The Construction of a Communist Alex Gencarelli
Commie, Communist, Marxist, even Socialist, in our society today these terms operate as bad words, dirty words; words to hurl at a person as an insult or as an excuse to dismiss what someone is saying. They are words used to fear monger communities into believing it is the worst thing that could happen to a society. Used without actually knowing what it means, yet equated to places without democracy, without freedom, without personality and expression. When it’s used, it often works. People in personal conversations will erode into a cataclysm of defenses, abandoning the issue they themselves deemed important in order to prove their honor– that they’re not a dirty commie. In history, we could look to Germany and how communist fears assisted in the rise of fascism and the Nazi Party in 1933. After the Nazis gained power they swiftly eliminated any communist, sending their once biggest rivals to be the first to the concentration camps.. At that time Germans accepted fascism to be protected from becoming a communist nation. Today, in the United States, the media uses these words to grab attention from their viewers. The right will throw it at the left as the traditional insult, and to remind the public there could be no worse fate for our nation. The left will deny any thoughts of ever one day associating with such a despicable platform. Communists themselves, the few of us that are out there, often enjoy the look on the face of a Republican or Democrat when they proudly reveal they are, not so secretly, a dirty Communist them self. They are what is so feared and hated, they exist even here. They aren’t spies sent to America from Russia, but instead just regular Americans. Americans that were raised in our broken, divided country, that provides only the crumbs and promises of a great nation for all, but repeatedly fails to follow through with actions. Although there are few of us, our numbers are rising, something the media utilizes to sow dread. Headlines including what’s wrong with young people these days and why young people often don’t vote at all. They request us to stop poking holes in the grand illusion of the American Dream; to fall in line with the two-headed party system. We’re told our unhappiness with the system is our own fault, something inherently wrong with us and our work ethic. We are told to close our eyes to systemic problems like racism. We are to either choose to believe it doesn’t exist at all, or it is something that only needs a performative acknowledgment every few years, maybe a one time donation. At times we are even told speaking of the flaws in our society, our country, shows we hate our country. We should love it or leave it (how dare we enlighten others of flaws and demand real change). Communist ideologies are growing because we are tired of pretending certain things don’t exist, and others will get better. We are tired of the individualistic sociopathy
that is needed to strive only for ourselves, and the lack of empathy for those struggling. We are tired of all the blind eyes; including from caring people we know. The people who agree: children in cages are awful, racism exists, sexual harassment is prevalent, climate change is undeniable. Yet they feel there is nothing they can do. They would rather not talk about it all the time as it’s too depressing. Unfortunately, change doesn’t happen easily, change demands effort. If we are to fix the problems we face in this country it must be at a systemic level. We have to get uncomfortable and try things that we haven’t before. We have to stop using communism and socialism as bad words, and defeat the belief that any idea stemming from their ideologies is to be feared. We have to start believing that a great nation for all is possible, but not without effort. Being a kind, empathetic person that believes in equity I would like to believe that I always saw how communism could be used to help all people, but I myself grew up learning to fear the word. My first step was to acknowledge the rot of capitalism. There are many people that can see, and even critique, the problems of capitalism itself, but stop there. Never providing alternatives or ways to fight this rot that’s at the core of our society. The fear of communism may still be beaten into them, fearful of change itself, or losing something identified as intrinsic to themselves Like most people, my disillusionment with capitalism did not come all at once. Perhaps it started in grade school, when I was first introduced to communism as the antithesis of capitalism. My teacher, after saying the word, tried to explain its meaning. She used two students as examples; giving one many scraps of paper and asking us to imagine them as something valuable. She said that communism meant that the one student would give some of the paper to the other so they would both have what they needed. She was explaining the idea of sharing. The class agreed that it was positive. She then said that, although it does look positive, that it was “unfair” because it could lead to the one student that started out without any paper to never find a way to make or create their own. She asked us to imagine that the entire class needed this paper and to imagine that all of us were just expecting to receive it from the one student that had it without doing anything. She then asked if it still sounded positive. The class was slow to say anything but she assured us that the right answer was no. Of course, she never thought to ask why one child had all the paper to begin with. In high school, my disillusionment continued when I was over a friend’s house. I can’t remember what her parents did, but they had a beautiful, big home furnished with beautiful things. We were going through her makeup collection, looking at what new things she bought to try out. She mentioned that she wished she could have more, and wished things didn’t cost money. She then announced that she changed
her mind because if things really didn’t cost money, anyone could have them and she didn’t want everyone to be able to have the things she did. In college I was able to escape my small town, but its sheltered ideas did not leave me. I proclaimed myself a Democrat, unlike the family I came from, hoping that would be enough to wash myself of my own misgivings. I looked forward to voting. I enjoyed learning more about the world through philosophy and sociology classes, and began questioning our society more, particularly how it functioned. There were many obvious flaws, yet nothing was done to fix them in a meaningful way. I was also introduced to new problems in my life that I didn’t experience before, other than in the abstract. I had to evaluate and redefine terms society previously provided me with. I realized that things did not always exist in the big dramatic ways played out on tv, but in more common, subtle ways. This idea in itself is something that consumed my thoughts for years. I know that capitalism, assisted by the patriarchy, is to blame. For so long I was taught to fear or praise the ideas, beliefs, and terrors that were most sellable. The scary man creeping in the bushes waiting for his next target to walk through the patch of darkness. I was never told to fear my peers who were smiling wide in the light of day yet filled with quests for power fueled by sexism. The idea of capitalism itself is one of these Hollywood sellable stories. The idea that anyone can go from rags to riches with enough hard work, dedication, and skill. The stories of the one or two that make it are the ones praised. The underhanded, unsaid comment is that the ones that fail are unworthy of success and should have tried harder. The small stories are overlooked. (The ones we hear but do not praise. In a society that only rewards the wealthiest, and the ones with the most lucrative job titles.) We hear about the person who works 12 hours a day and is barely getting by, but what could we do? Maybe they should have gone to school or got a more “valuable” degree? The gestures of racism, sexism and homophobia are bad but “small” in the grand scheme of things. We can’t help it if our society values conformity. It all gets better in time. Just be patient, and focus on the positives. As my patience wears thin I think back to my grade school teacher and her thoughts on what was unfair for those who possess all the power. She had us worried about the class where no one had any paper, but what of the class where one person held all the paper and would never part with it? When I left the comforts of the education system, somewhere I always felt comfortable and strived in, I had to face the new challenges of the real world. I now had to be able to advocate for myself instead of relying on someone noticing my hard work on their own. I struggled with this as I have always been a very introverted
