Why The Revolution Hasn’t Started Yet Part II: Team Work

Happy Indigenous People's Day!

Free the indigenous people of Palestine from the internment camp created by their occupiers! Free Palestine! Watch this short video from 2 years ago to understand better what's going on there today. Related article links are located in the links section below this week's blog post. It's a post inspired by an incident this past week that proves the 1%/capitalists/occupiers are everywhere and could be anyone, even a person you thought you could trust to be on the people's side...

Why The Revolution Hasn’t Started Yet

Part II: Team Work
by C.A. Matthews

If you want our society to change for the better so you don’t have to keep asking, “Why hasn’t the Revolution started yet?” then you need to grow up emotionally and treat your fellow workers as equals, worthy of your trust, respect, and forgiveness. Anything less won’t cut it. —from Why The Revolution Hasn’t Started Yet

I never thought I’d be writing another piece along these lines—and so soon—but needs must. 

The Revolution hasn’t started yet because some of us are still not on the same page as to what being a socialist means. I’m not talking about technical terms or academic explanations. I’m talking about what it means to want to make the world a better place.

Hopefully I explained it well in my first essay that wanting to make the world a better place means that you want it to become a better place for all human beings. And I meant all, not just for those you like or those who look like you, think like you, or like the same kinds of food, books, music, movies, and video games as you. If we make a decision to leave anyone out, then we’re not truly wishing to reform society to bring about equality. We’re just wanting to change things a little bit to make life easier for ourselves and those who are essentially clones of us. That’s not socialism; that’s just maintaining the capitalist status quo.

When we make the decision—consciously or unconsciously—to leave out the other 99% of human beings and keep the good stuff only for the 1% we agree with and like to be around, then we are not acting like a socialist. The 99% versus the 1%… Now, where have I heard those percentages before?

The Revolution hasn’t started yet because it’s not going to start with just the 1% who want it to begin in order to meet their own personal wants and desires. No person is an island unto themselves, so you have to acknowledge that, by the end of the day, the Revolution must involve the whole planet and the entirety of its inhabitants or else it’s a bust.

We can’t go it alone, in other words. The Revolution is going to take a team effort. So we must form teams and nurture them.

To be a team working toward a socialist Revolution means we have to respect and trust our fellow team members. We make a promise to each other that we’ll work together to reach our goals of equality and that we will be there for each other, come what may. We can’t bail out on our team members when times get tough. We can’t just walk away without giving a decent reason as to what why we wish to leave the team.

We make a promise when we join the team to keep the lines of communication open. That means we can’t hold grudges and stuff all our hurts or confusions deep inside ourselves. We have to share what’s on our minds. We have to talk—and listen—to each other as equals, respecting each other’s unique perspective.

Sure, we might need to take a break or some R and R occasionally, but we don’t leave our fellow teammates out in the cold without any explanation about what’s going on with us. We can’t afford to keep our fellow workers out of the loop or else misunderstandings could occur. Misunderstandings can break up the team and destroy the efforts we’re making as a team. Because we truly respect and trust each other and want only the best for all of humanity, we won’t risk breaking up our team. We should see our team of fellow socialists as an essential tool to make the whole of Planet Earth safer, healthier, and happier. 

Breaking up a team for personal wants or desires comes across as an action a capitalist would take. A capitalist is an individual who sees himself or herself as being intrinsically better than others and possibly more deserving of attention. It’s a person who relishes getting their own way and telling others what to do since they know better, so it isn't necessary to share the limelight or the decision-making processes. A capitalist might join a team and say they’re doing it for the sake of the Revolution, but they see the others on the team only as being good for window-dressing and grunt work purposes. The voice and image that matters are the capitalist’s.

To reiterate, socialists treat everyone with respect, freely giving their trust and forgiveness to their fellow workers. This is necessary for all to benefit from the better society socialism is building. No one is left behind! Socialists aren’t doing all this work on their own for their own glory—they’re members of a team, working together to realize the dream of a better world for all of creation, human beings as well as the plants, animals and the totality of the environment.

