@rethinking

Also, "class-reductionism" is the only logical way to view society. Everything reduces to class relations. That doesn't mean we should ignore non-class problems, just that we should recognize that those problems stem from class conflicts.

@rethinking

You've got me wrong. I'm not against voting, only against voting for Democrats. Parliamentary efforts are a useful tool that working people can use to promote revolutionary change. Even the Bolsheviks did this in the Duma after the February Revolution, which, combined with their non-parliamentary efforts, led to a successful revolution against the capitalist provisional government. Workers in America should definitely vote for actual leftist parties.

@Bugspriet @rethinking

Voting for Democrats leads to token gesturing, not real change or any potential for change. It maintains the capitalist status quo and prevents the working class from even thinking that it's necessary to change the system. Working outside of capitalist parties is the way to break this brainwashed mentality that infects working people.

@rethinking

Voting for the Democrats (one capitalist party) out of fear of the Republicans (another capitalist party) gaining power won't change anything because the problem is capitalism, not which capitalist party, both of which support the same flawed system, is in power. The only way to make any kind of systemic change is to work outside of capitalist parties.

@rethinking

If this is a request to "vote blue no matter who," then my answer is a resounding "NO!" Obsessively voting for Democrats doesn't eliminate any systemic problems. All it does is perpetuate capitalism and prevent the working class from being uplifted to make actual systemic change.

Your lack of becoming a millionaire, billionaire, or future, trillionaire is not a reflection of yourself being lazy, or lacking any ambition.

You have not failed in life, nor have you wasted your life, simply because you are similar to the average person, who will never wake up wealthy through hard work and determination.

#Capitalism #Economics

Holy shit

>>It's wrong to think that only "a few people profiting from" capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system of voluntary cooperation among people. Everyone benefits from #Capitalism <<

>>You're wrong. Ordinary people prove every day by their behavior that rich businessmen help them every day. Businessmen can't make a profit if they don't serve consumers properly. You should be kinder to those who make your life better.<<

>>Capitalism is an economic system with (division of labor, private property and) voluntary cooperation among people. Unions, not employers, use violence to achieve their goals, which are wages and other benefits above the market level. So unions aren't a mechanism to counter "greedy capitalists," but just the opposite: to gain benefits at the expense of everyone else. People should decide whether or not to support them.<<

"In a modern capitalist society, technology was, is, and always will be an expression of the economic objectives that direct it....A worthwhile exercise would be to delete 'technology' from our vocabularies...to see how quickly capitalism's objectives are exposed." —Shoshana Zuboff

Just as Russians used American capitalism to consolidate their own power, Americans cooperated with the Russian oligarchy with the same purpose—in the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, for example.
—Timothy Snyder, The Road To Unfreedom (2018)
#usa #russia #oligarchy #capitalism #trump

Whereas workers paid an increasing tax burden through payroll taxes, corporations and wealthy families saw theirs drop by half or more. Even as the percentage of income and wealth at the top of the American distribution increased, the percentage of tax expected from the most fortunate decreased.
—Timothy Snyder, The Road To Unfreedom
#usa #capitalism #oligarchy #tax