Over the past century and a half, capital has largely defanged demonstrations and strikes. Just because it worked a century ago doesn’t mean it is relevant today (and even then it was insufficient, given we still live in capitalism).
Thats very much inaccurate. General strikes and other riots have brought us most of the positive things we actually have. Capital is trying to „trumpwash“ the past to make it seem like its pointless.
Look at 250.000 people marching through germany this past weekend and nearly a million since beginning of the year.
I’m not saying strikes didn’t bring results, only that today they are less useful than they used to be. (perhaps largely as a result of their past effectiveness)
What will a million peaceful demonstrators achieve? Mostly nothing, or at best the lukewarming of a controversial law. Nowadays demonstrations are means of expression more than action, useful as a morale boost and social gathering for the movement mostly.
What can be defanged are people’s ability to do a strike. If people do it anyway, the effectiveness is no less today than it was a century ago. The issue is recent laws prohibiting certain types of strike actions and threatening gaol for those who engage in strikes, which can discourage solidarity. It makes striking a higher risk for the worker, but if they do it anyway, there’s no real way to get around the fact that the business needs workers to…well, work.
Over the past century and a half, capital has largely defanged demonstrations and strikes. Just because it worked a century ago doesn’t mean it is relevant today (and even then it was insufficient, given we still live in capitalism).
I think that people will get greedy (in the good sense) once you get a few successful strikes done.
Thats very much inaccurate. General strikes and other riots have brought us most of the positive things we actually have. Capital is trying to „trumpwash“ the past to make it seem like its pointless.
Look at 250.000 people marching through germany this past weekend and nearly a million since beginning of the year.
I’m not saying strikes didn’t bring results, only that today they are less useful than they used to be. (perhaps largely as a result of their past effectiveness)
What will a million peaceful demonstrators achieve? Mostly nothing, or at best the lukewarming of a controversial law. Nowadays demonstrations are means of expression more than action, useful as a morale boost and social gathering for the movement mostly.
Strikes per se are not and cannot be defanged.
What can be defanged are people’s ability to do a strike. If people do it anyway, the effectiveness is no less today than it was a century ago. The issue is recent laws prohibiting certain types of strike actions and threatening gaol for those who engage in strikes, which can discourage solidarity. It makes striking a higher risk for the worker, but if they do it anyway, there’s no real way to get around the fact that the business needs workers to…well, work.