Clarence Thomas has long tried to undercut the Voting Rights Act. Now, he may finally have the numbers
xyzzy @ xyzzy @lemmy.today Posts 0Comments 34Joined 2 wk. ago
xyzzy @ xyzzy @lemmy.today
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I hear you. I think the difference is that France has way more worker protections, strong and influential unions, a solid social safety net, and frankly a less ruthless government, so there's less fear of financial ruin for work stoppages.
Meanwhile, corporations in America keep the working poor as close to bonded slavery as they can get away with without pushing them over the edge to violence, though even that equilibrium is starting to shift based on worker attitudes I hear. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the federal government as well as state governments regularly sided with corporations over workers and murdered hundreds of them, and workers mostly lost or had their lives destroyed. The frequency of conflict finally resulted in union protections... like 50 years later. Now most of those protections have been unraveled, and many low-income workers are a few months of missed rent payments away from homelessness. If they lose their job, there will be a dozen people waiting to take that job right after. So asking for a general strike is asking people to face certain financial ruin for themselves and their families.
That said, to be honest, it's a wonder to me that there hasn't been more violence between workers and corporations. As they keep taking things away from the working poor, though, I think it's coming. The problem is that propaganda is so strong that the violence may be misdirected. Either way, worker retaliation leading to a wider conflict is one of the only avenues I can see for systemic change.
That or secession.