DUmmie FUnnies 03-22-05 ("We all need to stay home from work for a week--everyone")

The DUmmies have apparently been reading out of date Depression era literature about the romance of the General Strike as you can see in this THREAD titled, “We all need to stay home from work for a week—everyone." What’s next? A pledge of “NO PASARAN!” before marching off with the Popular Front to the trenches of Catalonia? In any case, I would predict that a DUmmie General Strike would be as wildly successful as “Not One Damn Dime Day.” As usual, the DUmmie dreamings are in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent is in the [brackets]:

This morning my husband looked at me and said, "We all need to stay home from work for a week--everyone".

[Was he the one with the brilliant idea of “Not One Damn Dime Day?”]

I was amazed to hear him say that; he's very strongly work oriented. I've been saying a general strike will bring the corporations to their knees quickly. They need consumers. It would take huge organization, but at some point, the citizinry will have to exercise the one power it has remaining. Other peoples have brought change about in this way--Poland, Iran, France, to name a few. We no longer make products and shutting down factories has been accomplished by the corporations themselves.

[So if the factories no longer make products…WHAT THE HELL GOOD WILL IT DO YOU TO STAY HOME FROM WORK???]

I completely agree. The most dramatic political victory of commoners in the past century, in my opinion, was the fall of the Warsaw Pact and the Berlin Wall caused by Lech Walesa and the Solidarity strikes.

[The problem for you is that to participate in a General Strike, FIRST you must have a job.]

The concept of a General Strike...Has a lot of value.

[The dozen DUmmies with real jobs will get to take off for a week. Something that appeals strongly to DUmmie Faye.]

Believe me, my husband has tried a similar tactic on a very small scale in one department where he worked. There were only 8 people, and the best he could get was cooperation of 2. All the others were just too intimidated with a potential job loss to even try.

[No wonder. Easy to replace Burger King workers.]

Americans are Too Chicken to have a General Strike. Maybe someday they might have enough guts to do it, but not currently. People dont' want to lose their jobs, they don't want to lose the money that they would make that week, and so on.

[Also there is the little matter of figuring out exactly they are striking for. It’s not wages. So what is it? Thus far not a hint about what it is that workers should be risking their jobs for.]

shut it down!
we're tired, yeah,
tired of workin'.
yeah, workin' for nothin'.
we all want, what we got comin'.

all we need is a break,
come on take a break.
everything is not all right
and there's no end in sight.

you can call it, whatcha like.
come on, stand up for your rights.
stand up, stand and unite.
it's time for a general strike.

we been out, breakin' our backs.
been out workin' gettin' no slack.
all week long, payin' those bills.
that's just the people, that still got a job.
what about the rest of us, on the soupline.

stand up, stand, stand and unite.
it's time for a general strike.
stand up, stand and unite.
it's time!!!

[And I give a flower to the big fat cop.
He takes his club and he beats me up!
I give a flower to the garbage man.
He stuffs my girl in the garbage can.
And I give it to the landlord when the rent comes 'round.
He throws it in the toilet and he flush it down.
It goes into the sewer,
With the yuck runnin' through 'er.
And it runs into the river that we drink.
Hey, world, YOU STINK!]


We need to get behind a new labor movement. Reforming and forming unions is a good place to begin. I quit a union years ago because I felt they didn't represent me and appeared to be a good old boy's drinking club. I'm in the process of joining an organizing effort here. It is important to have strong representation for workers.

[It looks like you prefer to be organizing workers than actually being a worker.]

while a general strike would be a very effective tool to get the corporate state to bend to our will, the option is not available to us right now ... to bring about an action like this on a grand scale, a majority of the population would have to have a clear understanding that we are living in a corporate state ...

[Bend to your will, comrade? It sounds like you are attempting to set up soviets of the workers.]

The old labor movement was a cooperative movement among many types of workers. We need to revive a populist message for workers--blue and white collar. I think white collar workers would be receptive now that their jobs are also being outsourced and they have become part of downsizing too.

[You need to revive Norman Thomas.]

If we could get enough average americans to send $10 each to one candidate, you're right, we wouldn't need Corp donations! I don't know if it's possible to make that happen without upfront $$ to make a very convincing case! I'm afraid this is another case of "you need money to make money".

[You are just $10 away from finding the correct progressive candidate. Just send in your money care of Bev Harris of the BBV.]

One thing I had been thinking about was a National Labor Union. One labor union who would fight for ALL American workers rights, and that would not affect membership in local or job specific unions, but would act on along side already existing unions. If indeed the idea of a National Labor Union were to take off. Then actions like this would indeed be possible and much easier to execute with already designed organization from a union database.

[IWW. One Big Union. YAWN! Been there. Done that.]

Some leaders (SEIU?) are working to organize along industry rather than
along trade lines, to give more power to the group as a whole in bargaining with the corporate leaders, and to address industry-specific issues. Seems like a baby step towards what you are talking about.

[Seems like Trotsky Steps to me.]

Part of the problem of the past decade has been that labor unions were seen as being as corrupt as the corporations. If we can front candidates for local offices which speak to issues we value, then why not join unions and effect change there too? The unions are in need of reform to. So much of the leadership forgot why the union exists. It doesn't exist to provide its officers with perks but to serve as a voice for the worker. I recently read an article on DU about a union that had started cleaning house. Membership provides you with a VOTE and a voice. Enough likeminded people can effect change. This is basic grassroots stuff. We've gone back to the era of the robber barons in spades, so lets take back the weapons our forefathers used to battle them.

[I have an idea. Why don’t we form a Worker’s Union without even having some boring job first? That way when we strike, we won’t have to lose jobs we don’t have in the first place.]

I am doing my own personal boycott for the next month. No shopping for anything but absolute necessities. And I am going to try to buy locally as much as I can for anything necessary.

[Not One Damn Dime Day multiplied 30 times equals three bucks you will be removing from the economy.]

The National Labor Union would work with all existing unions as well as give union protection to all Amercian workers who work in companies not currently enrolled in an already existing union. If you work, you are eligible.

[Which makes almost all DUmmies ineligible.]

How funny. A similar thought crossed my mind recently. But before we do it--if we can do it--we need to have our demands ready. Can't have too many, it would just confuse the message. I think ONE simple demand might just do it: "We will remain idle for a week, and we will continue to do that periodically until GEORGE BUSH AND DICK CHENEY RESIGN FROM THE GOVERNMENT, AND UNTIL THEIR RESIGNATION IS MADE FINAL AND IRREVOCABLE."

[BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! You’re right! How funny!]

I would like to see everyone hold their money from buying ANYTHING one day a month, say, the end of the month. I agree with your husband one hundred percent. I also think it needs be reinforced by a money boycott once a month until things change.

[And we all know how incredibly successful Not One Damn Dime Day was.]

If I were a Dem strategist in the suburbs, I would organize social communities by precinct, inviting all the registered Dems to meet somewhere for pizza or a picnic. Once the social group was established, activities could be expanded to include education, participation in political activism, and outreach to unaffiliated neighbors.

[“If.” I love how you want somebody else to do that Dem strategist detail work. Much too mundane for our precious DUmmie who can’t cut into his valuable Web surfing time.]

Why don't you become a Dem strategist?

[No problem as long as it doesn’t involve WORK.]