The first rule of a successful abuse of power is to make people too busy trying to survive to worry about what your policies are

Why would I want to read some crusty old dude that is outdated?

Political theory has moved on since Marx yet people still cling to him like a religion (like a cult).

Do you have a good starting point? I have a rudimentary understanding of Marxism, but not much in the way of details.

Good idea. Read about a hypothetical economic theory that is impossible to implement unless everyone become obedient to a small group of elitist while pretending the people are in control. I’m sure you’ll get it right this time

That’s the cool part about the struggle against capitalism: Workers’ labor and consciousness of how it is used and and withheld is the single most powerful tool within this locus of control, as said labor is the very foundation of the economic system. And the most cost-and-time-effective and reliable acts within this locus to reasonably change circumstances such as better pay and conditions are also the most effective ways of challenging capital itself, like unionizing and organizing direct action with a wider group to support you and together shoulder the burden and the associated risks of daring to raise your head against your masters.

It works double as a prime tool for furthering class-consciousness and class-solidarity (which capitalists already have with each other when push comes to shove). Which then makes continuance of this, and the spreading of this knowledge, capability, inspiration to other shops even easier. From experience, this costs much less time, effort, and spirit, and is much better at solidifying and maintaining better conditions (and not just for yourself but for everyone), than hurling yourself individually into the carousel-blender of endless additional gig work while everyone else is also made to do that individually, forever, in isolation from each other and utter hope-death, which helps this all perpetuate itself.

I’ve seen it happen where just the mere fact of a union vote being filed and date set results in an instant pay raise among discussion from bosses of “We’re a family though! This will put others between us and things won’t stay friendly! MUH OPEN-DOOR POLICY!! BUT WHAT ABOUT UNION DUES!?!” Granted, I’ve also seen it where bosses just close down that shop-branch and reopen elsewhere (sometimes under a new name to avoid legal ramifications for blatant union-busting) because they’re so disgustingly rich and so scared of other branches catching wind and joining in, that it is deemed less costly than simply recognizing the will of their workers. So there is risk to be considered, hence the need to build awareness and solidarity among a wider organized group and in your community (and definitely also other branches/departments of your company, but with the care that it’s harder to know who to trust in the early stages than among direct coworkers. Punishment for union-advocacy may be illegal, that doesn’t mean the bosses won’t try to find ways to do it if they don’t think you’ve the support to make them pay for it).

But the defeatist and false, purely bourgeois-implanted notion that the only thing within one’s locus of control as a worker is to sell yourself HARDER and make capitalists RICHER in the race-to-the-bottom death-spiral of moribund capitalism is exactly how things get this bad and continue to for working people and oneself. Workers are in reality much more powerful (and more numerous) than the capitalists who require us. That is why they need us to think we have no other or better option, and poison the well to have us perpetuate our own and each others’ defeatism and compliance.

in short: Solidarity Forever

Yeah, but would a bot creatively insult you, you slack-jawed, basement-dwelling rat fondler?

Dunno why this is getting downvotes, I wholeheartedly agree. Engels does a great job of laying out in basic terms a lot of the common questions regarding Communism, its history, and its necessity. Great introductory text.