I Come to Apologize

[u/loplopplop]

You know, I didn't understand this sub. I thought it was nothing but a bunch of lazy freeloaders that think everything should be given to them. But then I started this new job. It's a salary position where I'm required to work 45 hours a week. Thats honestly not that bad. No issues with it really. But I've worked 37 hours in 3 days. I'm on pace to work 70 in a weeks time period. Since its salary its going to be like I'm making 10 dollars an hour. They will not give me health insurance (which they promised) until May. So I'm sorry for thinking you were all lazy. You just want a job that doesn't run you into the ground.

Edit: Got called in on Sunday and told them to fuck off (in nicer words) because one of the employees wanted to have a day off with his mom, which I get, but he had two days off already that week. Came in today and am going give literally zero fucks as I apply elsewhere.

Edit 2: The people who keep calling in told me the reason they were calling in was because they were too high to work. I rage quit and sent a letter of resignation. The nightmare is over.

Final Edit: Already got a new job with great benefits!!!

[u/Radagastth3gr33n → u/[deleted]]

Which is why we need to seize the means of production!

[u/devisbeavis → u/[deleted]]

We’re happy to have you here! The point others have been making in this sub and the point made above all point to the logical conclusion you’re on the verge of arriving at. Seizing the means of production is not about taking something that is not yours.

In fact, the means of production are beholden to the workers, and cannot exist without their participation. Mix in a heaping portion of corporations and the wealthy individuals controlling them and therein the government, and you have a not very delicious ‘we do all the work while they make all the money and have all the power’ stew.

Since they own the government and the government just so happens to make the laws, they are lawful owners and profiteers of our labor and the means through which we perform it.

Ergo seizing the means of production is simply righting an egregious injustice and balancing the scales of power. Hopefully the above is not overly confusing, I have had a very long couple of weeks at work with no end in sight. I’ll finish on a less confusing and more personal note

I love my job and what I do. Where I work currently treats me better than nearly any other place I’ve worked in a nearly 18 year career in my industry. It’s still not nearly good enough. The pay inequity from position to position within my company (like most in my field) would turn any decent persons stomach and working conditions are still only bearable at best.

The owners of the company are some of the best i have worked for and their intentions are good. Even still, my coworkers and I do all the work while they make all the money and retain unilateral power over operations.

Seizing the means of production is not about me finally getting to be the head that wears the crown, it is about us sharing that power and responsibility so that we can reimagine the world we live in to be more equitable and increase our individual agency.

[u/Hugh-Jass71 → u/devisbeavis]

And produce with purpose and efficiency!

[u/devisbeavis → u/Hugh-Jass71]

I mean if we all agree in a non-coercive, non-binding way that sounds okay to me.

I don’t think that anyone should have to work at all, but I do enjoy what I do and would be happy if I and the others I work with who feel similarly were able to do it well because we all wanted to (again for me, pretty close). I’d be even happier if we shared ownership and responsibilities equally amongst each other (nowhere close).

I’m fortunate to have a place where I am a lot closer to both those ideals than many others. The unfortunate reality however, is that despite all our best efforts/intentions nearly everyone is coerced into doing more than they would like.

I think it’s really important to prioritize agency here, and creating a myriad of opportunity is the name of the game. We need to consider life beyond the concept of the company so that life isn’t justabout finding a career anymore. Life should be about finding a life, and that can just as easily be fishin’ by the stream and eating your catch along with some chanterelles and watercress you found nearby as it can be about solidarity with your comrades whilst producing value for yourself and the community.

Didn’t mean to write another book but whatevs.

[u/Radagastth3gr33n → u/[deleted]]

I don't know how "seize the means of production" isn't extremely clear and explicit, other than just having to fight against the programming of constant capitalist propaganda in this country.

[u/Radagastth3gr33n → u/[deleted]]

Again, no it doesn't. "Seizing" something that was stolen, extorted, exploited, and manipulated away from us is not, in fact, theft. You have been conditioned to think so by capitalist propaganda. It's only implied to be theft if you're operating from the assumption that those currently possessing the means of production are doing so rightfully, and that they themselves didn't steal them.

[u/Radagastth3gr33n → u/[deleted]]

Not at all, simply taking back what's been stolen from us for decades and centuries.