As the working class and unemployed, we are the victims of theft everyday. We continually live on the edge of survival, hoping that we may someday, through hard work and perseverance, achieve the simple dignity of security. At the same time, a few elites enjoy a life of luxury without worry for themselves or their children. It’s a vulgar arrangement that we all know to be unjust in which they gain their wealth. We spend precious hours of our lives working to produce all of the wealth of the world only to see it stolen with a pitiful portion returned to us in the form of wages. Poverty forced on the unemployed and homeless is needed by those in power to threaten working people into accepting this terrible deal.
This bleak state isn’t one that we have to endure forever. The incredible truth is that those of us that are the victims of this theft have much greater power than the thieves, if only we’d learn how to use it. Let’s begin by better understanding the tools of the elite so that we can build our power to create genuine change - our only real hope for a life that is more than meager survival.
The Great Theft
Many of us know the system that allows the rich to rob the poor – its capitalism! Capitalism is the foolish system that puts profit before people and promotes the ridiculous belief that if we compete against one another, it will create the greatest outcome for us all. Under this system, just a few people control massive amounts of property and wealth that make up our economy. These people own the factories, hotels, banks, shopping malls, etc. where we work. Unfortunately for them, simply owning a workplace doesn’t produce any wealth. People are needed to labor in that workplace. This group, the working class, is in a desperate situation- they have nothing but their labor to sell. Property owners use this desperation to make their money; and in order to survive, the worker will produce wealth for their new boss instead of themselves. As we work, we can see the real wealth we create. Service workers will put huge stacks of money into a register. Factory workers watch as the product of their labor is sold. Then, the boss will return a very small portion of the wealth we produced for him and call it our wage. The larger portion is kept and used to buy and control more property to create more wealth to steal from more workers and so on. This repulsive cycle maintains the power of the wealthy and forces more working people into wage slavery, where the great potential of our lives is lost.
Robbery Requires Threat
As all workers understand, working isn’t a choice. We are forced into working by a lifetime of constant threat. This threat is the “choice” between poverty, starvation and homelessness or wasting our days creating wealth for those at the top. And we know it isn’t an empty threat. We see crushing and brutal poverty around us all the time. These threats come from hundreds of fronts and we are constantly shown the reality of such threats. Will we be able to feed our children? Can we go to a hospital when we need? Could we end up homeless? How can we afford heating in winter? Can we educate ourselves and our children? These questions beat us like the waves of an incoming hurricane. We watch as our brothers and sisters get pulled under and drown until even those in the middle class are forced into constant fear that they may fall into the coming surge.
If the rich are to hold onto their armies of poor ready to work for their crumbs, this threat must be maintained. A certain level of poverty is required of any capitalist society. While we have won some advances to soften the blow of poverty, politicians and businessmen have worked together to ensure that services available for the poor don’t actually rid the world of poverty. We are purposefully deprived of the tools to empower ourselves and our communities to solve our own problems. Fearing independence from their system of theft, we are kept in a stasis of lifelong struggle.
Hope Begins Within
How long will this inequality exist for us? The answer is the same as it has always been: for as long as we permit it. We as common people throughout the world have a power of spirit that is anything but common. Facing a callous onslaught of insult and corruption from bankers, bosses and government lackeys, we still maintain pride and courage that brings us into the next day. Despite the forces of oppression that surround us, we fight to raise our families with optimism to see better days. In our dance, music, art, families, and friendships we see the great force of our common spirit.
If we ever hope to achieve a life of true equality, we need to understand that spirit alone will not move us forward. Common purpose and collective action are the foundations of social change. We as working people must realize individuals acting alone will not solve problems of poverty and exploitation. It’s working together in a common struggle that will free us all. Those of us in work need to organize ourselves into a labor movement, joining and actively participating in our unions. Those of us that are unemployed need to form our own organizations capable of truly destroying poverty. We need to join or form community organizations that will guarantee us quality housing, transportation, health care, education, and all of the other rights of a liberated people.
