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So… Communists are the Sith. Gotcha.
I mean duh, red lightsabers and all
Oligarchs are only a symptom and not the issue, don’t get distracted. Removing the oligarchs or so called “bad men” won’t suddenly make things right, as capital/wealth concentration are structural features of Capitalism and not some anomaly caused by a group of bad actors.
This isn’t an issue that can be fixed by better taxation or social protections or reformism like that - workers will keep getting exploited and earn less than the value they produce and staying relatively poor/powerless, bourgeoisie will keep getting disproportionately more capital (with reforms only slowing it down slightly) and power as a result, and inevitably will work towards erasing these reforms to have their rate of capital accumulation grow further and we’re back at having oligarchy.
That is assuming these reforms can actually be implemented, which massively overstates the power of boycotts/protests and our liberal democracies in general - sure, they can sometimes happen under pressure like in the case of postwar welfare states, The New Deal, social democracies from back in the day when they actually did things, but these happened as concessions under the pressure of a possible revolution, later got reverted and look where we are now.
Capitalism is also a symptom, a symptom of an intellligence and knowledge imbalance.
People need to be informed and organized to prevent being abused. If they are, they can run a socialist or communist country, or tax their oligarchs without being scammed into losing power.
Some people, e.g. ML, know how to defeat the oligarchs. The majority is not willing to learn and implement it. Even if there has been a revolution, the majority most likely will not stay sharp to prevent a decline.
If the oligarchs are willling to transition into another form of society, they don’t have anything that could take over.
How about everyone learn to organize and actively disconnect from the capitalist system … boycott, boycott, boycott.
First organize and boycott one sector, with one company and complete ostracize them. Make the one company completely fail. Then move onto the next company and on and on.
There was a movement here in Canada in the 2000s when the price of gas rose. Gas was consistently at about 0.60 cents (or there abouts) at the time. When it rose one or two cents, people were enraged. When it rose by five cents, people started organizing. Groups started forming and suggested that everyone spend a week and boycott onto PetroCan stations … then the next week boycott Esso … then the next week Shell … and so on. It had an effect because prices leveled out for a while and there was an outcry to get rid of those organizing groups. Shortly after, all those groups on FB, Twitter and every where else started dying off from internal bickering and arguments and all those ideas of boycotts just slowly faded away. Then everyone just gradually accepted rising gas prices and it became normalized to have the price of gas rise and fall by ten cents in a week. Now it’s all just normal.
Boycotts actually work and if everyone organized and just targetted one company, we could maintain our level of comfort and what we enjoy while at the same time dealing a death blow to one company. Then when we’ve taken that whale move on to the next one and on and on.
Capitalist don’t react to anything … they don’t care about people, health, welfare, humanity or decency … the only thing they fear and respond to is if you threaten to take away their money and wealth. And the amazing thing about this stand off is that we … everyone … supplies these wealthy overlords with the power to hold over all of us. We actively give away our power to allow them to control our lives.
Organizing means getting people together and educated to take action. To use strength in numbers. Boycotts are nearly always done as individualistic moralizing campaigns. They are not organizing and they are vulnerable to PR, as their primary basis of communication is already basically PR.
They can have good effects and can help agitate, but you are absolutely, 100%, not going to take on the haute bourgeoisie with a boycott. It will register as decreased demand and then a recession, something they are happy to preside over. A recession means they, being the people with money to weather the recession while smaller businesses fail, get to cut wages, discipline labor, and then finally expand or buy up failed businesses as the recession recedes. Many of these effects are why BDS is a good idea for impacting “Israel”, as it needs to sell itself as a safe and attractive market for people to move and stay there as colonists.
To overthrow the bourgeoisie you need a revolution. This is not because anyone just loves fighting, but because the bourgeoisie will not leave you any other option. To organize for revolution you must join and contribute to a revolutionary organization.
Russia is run by oligarchs… Maybe the answer is strong social protections like ensuring that the wealthiest people’s children go to the same school as the poorest people’s children. That way the wealthiest people have incentive to make the schooling system well financed.
Edit Apparently my China fact is wrong. Whoops.
China has more millionaires than any other country per capita
China also spreads the wealth out among the population and they’ll execute the wealthy if they break the law. Like the guy who knowingly sold bad baby formula.
It ain’t perfect, but they’re doing pretty well in their transitionary socialist state.
China doesn’t spread the wealth out though. The inequality is huge and obvious.
Yes, it’s not US bad. And almost everyone has a house and food, which is a solid baseline.
But the PRC’s social structure has ossified and is already growing inequality gaps, and poor folks often can’t afford to get ill or injured.
Sometimes bad oligarchs get executed (we don’t get told how many folks get executed a year), but only after massive outcry and government assisted cover ups fail.
Better for the poorest than the US seems a pretty low bar. Better for the globe as a whole though, so that helps too
You got a source for that millionaires per capita thing? China’s Gini coefficients are roughly on par with Western Europe
I stand corrected. Apparently I pulled that number out of my ass because I can’t find a valid source for it.
I do wonder how much the North American number is inflated by our housing bubble. I’m living paycheck to paycheck but on paper my house puts me half way there asset wise.
Who said anything about Russia? Do you assume any leftist supports Russia? Do you think those who support Russia support it because it’s Russia, or because it’s the west on the other side?
All it takes is pain.