person who doesn’t like talking about my own achievements. I moved back in with my parents, like most people I knew, and tried to find work. I was set on finding a job in graphic design, which is what my degree was in, but I struggled to find anything. My program focused on print design specifically, however most job postings wanted designers with web design and sometimes even coding skills, things I didn’t learn myself. I saw peers of mine who studied a variety of subjects struggle in their own ways as well. Some of them ended up going back to school for a more “practical” degree, often something in health care where they imagined there would always be a job. Others took jobs in unrelated fields to what they studied, some found jobs through family or friend connections. I didn’t want to give up on my goal of working in a creative field and continued struggling despite receiving honors for all my semesters in college, and being the commencement speaker for the visual arts program. I was unemployed and it was a mix of humiliating and depressing. I realized the idea of the person who enjoys not working or looking for an excuse not to work is a myth. I felt unfulfilled. Prior to this, time off had a completely different feeling. My friends would also be off, or we had part time jobs we had the luxury of not taking seriously. A job we didn’t have to think about (when not there) other than to complain about, as it was a means for extra spending cash as opposed to a necessity. When you have “time off” that isn’t taken by choice but because of unemployment you don’t feel lucky; you don’t feel like you have time or ability to do new things. The feeling of failure eats away at you so much that you feel too guilty to use time to do things for a pure enjoyment standpoint. You question if you were ever good at what you do. You feel that everyone else is better than you. Finding a job and avoiding feeling like this forever is always in the back of your mind. You want to finally feel fulfilled again, like you’re doing something. The world in general will make you feel awful for not having a job. When you’re already disappointed yourself, and if that’s not enough, even those closest to you start to judge and question how you became a failure. In a society that defines us almost solely by our career how can we define ourselves without one? During this time I did however get closer to my mom. In high school we had a strained relationship, but in college it got better with the bit of distance. Regardless, there was still a lot I didn’t understand about her. She is a stay-at-home mom to five kids with more traditional views which often caused conflict. Being unemployed at home, I was forced to fully notice all the work she did around the house that went unacknowledged. I ended up helping her with different parts of it and my labor too went unnoticed. I would clean up the mess other family members left in their wake. I made and prepared food so everyone could have quick and healthy snacks or meals
ready. I would help my youngest sister with her homework, among other tasks. If I complained and asked a sibling to change something that made more work for myself, I was told that I should find a “real” job if I didn’t like it. They were the ones working when I “got” to just stay at home all day. It seemed to me that although the people in my household liked having things done in the house for them, no one saw it as a valued form of labor. Childcare and domestic work is real labor, and our society should value it. Stay-at-home parents are often dismissed and are looked at as if they don’t have a job, but that is untrue. Being a stay-at-home parent, however, needs privilege to exist. A family has to be able to “make” enough money to allow one of its members to work as a caretaker for: their children, elderly parents, and their home. In the past, there was a larger middle class that was able to function this way if they chose. Due to wage labor and its slow increases, families often are not given the choice to allow a member to “stay at home” anymore. Many families, in order to cling to the middle class values they grew up with, need both people to have paid positions. When having an established child care routine seems impossible to achieve they’ll take on debt to manage. The dismissal and idea that domestic work is not valued enough to receive compensation, stems from womxn “traditionally” taking on this role and the overall devaluing and objectification of womxn by society. Only men “worked” after all. Our dismissal of childcare is under scrutiny because of the current pandemic. Many families can not afford to pay for childcare year round, need two incomes to survive, or are a single parent. They don’t have full time assistance outside of the family therefore they rely on public schools as childcare. Due to our core survival being tied to paychecks we became willing to push schools to open again. In our country we must always remain fearful of losing our job above even physical health. We are willing to ignore the growing number of death and potential life-long morbidities and co-morbidities arising after diagnosis. We convince ourselves it could never happen to our child, or in our school, or to our child’s teacher. Our jobs become our only lifeline and ability to participate in society. We become willing to take other risks to uphold the jobs that are keeping the rest of our lives together. Even if we need to ignore new facts and data. Even if we need to risk the lives of ourselves, our neighbors, or even our children. We need our jobs to be able to purchase food and shelter. They become our life instead of supplementing our lives and our community. We no longer work to live, but rather we live to work. A communist society is not a utopian society where no one does any labor and everything is provided, rather a society where all labor is valued as important. Where the needs of the community as a whole are assessed. All people then come together to guarantee society continues
to function and run smoothly, instead of demanding the poor and desperate to do the brute work while the net worth of billionaires doubles from the safety of their third (completely paid off) home. During my time unemployed, my mom told me that my uncle was talking to his friend who offered to help me. Pending an interview, she would give me a job in the client services department of a collection agency (she was either president or vice) as she was short staffed at the time. In a few months, if I proved to be a decent worker, she would help me find a more creative job through a friend of hers that worked in marketing or advertising. She might even know of someone needing a designer! I said I was interested in meeting her. I had to print out my resume and go over to her house that night. It was viewed as an honor to even meet her. My older sister was told to come with me in case she knew anyone that could help her as well. My uncle would do odd jobs for her, and he would talk about how she was wealthy, powerful, and giving. I took the job immediately when offered, feeling hopeful that in a few months I could finally be where I wanted to be. Working in the creative field, somewhere. She didn’t tell me much about her friend, or the other place of business, but the promise of creative work was enough for me. I learned about my new job. It was a collection agency for medical bills. Our department was to communicate with the financial departments of doctors and hospitals and confirm the action of putting people in and out of collections was streamlined. I was told I was a fast learner and praised for my work. The longer I was there, the more the boss praised me and made me feel essential, and the less I felt welcomed about asking about the other job. As for the boss, she never brought up that other creative job again. If you think a now-communist working in any part of a collection agency is ironic, I assure you it is. I can’t say I ever enjoyed my time working there, with the exception of interacting with my coworkers. I never believed in the ideas behind a collection agency Working for one that focused on medical bills only worsened my opinion of them. Many of the people in collections were for unpaid co-payments, some of which were in-fact already paid, but the hospital or doctor’s office lost their record. If those patients kept their receipts from years ago, they could fax the receipt to get out of collections. Like most people, I never kept my receipts from such things longer than a tax season, if at all. However, after working there I started saving all medical receipts in case five years down the line I need to prove my payments. Worse was seeing notes (left by a collector) on a person’s account when they couldn’t afford to pay. They were often worried about their credit score and would agree to payment plans despite the financial strains it would cause. Credit reporting is a treacherous
