Ok, so why is the right so terrified of this guy? (keep in mind, this asshole is a sitting U.S. congressman calling for his deportation). Perhaps partially because Mamdani is calling for inexpensive city-run grocery stores and other programs to benefit the poor and working class. But even more so because of what his victory represents: The mass outrage of the U.S. public, over half of whom cannot afford the basic necessities of life, at the billionaire class, as it strips away the minimum safety net that previously existed, loots the government coffers, and gives itself massive tax cuts, while promoting genocide, environmental devastation, and world war. God forbid other Mamdanis start winning in D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. So, what should we expect next? Ans: Cuomo 2.0, running as an independent in the general election, courting the votes of so-called moderate Dems, as well as the Republicans, and quite possibly becoming the next mayor of NYC, just like Brown did to Black Lives Matters activist India Walton in the 2021 race for mayor of Buffalo. #classwar #capitalism #newyork #election #corruption #racism #immigration #islamophobia #fascism

A slightly different way of saying what so many have been saying for so long now: they distract us with a culture war, so we'll fight each other, rather than organizing and uniting to overthrow them. And, of course, its not just the owners of corporate media. It's all the rich and powerful, as well as their puppets in government and social media, too.

Today in Labor History June 27, 1905: The Industrial Workers of the World (AKA IWW or the Wobblies) was founded at Brand's Hall, in Chicago, Illinois. The IWW was a radical syndicalist labor union, that advocated industrial unionism, with all workers in a particular industry organized in the same union, as opposed by the trade unions typical today. Founding members included Big Bill Haywood, James Connolly, Eugene V. Debs, Lucy Parsons, and Mother Jones. The IWW was and is a revolutionary union that sought not only better working conditions in the here and now, but the complete abolition of capitalism. The preamble to their constitution states: The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. It also states: Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system." They advocate the General Strike and sabotage as two of many means to these ends. However, sabotage to the Wobblies does not necessarily mean bombs and destruction. According to Big Bill Haywood, sabotage is any action that gums up the works, slowing down profits for the bosses. Thus, working to rule and sit-down strikes are forms of sabotage. The IWW is the first union known to have utilized the sit-down strike. They were one of the first and only unions of the early 20th century to organize all workers, regardless of ethnicity, gender, nationality, language or type of work (e.g., they organized both skilled and unskilled workers). They also were subjected to extreme persecution by the state and by vigilantes working for the corporations. Hundreds were imprisoned or deported. Dozens were assassinated or executed, including Joe Hill, Frank Little, Wessley Everest and Carlo Tresca. And scores were slaughtered in massacres, like in McKees Rock railway strike, PA (1909); Lawrence Textile Strike, MA (1912); San Diego Free Speech Fight, CA (1912); Grabow, LA Lumber Strike (1912); New Orleans, LA banana strike (1913); Patterson, NJ textile strike (1913); Mesabi Range Strike, MN (1916); Everett, WA massacre (1916); Centralia, WA Armistice Day riot (1919) and the Columbine, CO massacre (1921). There was also the Hopland, CA riot (1913), in which the police killed each other, accidentally, and framed Wobblies for it. There are lots of great books about the IWW artwork and music. The Little Red Songbook. The IWW, Its First 50 Years, by Fred Thompson. Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology, by Joyce Kornbluth. But there are also tons of fictional accounts of the Wobblies, too. Lots of references in Dos Passos’, USA Trilogy. Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett, was influenced by his experience working as a Pinkerton infiltrator of the Wobblies. The recent novel, The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter, has a wonderful portrayal of Elizabeth Gurly Flynn, during the Spokane free speech fight. And tons of classic folk and protest music composed by Wobbly Bards, like Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, Haywire Mac and T-Bone Slim. To learn more about the IWW and its organizers you can read the following articles I wrote:

Michael Dunn

Lucy Parsons - Michael Dunn

Lucy Parsons anarchist communist revolutionary

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The Haywire Mac Story - Michael Dunn

Biography of Harry Haywire Mac McClintock

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Frank Little - Michael Dunn

Frank Little IWW organizer.

