Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Class (Page 10 of 24)

Jacobin Study on Working-Class Voters

As some readers might know, Jacobin ran a study of working-class voters. The study hits an unusual depth, and it provides lots of useful info.

In the past I’ve criticized many views on elections and politics expressed in Jacobin. As have many others on the left. But let’s not play up any ‘feud’ with Jacobin. I read the magazine, and I also read Jacobin’s more academic journal Catalyst. And I think they do some great things with this study. They point to some of their own errors, and they show an interest in doing real electoral work that doesn’t fall prey to the magical thinking that’s all too common on the left.

And so, let’s take a look at the Jacobin study. What can it teach us about working-class voters? And what can it teach us about building solid leftist electoral campaigns?

Continue reading

The Great Resignation and Striketober

From time to time, I sort employees into three categories: those who suffer from angst, those who suffer from ennui, and those who suffer from neither. As readers might expect, I’m suspicious of that latter group. But this time, I’ll do something a bit different with the topic. I’ll say a bit about how all this relates to the ‘Great Resignation.’

For anyone living under a rock, lots of people quit their jobs this year. More than any other year on record! Are they bored? Did a collective brush with mortality last year push them to make a change? Or are workers simply getting tired of low wages and inadequate benefits?

So, what’s going on with the workforce? What spurred the Great Resignation? And does Striketober represent a reaction to the forces of the Great Resignation?

Continue reading

A Socialist Stance on Reparations?

reparations

Lots of leftists – and people within racial justice spaces – discuss reparations. I’ve had some thoughts on it for awhile. And I revisited a solid article in Jacobin by Brian Jones. It’s called “The Socialist Case for Reparations.”

Jones gets one big thing right. He points out that as socialists we don’t need to adopt an either/or approach to issues of race and class. We don’t need to argue for either a broad social democratic vision that excludes race or a vision for reparations that caters to the black professional classes, ignores the role race plays in capitalism, and precludes a multiracial workingclass coalition.

I’ll say a few things here about what I consider the best socialist case for reparations. In doing so, I’ll mostly leave open what, exactly, ‘reparations’ means. In the end, I think that adds up to the best socialist stance on the topic.

Continue reading

The Refusal of Work

For decades, the left has split roughly into a pro-work and an anti-work camp. David Frayne doesn’t exactly frame his book The Refusal of Work as a contribution to that debate. But lots of people on the anti-work side cite it in support of their views. And so, I recently read The Refusal of Work with an eye toward its implications for that debate.

I’ll lay out a few thoughts on The Refusal of Work in this post. I think the book makes some valuable contributions to moral and political debates about work. It lays out some of the problems with work and helps us imagine alternatives. But I don’t think Frayne does many favors for the anti-work socialist camp.

Continue reading

About That October 15 Fake Strike

fake strike general strike picard

I’m sure some readers know about the planned ‘general strike’ on October 15. Or is it a fake strike? At least, many know that a group claims it’s planning one. Is it really planning one? Maybe. Probably not. Will there be a general strike on October 15?

No.

And that’s my topic for today. In fact, the October 15 event looks like a fake strike. I want to talk for a bit about the ‘fake strike‘: why it keeps happening, what it means, and what it says about the left.

Continue reading

« Older posts Newer posts »