I think that it’s time we stopped putting the expectation on the working class to avoid violence while the ruling class and the state can use violence against us every single day.
I talked about what constitutes violence in another thread, but needless to say violence and the threat of violence is constantly used against us. Eviction, starvation, execution by police, denial of healthcare, denial of warmth and shelter, these are all kinds of violence that are used against the working class all the time. These things kill us, we die when we are evicted onto the street in the cold of winter. Or when our wages stagnate and we cannot afford food or healthcare. Or when some have disabilities and cannot produce endlessly for the ruling class. Those things cause death. Murder in its purest form.
We are systematically discouraged from perceiving them that way because if we did, we would see violence in return as justified. We have every right to riot against the conditions imposed upon us. We have every right to violently resist the rule of the state and the ruling class. I agree that assassination won’t fix the system because the system is broken all the way down to its foundations. Merely executing one billionaire won’t magically fix this. The ruling class will never give up their position within society, however. There are no conditions in which the ruling class will relinquish their capital or return any amount of power to the working class. For the sake of not breaking any rules of this community, I’ll end that thought there.
I will say that it’s super easy to say “someone else (not me) should assassinate these guys”. I think that’s the biggest gripe, that people are all too willing to volunteer other people to take the risks while themselves shying away. Either you personally are willing to take the advocated action or if you think “well for me, personally, the risk isn’t worth it”, well then maybe if it isn’t worth the risk to you, you should not be advocating that it is worth the risk to others.
if 10,000 people in a stadium are shouting “Fuck Shit Up! Fuck Shit Up!” it gives that 1/10000th person in the crowd -courage- perhaps even a primal ‘permission’ to ya know, Fuck Shit Up.
if an old lady is standing outside a burning building on the sidewalk and pointing up at a window says “someone should do something”, you wouldn’t start yelling at her to shut up and intellectualizing how she has no right to tell others what to do. in fact, you telling her that makes you worse than her. she’s at least encouraging action while you advocate…what? silence?
scolding others who SAY the right thing, because you’re unhappy they should DO the right thing (themselves) is peak hypocrisy/braindead logic and misapprehends basic group psychology and the nature of humans as social mammals that yes, god forbid, do need some encouragement from the crowd sometimes before taking action.
no one is volunteering anyone else… we’re telegraphing to the person who finally does take action that we approve of their decision to act.
I’m not calling for anyone to commit an assassination. I am ideologically justifying the use of violence to advance the working class struggle. I am pointing out the way violence is used against the working class by the ruling class and the state every single day.
I think that it’s time we stopped putting the expectation on the working class to avoid violence while the ruling class and the state can use violence against us every single day.
I talked about what constitutes violence in another thread, but needless to say violence and the threat of violence is constantly used against us. Eviction, starvation, execution by police, denial of healthcare, denial of warmth and shelter, these are all kinds of violence that are used against the working class all the time. These things kill us, we die when we are evicted onto the street in the cold of winter. Or when our wages stagnate and we cannot afford food or healthcare. Or when some have disabilities and cannot produce endlessly for the ruling class. Those things cause death. Murder in its purest form.
We are systematically discouraged from perceiving them that way because if we did, we would see violence in return as justified. We have every right to riot against the conditions imposed upon us. We have every right to violently resist the rule of the state and the ruling class. I agree that assassination won’t fix the system because the system is broken all the way down to its foundations. Merely executing one billionaire won’t magically fix this. The ruling class will never give up their position within society, however. There are no conditions in which the ruling class will relinquish their capital or return any amount of power to the working class. For the sake of not breaking any rules of this community, I’ll end that thought there.
I will say that it’s super easy to say “someone else (not me) should assassinate these guys”. I think that’s the biggest gripe, that people are all too willing to volunteer other people to take the risks while themselves shying away. Either you personally are willing to take the advocated action or if you think “well for me, personally, the risk isn’t worth it”, well then maybe if it isn’t worth the risk to you, you should not be advocating that it is worth the risk to others.
if 10,000 people in a stadium are shouting “Fuck Shit Up! Fuck Shit Up!” it gives that 1/10000th person in the crowd -courage- perhaps even a primal ‘permission’ to ya know, Fuck Shit Up.
if an old lady is standing outside a burning building on the sidewalk and pointing up at a window says “someone should do something”, you wouldn’t start yelling at her to shut up and intellectualizing how she has no right to tell others what to do. in fact, you telling her that makes you worse than her. she’s at least encouraging action while you advocate…what? silence?
scolding others who SAY the right thing, because you’re unhappy they should DO the right thing (themselves) is peak hypocrisy/braindead logic and misapprehends basic group psychology and the nature of humans as social mammals that yes, god forbid, do need some encouragement from the crowd sometimes before taking action.
no one is volunteering anyone else… we’re telegraphing to the person who finally does take action that we approve of their decision to act.
I’m not calling for anyone to commit an assassination. I am ideologically justifying the use of violence to advance the working class struggle. I am pointing out the way violence is used against the working class by the ruling class and the state every single day.