Right now we’re seeing a crisis of both circulation and labor power, as well as a crisis of the accumulation of difference that scaffolds capitalist production.
I think we’re in a labor power crisis they’re not letting on to directly. I’ve gotten like 5 different recruitment emails, I’m seeing “no one wants to work” articles all over the place, everyone I know’s been able to find a better job, and I’m hearing stories of mass quitting in response to the end of telecommuting.
I think that people aren’t working for a couple reasons. One is that a lot of our economy was held up by elderly people who couldn’t afford to retire, and chronically stressed poor people who are now dead.
The other is that the people who can afford not to work are quitting to look for jobs that let them telecommute or won’t have the same crunch conditions a lot of jobs imposed in response to covid.
The last is that eviction moratoriums have a lot of poor people quitting their jobs because they have guaranteed housing.
The result is a crisis of capital’s reproduction from lack of labor power. If you were ever thinking about going on strike, asking for a raise or finding a new job, now’s the time. They’re keeping this on the DL because workers who know their power use it.
This is also a circulation crisis because just in time production relies on every part of the supply chain working as intended. If any one part breaks from increased demand or reduced labor power, the whole thing works less well. It’s also a circulation crisis because unemployed people have time to riot, and we’ve seen another round of BLM protests, and what do they do? They block traffic, loot stores, and prevent policemen from enforcing the commodity form, all of which contribute to a circulation crisis.
We’re also seeing a crisis of the reproduction of difference. BLM is challenging the racial order, the proliferation of queer teens are challenging the gender and sexual order, and poverty induced group housing is challenging the nuclear family. There are still significant heirarchies of difference scaffolding capitalism, but they’re seeing significant attacks.
I think the emphasis Biden’s placing on policing and security is a preparation of counter revolution in the event that the dispossessed classes should take advantage of this triple crisis to implement social change as they did in the 14th, 19th and 20th centuries. The media’s focus on the circulation crisis over the labor power crisis is so they don’t encourage worker action. When they do cover the labor power crisis, it’s “people don’t want to work” and not “labor is growing in power comparative to capital.”
:gold-ancom: wouldn’t eviction moratorium ending whip the workers back though?
Yeah, ending it is a tough one for the bourgeoisie because it would help discipline the workforce and lessen the labor power crisis, but at the same time it would create a crisis of labor power reproduction that could lead to another labor power shortage down the road. Sinply ending it without bailing out landlords would also contribute to a circulation crisis as many landlords would go under.
California is trying to solve the circulation and reproduction crisis by paying off back rents, while Blackrock is addressing the circulation crisis by buying up property. The second is dicey for capitalists because it doesn’t address the reproduction crisis.
I think this is why we’re seeing some places ending the eviction moratorium and others just kicking the can down the road.
I also know folks who just stopped paying rent and used the money they saved to move into a new place, which solves the reproduction issue, but exacerbates the circulation crisis.
:inshallah-script:
I’m not sure it’s so much that people aren’t working is that they’ve moved to better work.
Lot of the ads I see are for jobs in service/food industry. In my area, many people who had those jobs prior to the pandemic found out they can get better pay working in warehouses than they can as they can as a line cook or a server.
Also makes me wonder if the 1% will open the country up to a little more immigration. I feel like that’s how you would know for sure that they were starting to have major problems with finding / controlling workers: will money matter more than being racist pieces of shit? Others please correct me if I’m wrong.
I also suspect that we’ll see Biden act to do some criminal justice reform that will release a lot of folks on drug offence charges - without pardons or expungements. It pleases his base, and will boost supply of workers who will have more hurdles in the way of finding work. If this happens, I imagine you’ll probably see some horrific companies wokewashing to talk about how they’re making a difference and righting the wrongs of the drug war, etc.
Bourgeois solidarity is fading, their organizations are collapsing and a new world is struggling to be born
