Remember the Free Market on Labor Day

For me there isn't a more important holiday than Labor Day. As the Republicans and Democrats push us back to the 1890s--that Golden Age of Free Market Capitalism--it's a good idea to think about things. Pop quiz:

Is capitalism more successful in El Salvador or the United States?

Most people would probably guess the United States, but that would be wrong. Capitalism is more successful where it is able to acquire more surplus value--that's the stuff they steal from us as workers. The less money a capitalist has to spend on stupid stuff like health care, job safety, environmental regulations and protections is more money that goes in his pocket.

The mistake is to think of where people are doing the best, but capitalism doesn't care about the people. In fact I ask you to think about the progress we've made in the last hundred years: eight-hour work days, occupational safety, environmental protection, labor laws, the right to organize and collectively bargain for a better wage, health care, benefits for workers who get hurt or die on the job. Where did those come from? Who fought for them? Who fought against them?

None of these benefits are the result of capitalism. We gained them despite capitalism. We gained them through direct action and struggle. Up until the 1930s hundreds of American workers were being killed as they fought for these rights.

Capitalists are still fighting to roll these things back. NAFTA, GAT, and other so-called "free-trade" agreements are aimed at further weakening our labor unions. The mass media does its best to convince you that you don't need unions. But it won't take you too much effort on this labor day weekend to look back to the 1890s, the 1900s and see what they want. Hell you don't even have to go back that far. Just look to China or El Salvador or any third world nation and that's what free market capitalism is all about.

The United States of America was a third world nation fifty years before the term was ever coined. The nation consisted of sweat shops paying out sub-subsistant wages while the uber-rich paid almost no taxes. Prostitution, disease and drug use were rampant. Workers who dared organize and fight for things like a five day work week or an eight-hour work day were beaten, jailed and killed.

Let's not go back to that. If you work for a living, we need you. Capital does not create wealth. There are only two sources of wealth in this world: natural resources and labor. Join the labor movement. Get organized. Educate yourself and those around you. And let's agitate for change.

Happy Labor Day.

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