There is undeniable power in the hands of organized people. Especially, when those organizations are run democratically and aggressively pursue an uncompromising goal of absolute freedom and equality. These are the realistic first steps that we have to take on the course to future free from the theft of the bosses and the oppressive state that grants them power. As has always been the case, we will win what we are willing to fight for!
This bleak state isn’t one that we have to endure forever. The incredible truth is that those of us that are the victims of this theft have much greater power than the thieves, if only we’d learn how to use it. Let’s begin by better understanding the tools of the elite so that we can build our power to create genuine change - our only real hope for a life that is more than meager survival.
The Great Theft
Many of us know the system that allows the rich to rob the poor – its capitalism! Capitalism is the foolish system that puts profit before people and promotes the ridiculous belief that if we compete against one another, it will create the greatest outcome for us all. Under this system, just a few people control massive amounts of property and wealth that make up our economy. These people own the factories, hotels, banks, shopping malls, etc. where we work. Unfortunately for them, simply owning a workplace doesn’t produce any wealth. People are needed to labor in that workplace. This group, the working class, is in a desperate situation- they have nothing but their labor to sell. Property owners use this desperation to make their money; and in order to survive, the worker will produce wealth for their new boss instead of themselves. As we work, we can see the real wealth we create. Service workers will put huge stacks of money into a register. Factory workers watch as the product of their labor is sold. Then, the boss will return a very small portion of the wealth we produced for him and call it our wage. The larger portion is kept and used to buy and control more property to create more wealth to steal from more workers and so on. This repulsive cycle maintains the power of the wealthy and forces more working people into wage slavery, where the great potential of our lives is lost.
Robbery Requires Threat
As all workers understand, working isn’t a choice. We are forced into working by a lifetime of constant threat. This threat is the “choice” between poverty, starvation and homelessness or wasting our days creating wealth for those at the top. And we know it isn’t an empty threat. We see crushing and brutal poverty around us all the time. These threats come from hundreds of fronts and we are constantly shown the reality of such threats. Will we be able to feed our children? Can we go to a hospital when we need? Could we end up homeless? How can we afford heating in winter? Can we educate ourselves and our children? These questions beat us like the waves of an incoming hurricane. We watch as our brothers and sisters get pulled under and drown until even those in the middle class are forced into constant fear that they may fall into the coming surge.
If the rich are to hold onto their armies of poor ready to work for their crumbs, this threat must be maintained. A certain level of poverty is required of any capitalist society. While we have won some advances to soften the blow of poverty, politicians and businessmen have worked together to ensure that services available for the poor don’t actually rid the world of poverty. We are purposefully deprived of the tools to empower ourselves and our communities to solve our own problems. Fearing independence from their system of theft, we are kept in a stasis of lifelong struggle.
Hope Begins Within
How long will this inequality exist for us? The answer is the same as it has always been: for as long as we permit it. We as common people throughout the world have a power of spirit that is anything but common. Facing a callous onslaught of insult and corruption from bankers, bosses and government lackeys, we still maintain pride and courage that brings us into the next day. Despite the forces of oppression that surround us, we fight to raise our families with optimism to see better days. In our dance, music, art, families, and friendships we see the great force of our common spirit.
If we ever hope to achieve a life of true equality, we need to understand that spirit alone will not move us forward. Common purpose and collective action are the foundations of social change. We as working people must realize individuals acting alone will not solve problems of poverty and exploitation. It’s working together in a common struggle that will free us all. Those of us in work need to organize ourselves into a labor movement, joining and actively participating in our unions. Those of us that are unemployed need to form our own organizations capable of truly destroying poverty. We need to join or form community organizations that will guarantee us quality housing, transportation, health care, education, and all of the other rights of a liberated people.
There is undeniable power in the hands of organized people. Especially, when those organizations are run democratically and aggressively pursue an uncompromising goal of absolute freedom and equality. These are the realistic first steps that we have to take on the course to future free from the theft of the bosses and the oppressive state that grants them power. As has always been the case, we will win what we are willing to fight for!