The reason I’m revisiting my previous article this week is because of the actions of one of the persons it was inspired by. Suddenly what I thought was true of all socialists, that we all are working hard together to bring about the better society, might not be quite as true for this particular person as I first believed. I might have projected my hopes and dreams onto this person, thinking he was happy to be working toward building this better world as a member of our big team. I was wrong. Recent events have convinced me that maybe deep down this person wants to do things on his own because it would be of more benefit to his own team, the 1%.

It’s heartbreaking to come to this realization. I’m deeply disappointed, but it’s better to discover the truth now rather than later. Later on when the corporate contributions via political action committees (PACs), Super PACs, and millionaires’ checks come rolling into this person’s campaign war chest, we’ll see how, slowly but surely, this candidate’s focus will shift toward his wealthy capitalists donors at the expense of the working class. 

It might have already happened at a $250 a ticket soiree held in this person’s honor. The workers who thought they were on the same team, but who couldn’t afford this type of luxury, weren’t welcome. Worse yet, the venue where the event was held is known for being hostile to its own workers unionizing. That doesn’t sound like a place a socialist would want to be seen partying at, let alone allowing it to host their fundraiser. Why cater to capitalists at the expense of those you presumably wish to help unless you feel they are not worthy of your help to begin with?

This is not a campaign I’d be proud to be a part of as a socialist. The duopoly candidates accept corporate money via PACs/Super PACs and host champagne receptions with rich capitalists. I thought the candidate was on our team—the workers who wish to bring about a better society—but maybe I misunderstood. He seems to be on a team of one.

Our team was doing hard work to help this candidate get on the ballot in multiple states. Ballot access work for alternative party candidates in the US truly takes a team effort. We really felt that the candidate was a member of our team, and he respected our efforts. We were all equals. 

But it seems this person prefers to pay strangers to collect signatures for his ballot access instead. It explains why he suddenly announced he was leaving our team’s party in the middle of our ballot access work. He wants to be free to take PAC dollars and kiss up to rich capitalists to raise funds to pay for these professional petition circulators. He didn’t seem to appreciate our team’s volunteer efforts, even though we had been doing quite well gaining ballot access so far.

In a recent online interview, this person demonstrated that he isn’t really into “grassroots democracy” which is practiced by our team’s political party. He stated plainly that he didn’t want to go through our team’s party primary or its debates or even attend state party events in order to meet with fellow team members. 

This person said in the interview that meeting with members of the party was a waste of time and took him away from the real people he wanted to reach with his campaign. He even stated a horrible falsehood that the party didn’t reach out to people of color and that nobody in those communities even knew who we were, but they knew who he was, so it was better if he just walked away from our team’s party now.

Ouch. 

Does that mean the people of color who are members of our team's party don’t count in his eyes? Those who worked hard for his campaign's ballot access don’t count? Those he claims aren't worthy of his time don’t count? That he doesn't consider any of us to be his equals?

And this person claims to be a “socialist”? 

Apparently, this person, who freely joined our party, wants to be free to use campaign finance methods such as PACs that have totally corrupted the duopoly. Can’t he see that by pushing away the enthusiastic volunteer ballot petitioners and accepting large sums of cash from millionaires/billionaires is exactly what the capitalist corporate-owned-and-operated candidates of the duopoly do? Does he believe those large sums of money won't affect him like they've have for every candidate before him?

If he wants to run his campaign like a capitalist/duopolist, then perhaps he’s not really interested in building a better world for all that he thinks he is.

The Revolution hasn’t started yet because some folks, who may have fooled themselves into thinking they’re socialists, are actually arrogant lone wolves of the capitalist class. They don’t hunt in a pack. They want to do it all by themselves, and you should be grateful to get anywhere near their presence without a minimum $250 donation.

You could say that they “don’t play well with others,” but that’s assuming they even know we “others” exist in the first place. A socialist would acknowledge that their teammates can provide invaluable insights and assistance. A socialist would have the humility to ask for and accept help from others they see as equals instead of ditching them and buying help. A capitalist feels free to walk away from those they see as “less than” at any time and hang out with their rich friends because they're more important. It’s called hierarchy.