thing. Putting value on people and limiting what they can and can not have, even if it is a human need, and establishing worth on their ability to provide “enough” money in a timely manner. Although credit reporting was supposed to have a minimum to start at, I saw frequent complaints of people who had a forgotten $10 copay as the reason for credit reporting, which prohibited them from buying a home until resolved. Healthcare is something that is a human right, something all people should be able to access regardless of their personal wealth. However, in our country, it is used against people, and bankrupts others, to reinforce the wealth of the health insurance companies. Co-workers tried to change my perception. They would pull one case out of the many thousands in our system to show me. I still do not understand how health insurance billing works, however there are (or at least were) instances when a doctor is out of network and insurance sends the patient or subscriber the money directly instead of to the doctor’s office or hospital. It was explained that this is often confusing for the patient themselves and at times they spend the money assuming it’s theirs from some overpayment. Most of the time, if they deposited it and spent it on something other than the medical bill, it wasn’t a big deal. People would pay the bill when they realized their mistake. However, my coworkers would bring up this one “bad guy” trying to cheat the system. They explained that this person got a surgery and then had something like $15K sent to him. He spent that money instead of paying the hospital. Afterwards he couldn’t afford to pay the bill. It was never known what he spent the money on, but that didn’t stop negative speculation. It wasn’t imagined that he had some other dire situation occurring at the same time. Instead they wondered if he even needed the surgery. Maybe he knew this would happen. He filed for bankruptcy as a scam to get out of paying. He put his house under his daughter, not to avoid losing a place to live, but as part of the long-con. I don’t know if this person was actually trying to “scam the system” or someone just down on their luck. In a situation so dire they didn’t want to think about the ramifications of spending some mystery money once it arrived. I’m not sure how many people were sent to our collection agency, and I never had the urge to find out. To my eyes it was thousands and thousands, and this was just the one man pulled out of all of them. He was used as the example of why we were needed, why we were really the good guys, we had to instill justice against all the surgery scammers out there. The enemy was the man with nothing, the child that doesn’t have their own paper, not the ones with all the material wealth. The boss often told me how much she valued me. She would tell me how smart I was and how thankful she was that I was there. However, that value was not resembled in my wages. They paid me the minimum amount I would accept based on my previous
history. My last job was a paid design internship in college, paying $10 an hour to design pop-up ads, therefore that is what I received there as well, no benefits included. Eventually I asked for a raise and was given $12 an hour. I assumed that was pretty good as it was decently more than New Jersey’s minimum wage at the time ($8.25), and felt I couldn’t ask for more. I didn’t have rent, or food to pay for, since I was living with my parents, yet I was never able to increase my savings. I had credit card debt, and was taking continuing education classes in web design. My pay was enough to cover the classes and the expenses that came with them, and some other general expenses, but not enough to make a significant dent in my credit card debt. If I wasn’t living with my parents and/or had to pay for rent, or for food, I wouldn’t have been able to take any class at all. Even then I would have needed a roommate and I definitely couldn’t afford to live in the same town as my parents. At that time it would have been hard to get by despite being $4 above minimum wage. As society fights over a new minimum wage of $15 an hour, I still don’t see how a single person in our society would be able to provide beyond survival for themselves, let alone support children. People should not be forced to live in areas filled with pollution or unsanitary conditions because it is all they can afford. Labors should be valued regardless of the type of work they do as all of it contributes to our society. A $15 minimum wage is still too low for many parts of our country. The fight for $15 has been going on so long that it now needs to be the fight for $25. During my time there the company expanded. I helped train three new full-time employees, all of which seemed to come from middle class backgrounds, all given the job because of someone they knew, like myself. I came up with new training tools and methods which were comprehensive and allowed workers to learn the skills at a faster rate than when I was trained. However, I would eventually find out that I was getting paid less than some of these new employees, if not all of them. Not because they were better at the job, and they obviously weren’t working there longer than me, but because capitalism needs to be able to exploit its laborers in order to thrive. It pays the lowest amount possible to each worker which is often based off of that worker’s past jobs and wages. They then instill in us that it is rude to disclose our wages and salaries with other workers to guarantee we stay naive to how the system is functioning. They don’t want us to find out each other’s wages and realize who is making a livable amount and who is not. We would all demand that amount then and their sacred profits would decrease. This allows workers that in the past had lower paid jobs to continue being paid less than other employees even when they change industries or careers. This is why even smart, hardworking, people who start their careers taking low paying jobs (often the only ones available
as they lack the “connections” for other jobs, or can not afford to take a non-paid internship) continue being underpaid throughout their lives. Womxn are underpaid because “traditionally” they were not the “breadwinner” of a family, and therefore do not need as much. This false narrative exists in the collective unconsciousness of society. These binary gender assignments were created to reinforce the capitalist narrative and harm all genders. The time womxn take off work to recover from giving birth, or if they dare decide to take off even longer than maternity leave, is held against them. It is presumed womxn either do not care about their job as much as a man, or men do not care about their children as much as womxn. When womxn step out of the workforce for a prolonged period of time, as childcare and parent care often falls on them, the wages they left the workforce receiving are what they will receive when they return, despite the job and despite inflation. That is if they can even find a job willing to accept them. They are seen as less professional for being out of the “workforce” for an extended period of time. Their labor at home was not real labor, nor did it teach them any new, valuable skills that could be used on the job. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are made to feel that it is a privilege to merely be “invited” into a workplace and if they dare speak up are labeled a “problem”, or a “trouble-maker” looking to start “something”. The “race-card” is used against BIPOC to keep them quiet and complacent. It is a distraction to hide and dismiss the racism entrenched in society, Used as an attempt to gaslight BIPOC from identifying racism after being regarded as suitable for the job. BIPOC that are womxn have multiple challenges in receiving adequate compensation. Our acceptance of low pay is not because we don’t value ourselves, or our labor, nor is it because it’s not hard work. It is because low wages have become normalized. We are told to be grateful for whatever we get. We are told to just take it and go because the fight for more would be too long and strenuous of a process. One that will leave you with even less time for any life you want to have outside of work. When I found out the person I was training to potentially replace me was making $14 an hour, $2 more than myself, I was pretty upset. Despite this fact, my boss would pull me aside to praise me, exclaiming that (besides the people there over 5 years) I was her “best” worker, how fast and problem solving I was, how I’m a great person, and how much she liked me, but she wasn’t paying me as such. She didn’t like me, she liked that I was increasing her profits faster than other employees, at a cheaper rate. After finding out the amount this potential employee-in-training was making, I tried to find out the hourly rates of the 3 other employees I trained. One said that he was paid pretty “well”, but then didn’t disclose the amount after I disclosed my $12 an hour. The other two also wouldn’t say.
