Step 1. Enjoy your life
In our thinking, one of the most effective steps that one can take towards a greater consciousness, (and hopefully class consciousness) is taking steps to enjoy your life. You might think that sounds silly, but stay with me. Especially here in the US, one of the things that systems of capital (employers, landlords, Jeff Bezos) try to instill in us is the idea that a lot if not all of our waking time should be devoted to being productive, especially in ways that take your labor and turn your time into money in their pocket, like selling the products of your labor. Not only can this make you feel atomized and stressed, it devalues labor like child care or doing good in your community. Half the point of this blog is how to fight this demoralizing cesspool, so let’s get into it- how can enjoying my time fight the consolidation of wealth in the world? Here are some of our ideas:
Take a deep breath. Really, truly take a deep breath. At this moment, air is probably still provided at no cost to you, the consumer. Have a little moment of clarity to reflect to yourself at the absurdity of late capitalization. Do this enough, and maybe instead of the impostor in your world they want you to feel like, you’ll feel like an infilitrator, which is way more fun.
Take up a hobby. I love caring for my garden and bonsai trees, and the garden gives me fresh food at the end of the day. I also love printmaking, and both hobbies mean I can give really cool and handmade gifts to friends and family. Spend a few dollars at a local art supply store, nursery, book store etc. They usually have super knowledgeable staff who are part of your community, and if you play your cards right, they can be future comrades. Capitalists really hate when you spend your productive hours not creating capital for them, so when you’re proud of whatever project you finished, also be proud that you didn’t do it for some employer.
Volunteer. Find a campaign in your community you care about that’s helping to re-distribute wealth or power, or clean up a natural area to remove the detritus of overproduction. Find if your area has a Democratic Socalists of America chapter, they can give you info about campaigns doing good for your community that you can contribute time to. Again, capitalists don’t like it if you use your time to do something besides make them money.
Spend time with your family and friends. One of the things that capital actively tries to do is atomize you, to make you feel like you’re alone in life, and if you’re having trouble, it’s you to blame, especially financially. Not only does that negate their role in creating a system designed to make people fail, it makes you feel terrible, and pushes you to work more than you should for less than you deserve. Spending time with your family and friends reminds you that most people are in the same boat as you, a starting point to developing your burgeoning class conciousness. And as always, doing work like cooking for a group, or telling a good story to make people laugh is another way to do work that someone can’t exploit for their financial gain.
To summarize, what we want you to walk away with is a sense that even though our system is geared currently to extract your labor to make someone else money, doing work for yourself that can’t be exploited is an easy starting point to resist that system. In the words of Eugene V Debs to the court sentencing him for speaking up against World War One: “I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.” So let’s have fun, resist the system and enjoy a bit of our day.
