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Antiwork

On advocating for general strikes

We've seen a huge influx of posts suggesting a general strike in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned. Meanwhile, millions of workers in this country work for low/minimum wage and live paycheck to paycheck. If they miss a single rent payment, they could be subject to eviction within days. These are the people who you are asking to drop everything and strike. How could they possibly forgo their income for an unknown amount of time with no support? It's impossible. It's a shitty reality, but it needs to be acknowledged seriously. Strikes require resources for the workers who are striking. Direct community support networks, strike funds, etc. are all REQUIRED infrastructure before your average worker can materially consider the possibility of striking. If you think that a general strike is a valid avenue of action, you need to back it up with material support for the people that…


We've seen a huge influx of posts suggesting a general strike in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned.

Meanwhile, millions of workers in this country work for low/minimum wage and live paycheck to paycheck. If they miss a single rent payment, they could be subject to eviction within days. These are the people who you are asking to drop everything and strike. How could they possibly forgo their income for an unknown amount of time with no support? It's impossible. It's a shitty reality, but it needs to be acknowledged seriously.

Strikes require resources for the workers who are striking. Direct community support networks, strike funds, etc. are all REQUIRED infrastructure before your average worker can materially consider the possibility of striking.

If you think that a general strike is a valid avenue of action, you need to back it up with material support for the people that you're asking this of. This takes extensive planning and organization and I'm sorry if you don't want to hear it, but a general strike CANNOT realistically be organized on reddit alone.

Actual productivity will come from discussions of material support networks for workers and safety nets that will require serious organization. These “General Strike” posts that are showing up in r/new every 5 minutes are a slap in the face to the people who will actually have to deal with the consequences of missing out on their income.

Please take discussions of General Strikes seriously, unless you are just having fun LARPing on reddit for meaningless internet points.

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