Capitalists don’t want workers discussing salaries and wages. They don’t want us talking to one another and they especially do not want us forming unions, making demands, and standing together. Instead a capitalist will act like a friend, telling you that if you have any concerns to come straight to them. Even when not acting like a friend they try to assure you the best means of solving a problem is through the company or business itself. They ensure this process continues all the way down, training each person to act like a capitalist, and to protect the capitalist’s wealth, despite not being one themselves. Instilling into our community that the boss and your spouse are the only people to talk to about your salary or wages. I’ve been told not to trust unions; that they don’t have my best interests at heart, or I’ll have less money overall. Unions fight for the laborer. Capitalism functions because only a few have the resources to gain capital and wealth. They do not want to pay you a fair amount, and definitely not the actual profits you are making the company. Your boss (even when not the capitalist owning the means of the company’s production) has been so brainwashed themselves they put the needs of the company, or its CEO, above all. When employees muster the courage to talk to them, despite fears of losing their job, a boss will do what their boss did to them, and what the capitalists do to all. They talk you out of your concerns essentially gaslighting your requests or providing some lack luster reform that doesn’t solve the underlying issue but shuts you up long enough for your complacency to grow. After working there for a bit, I decided I wanted to apply for graduate school to study photography. “Worth it” or not I always had the dream to study art at an “art school”. Besides, the alleged benefit of a capitalist society is that it allows us to pursue our dreams. I shifted to taking continuing education classes in photography. Although I studied graphic design in undergrad it was a path I came to this choice as a compromise with my parents. Since high school I wanted to be a photographer, or moreso an artist. My parents did not go to college themselves. For them, the idea of going to college in general was still a big deal, let alone to pay money to study art, which they knew was not a profitable career. I was their child that most easily succeeded at school. They wanted me to follow one of my other interests like the human body and go into the medical field. Eventually we compromised that I would go to a liberal arts school, and that I would study graphic design, which was seen as the most practical artistic medium. I did well in my design classes and saw the value of design. It has the power to engage and inform the public, however I wasn’t fond of how most designers have to operate for work. Designers often are serving a business or work for a client in need of a certain service, often to help sell something to consumers. When I could not find a job doing something I considered my second
choice, and was currently working at an office job whose purpose didn’t align with my beliefs or goals at all, I decided it was worth the risk to chase my fullest dreams. I wanted to make art about expression which stemmed from myself in a personal way which could connect with others in an impactful manner. Work not made to sell itself, but to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings. I allowed myself this chance. This chance in itself is a privilege not afforded to many. Even though my parents weren’t helping me pay for this degree, as they did the last, I knew that if I had to I could count on them for housing and food. I also knew they weren’t depending on me to help provide for the family. The ability to study within the arts is in itself a privilege not accessible to many. Since our society is concerned with capital gains first, the idea of making something that might not be sellable or mass produced, doesn’t make sense. A capitalist does not care about their workers expressing their emotions or ideas through writing, visuals, or sounds. They care about profit. They care about you making them money. Unless they can own, commercialize, expand, and sell what you do they do not see the value. They drill these beliefs into the masses. The art they can sell, they will tell all consumers they need, however, art for creating art is different. Sure they find enjoyment and entertainment from some art they deem worthy, but they reserve such things as their entitlements to enjoy. They tell us they’re the ones that know what art is, and to experience it, we have to pay them first. They’ll own the museum, create a price of admission, and collect what they find interesting even if they have to pillage to get it, and then claim it’s worthy. Since they have all the power they can collect the works they want to establish as valuable, dismissing the rest to ensure not everyone could pick up a brush. It becomes established that art is an after work hobby or for children. The rest of us should be working and consuming. To go against these established thoughts of our society therefore shows privilege. A person needs to have their basic needs met before considering creating things our society does not put value upon and does not support financially. Art also requires the privilege of having time to practice, as even naturally artistic people need to practice to build their craft. Even when we are given the privilege of considering art as a career path, when money is viewed as success, most people will not pursue a field deemed not lucrative by society. Although I grew up drawing and always being interested in art and creating, I wasn’t taught how to look or think about art until college. In grade school, art was taught on a spectrum of natural talent rather than required practice and as a way of delivering messages. Perhaps when learning the technical skills, people end up forgetting about how they used it as a child: as a form of expression. Consequently, they believe the
purpose of art is to show technical abilities alone. They turn their backs to art when they believe technical skills are all it’s about, and they can’t make their visuals how “it’s supposed to look”. By not expanding art education to connect with children in ways where they learn about the meaning that is behind art, that art is something for anyone to create, not just those with representational drawing skills, it becomes the first limitation in ensuring there are not too many artists. When well meaning teachers cover art history, it is also done in a way that doesn’t connect with most students. Instead of an investigation into how art was used previously to share information, impact historical movements, and how artists are working today, it is presented as busy work through a scholastic magazine. I’ve witnessed the dismissal of the art world repeatedly, often on a daily basis. This dismissal serves the capitalist and further divides the working class. In college, my peers would repeatedly tell me I wasn’t getting a “real” degree like they were. Often assuming I wasn’t smart enough to major in another subject; art was the easy way to get a degree. They would make fun of visual art in general, fixating on modern and contemporary art, believing it was empty and things anyone could do. Once seeing I did well in other subjects, they would mock my overall stupidity for studying what they considered a hobby. A friend in my dorm challenged me to a drawing competition, that would be voted on afterwards, to prove he had more natural talent than myself. He had the wherewithal to acknowledge no smart person would ever choose to make that their career. In my past dating life, I constantly had men ask me what I “really” was going to do, how I expected to make money, and I remember their looks of confusion. Friends now will make jokes, asking how choosing art turned out for me. If I ever have any doubts about how society values artists, I only need to turn to the internet, where the disdain for artists and people seeking “non practical degrees” is evident. Like most people, they were never taught to value the ideas behind art and therefore only look at it as the production of pretty things. They looked at it through a capitalist lens. A lens where if they didn’t understand it, or it didn’t look good enough for them to buy, it was worthless. As I continued taking classes in photography while working, I knew I needed to put in more time than the tired hours after work and weekends. I really wanted this, and I knew I had to make stronger work if I wanted to get into a graduate school. At the time my ADHD was still undiagnosed. Between juggling work, continuing ed classes, and researching programs I didn’t have enough time or proper time management. As I already knew I would be in a lifetime of debt afterwards, why not start a bit early? I still had the privilege of living with my parents rent free and having food provided.
I wanted to take time off in order to take additional classes, start an internship with a photographer, and prepare. I decided to put in my notice of leave. I was asked to give three weeks notice instead of the standard two. The next day I was approached and pulled aside into the conference room with the boss and that office’s manager. I was asked to reconsider, and stay on at least part time, and would get a raise to $14 an hour. I was told I was still valuable to the company and the three newer employees were still finding their footing. They were concerned the company could fall behind on proficiency. It was a strange situation with people that act like your friends, but are considered superiors. They were asking for a favor, they needed my help. The boss was a family friend, she often helps out my uncle, it would have been rude to say no. I was only supposed to stay on until they found someone. One person, a friend of our boss, showed no interest in learning the job, and eventually stopped coming in. Another person was actually a third cousin of mine, and also given the chance to work there through friendly connections. She struggled, even past the training period. I was asked personally, if I thought she was retaining the information at a pace similar to the other employees I helped train. I expressed that she was putting in effort, but couldn’t deny something wasn’t clicking. She was fired and I felt guilty. After that no one else was hired as months went by. Like the promise to connect me with a potential design job, she “forgot” about it. It was now over six months from the first time I tried to quit. I was struggling with the balance of classes, portfolio building, my internship, and applications. I was utterly overwhelmed. Even part time, it was a lot for me to try and “catch up” on the needed photographic knowledge others would have learned studying photography in their undergrad. Knowing myself, I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to finish if I kept on this way. I told my boss this had to be my last week. She said she understood. On my last day, I went over my paperwork with human resources through email, as they worked in another location. I was surprised to be told that I wasn’t eligible for the Paid Time Off I accumulated when working full time. I was told I did not give two weeks notice and therefore ineligible. I didn’t even have that much left, maybe just a day and a half, but the principle alone of it being withheld made my blood boil. I ended up explaining that I originally gave my two (or three) weeks notice months ago, plenty of time to find someone. I only stayed part time because I was asked. Although not said directly, there were hints I was manipulated into staying. The emails were forwarded to our boss, who was working in a different office that day, and the PTO was granted. The boss was angry.
She works hard to build an image of herself. In the office it was mentioned numerous times how kind she was. Once she gave the office the rest of the week off when the 4th of July was in the middle of the week. She got Christmas gifts for everyone in our office. The energy of this office had to be much different than all of the other locations because of her. Out of work she perfected her kind, wealthy person facade as well. My family talked about how generous she was with gifts. She tipped “big” to any service person and she always wanted to pay for dinner. Although I was always polite, I was never convinced by her facade. Her overly-flowery compliments made me uncomfortable. I thought she performed more like a mob boss. Doing nice things to make you believe you needed her, to ensure you would never cross her. Occasionally yelling at someone else, but never you, just so everyone was reminded that she was the one in power. I could have ruined her reputation at the company by suggesting that the acts of kindness she provides are forms of manipulation. Ensuring dutiful laborers, that don’t question authority, and trusts she has our best interests in mind. She waited until the end of the day, despite calling the manager she was “friends” to see if I left yet. Once I was gone I was bombarded with texts. She told me I was ungrateful for all that she had done for me. She threw in my face how when I first began working there my grandmother died and, despite not incurring any PTO yet, she put down that I was working those days. Therefore, I was paid the two days I was out to attend her wake and funeral. Her once seemingly nice gesture, or even nepotism for the niece and granddaughter of a friend, was revealed as only a way to hold power over me, as she did other members of my family. Perhaps I should have warned my grandfather to never cross her or she would be expecting reimbursements from the maids she sent over during that time. Although never stated outright, I felt as if she was implying that had I gone directly to her she would have paid me my PTO. Instead because I went through the proper channels, it was partially revealed to another employee that she manipulated someone into staying longer. When I told my family about the situation and the cold, mean texts that followed they were shocked but not surprised. Unconsciously or not, they too understood that it was for the desire for praise which had motivated her kind acts. I put her at risk of being revealed as a fraud. At first my immediate family (who got to know her more as I worked there) said they weren’t going to deal with her anymore, as they weren’t even the ones close to her to begin with. However, soon enough they went back to happily accepting the used appliances she didn’t want, and accepting paying gigs when she offered. One such gig is going to her home to take away her garbage. She only likes to have one or two cans outside of her house
despite producing a lot more. A family member comes and loads up their car with multiple bags filled with trash, and takes them back to their own home to dispose outside their house on garbage day. She is not wealthy enough to be anywhere near the 1%, but she does have more than most. My family is middle class and when referring to her, instead of also using her last name, they say “rich” before her first name. It has become part of her name to us. If remembering correctly, she was the VP of the company and therefore second in command. I’m not sure if she would be considered a capitalist herself or more the lackey, or if the company was big enough to even be considered for such things. In Marxism, the capitalist is the person that owns the means of production, the person that owns and controls resources and the company. Capitalist, lackey, or other, her functioning and behavior models that of a capitalist. Although she’s not part of the 1%, she’s been given a small taste of what it’s like to be them, even if it’s on a fraction of the scale. She understands why they do what they do. She enjoys deciding who she will help with money or a job. She enjoys feeling superior to others, and because of this, she helps defend capitalism. She might never reach the 1%, but she gets to look around and know she’s closer to it than others, and for a lot of people that’s enough. A true capitalist is not a small business owner. They don’t stay up worrying they won’t have enough to cover the monthly bills. They are never struggling to get by or concerned with their personal spending. However, that does not mean that small business owners can not cause harm on their employees and society as a whole as they strive to become a true capitalist. These mini-capitalists or a “capitalist-lite” still have power over others and will enforce their rule, what they think is best, without regard to the effects. Like the capitalist, and our brainwashed citizens, they feel their needs are most important. Often, since they are struggling to get by themselves they feel entitled to step on those even smaller. They’ll pay low, unlivable wages to employees and convince them it’s better because it is “under the table”. They will underpay undocumented people even more, knowing they are desperate for whatever money they can make without a green card. High school students frequently get taken advantage of as they can still be naive to what behaviors a workplace should and should not contain. Things like sexual harassment, wage theft, nepotism, amongst other problems are brushed aside as nothing compared to corporate sin. We want to ignore these things and elevate the small business owner, often because we know one. We allow our personal feelings for the person and our knowledge of how hard they work themselves to blind us to the damage they cause others. We have to stay vigilant to recognize and defeat all forms of exploitation, not only the “worst” ones,
or the ones happening on the biggest scales. Small stories are also important. The elimination and restriction of big business will not solve all workplace problems and inequalities. Small business owners must relinquish their power over their own employees. Realizing that if their basic needs are met as well, there would not be a need to exploit someone else in order to get by. A business can then thrive for productivity. A love of connecting with what you do and appreciating everyone that helps the business thrive. Allowing employees to personally connect and enjoy the process. No longer being driven by profits first and the creation and maintenance of a product second. As long as hierarchies are upheld, even the ones enforced on a “small” scale, people will continue facing injustices. Inside and outside of the workplace racism, sexism, homophobia and all other prejudices will continue to run rampant because when one hierarchy is maintained and accepted, others flourish. During graduate school, and afterwards, my knowledge and views on communism continued to evolve. It first started with the reading of different memes, or hearing different statements that better aligned with my own views than that of the capitalist (or its subgroups of republican or democrat). I realized those views were from a socialist or communist perspective. I had to start changing my perceived notions about what those things are. Slowly, more progressive candidates started running political campaigns. However, they remembered to be measured in their announcement of policies, and how they spoke of themselves, to reassure the public they are not, of course, a true socialist and definitely not a communist. I still have a lot to learn, but I have begun reading actual socialist, communist, and Marxist writings. I have taken note of the other artists, writers, poets, activists, and leaders of past and present that announced themselves as socialist or communist or aligned with their views at one point. Visual artist Pablo Picasso, poet Langston Hughes, actress Marilyn Monroe, scientist Albert Einstein, despite well known names, their ideologies were something often overlooked or not spoken as part of their general representation. Others received worse treatment during their time, and even in perception over the years. The second Red Scare was something that had a massive impact on the lives of many influential communists, leading many to fear speaking of their political beliefs in our “free” country. The capitalist Walt Disney helped fuel and lead a movement against communists in the film industry. He blamed communism for workers striking under his tyrannical rule. Fears escalated, and with the governmental support, ten writers and directors were told to testify before the House of Un-American Activities Committee. When they refused they were blacklisted, some were fined and had to serve jail time. The blacklist expanded to include actors, composers, playwrights, singers,
dancers, producers, screenwriters, journalists, radio personalities, and anyone else viewed as having a platform. Anyone believed to be a communist or harboring slight communist sympathies. The movie Trumbo is about one of the original ten directors who was able to still successfully make movies in America under a pseudonym, many were not as lucky and forced to leave America to work. When the blacklist ended in 1960, many of those once on it still could not find work. It was well understood that movies can influence the public to relate to different ideas, seeing things from a new side or perspective. Although prior to the blacklist there were no outwardly communist “propaganda” films, America could not take the chance. To expose the broken system, and the rich and powerful as the cruel, ruthless people they are. To realize they need to be stopped is something too dangerous for us to consume. Even a celebrated artist who makes their communist beliefs undeniable, like Frida Kahlo, has them diminished. Kahlo is praised as a feminist hero, rightly so, but her views on communism are brushed aside. As I searched through multiple websites about her and her work, her beliefs are labeled as “utopian”, “popular at the time”, or imply she was only a communist because of her illnesses while glossing over the Mexican Revolution. The museum that owns the painting, Self Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky, only mentions him as a “revolutionary leader” she had an affair with, instead of divulging her communist beliefs. In a diary entry from 1951 she says that she wants all her following work to be used to aid the Communist Party. When researching this work in particular, the main topic of discussion is focused on how this work is stylistically different from her work before, often attributing it to her declining health as opposed to a potential way to convey a different message. Where her earlier work is often dissected to analyze anything and everything she could be saying about her personal life, love life, physical and emotional traumas, this work is shown on sites without much dissection or introspection at all. The fear of divulging her underlying message still remains even to this day. Our society is so scared of an ideology that they dare not speak of it, explain what it is, or the people of past and present that align themselves with it, despite claiming everyone will agree that it is evil. It is because they know that the vast majority of people would see the benefits of it if explained to them without fear interlaced. It is because they know if the people realized we could all unite together, and demand change, the few at the top couldn’t stop it. If they don’t keep us too exhausted, overworked, underpaid, and staying grateful just to be alive, and found out that there could be a better way, they would not continue getting rich off the blood, sweat, and tears of the masses. In short, they like being rich. They like being the 1%. They like
feeling superior. The ones that are not in the 1% themselves, but still serve their masters, like feeling they’re closer to the top than others. They enjoy the superiority too, figuring if they can’t be the king they’ll enjoy ensuring he stays in power. Serving him as a lord, being closer to these rich, powerful, bourgeois, makes them better than the rest of us. They feel it’s better to value a person’s worth by making more money, and gaining more accolades than others, rather than to take a hard look at a person’s character and what they contribute to society in a valuable, meaningful way. It’s easier to say you contributed to society by “stimulating the economy” or keeping the rich rich, than to look at the whole of a person. They ignore who you’re born to and where still plays the biggest role in deciding who gets the opportunity to serve under the bourgeoisies. At the end of the day, they would rather feel better than someone else based on these monetary constructs, than allow everyone the ability to look at the true person within. Capitalism does not inspire individuality despite its claims of innovation. Capitalism demands us to all compete for the same things. It tells us to buy what everyone else has. It d upholds beauty standards expressing we should all look and dress the same as well. Individuality is only for the capitalist themselves. They are the ones that are afforded the luxury of expressing themselves as a true individual. They can collect what others can’t whether that is trips, products, resources, or people. It is implied that if we want to have this “luxury”, this ability to have things others do not, we have to strive to be like them. My friend in high school realized this, even if she was not consciously aware. By wanting to be one of the few people privileged such that could afford certain makeup or certain things it was a claim on keeping her unique individuality. Everyone deserves to feel like an individual, and it should not have to be derived from buying things others can not afford. Generally people in our society today believe a communist society is a rigid one. They believe communism is the same or very similar to fascism or totalitarianism when this is in no way true. When Marx wrote on communism, the central tenets was that its goals should always serve the proletariat, or the working people. He believed that to best serve them, they needed to take back natural resources, such as land, from the people hoarding it all for profit (the bourgeoisie), and to seize the means of production. When all of society owns the land, resources, and means of production as a collective a system is created where all people have a home and wealth. These are the things he hammers home as most important. Besides that, the ideals in a communist society are to grow and evolve with its people: where they currently are and what they currently need. The main focus is to serve the people even
as their needs change, communism is to be used to fight for whatever they may be. When we are discussing our society today one has to acknowledge the racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, and the long lists of other prejudices, that exist within. All of these things were constructed and now maintained to uphold capitalist values. They are used and blasted everywhere throughout our media even in the smallest ways. Subsequently, these things allow the masses to turn on each other instead of the 1%. They keep us focused on each other, thinking we are the enemy, the reason why we don’t feel fulfilled, or have more money. Racist and prejudice practices are used to provide some semblance of superiority. Allowing them to feel some sort of success when they were unable to achieve the massive feats capitalism promised. They would rather focus on or blame people closer in status to themselves as reasons they aren’t rich than to notice the fraudulent capitalist system. At the end of the day, they are still able to feel they achieved something more than others, or they’re better because of their pigmentation, or stronger, or were born to a superior nationality. Capitalism runs on a system where people are always forced to compete, rank ourselves and others, and only feel successful if we are doing better than someone else. It is not a sign of a broken capitalist system to have all these numerous internal divisions within society, but rather capitalism functioning as it was meant. When we are always told that being at the top is the true measure of success, we will do anything to feel closer, even construct damaging attitudes in order to feel selfworth. Through the fall of capitalism and the rise of communism, racism and all prejudices would not be able to spread and thrive. If all people were able to have their basic needs met, people would have a more equal opportunity to find happiness and true success. If we got rid of all these hierarchies stemming from feudalism, and continuing in capitalism, the need to feel superior to another would no longer be the mark of success or the main motivation. That’s not to say all forms of competition would disappear, people might always have something compelling them towards healthy, voluntary competition rather than competition forced upon them for survival. The goals of this society would no longer be to dominate, to be at the top with all the control and power. Without this drive to be superior people wouldn’t feel compelled to use hate and discrimination as a way to feel that power and control for themselves. When people are forced to play on an even starting ground and basic needs are met, competition wouldn’t have to be about who is better at doing something, but could be a way to notice and embrace our differences in perspective and outcomes. It will allow for more diversity and the embracing of new ideas. We could
have the ability to achieve new feats by truly embracing new ways of thinking and doing. Individualism would be replaced with community based approaches in which all people can thrive and flourish. People could work together to tackle problems, without also wanting to feel they are the most important person in the group. People would be able to stop focusing on accumulation of status symbols to show they have “won” capitalism but work as a society to finally address issues capitalism has allowed to linger for decades or more. Issues like climate change, racism, sexism, exploitation, poverty, and so many more are features of capitalism that will not be solved by it, but rather solved by its total abolition. Communist economic reforms wouldn’t do this alone. As most of us have been essentially brainwashed to form these prejudices from a young age, we need to do a lot of unlearning and looking within. Many of us will have to acknowledge the privileges we were given throughout our lives because of the racism and prejudices in our society. Others will have to acknowledge the internalization of different ideas they didn’t even realize they possessed. It will be a long process. A person has to take steps to unlearn daily, but by doing so we get closer to equity in our minds. By embracing communism we can change the structure of society, starting with the physical construction of an equitable society. Only through meeting the basic needs of people’s survival can we ever hope to achieve the conditions required for people to have the internal revolution of the mind to shatter these long held prejudices. I can’t help but to look back on how much my privilege afforded me. Like many teenagers I had a sense of rebellion, and like many white, middle class teenagers I enjoyed the rush, excitement, and the feeling of one-upness that came with shoplifting. When I stole something it was always something “cheap” that I could afford. It could be chapstick, maybe some tights, a throw away pair of earrings, and on occasion even a shirt. Always things too cheap to put tags or sensors on and never anything I needed for survival. I was with a friend in a Macy’s looking for a Halloween costume, our last Halloween of high school. They pointed out to me the Godiva truffle gift box. They talked about how good they were and myself never trying a Godiva truffle before was quite curious. I put the box in my purse and kept going. They were the most expensive thing I ever stole, coming in at maybe $35 alone. I tried to find something for my costume but couldn’t find anything. This was the first time I ever stole something without also buying something too, and I felt weird about it. In my young teenage mind it was more “getting something free with purchase” than stealing. I was stopped after leaving the store and brought back in. I was told that they could call the police and have me arrested but they wanted to show some form of mercy.
I was seen stealing by an employee posing as a customer and needed to come with them into the back. From there they went through my purse to make sure I gave everything back. They charged me $100 fine, plus the cost of the truffles I attempted to steal. I had the money in cash to pay. I was then put on a list of caught Macy’s thieves and told that if I was even seen walking through any Macy’s I would be arrested and charged. I believe this policy was to last 1 or 2 years, after which I could shop at Macy’s once again. I can’t help to look back and imagine how things could have been different for me. Had it been a Macy’s in a different town, or if I looked different, the police might not have only been a threat. So many times I was given the benefit of the doubt in my life while others in our society are not. The mere idea of stealing for a reason so trivial is soaked in privilege and entitlement. Because that Macy’s was in a middle class town, and I was a white teenage girl, presumably also from a middle class town, they saw me as still a child and in no way a danger to themselves. They felt comfortable confronting me themselves instead of calling the police to arrest me. Even if they did call the police, and I was arrested for petty theft or shoplifting, I would have been in a better situation than other people. Coming from a middle class background my family has had the ability to accumulate wealth. If arrested they could pay bail, allowing me to avoid the trauma of staying in a cell even overnight. My family would have had the means to hire a “good” lawyer (good here meaning one not overworked with cases like a public defender). Since my family would have the ability to pay for these things I would have had my charges lessened or received a better “deal”. It would be established that I was still seen as a minor as I was 17 at the time. Even if I was tried, in the end, this act would be written off as a child being stupid. I wouldn’t be looked at as a criminal for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t develop a reputation as being trouble or likely to commit other crimes. I would have avoided the trauma of jail time or juvie. That trauma itself is something that can change a person, harden them in a way and expose the cruel, uncaring world even more. Although my parents were extremely upset and disappointed this did not, and would never, have put my family through any long term financial hardships to overcome. Many people aren’t given this benefit of the doubt. Because of their skin tone, nationality, origin of birth, the way they dress or do their hair, they will be looked at differently than myself. As either dangerous or as someone that needs to learn a lesson, instead of the stupid rebellious teenager that becomes terrified after their actions are noticed. Although class does make a difference, having white skin is the biggest privilege. It allows people to give you the benefit of the doubt, to see you as a person as opposed to a threat. I can’t help but to think of all the kids that were not
given this same privilege as me and had their lives changed because of it. Kids that were fooling around or doing something dumb in the name of rebellion and were charged not as rebellious but instead as possessing malice intent. The consequences of petty crimes are great to families that are not white, not because of the crime, but how society perceives them based on their skin tone. I can’t help but to think of all the people that had better reasons to steal than I did. People who have lived under this unjust system that devalues and underpays them. The system indoctrinates society to ridicule them instead of offering help. If they take something they need in order to live, and are caught they are looked at as a threat to the entirety of society, as opposed to a person struggling to make ends meet in a system that denies them any other outlet. Although the idea of these outrageously expensive chocolates I desired as a status symbol is something I see as flawed and problematic in itself it still remains that even beyond the consumerist aspects of capitalism there remains deep structural problems that are entrenched from the start. We end up looking at one another as tiers of products ourselves. We label ourselves and others in different categories or classes. We separate people into groups based on their background, origin of birth, nationality, skin tone, sex, gender, social standing, education, and family background among others. We assume people that come out in these higher classes are better, what we should all be striving to be. We end up believing and enforcing that people from these “higher” standings deserve more than the rest of society even if we are not in that group ourselves. The value that we place on these people increases with their personal wealth and power. We end up assuming that the richest got there because they were the best. We tell ourselves that they are smarter, have harder jobs, and deserve more money than us, despite possessing so much money they could not spend it in 100 lifetimes. We aspire to be them and feel like failures when we are not able to do the same. We are tricked into telling ourselves we only need to “innovate” and then we will be able to be that success. When we have children and go gray, we switch our thoughts into believing that they will be able to do so. Our failed ambitions become the burden for our children to carry, the American Dream tells us the next generation is always better off than the one preceding it after all. Everything will be better once there, once the Dream has become reality. With enough effort anyone can go from poor to successful, dreams do come true. Capitalism succeeds not only through demonization of any communist or socialist ideas, but also because people still want to believe in the American Dream. The fantasy that anyone can make it big and if you don’t it’s your own fault, not a
flawed system that sold you lies. Capitalism will always continue as it was always meant to function: serving the capitalists already at the top. Everyone wants to believe that one day they, or someone they know, could be the person on top. They want us to believe that they are merely waiting for us to be their friends and join them at the top. If the rules were to change you will never get to reap these rewards. Taxes on them may one day be taxes on you, keeping their family rich will one day be keeping your own family rich. The truth is, they don’t want more people in their club, their exclusivity is what gives them superiority. They want us to believe that we can be like them so we never notice the injustices they consume, produce, and manage everyday. We are commanded to assume our own personal responsibility, like with recycling, telling us we are the ones that can change how things work. Yet they continue to function their own corporations and big businesses with profits first and total disregard for any environment. Not only do they run their businesses this way but they consume natural resources in extravagant displays of wealth status symbols. In their mind they know that even if the world one day becomes inhabitable due to their greed, exploitation of workers and natural resources, they still have enough resources stockpiled to survive. Worst they can escape to another place, maybe even another planet as we see the wealthy investing in the privatization of space already. Capitalists don’t obtain the means of production because they are better than you or me, they don’t get there because they deserve to be on a platform higher than everyone else, or even because they are smarter than other people. They got there because they are excellent exploiters. They know how to exploit people and resources alike. They hoard and keep resources to ensure others never have the opportunity to rise up and take their place. They know how to manipulate and sell things to others, how to get the smartest people working under them to defend their justice. Those people now tie their success to the success of the capitalist themselves, believing more in them than themselves and their own talents and abilities. Capitalists understand the need to keep the working class desperate for resources to ensure the working class is willing to give their labor for just enough crumbs to survive. They do all this while filling our heads with stories that their life could be yours too, what is good for them is good for you, and even stories of their kindness and compassion. They might talk about their charity work, or release a performative statement on social justice. Saying that capitalism is positive as now they can donate. They’ll do just enough to curry favor with the general public and increase their tax write-offs while never using their money or resources to make a real substantial impact. They don’t want to truly change anything, the system is not broken for them.
