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Some leftists talk about a general strike like its the rapture. You need the ground work done. We've done none of the work broadly to make something like that feasible. Strikers need economic and legal leverage, they'd have basically none if they tried.
You have to walk before you run.
Anytime I see posts talking about a general strike I equate to "thoughts and prayers".
Yes, but also its worse. They are demanding people shoot themselves in the crotch and saying we're cowards for not shooting ourselves in the crotch.
A general strike would need to be huge to work. And yet we see folk bitching that the No Kings rallies "did nothing", as if.just getting America to stand up wasn't an accomplishment.
It may have been a accomplishment, but it was not even nearly enough. Nobody was impressed, least of all the fascists. If you want to hurt trump, hurt the moneys
And it's sentiment like this that makes it clear that the people clambering for people to "just do a general strike" or "just take up arms" have given no thoughts to how to do that without wasting the resources or lives of the people they demand take action. If you take part in union organizing, you learn that you have to make all of your attempts count, otherwise you're blowing your chances and making it harder in the future by alerting the bosses. Yes, you have to impact their money, but just like "vote with your wallet" is an empty phrase if there's no mass movement around a specific product/company, to actually deal with the structural issues that billionaires and the companies they represent present, individuals have to band together to create structures that can contend with them. Otherwise, it's just proposing individual actions to address structural problems, and that plays enough into the hands of these tyrants that they'll say that's the "right" way to deal with the problems they cause.
In the USA health insurance is tied to work; if you're fired "with cause" (like from general strike) you don't have health insurance or any "unemployment".
They don't make these laws without reason, they know what they're doing. The USA is a plutocracy designed to squash unions, and does a pretty good job of it
So this means you need to go all-in or simply watch it all burn from your couch. No in-betweens
Going on strike is a federally protected action. Anyone can join a strike. What's illegal is secondary strikes, which still happens all the time because unions know how to work around those capitalist laws
What does that matter? Feds break the their own law every day, trust me they won't stand up for people's rights to strike, are you kidding?
It's like "protests are federally protected". What they do is shove all of the protesters in a sidewalk cage, squished together. IF you're lucky.
It matters because we are the out group for which laws apply. The law is not just, but it's another tool on our side.
Laws only apply to the out group when it is convenient for those in power. If you get fired for a general strike I can guarantee you're gonna go through a legal process that is either completely unaffordable, or so long that the average American won't be able to live through it without losing housing or food.
A general strike requires organization, but US society is completely atomized.
Just want to pop in and thank all the trolls in this thread for pushing to the #1 active post three days after I created it. Give yourselves a hand 👏 👏👏 👏👏 👏👏 👏
Do a working class revolution
"The most vulnerable should pay for the revolution." People aren't just stupid, liberals have spent the last century implementing anti-popular-labour-action measures. A general strike would require people who cannot afford to survive to risk what little they have, mutual aid networks and consequences for those in positions of power must exist in order for that risk to be minimized.
I work in the care industry, my clients need support 24/7 and there are only so much staff around. Should I leave my clients to their own designs‽
If I "strike" i.e. don't go to work today, I won't get paid and I won't be able to buy food or pay my bills or survive, and I will die. And I suspect many other people have the exact same conundrum.
