I think it’s less about knowing how proportionally rich they are and more about knowing why. Under capitalism, some people are obscenely rich essentially because they hurt others. Hurting others is rewarded by the power structure. Of course, not just anyone can hurt others and get away with it, or be rewarded for it. Some people hurt others and get imprisoned or killed for it.
It has to be done in the right way. The capitalists aren’t literally kicking people in full view of everyone. If they did, they’d get kicked back. Instead, they develop layers of indirection. Complex systems of currency, trade, and access to resources is directed toward corralling people into a narrow way of living in which they can be exploited. Basic amenities like food, water, and shelter, things that would be considered a human right in a communal society (“when there is an abundance, we celebrate together and when there is a lack, we suffer together”) are locked off behind wage labor (“if you suffer, it’s because you aren’t working hard enough”).
Control over wage labor is directed from on high by the capitalists and enforced through police and military. The capitalists are then free to treat the workers as they please, like resources to exploit, and consolidate their personal wealth and power through the labor of the workers.
The socialist project response is to seize control of the most essential components of power and redirect their development toward something more communal-minded, while suppressing the power and influence of the capitalists.
It’s a bit more complicated than that in practice, as I’m sure people here tend to know, but that’s the general idea. People get told this lie that the rich are rich because they contributed something incredible to society and that’s just not true. The rich are rich because they made other people suffer in order to get there. Whether they did this with full consciousness every step of the way is beside the point. The rich are not all necessarily conscious sadists or sociopaths and don’t need to be. They just need to come from the right background for power elite positioning and partake in the system of exploitation on its existing inertia. The interests of the amalgamated system of capital do the rest.
That’s exactly the issue. Poor people don’t understand how rich people have been robbing them for centuries. They don’t understand that the only reason someone has a job is because the employer is getting more from the worker than the worker is getting from the employer. If they knew that, they would definitely be rioting.
I think it’s less about knowing how proportionally rich they are and more about knowing why. Under capitalism, some people are obscenely rich essentially because they hurt others. Hurting others is rewarded by the power structure. Of course, not just anyone can hurt others and get away with it, or be rewarded for it. Some people hurt others and get imprisoned or killed for it.
It has to be done in the right way. The capitalists aren’t literally kicking people in full view of everyone. If they did, they’d get kicked back. Instead, they develop layers of indirection. Complex systems of currency, trade, and access to resources is directed toward corralling people into a narrow way of living in which they can be exploited. Basic amenities like food, water, and shelter, things that would be considered a human right in a communal society (“when there is an abundance, we celebrate together and when there is a lack, we suffer together”) are locked off behind wage labor (“if you suffer, it’s because you aren’t working hard enough”).
Control over wage labor is directed from on high by the capitalists and enforced through police and military. The capitalists are then free to treat the workers as they please, like resources to exploit, and consolidate their personal wealth and power through the labor of the workers.
The socialist project response is to seize control of the most essential components of power and redirect their development toward something more communal-minded, while suppressing the power and influence of the capitalists.
It’s a bit more complicated than that in practice, as I’m sure people here tend to know, but that’s the general idea. People get told this lie that the rich are rich because they contributed something incredible to society and that’s just not true. The rich are rich because they made other people suffer in order to get there. Whether they did this with full consciousness every step of the way is beside the point. The rich are not all necessarily conscious sadists or sociopaths and don’t need to be. They just need to come from the right background for power elite positioning and partake in the system of exploitation on its existing inertia. The interests of the amalgamated system of capital do the rest.
That’s exactly the issue. Poor people don’t understand how rich people have been robbing them for centuries. They don’t understand that the only reason someone has a job is because the employer is getting more from the worker than the worker is getting from the employer. If they knew that, they would definitely be rioting.