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"We need to take it by force" does not necessarily follow "They won't give up power voluntarily". People with civil war fantasies need to have a sit down and have a long fucking think about what that implies. What we need to do is revive a culture of labor solidarity that we've allowed to wither since the heyday of labor unions in the country.
eat the rich.
One billionare showing up publicly lynched or drawn and quartered will get the rest in line. If not, two or three dozen more will do the trick.
Yall realize many of the rights we have as laborers now we're won with force... Right?
Like, yes collective bargaining, labor solidarity, etc. is super important (which is also a form of force) but there were literal armed conflicts between laborers and the police on behalf of companies.
I'm not saying we need a civil war, but let's not pretend we won our rights today without bloodshed.
Edit: Left out a key word, whoops.
I’m saying we need a civil war, but let’s not pretend we won our rights today without bloodshed.
Oh, I didn't mean it like that. More that using force as the tool of overthrow is fundamentally a mistake. Obviously in any sufficiently powerful labor movement there will, inevitably, be those who attempt to use both legal and illegal force to disperse them. Force is thus necessary to defend the other processes of labor solidarity - forming unions, protests, strikes, lockouts, etc.
Many people, not all of them unreasonably, will side with the system in the case of a violent revolution, though. When a shooting war starts, you can't un-shoot the bullet once you realize the death toll will reach the millions - it will be carried on to its gruesome end, and that may not be to a left-wing victory.
For those who think that a revolution would have overwhelming popular support, for God's sake, a third of the country still believes nonwhite and LGBT folk are inferior, and another third doesn't fucking care. Supporting a violent leftist overthrow is not gonna be on the agenda for them, no matter how much theory you've read and how solid your arguments about their exploitation are. The last third will be difficult to convince - not unreasonably, considering the value placed on democratic ideals and processes.
And the situation is similar, if less severe, in other developed countries at this time.
Fwiw I did mean to say, "I'm not saying we need a civil war." Though, honestly, I'm not saying we don't either. It just wasn't really the point I was trying to make in that moment.
I think I more or less agree with you though. Violence is not necessarily my first choice, but it's naive to think the opposition will listen without it. Or at the very least the threat of it.
The reality is that our power structures heavily favor the owning class, and they're not going to hand over that power laying down. Collective action and such is of course the first step, but as you mentioned force will be used to dispurse labor movements.
And they're definitely willing to use force to protect their entrenchment. If you've got a different way to get power back please start working on it now because we're running out of time to do anything other than kill them all.
We might not seek violence, but it’s coming for us if we organize in any way that has a chance to succeed. The history of the last century has been violent crackdowns on labor organizing. From Pinkertons and cops at home to CIA coups and full on military blockades abroad.
We do need to get everyone organized for anything to happen, but we do have to be ready for when that crackdown comes for us.
And yeah. That’s fucking terrifying and I’m pessimistic enough to not really think we have that much of a shot at winning. But it’s wishful thinking to imagine that we could get to the future we want just by playing nice within the system that’s keeping us here.
Yeah it's like... they've got a boot on your neck and you're worried about you hurting them? Where's your worry about the people they're hurting right now?
Aside from that, revolutionary goals don't even require violence per se. If the people who set this shit up would recognize the will of the people and step aside there's no need for violence, but you know they're gonna fight to their last breath to keep the power to hurt and control others. The violence is starting with them.
We don't need a civil war, we need to kill the billionaires
If you think that happens without a civil war, you haven't been paying attention.
Force doesn't necessarily imply bloodshed, but forcing them to give up what they have against their will definitely implies force - I think we're well beyond the point of simple persuasion.
If there is hope, wrote Winston, it lies in the proles. If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there in those swarming disregarded masses, 85 per cent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated. The Party could not be overthrown from within.
I have watched so many video essays that I read "but Zoe" in the voice of Zoe Bee
Me listening to Democracy Now (fast fwding the constant global rape during war) taking little man to school while he reads in the back... Ignoring me as I ramble about all collar people being the working people, standing by unions, and rising tides.
Same vibes as this lil guy:
