Why I hate capitalism and why I can't fight it

my advice is not worry about it, or think about it too much. Sort your life out in terms of incolme and survival first and do what you can meanwhile.

there is the saying "do radical, talk radical" no matter what you do you can implement your class politics and radical opinions and there is no formula or roles which we would need to try to fit in.

trust me, workplace organising is such painstaking and often futile that it is not worth it to organise your lifge around that. Rather live your life as you see fit and organise around that.

one more thing: you might need to fix that attitude issue of working for a boss, well, i guess you dont have to if you have your safety nets, but it might not get you very far. As an independent freelancer you will still be working for a boss or a client who holds the economic strings, its not much different from working for a hands off manager.

I moved this from libcommunity to organise.

I don't think anyone's going to castigate you, treeofjudas (unless you start saying you can fight it by not eating dairy ), this is a situation many of us are in. With the increasingly atomised and transitory nature of work stuff is harder, and there's no point you doing a job you don't want to just to "organise." That said as an individual you can provide verbal and publicity support for struggles and self-organising (or organisations which support these, i.e. libcom organisations), and if you become self-employed later you could provide financial support possibly.

Otherwise there could be other areas of struggle you could relate to as a service user, who could try to build links with workers, such as public transport, health or other public services, etc.

If that doesn't provide you with the moral satisfaction you need, well I'd try to redefining your morals with more realistic expectations of what can be achieved by one person.

yo judas, are you involved in any of the groups there, like the anarchists against the wall? Or are they still going?

word.

yeah the prospect of 40-50 years of uninterrupted wage labour is pretty depressing, i'm only getting by in my job because of the skiving opportunities.

I agree with the advise to separate the search for some kind of workplace activity from the search for a job full stop. Your priority right now would seem to be to find a job. I also agree that academic radicalism is a dead-end but that doesn't mean that you should bar yourself from working in an academic environment if the opportunity arises - it's just a question of seeing that academic research or teaching don't necessarily coincide with revolutionary politics, although one does have to try to prevent the former from completely contradicting or cancelling out the other.
I think that you underestimate the importance of the politcal positions you hold. In my experience, it is extremely rare to find anyone in Israel who has even the basics of a class position on national liberation and trade unionism. You may be opposed to what you define as 'Leninist' forms of organisation but there are alternatives both to seeing organisation as something you just do at work and as something you use to run other people's struggles: i.e. of an organisation which tries to spread revolutionary ideas, encourage proletarian debate, which has the means to speak publicly, verbally or in writing about major issues such as war and workers' struggles....The appearance of such an organisation, or even of a loose discussion circle around the issues that preoccupy you, would be a big step forward in Israel, above all if it was able to put forward internationalist positions against the whole nationalist miasma which pervades the Middle East, rather like the EKS has done in Turkey. Do you share the views you have with others? is there a possibility of making even the most modest steps towards some kind of collective activity?
None of that will solve you personal problems in themslves but they may well give you a better starting point from which to deal with them.

Alf wrote:

I agree with that, and further: it's not just what you defend (which, without being patronising, really is remarkable for an individual so isolated and in an area so rife with multiple bourgeois mystifications and gut-wrenching horror and hardship): it's also the way you present your arguments: with a great deal of clarity and wit. No-one accuses you of being a robot, and with good reason.

Just think about it: on these boards, where rather too many individuals and organisations hide behind the label anarchist or communist in order to peddle their 'least worst' reformist campaign or bourgeois faction of choice, your defence of proletarian internationalism and the way you conduct yourself really does stand out.

And in defending such positions, you must surely see that you are not alone, not a crazy voice crying in the wilderness, but already joined with others who, to a greater or lesser degree, want and propose the same as you.

You are already contributing to the real movement against capital: take Devrim seriously when, on another thread, he points out that these discussions are followed widely, in many different countries. In themselves they may not change the world, but they can be part of the necessary clarification which will enable us to do so.

So take your internationalism seriously: if you can't, in the immediate, affect those closest to you, you can still reach others on the other side of the world. The success or otherwise of revolutionary activity, like the workers' struggle which gives rise to it, is not judged on the immediate effects of this or that episode in this or that location. Even if the revolution were to happen tomorrow (unlikely IMO, and anyway I have an appointment with the dentist) such activity is still a long-term project, begun by those before us and continuing after us.

There's no shame in relying your parents: as John says, it's a situation in which more and more families all over the world are being obliged to adopt through economic necessity, through atomisation. It's no consolation, but at least you have an inkling of why this is the case.

And as for working 'for the man' or working 'for yourself', you're still under capitalism's thumb. So whichever, find a job that doesn't demand too many compromises of you and work to live, to continue your struggle both locally, and collectively, on an international terrain. The orders, the insults, (or the mind-numbing bureacracy and 'having to please' whoever you are obliged to sell your labour power to, even as a freelance) are part and parcel of being a proletarian in capital. Use your anger to sustain you and don't let despair overwhelm you.

That will be $55 please.

In sympathy and solidarity.

I agree with everything that's been said about seperating a job search from a search for political activity. Whatever job you do you're going to run into the negative effects of capital, and have some kind of boss (if only for one job at a time), so it's important to try to find something you like, or find something you don't absolutely hate. If you work anywhere for a while, you'll either find possibilities for organising, or get fed up and leave, or if you're lucky enjoy it. And as John said there's always shared experiences around health/utilities/housing/education/prices or whatever where you live which can be a starting point.

Also simply communicating information about working class struggles to other people (like your thread on here a little while back, and the one about the various leftist groups) - that does a lot to educate people about what's going on and has value in and of itself for that reason. And again, it's been pointed out by others, but you're the only person any of us has come across from Israel or Palestine holding the positions you do. I know EKS have had a lot of contact from others in Turkey due to postings on here, so it's always possible someone sympathetic to anarchist or communist ideas might come across your posts at some point and get in touch.

I don't think you'll get much castigation at all concerning this thread. Your feelings and frustrations are most likely shared by many people on this forum, including myself to a very large degree. Organizing attempts that are not as effective as I desired, or flat out failed are very discourging indeed. We all want revolution so bad that when the small preludes of the battle go sour, it stings even more.

I know how you feel comrade, construction can really suck. Where I live a big housing boom is going on, and the majority of the working class are involved in some way in construction work. I myself worked for about a year as a temp (casual) laborer for many different construction jobs(nail pounding, ditch digging, house painting, drywall hanging, site clean-up). Every single one of them had some fucking asshole as a boss. Anyway, i'm just trying to sympathise with your here comrade. Just wanted to let you know that there are others out there who cringe when the boss starts ordering us about.

Freelance translation? Thats sounds fun, what languages do you translate?

Again, i sympathise greatly with you here. In my town there is a very small group of anarchists, and an even smaller group of ones willing to do anything, and naturaly a large group of punks who constantly deface the name of anarchism with their ignorance on the subject. So this leads to the inevitable question, "what can we do, we are so few?" First step is to think about your livelyhood. I keep a steady job, and food on the table. This sets the stage for activity (its hard to get any "revolutionary" work done when all you can think about is your next meal.) Then, just like you, i got started on individual projects (opinion pieces, showing up at demos to spread the word, propaganda in general.) After a bit a few anarchists found me, and I found a few anarchists. Since then, we've generally failed really bad at organizing attempts, most recently the oppostition to the fifth round of the South Korea/United States Free Trade Agreement talks that were held in Big Sky (30 miles from where I live). We held meetings, participated in broad demonstrations, held our own demonstrations, spread the word, but the result didn't met our expectations. This was discouraging, but it did show that with more focus and effort maybe we will be able to achieve more. Sorry i'm rambaling on Tree, but I think you and I are in a similiar situation. We live in places with few anarchists, and its easy to start to feel alone and isolated.

Just keep up your propaganda work Tree, planting the seeds of revolution is what has to be done first before we can harvest its wonderfull fruit.

Hi

Alf is especially randy. A hottie too, if you like that sort of thing.

Have as much sex as possible before your libido declines.

"Love"

LR

well toj it's really impressive how seriously you have examined your dilemma. i was going to agree with others that you should guiltlessly separate your job life from your political life, but this

hits home and leads to 'cognitive dissonance'. at least, it has done to me. but i've been poor and job-insecure, and i've been comfortable and less-job-insecure, and the latter has its benefits. [/class enemy]

you say you're competent with languages. is there a chance of taking on piece translating, or even full-time translating? your time is far more your own, tho' the work can be less steady.

well i mean, there are limits. i was echoing alf and catch, tho' perhaps stating it more starkly than they meant.
are the cops unionized? maybe you could join as a salt

Not sure what's being echoed here, but I certainly wouldn't say that a revolutionary can get a job in the police force. There are ways of 'earning aliving' which are in direct contradiction with our principles and the security of our comrades. So there can never be a total separation between our politics and our 'professional' work, even if the necessary distinction does have to be made.

this:

the bit about the cops is mine.

The point I was making is when choosing a job from which to earn your daily bread, you can't necessarily factor in the opportunities for workplace agitation. Some jobs may be quite isolated and offer precious few such opportunities, for example. This is quite separate from the question of whether the job itself is incompatible with our political commitment

Tree asks for the criteria; I think they can only be quite general and we have to look at specific cases. The general criteria is that they are incompatible with being a revolutionary militant and/or expose yourself and your fellow revolutionaries to danger. Joining the police force and being a professional drugs dealer or thief both fit into this category.

Glad to hear that you seem to be in better spirits, Tree.

I guess your most original work would be contained in your agitation, but whether the company would be interested in owning it is another matter....their first line of defence in repressing agitation in any case is not so much what you say, but the fact that you say it on company time, because you are a lot more vulnerable on that ground. For example at my previous educational establishment I got in trouble with senior management for speaking at a meeting of support staff prior to them going on strike. I was reprimanded not so much for saying we all needed to meet together across union lines or because I am not a member either of the union in question (NUPE) or of the teachers' union (indeed, with a delightful ignorance of left communist politics, the head teacher tried to butter me up by saying that "I too am a trade unionist you know"), but because I did it while I was responsible for a group of pupils in the library where the meeting was held.

oh yes. expropriated internet is da bomb.
but yet i've come to feel that it's not expropriated, it's a thing i ought to have because it's part of a whole life, and everyone should have it on that basis, not as a benison of the employer.
free and available internet at all workplaces as a human right!!

If you are having this much of a hard time deciding whether to take a job or not just imagine how bad it's going to feel after 6 months or ten years.

The world of ten hour days and commuting is hardly conducive to having any other kind of life but if you need to do it then you need to do it! Be thankful that you're not picking over rubbish heaps on the edge of Mexcio City or Manilla to survive.

And if you don't need to do it then why exactly are you intending to do it? Why choose a job with professional hours, responsibilities and remuneration? What are your motives?

There are common coping strategies for what working life demands:
1. Drugs and/or drink whenever time and funds allow
2. Taking your frustrations out on family, friends and pets
3. Rationalising one's position and coming to believe that there is no alternative for the sake of security - the full on lower middle class route
4. Selling one's soul entirely to the company or the organisation and trying to rise as high as possible until you poke your nose above the shit that everyone else is mired in

Whilst there are some kinds of work that would obviously be beyond the pale it is clear that all jobs contribute to the daily recreation of the state we are in. Nevertheless, you have to eat. Do you have an escape plan other than death?

Here's the thing: wanting to contribute to the overthrow of capitalism sounds fine as a coping strategy when your in your twenties and feel immortal, it's not so great when you're older and have really come to terms with your mortality. My best advice would be to try to find something that puts food on the table but allows you a modicum of happiness. The Revolution is not going to come like some red steam train bang on time to save you from your job, but you might just be able to play a part in the long term cultural and social changes that need to take place if you manage to hold on tight to your humanity and get involved in liberating activities.

ToJ, you an ecologist aren't you? You know about Permaculture? I am confused that you think that some, frankly old fashioned, workplace with "working class" consciousness would be more fulfilling if you could find one. What do you really want? A steel mill? A shipyard? Some idealised working class community from the 1890s? You're chasing a dream. If you want to change the world then go and change it, don't subscribe to workerist fantasies on the one hand or sacrifice yourself on some awful middle class professional altar on the other.

btw: interested to read that you are a fan of role-playing, it's been one of my passions these past 25 years. Good escapism on a Saturday night, unfortunately it doesn't forestall the arrival of Monday morning.

Hi

Try and seagull the Queen.

Love

LR

Security in your old age may well be the most futile quest of all. Apart from the fact that state of the world - let alone the part of it that you live in - in several decades time will in all likelihood severely reduce your chances of sitting on your porch in a rocking chair, working your whole life so that you can die in an expensive hospital and have brass coffin furniture strikes me as pretty ridiculous. Certainly it is no excuse to become a manager.

It sounds to me that you are actually fairly content to work in a sector in which you can use the skills you have from your university career. If so then you will hopefully drag some job satisfaction from your daily work. Of course lots of us have jumped through every educational hoop ever held up for us only to realise that there was no satisfaction whatsoever to be gained from employing the skills we had gained.

Fortunately life rarely offers only one crossroads and you can always employ the 6 month strategy: give a job half a year and then leave before your head explodes.

You seem a little exasperated to find that your thread has provoked strong responses. I don't see why. Millenarian delusions notwithstanding, the drive to create revolutionary change is born in the everyday. Bringing up your angst about employment has raised fundamental stuff, even Lazy resorted to telling you to stop moaning..... in what I thought was quite a tender fatherly moment. Truly revolutionary politics is not about this class or that class or about the grinding wheels of history, it ain't scientific socialism man, it's getting up in the morning, every morning of the only life you'll ever have to drag yourself from your home and family to make someone else rich, powerful or pampered.