Class consciousness: engage!

#marxism #socialism #WorkersRights

"And some of us who come from poor families, who carry around the hidden injuries of class, are very impressed -- are very, very impressed -- by these achievements..."

Damn straight. Don't you fucking tell me that the richest country on the planet can't do what the poorest ones did a fucking CENTURY ago.

Full transcript below.

"Communism, ladies and gentlemen, I say it without flinching: Communism in eastern Europe, Russia, China, Mongolia, North Korea, and Cuba, brought land reform and human services; a dramatic bettering of the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people, on a scale never before, or never since, witnessed in human history. And that's something to appreciate. Communism transformed desperately poor countries into societies in which everyone had adequate food, shelter, medical care, and education. And some of us who come from poor families, who carry around the hidden injuries of class, are very impressed -- are very, very impressed -- by these achievements, and are not willing to dismiss them as 'economistic.' To say that 'socialism doesn't work,' is to overlook the fact that it DID work! And it worked for hundreds of millions of people!"

--Michael Parenti

#MichaelParenti #Parenti #uspol #socialism #communism #marxism

Just finished reading a recent (2023) article on organizing #GigWork #GigWorkers by Rafael Grohmann, Mateus Mendonça, and Jamie Woodcock. It investigated how digital communication platforms play a more central role in organizing delivery platform drivers/riders, (1) due to the preconditions of having a smartphone to engage in the work at all, and (2) due to the affordances/circumstances of both the gig work platforms themselves and the various social media platforms that the workers flock to.

It investigated (1) the lack of direct communication with bosses and its replacement with algorithmic management, (2) the migration of gig workers to social media in search of solidarity (typically into cohorts along territorial and personal lines), and (3) how both (1) and (2) ultimately led to meaningful in-person labour struggle in the form of successful pickets of local vendors and public shaming protests of their working conditions.

Social media organizing took the place of the traditional shop floor and break room chats; group admins took the place of traditional union stewards; public shaming campaigns took the place of traditional strikes.

Ultimately, the "public shaming" approach, organized over social media and branching out into social media and traditional media relations, while ultimately not bringing immediate, material *wins* to the *workers*, *did* nevertheless take *off* 2 billion dollars of the #Deliveroo IPO in #london

Their conclusion notes that social media conglomerates were not built with worker activism in mind, and that any successes built upon their backs are thus contingent. I strongly agree there, and also agree with their suggestion of building alternatives. I think community-owned and co-operated delivery platforms could be such a viable alternative, especially if mandated, preferred, or at least permitted by local statutes.

The methodology of embedding within the struggles, personal interviews, and systemic monitoring of social media I think lends credence to their analysis.

Journal URL: ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/articl…

PDF URL: ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/articl…

#socialism #communism #marxism #capitalism #TradeUnionism #TradeUnions #LaborUnions #LabourUnions #union #unions