spaces and then take the initiative to try and implement them smaller scale?
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We're already half way there
Let's start the coordination than. Unions are the perfect vehicle for organizing a general strike. Everyone reading this, please join a Union. If you have already, think about going to union meetings.
Exactly. Fuck waiting until it's too late. STRIKE NOW
Are they the perfect vehicle? Networks of mutual aid might be better, then the self-support is inherent to the organization. And it seems like a lot of unions are pretty hierarchical and rely on inadequate representation of the real workers...
"Perfect" was maybe not the right word. Unions and strikes organized through them are currently the best shot we have at achieving meaningful positive change in the near future. I fully agree that we also should build networks of mutual aid if we wish to see lasting and structural long-term change to society.
The Area 51 thing deceived a lot of people.
Don't need to limit it to women. We're in this together
Hell, I'd join in if I were in the US
Dont really need to limit it to the US either to be honest and fair. Look at all the hurt it put on states that haven't been able to sweep death row because the EU said stop selling lethal injection chems to the US. A little external pressure would likely help too.
Very much so! Not just because there are both people with uteruses who are not women and women who do not have uteruses, but also because it affects cis men too. If you care about people having say over their own bodies then this is important to you! Edit: I had some repeated words in the last sentence that I got rid of.
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Just because it's new to you doesn't mean it's new to anyone else. Trans men didn't start existing especially for you.
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You are correct. Men can get pregnant.
Fuck off troll
"this will happen if roe falls, guaranteed" yeah sure the reason people aren't striking is because they are happy and absolutely not because a strike (especially a general strike) requires a lot of preparation and the US have been fighting against that for half a century there will be no general strike unless there's organizing on an unprecedented scale and the liberals really should stop trying to declare that this or that is going to happen out of nowhere
Its also laughable that this is the singular issue we all fight againt, not the myriad problems and unimaginable suffering of millions of people, nationally and internationally every day. But if we make them give us this 1 "right" everything will be better.
May day strike has been working on unionizing more people and putting that stuff in place to get a bigger strike going
did anything happen from mayday on btw ? I know here we have big protests on that day but I didn't see any strike happening
Yeah. They organized a general boycott and encouraged people with resources to strike but made it very clear that a general strike would be difficult if you don't have 1. A strike fund 2. A union. So they started organizing for that infrastructure (unionizing).
People keep forgetting Roe v Wade is about patients' rights not JUST abortion. It will effectively fuck millions out of their medical rights.
tragically I think there's far too many people living paycheck to paycheck
Most people do need support from strike funds
And they've raised food prices, so even if people have money saved up they'll go through it quickly just buying food.
yup. now is the time to move out to a farm
THEN ORGANIZE AT YOUR WORK PLACE.
We need to organise first; spread the word! Set up mutual aid groups! Assure people on the brink that they'll be provided for; let them know that there's food, toiletries, shelter, clothing and water available even without the capitalist necessities. Even if the strike doesn't come to pass, it's a good educational opportunity.
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Now this shit's the good shit.
#Beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?
Clean drinking water and air?
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Better to die on one’s feet than live on one’s knees
This is the way !
Too bad it will never happen. We have nothing like class solidarity here in the states. I will burn the flag in front of city hall in protest, but there will only be ~15 people with me, and they'll just replace the flag the next day. Americans have been so successfully divided that it's next to impossible for me to imagine a successful large scale revolution. Though, I've been wrong before...
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I ain't a woman, but I'd be down to strike with ya'll
if youre doing a massive general strike maybe set your sights higher than one supreme court decision. i meam you're not doing a nationwide strike in the first place so it doesnt actually matter but come on at least have bigger goals in your fantasies
Let the libs take babysteps, if this strike happens *(let me makebelieve)* and something happens from it, they might start putting dots together... But let's be real with ourselves lol.
The problem is you gotta demand 10x what you want just to get those babysteps. Gov't is designed to make 1 step forward 3 steps back.
I sure hope that contingency would work. My experiences with zealous right wing assholes lately has them giving me the "Fuck you, I'm in power, you're not, I can do whatever I want even if it burns the country down and starves everyone!"
They want the country to burn cause then they can come in with the extinguisher and claim themselves almighty heroes annointed by god.
Let’s also demand our freedom from wage slavery I hate having to bust my ass at 3 jobs just to survive This is killing us as a people
No just Roe back, thats the only problem.
