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defensefilms · 2 years

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A Brief Appreciation Of Richard Wolff

When I was younger, I remember attempting to explain to an entire classroom of stoners, how it was impossible to solve a lot of the problems of the wider world in our current dominant economic system.

I didn’t quite have the dialouge to explain how we were hindered by an economic system that doesn’t prioritize any of the things that actually benefit the people in it.

Among the many difficulties of articulating that, is the fact that there aren’t many solutions or alternatives that are discussed in the open.

Whether it be in mainstream media, academia, or by the politicians of almost any country in the world. All these supposed cornerstones institutions, which supposedly exist to guide their country’s, and concern themselves with the well-being of it’s populous, and none are interested in looking at alternatives to an economic system that does not help to accomplish any of it’s people’s goals.

Guys like Richard Wolff are the kinds of speakers that help with that.

Surely, among the most important speakers of our lifetime and a staunch anti-capitalist and as the years have gone, Richard’s works seem to hit closer and closer to home regarding what is looking more and more like the downfall of an economic system that is so obsessed with growth, it has begun eating itself.

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This is what I struggled to explain to my peers as a youth.

Does capitalism solve any of socitey’s major issues?

Starvation and malnutrition? Nah

Does it help house all people ? Nah, and in a lot of situations, like what you see in countries like Finland, is that it’s governments that end homelessness in their respective countries. On top of thar, I hate to break it to you, but housing poor people, isn’t profitable, so the real estate tycoons don’t even tangentially help with that.

What about unemployment?

I mean businesses and industries compensating workers and thus being able to increase profits, expand operations and hire more workers, is supposed to be this magic pill that ends unemployent, right? That way the existence of several large enterprises spread out across industries throughout the economy is supposed to solve that probelm right?

Only it doesn’t, because no one hires more workers than what they need, because that just bad business, and employing people isn’t the point of business, being profitable is.

Here’s the real twist though, through years of schooling, you’ve already been conditioned to believe that a lot of the things you have as recourse and protection are bad for you, or not in your personal interest.

For instance, do you want better conditions at work? Would be a whole lot easier if you could hold the people in charge accountable, kind of like what a union is supposed to do.

Only wait, you don’t believe in unions do you?.

In 2022, I no longer roll my eyes in despair, being stuck trying to explain this, while also not having any sources of information or media to help my case. In 2022, I can finally let go of feeling like the only man on earth that sees this bullshit.

Richard Wolff’s work undertakes the daunting task of undoing years and generations of misinformation and miseducation regarding an economic system that is the only thing people have ever known, and on top of that, contending with misappropriations like “Marxists want to take your property”.

What Richard Wolff’s work does is peel back at layers worth of information noise, that really came about in the 1950′s, back when capitalism had to protect itself against Soviet communism.

Most of what you believe about Marxism, socialism and stateism, were ideas first created during that time. Ideas created at a time when both capitalist and communist powers utilized propaganda to ensure their people didn’t consider alternatives.

What you missed in all that though, is that niether capitalism nor communism arbitrates or advocates for the workers owning the means of production and keeping the proceeds from what they create.

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Among the most helpful of the ideas of which Wolff is a big proponent of, is that of worker-owned co-ops.

A worker owned co-op is the idea or structure, by which each and every worker of a company being entitled to an equal share of the profits, where as in a normal company structure only the ownership are entiled to a share of the proceeds.

If you think this stuff is pie in the sky, you need to wake up and smell the coffee.

The old capitalist structure and the businessman that built their fortunes in it, are failing everyday people, and alternatives aren’t an idea to be tried at a more opportune time, they are a neccesity right now, and people worldwide are noticing.

An article by the Labour Research Service about a printing company in Cape Town, South Africa, named the Finger Printing Co-operatice Ltd, that had to improvise when their printing machine (thier means of production) was siezed.

Of all the countries in the world, none are a better place to export the idea of worker owned co-operatives, than South Africa.

We have a large agricultural sector, mining and farming sectors, as well as manufacturing, but most importantly, we have people, the most important resource there is, is the human resources.

Allowing workers to collaborate to firstly own the materials, equipment and instruments they would need to do this work, and then share in the profits of whatever goods they create, services they provide, or whatever raw materials they mine/farm.

This may be the best way to reach down to a sector of the economy that is even below the small businessman.

In short, South Africa is tailor made for worker owned co-operatives, and as stated in the Labour Research Service’s artice, the country already has a history of worker owned co-ops, going back to the 1980′s when manufacturing plants wouldn’t hire union employees.

Wolfe’s contributions to articulating the need for an alternate economic system have helped greatly in helping understand how the goverments, business and globalism have all created an economic system that only helps those at the top.

This was, and still is, no easy feat.

A lot of academic speakers that speak against capitalism, must couch their commentary or risk being seen as a pariah, a social miscrient, or a derelict. Sufficient to say speaking this way of the reality that is all anyone has ever known, comes at the risk of being discredited to no end.

This doesn’t deter Wolf at all.

He makes no bones about what the problem is, or what he is speaking against. This is not the academic who will leave breadcrumbs without being explicit about it. Wolfe’s approach is too straighforward for that, and he acknowledges that the workplace being where people spend most of the time, automatically makes it a hub of political activity.

That’s a very unpopular message, not just among the business class, but probably among segment of regular working people, who are discouraged, and even intimidated by speaking against thier work lives, the economic system and how our lives revolve around chasing money.

As global economics clamp down harder and put the costs back on to consumers, by far the hardest work there is, is letting people know there is a problem and for which the people will need to create and implement alternatives.

Thankless work.

And it’s the reason why Richard Wolff is by far the most important speaker of his time.

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