So how can they stay on top as an exclusive minority? They make us believe they are not the enemy. The enemy is our fellow laborers. They stoke racial, gender, and many other social divides. They make us compete and thus ensure we stay divided as we become so scared of being the one’s unable to survive that we kick our neighbors down to ensure we remain afloat. We start blaming people even worse off than ourselves as the reason why it’s so hard for us to survive. We imagine everyone else is getting something they don’t deserve or didn’t earn besides the capitalist themselves. We don’t blame those that have all the wealth and power but rather we blame others that do not. In our society, we have to force ourselves to actively care as caring is not intrinsic to our society. Because we are all always trying to climb the economic ladder to reach the top, to become rich, we in turn disregard the people around us. We want to prove we are “better” than someone. We have more power, things, or wealth and therefore we are closer to that top tier of praise and respect. Therefore, we become threatened easily at the idea we could one day become “equal”. We want to have the nicest car on the block because we felt like we worked hardest for it. We have endured so much and overcome obstacles. If everyone had the same car it could become less special. It would no longer establish our status as closer to the top. It is true that you have worked hard, it is true that you are valuable, however we can’t allow ourselves to be divided. We must learn to understand life is hard for everyone, and everyone is working the best they can in our society. However, struggles are different between classes, and especially between races. Many of us want to believe that our society no longer holds up hierarchies on race or immigration status. That despite the “few” racists out there, we collectively now believe all people are equal. Capitalism and America were not built on that belief from the start. “Winning” capitalism is a losing battle for anyone starting on the economic bottom, and that becomes even harder as our country throughout the years created different safeguards for the people in middle and upper classes to help them uphold their status. People were so fearful of becoming like everyone else (besides the top capitalist) and want to retain their claim on the ladder, they were willing to vote for or disregard laws that ensured those without wealth may never and will never gain it. These systems have usually been targeted towards minorities, especially Black and Brown people. However, poor non minorities can still be affected in financial ways. Many of these things still exist today. Poor, majority minority, neighborhoods are plagued with redlining, pollution, policing, highways, and may not even have clean water. Having to fight for your health (on your own dime mind you) within poor living conditions while trying
to climb this social and economic ladder is impossible. The rest of us need to stop being so fearful of what we could lose and see what we could gain. By allowing all people the quality resources they need to survive it allows them to focus on other things. People that come from wealthier backgrounds, or at least backgrounds where they do not have to focus on safety, well-being, and obtaining the resources to live are able to focus on education, big ideas, and ultimately innovations because they have the luxury of thinking of such things. When everyone is given the resources to survive they don’t stop working, they end up working on things beyond basic survival. They are allowed to dream, learn, and be creative. Their daily stress also decreases which creates a healthier society overall. These are things all people deserve to do, not just the ones that are born to families with pre-established wealth. Billionaires are capitalists and they are not like the rest of us. They don’t share our same concerns or worries. There is not a difference between a cool billionaire who gives to charity, and a mean one willing to exploit children. All billionaires exploit in order to profit, and if they truly wanted to make a change in society, they would. The truth is they don’t want to. They like where they are and they like everyone else making them richer through their labor and consumption. Whether you view their intentions as nice or mean they don’t really care. Maybe they’ll do some virtue signaling or publicly approve or disapprove of something if they think it will help consumption of their services or goods, but that’s where their “efforts” end. Comparing yourself to a billionaire would be similar to comparing a peasant to a king. The lifestyle and wealth differences are too vast to properly imagine their wealth or what it is like. They also do not want to be our friends, even if they put on a friendly appearance. Their goal is to exploit us despite whatever embellished language they use. They do not want to date, marry us, or see us as equals. They utilize us for their own purposes whether it be for our beauty, intellect, creative thinking or something else. They have been trained to embrace sociopathy for too long to change. They will always care about their own profits and themselves above all else, and in turn they don’t care if the world burns as long as they have the best seats to watch. Capitalists will never hand over their power without a fight. They are constantly fearful of the broad appeal of communism and the idea of losing their authority over others. They will ignore how many people die and struggle in their own country from solvable problems because they do not care. They minimize them and tell the public there’s nothing that could be done about them, or act as if that suffering and death is a choice made by those dying. Telling us we are the ones responsible and
should help ourselves. They otherize people to allow society to ignore them, thinking it could never be you. They embellish in order to distract. The natives “wanted” to give us their land. They “chose” to relocate. You’re “safer” now because they were “dangerous”, and really you should be thanking us. You get to live there now, do not think about them. Capitalists then point out the travesties of countries who attempted to create communist societies, conveniently ignoring other capitalist ones. Acting as if these horrors only exist because of communist communities and not the cruelness of humans we all have to keep in check. When other countries start forming socialist societies and striving towards communism, the capitalist countries wage wars against them themselves or assist others in doing so. They will place sanctions on them to prohibit access to things they need, hoping that will slowly kill them and their movement. They’ll do anything to try and stop its growth. They know that if too many countries, even those far from their own, embrace communist ideas they won’t be able to create the narrative they want about it. Capitalists don’t want their subservient and docile laborers or consumers to see, hear, or read about the improvements to life that could be available to them. It’s safer for the capitalist to demonize, and then destroy, all societies that do not function like their own. This process not only provides protection against rebellion, but also allows for their expansion and domination of all the world’s resources. When the needs of an entire community are met you too will benefit and thrive. You will no longer have to worry that if you lose your job, you might never find another, and your family will lose its home. Less stress is good for everyone, not just the ones that experience it most. Maybe you won’t have status symbols that no one else is able to obtain anymore, but you will no longer have to uncomfortably contemplate if you should assist, smile, or avoid all forms of human contact with the homeless person on the street. You would be living in a more just world with more equity for all. If upheld to true communist beliefs society would engender far more democracy, not less. All people at a business would have a say in the goals of a company. You will now have a say in the direction of the place you work at instead of just existing solely as a laborer that has to obediently perform meaningless tasks. Instead of just working for a company, you own part of it. Your work and labor is not merely exploited without any of your feedback, you now gain the control over the direction of the future and the distribution of the resources in the present. Instead of only a few claiming and hoarding natural resources and land, everyone owns it as a collective. No one person can profit off of things that are not theirs to begin with. Community based ideals will thrive, selfish individualism will be a thing of the past. It doesn’t have to be, “I’m above others”, or “my family above
other families”, or even “my country above other countries”. We can take action to ensure the prosperity of all people by working as a community. It will take work to get here though. It will take sacrifice, adjustment periods, and constant vigilance to actualize our new reality.