How To Talk To Your Co-Workers About Communism: A Polemic On Bosses
Written By: Daniel Barrie
Most people's total understanding of Communism is the belief that Communism = bad. This can make a conversation difficult, but it doesn’t need to be. The majority of people who believe this, you will find, cannot define Communism, socialism, or Marxism. The fact so many are misinformed about the actual definition of these terms can be turned into an advantage.
If you speak about socialism or Communism to working-class people without using the terms, they will generally agree with the aims, goals, and means of a socialist state. For the political ideology is predicated on the fact that the current state oppresses the interests of the working class for the benefit of the tiny minority of the owning class. If the working class was in power then they would do what is in the people's best interest, for the people are in power. What's not to love about that?
Where To Begin
Class consciousness is necessary for a successful socialist uprising. Our relationship to the means of production defines class antagonisms and where our interests lie. We, the working class, work to produce the value that defines a commodity; we sell our labour in the process of creating value at our jobs while property owners make their wealth from stealing our unpaid labour. Successfully discussing Communism or socialism at work is reliant on listening to people's issues, all with class consciousness in mind and discuss with them the systemic origins as well as the theoretical and practiced solutions to their social and economic hardships. If you want to start somewhere, guide them to understanding how their struggles relate to class conflict.
I spent most of my 20's as a typical disillusioned, disengaged, misinformed person working a bunch of jobs. I couldn't correctly define any political ideologies yet had opinions on them regardless. One thing I knew for sure, solely from experience, was that labour under capitalism is labour that is exploited. No matter the boss or the job I felt this exploitation and I saw it all around me, that I knew well before I knew of concepts such as alienation, the exploitative nature of capitalism, or what class was.
A good boss was one who was polite while objectively treating their workers like shit; having management do far less work than us and paid significantly more all while being able to have the ultimate power over our ability to pay rent and buy food. They had the power over when we are to sleep and rise, when to eat and for how long, what we can wear, what emotions we are allowed to express, what topics of conversation are permitted, who they can hire, who they can fire and so much more. They have sole power over the means of a worker's subsistence and all without needing to justify it.
So, when talking about Communism to workers, consider that all working-class people suffer under capitalism in their own way. It is in empathising with their specific suffering that you may get the chance to broaden the discussion and enlighten them as to where this suffering stems from. An easy place to start is the workplace and the nature of work itself.
Talking Shop
Venting about your job is a major part of the working experience under capitalism as well as one of the best doors into the right kind of political conversation. Too often complaints about work can be blamed on the wrong causes, or the wrong people instead of the root cause of workplace misery: the boss, the owning class. Attempt to guide complaints to those who deserve the vitriol. Most work complaints are essentially about management, such as wage theft, forced overtime, poverty wages, increased targets, bonus cuts, understaffing, sick day guilt, refused days off, pay discrepancies, unpaid work, discrimination, and so on.
“Consider how a boss pays themselves, conservative estimates say that in Australia the average boss takes home 78 times what a worker does and this divide grows every year“
These complaints are a collection of classic hits about why work under capitalism is mostly hell and bosses must be abolished. You can tie all of these workplace issues to the labour theory of value in one way or another. This is one solid approach to show people that you are part of a class of workers doing all the work and bidding of the boss and, in general, the owner class. It’s also a great way to bring up the relevance of unions and why they are important in improving the workplace and workers' rights.
Most complaints can be explained as simply another way the bosses get more unpaid work out of us. Imagine if your boss took a week or even a year off. In most circumstances, you wouldn’t even notice a slowdown in production. The minuscule amount of actual labour a boss does, if any, can easily be split between the workers for a better run organisation. But if we, the workers, all take off just one day the owners would have a fit. They have murdered people in the past for striking as it affects their stolen wealth and power directly. This is why they fear strikes, this is why strikes are such an effective tool for creating better working conditions as well as strengthening class consciousness. It's a moment they realise we, the workers, know we create all the value, we have the true power.
An employer would never hire you unless they know that, by the end of their work week, there is more profit than there would have been had they not hired you, where that profit comes from paying a worker less than the value they create. This is what is called stealing; taking something from someone without having earned it. It is not ethical, but it is legal and considered acceptable in our current society. This is because that same class of people who benefit from these rules and make sure they are enforced are the same class of people who create and normalise them, all to maintain this relationship of worker and exploiter.
Consider how a boss pays themselves. Conservative estimates say that in Australia the average boss takes home 78 times what a worker does and this divide grows every year. It’s as if, on average, the boss has convinced themselves they do as much work in 1 hour as you do in 78 hours. It's not like they have some skill we don't that warrants being 78 times more valuable than us, for the truth is we make their money.
Discussions like this can open up further conversations about class struggle, unions, hegemony, contradictions in capitalism, imperialism, etc. Leading people to understand through their experiences some basic concepts of socialism and Communism can be easier with a more compassionate approach rather than trying to convince them straight off to be a socialist or Communist. Reading and understanding theory is critical to having engaging and productive discussions. "Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement" – Lenin, What is to be done?
More Than A Conversation
“A good Communist is a good listener, no one will trust you if they don't respect you, and no one will listen to you if they don't like you”
The conversation mustn’t just end solely as a conversation lambasting capitalism, for this can just breed futility. The whole idea is to point out that there is an option that works for the people, that history has solid examples of it being done in the past, that there is an ongoing fight against the ruling ideology, and that there are actions one can do, including but not limited to: joining a union, community action group or organising.
The purpose of these conversations is not just to persuade someone on the merits of socialism and Communism. It is also an important practice of putting yourself and your knowledge to the test. It is important to test your ideas and find the holes in your own arguments. It is important to listen to rebuttals and consider the best ways to overcome the variety of counterarguments. Hone those skills and don’t forget a call to action when the work is done, ask them to join the struggle in whatever capacity is appropriate for their situation.
A good Communist is a good listener. No one will trust you if they don't respect you, and no one will listen to you if they don't like you. To improve your ability to persuade it helps to be liked. Practice what you preach. It helps if you do good things for others in the name of solidarity before you tell others to do the same. Good people are more convincing. Join a group like the Community Union Defence League, join a union, then share your experiences with your workmates. You should want to build your character and organising skills, anyway. Organising, mutual aid, and educating is most important and fundamental to being a Communist; posturing convinces nobody.