Hard Times Help to Keep Workers in Line

Hard times function as a b*tch-slap to the working class. Whether crashes are engineered, (as various conspiracy theorists such as David Icke believe), or simply happen as the result of mathematical inevitabilities merging with the mob psychology of the market, hard times serve a political purpose.

When workers imply that they may have some right to a bigger share of the putrid "pie," events will come along to remind them that they are lucky to have any slice at all no matter how pitifully thin. When jobs are scarce, bosses know that they can demand more from their subordinates, and that they will get it, often without complaint.

It's true that we will not be shot for quitting our jobs, but we may have to do without a home for a while, and live in such a way that our very existence becomes a "quality of life issue" to someone whose whole day is ruined just by the sight of homeless people.

Fear, of the very real consequences of defiance drives the worker to obey and work harder, and while a young, strong-willed single may be willing to hit the streets, parents of minor children don't have that choice as a realistic option. The option to say (in the words of "Johnny Paycheck") "Take This Job and Shove It" is one that only exists in the theoretical sense for Americans with debts and responsibilities, the chains of the wage-slave.

I'm not afraid of losing my job, it's seasonal in nature and can't last past the first week of November anyway, yet in the back of my mind, something keeps me from quitting sooner, the little voice telling me how lucky I am to have a job at all, and how I should be grateful for everything, including all the pats on the back and the raise from 7.50 to 7.75 per hour I received mid-summer.

All over the country, productivity is up and labor costs are down. What wonderful news this is for management![i] The hard times are a weapon of the ongoing inverse class-war.

The free market ideal can only exist in the absence of the fraud and coercion which permeates every aspect of a corporatist society such as our own. There is coercion in the workplace, and fraud perpetrated openly by business and government. Radical capitalists do have a lot to be angry about right now, as do genuine leftists (who have nothing in common with Obama and the democrats, contrary to the pronouncements of the punditry).

Will the level of discomfort override the fear and impulse to conformity and subordination on which our rulers depend? The chicken-feed liberalism of a pseudo-progressive government is meant to ensure that it never does.

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[i] Source, Senior Producer John Schoen of MSNBC, 8-11-09 article titled "Americans Working Much Harder for Less Pay," on MSNBC.com