Michael Dunn

Ben Fletcher and the IWW Dockers of Philadelphia - Michael Dunn

Ben Fletcher and the IWW Dockers of Philadelphia

Michael Dunn

Tom Mooney and Warren Billings - Michael Dunn

Share via: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More On July 22, 1916, someone set off a bomb during the pro-war “Preparedness Day” parade in San Francisc...

Michael Dunn

Union Busting and the Pinkertons - Michael Dunn

Union Busting by the Pinkertons was key to the rapid accumulation of wealth by the robber barons like Gowen, Carnegie, Rockefeller

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #generalstrike #sabotage #bigbillhaywood #freespeech #scabs #pinkertons #eugenedebs #motherjones #lucyparsons #assassination #prison #deportation #anarchism #socialism #books #fiction #folkmusic #author #write @npub1wceq...lzu8

Today in Labor History June 27, 1880: Helen Keller was born (1880-1968) in Tuscumbia, Alabama. In addition to being an early advocate for disability rights, she was also a radical socialist for women’s suffrage and birth control, the rights of workers and world peace. She supported the NAACP and was a founding member of the ACLU. She also joined the IWW and wrote for them from 1916-1918. In 1933, the Nazi Youth burned her book, “How I Became Socialist.” However, like many people of her era, from both the right and the left, she supported the eugenics movement and once claimed that the lives of infants with severe cognitive impairments were not worth saving. She published 12 books. Her most famous was her autobiography, “The Story of My Life,” (1903). #workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #hellenKeller #disabilityrights #socialism #feminism #aclu #naacp #eugenics #ableism

Today in Labor History June 27, 1869: Anarchist, feminist and labor activist Emma Goldman was born in Lithuania. She helped plot the assassination of steel magnate, Henry Clay Frick, with her lover and comrade Alexander Berkman. Frick was fiercely anti-union and hired hundreds of Pinkertons to suppress the Homestead steel strike in 1892. In a gun battle, the Pinkertons killed nine strikers. Seven Pinkertons died, as well. Later that year, Berkman carried out the assassination attempt, but failed, and spent many years in prison. It was supposed to be an attentat, or propaganda by the deed. Like many anarchists of that era, they believed that their violent action would inspire working people around the world to rise up against capitalism and its leaders, like Frick. After that, Goldman publicly spoke out against attentats, because they weren’t inspiring the masses into action, but they were increasing state repression against their movement. The state did imprison Goldman numerous times for other offenses, like “inciting to riot,” war resistance, and illegally distributing information about birth control. They even arrested her in 1901, in connection with the assassination of President McKinley, though she had nothing to do with it. They eventually released her and executed a mentally ill, registered Republican named Leon Czolgosz for the crime. In December, 1919, they deported her and Berkman to Russia. She had initially been supportive of the Bolshevik revolution and was excited to be there to witness its fruits, but denounced them after the massacre of more than a thousand sailors during the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921. Soon after, she and Berkman left Russia, completely disillusioned. However, in Germany and England, leftists were offended by her denunciations of the Soviet Union. Berkman died in 1936. That same year, she travelled to Spain to support the anarchists during the Civil War. She died a few years later in Toronto, at the age of 70. #workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #emmagoldman #alexanderberkman #feminism #prison #russia #soviet #Revoluion #spain #antifascism #kronstadt #rebellion #homestead

Happy Pride Month! Image of 1970s anti-LGBTQ crusader and poster child, Anita Bryant, getting pied by Thom L. Higgins in 1977 #lgbtq #homophobia #pride #prideMonth #anitabryant

well, kind of. under capitalism, we can choose to just hang out. but that choice comes with the consequence dying of starvation. As the old joke goes: What's the only thing worse than being exploited under capitalism? Ans: Not being exploited under capitalism.