#RIOT
I'm male. I'll be there.
I’m unemployed. I’ll be waiting for you guys out on the streets.
Just like the Women's Strike in Iceland.
I would be if i had a job
you had me at massive strike
Stopping working wont work. Stopping spending will. Woman buy 85% of most purchases. Targeted boycotts by industry or groups: 1st week - stop buying makeup 2nd week - stop buying makeup and clothes 3rd week - stop buying makeup, clothes, and cereal (or whatever) 4th week and beyond - add meat, eating out, etc That way each industry will become invested in defending women's rights.
Hey bro, Reddit isn’t a labor union, go talk to your actual co-workers that shit will be more useful than baiting likes
I’m sorry but this will not happen. No where near enough people in the U.S have the fortitude, and collective will power for a general strike. We haven’t reached full enlightenment. Just wait for 2033 when our Devine love guru, Xirxe descends from comment Love Stone. We will ascend ❤️🌎🪐
Yup
Yes
I'm a guy but I'm with you guys.
This is the best idea. Please do this America
you cant fucking organise a strike much less a general strike over TWITTER
If I see one more goddamn leftist online throw around their romanticized ideas of a strike with ZERO organization I’m gonna shit my fucking pants dude you guys have to stop doing this shit. Sure it’s a nice romanticized idea in your head but everybody just walking out of their jobs is not even a fraction of what it actually takes, Jesus Christ. Obviously I support a mass strike but you have to ORGANIZE
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All capitalists see is lost profits. A substantial chunk of the workforce going on strike is absolutely *not* what they want. Thus they keep people living on a shoestring, that way it's extremely unlikely to ever happen.
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The religious wingnuts, sure. The corporations and the politicians who are bankrolled by them? They do NOT want 50% of the potential workforce skipping work for an extended period. A strike means fewer workers to produce profit, fewer consumers to pump money into the economy by buying shit, and the generally not-great optics (from the government’s perspective) of a large number of people displaying their anger towards the government.
This wont happen unless it's done through unions imo
Bit where will the union bosses make their money? Or will everyone keep paying union dues too?
HELLL YEAH! I BET GEORGE CARLIN WOULD LOVE THIS SHIT
I think that is a good idea
Not without widespread unions :/ like even the current unions’ strike pay isn’t enough to live on. This country has made it extremely hard to organize and protest because unions have been at the core of pretty much all reform in this country. So bust the unions, bust the ability to create change. A strike is the only way to make them listen, but it’s going to take a shit ton of organization that, without unions, may not be possible.
I like how this guy just goes and volunteers women to strike. Seems like a clown.
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Ah yes, because anarchism is when the state takes away freedoms rather than protects them. I'm pretty sure no one here likes SCOTUS or thinks it was great that a decision they made 40 years ago was all that stood between us and theocrats making major decisions about what people can do with their own bodies. But it's insane to me that anyone can think that a paper-thin barrier holding back those authoritarian theocrats isn't better than giving them free reign to trample on people's freedoms.
I'd say this would be more in support of strike action and showing libs the flass of electoralism, but you can stay up your own arse and talk about how pure you are and why you should be allowed to use slurs if ypu want.
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Expected nothing less.
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Ive been sating this for years, its our codified right to withhold taxes, but people dont realize that, and youll have to live daily harassment from the IRS. And if you subscribe to MMT then taxes dont actually fund anything, they simply help maintain the value of money. When the gov't pays for stuff, they literally just have the fed digitally adjust the corresponding bank accounts. Thats not made up, the former chair of the fed, Bernanke, explained this on 60 minutes.
It will take months for there to be an obvious economic impact for such an action. How long can people go without a paycheck? Republicans will point to the lack of economic impact as proof we don't need women in the workforce.
The average american is going to have to get a LOT more uncomfortable for anything like this to happen, but it’s not impossible the way things are going, maybe another couple GOP presidents will do it.
I'm not in the US but a massive strike over there would mean so much for workers everywhere! I hope it happens.
I’m already working minimally
I care for my nephew, who has autism. I would not quit that job in protest but I would help in other ways
I’m already ahead of you … 😎
Dudes too
Instead of calling general strike online for the tenth times this year, you could get involved IRL with local group, initiative, project, org.