This person, a candidate who likes to call himself a “Jazz Man,” is really a solo artist. He wants to do things his way without a thought to how his fellow band members could be of benefit to the cause. He’s not interested in making harmonious music with others. He said in the interview he felt he was better off without our party volunteers around, bringing his image down, keeping him away from the real people who counted more, in his opinion. 

In other words, "Screw the workers who can only donate their blood, sweat, and tears instead of big fat checks!"

The Revolution hasn’t started yet because we the workers, the loyal teammates, need to stop relying on capitalists to lead us through this corrupted and corrupting system of government. We must start leading ourselves without the so-called leadership of famous personalities and other arrogant types who believe their own press releases. We must build our own teams of equals and call the shots.

We must do it ourselves. Worker standing beside worker. As equals. As brothers and sisters. Together.

Power to the people.

 

Related Articles and Interesting Links

Why The Revolution Hasn't Started Yet https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com/p/why-the-revolution-hasnt-started

Sabby Sabs interviews Jill Stein about Cornel West's decision to go Independent https://youtu.be/1vP_NUqnwA0?si=XVKujzUnUGWvhfN4

Sabby Sabs interviews Cornel West about why he left the Green Party https://youtu.be/_N7uhv3oa50?si=mGBwYQrnhNfiFMwf

What Happens to Rich People Under Socialism https://youtu.be/HKOYmE7oRCQ?si=UA9nqAT-mTB_fwdJ

“Can you give a brief synopsis of what’s happening in Israel?”
https://raymcgovern.com/2023/10/08/can-you-give-a-brief-synopsis-of-whats-happening-in-israel/

Palestinian resistance in Gaza launches historic surprise attack against Israel https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/10/07/palestinian-resistance-in-gaza-launches-historic-surprise-attack-against-israel/

A Population With Nothing To Lose
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/a-population-with-nothing-to-lose

How Israel Made Gaza the World's Biggest Prison https://youtu.be/iWG7JB9saE4?si=nEeQLameYtHH7Pjx

'Horrific Step Backwards': Biden Admin Waives Protections to Speed Border Wall Construction https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-border-wall-waiver

Patrick Lawrence: Depleted Ukrainium https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/05/patrick-lawrence-depleted-ukrainium/

They're Repeating The Word 'Unprovoked' Again, This Time In Defense Of Israel https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/theyre-repeating-the-word-unprovoked

This Proxy War Can't Be Both 'Unprovoked' AND A Great Strategic Investment https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/this-proxy-war-cant-be-both-unprovoked

The Priority Must Be To Put Bush, Blair and Cheney Behind Bars Before Trump  https://www.mintpressnews.com/priority-must-be-put-bush-blair-cheney-behind-bars-before-trump/285867/

Julian Assange May Be Extradited To The United States This Month
https://popularresistance.org/sassanges-imminent-extradition/

75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers begin the largest healthcare strike in US history https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/05/jfgp-o05.html

Washington Post Columnist Charles Lane Wants Auto Workers to Lose Their Jobs  https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/03/washington-post-columnist-charles-lane-wants-auto-workers-to-lost-their-jobs/

How CIA and NSA Created Google https://kitklarenberg.substack.com/p/how-cia-and-nsa-created-google

“We need to all be out now”: Autoworkers demand all-out strike to break corporate resistance to their demands https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/02/ypau-o02.html

The Solar World We Might Have Had https://popularresistance.org/the-solar-world-we-might-have-had/

When Even The Nazis Aren't Nazis https://open.substack.com/pub/caitlinjohnstone/p/when-even-the-nazis-arent-nazis

Britain Has Run Out of Military Equipment to Give Ukraine
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/04/britain-has-run-out-of-military-equipment-to-give-ukraine/

Patrick Lawrence: Tampering With History https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/03/patrick-lawrence-tampering-with-history/

Idaho County Shutters Its Only Obstetric Department, Citing “Political Climate” https://truthout.org/articles/idaho-county-shutters-its-only-obstetric-department-citing-political-climate/

Kaiser Permanente Workers Begin the Largest Healthcare Strike in U.S. History https://www.leftvoice.org/kaiser-workers-begin-the-largest-healthcare-strike-in-u-s-history/