Inspired by John Steinbeck’s, “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires”

Wikipedia disputes the quote saying:

the remark is very likely a paraphrase from Steinbeck’s article “A Primer on the '30s.” Esquire (June 1960), p. 85-93:

"Except for the field organizers of strikes, who were pretty tough monkeys and devoted, most of the so-called Communists I met were middle-class, middle-aged people playing a game of dreams. I remember a woman in easy circumstances saying to another even more affluent: ‘After the revolution even we will have more, won’t we, dear?’ Then there was another lover of proletarians who used to raise hell with Sunday picknickers on her property. “I guess the trouble was that we didn’t have any self-admitted proletarians. Everyone was a temporarily embarrassed capitalist.”

Another masterpiece! Thank you comrade, excellent material to meditate on, as always.

Now I have to research Glasnost and Perestroika. I do not have the fortitude to add Yeltsin (spit) or Gorbi (triple spit) to my reading list just yet.

Edit: I understand there was an insurrectionary effort against Yeltsin that was squashed, I wonder if there’s USSR parallels there with Trump’s increased measures and rhetoric against “organized crime”.

Love this.

I think all markers are that the west isn’t just risking sliding into obsolescence, but it is on the fast track to do so without any notable worker effort to organize or slow the collapse.

Trump’s efforts are dramatic, but my bet is they’re far too late to have the desired affect, so at what point will the proletariat take note of their trajectory and can China’s rise offer as motivating a factor for class consciousness as the USSR did?

He’s trying to break Canada and Mexico before going after the rest of the world with tariffs while also locking down common investment in the American security complex.

If global powers united for tariffs on the US to prevent further crackdown then he just gets another failed Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot–Hawley_Tariff_Act)

You can read and infer his strategy from Stephen Marin’s paper on remaking the global trade system here:https://www.hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/research/638199_A_Users_Guide_to_Restructuring_the_Global_Trading_System.pdf

Reddit (and other mainstream spaces) seems to have banned a ton over Gaza and Luigi, will be interesting to see where folks end up.

Bluesky seems to be gaining traction, but doubt they will permit much.

Hell yeah. I cannot believe it’s 2025 and I, a Canadian, still live in a monarchy. Clown world.

The US wouldn’t let cali go so easy, but the way things are unfolding I wouldn’t be surprised to see this gain traction in tandem with other exit movements across North America - like a new Cascadia movement (British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California).

In a socialist world maybe these could be specialist economic zones for collaborative development. In reality, it’ll maybe be a fun video game setting.