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Happy International Worker's Day!

Regicollis

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Today is the International Worker's Day where the left celebrates its victories and look forward to new struggles.

What do you think are the most important issues today for the left and the labour movement?

The financial crisis has led to many attacks on the goods that ordinary people has won for themselves over time. We are told that we cannot afford the current amount of public services, that we have to accept pay cuts and many people has been hit by unemployment.

Ordinary people are being expected to pay for the crisis. Meanwhile the speculants who got rich by gambling with our economy get to keep their wealth. Many people are fed up with this and there is great potential for the left by demanding that those who created the crisis also are the ones who have to pay for it.

Globally the greatest challenge for the labour movement is to spread to low-salary countries like China or India. Westerns workers can not compete with the extremely low salaries there and unless they want to sink to the living standard of a Chinese worker they need the Chinese to stand up for themselves and demand a decent wage. The labour struggle can no longer be fought on a national level. The capitalists has gone global a long time ago and the labour movement needs to do so if it wants to be a serious competitor to capitalism.

Although there are many obstacles in the way, the collapse of the neo-liberal ideology that followed the collapse of the pyramid scheme on Wall Street has opened the door for new ideas. It has been many years since so many people last was looking for something new and better than capitalism.



Happy International Worker's Day!
 

For one, places like Greece(and others around the world) need to understand that a retirement pension at 50 for hairdressers isn't going to cut for long term finances in the real world.

International workers need to learn to manage their own finances and stop relying of generous tax payer funded benefits.
Any normal person who wants to retire with such generous compensation has to save a million or 2 to make it work.
 
Great. Another Communist poster. :doh
 
bhkad said:
Great. Another Communist poster. :doh
Click to expand...

Judging from your avatar just about everyone to the left of Rush Limbaugh is a communist

But yes this time you're actually right. Depending on the definition I can be described as a communist. I believe that politics should be used to improve life for the people at large, not for a financial elite.
 

And yet everywhere that Communism has been tried has resulted in mass poverty, workers being near slaves to the state and 99% of the wealth and power in the hands of a very few Elite.

NK
USSR
Cuba
China

Class and wealth envy destroy so many promising young people's ability to grasp reality.
 
What do you think are the most important issues today for the left and the labour movement?
Click to expand...

Knowing their roles and shutting their mouths.

If I want to hear uneducated proletariat puke, I'll tell them to double-bag my groceries or "no onions on my #3".
 

This is true MrVicchio. However I think perhaps what people like Regicollis and certain myself may think, is it sounds pretty damn good on paper.

The only flaw in communism is the human element. We simply cannot be trusted to fulfill any ideal the way it is on paper, I mean hell look at capatalism, no one can play fair, the financial crisis proved that.

In short. Communism sounds great on paper. A disaster in practice.

VIVA!
 
Moderator's Warning:
Let's all cease the personal attacks and discuss the topic.
 

:shock: I didn't know this bit of history. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Those workers did indeed die for a worthy cause, too bad it had to go that far though.
 
megaprogman said:
:shock: I didn't know this bit of history. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Those workers did indeed die for a worthy cause, too bad it had to go that far though.
Click to expand...

While that may have been important, the people who push this garbage now basically want great benefits for little work instead of fair benefits for fair labor.

Idealism put into practice.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
While that may have been important, the people who push this garbage now basically want great benefits for little work instead of fair benefits for fair labor.

Idealism put into practice.
Click to expand...

I agree somewhat, but not entirely. I think many are still pushing for the idea of equitable opportunity (but not necessarily outcome). However, I think more attention should be paid to those who would cheat such a system and use it for its unintended purpose.

Then there are the people who aren't realistic.
 
Gipper said:
Knowing their roles and shutting their mouths.

If I want to hear uneducated proletariat puke, I'll tell them to double-bag my groceries or "no onions on my #3".
Click to expand...

Now that is truly funny and wise at the same time
 

I think it has morphed into the exact thing they were fighting against.

Before it was business in bed with government, with business able to get away will all sorts of things.
Now labor unions exploit the system where everyone else has to pay for their luxury.

That subsidized loan from the IMF to Greece is a fine example.
We still have to work till 70 for benefits, while Greek citizens still get to retire at(approximately) 50 off our back.
It's not right.

Next up are our state pension systems which again allow people to retire super early off our backs while we work till 70.
 

I don't disagree. There is currently a lot of waste in the system.
 
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