Read on Twitter
I agree. There is a big disconnect between lefties who see connection to the land as the goal and others who see class consciousness and liberation as the goal. https://twitter.com/ProleSurvival/status/1351391480749858816
I personally think it's because it's easier for us to see the end of the world than it is to see the end of the industrial era.
Therefore the popular interpretation of Marx is the liberation of the worker, but the continuation of industry, this time just owned more equitably.
But Marx actually wrote quite a bit about industrial ag. and the need to reconnect to nature thru cyclical materials flows, i.e. small scale peasant livelihoods.
I have some direct quotes I could use to illustrate, and John Bellamy Foster has done comprehensive work showing this. To really overcome alienation we must not only connect with our labor, we must connect with the land and each other.
I agree with @ProleSurvival in that I think if we start pushing lefties to reconnect to vocation (a la @cognazor) there will be this sort of cascading effect.
If we show that connection to the land and making a living from it can foment community *and* a sense of meaning in work, the sky is the limit in terms of overthrowing industrial capitalism and making something new.
The critique of the current labor focused lefty subgroup is powerful: ok so we own the means of production, do we keep the factory? Or we get UBI, who grows the food we buy with our currency?
I don't think many have thought it through that far, rightfully focusing on the exploitation of labor. But we ourselves are all exploiting someone else's labor if we buy products they made thru exploitation.
Liberation comes thru not only taking responsibility of our own sufficiency to *some* level (not everyone has to farm! There are plenty of other products we need!) But also in fighting against the exploitation of others who provide us what we need.
This liberation is inevitable if the scale is local (a la @normonics). When commerce is between neighbors, you will *not* exploit their labor. You know if they succeed, you not only have access to goods locally you need to survive, you also have a customer who cares about you.
That's why I genuinely think building an easy way for people to buy and sell locally could help accelerate the new post industrial economy.
Because what results isn't just commerce. It's sharing, mutual aid, innovation, new vocations, guilds, communities of practice, solidarity.
We could co-create the future through making things with our hands that our neighbors need to live well. The mutual gratitude that exists when you make something someone else loves is just...*chef's kiss*
And, not reinventing the wheel here. This is the way commerce worked, in embedded local communities, for the VAST majority of human history.
And, no, this doesn't mean we can't have hot water or washing machines or computers. If we can get close to local sufficiency on most things, I genuinely think we could remain within ecological limits maintaining a few luxurious technologies that we hyper engineer.
It's a good life we could make. Working on a vocation by day, cranking Led Zepplin in your workshop with your recyclable computer and speakers. Making something real with your hands and your wit.
Spend some time dropping off your orders and seeing friends. Shooting the shit, growing those relationships through mutual need.
Watching a movie with your kids and their friends, eating walnuts from the tree in your yard and drinking mulberry wine.
Every thing has a story. Your friend made that table with some reclaimed barn wood from his grandfather's farm. Your kids' teacher's sister handmade your daughter's favorite dolly. The world becomes imbued with meaning and connection.
The scale is humane, comprehensible. There is no get to know your farmer initiative. You know him his name is John and he is borrowing your power drill because his just broke. He will bring it back to you tomorrow with a dozen eggs to thank you.
And on this scale you can ask questions about practices. Are you using chemicals? Is there a better way to do it? Is someone else doing it in a way I agree with more? This circumvents difficult to regulate (and sometimes meaningless) labeling.
It's like buying from an Amish store. You don't say: is this certified organic? You know already about the likely practices because we all know what the Amish are like. So you can now ask something more specific: is this milk pasteurized? Do you give antibiotics?
I do think there is room for government here, which is another discussion. They can set safe parameters around this commerce. And we can operate within those boundaries choosing products and practices that resonate with us.
In the end: it's a world made by hand. Each thing you need to survive and thrive is connected to a person and a story and a place and an ecology. When we get there, we can face any crisis.
