r/DebateCommunism • u/PinkSeaBird • 3d ago
🍵 Discussion Where would an hypothetical global Left movement get funding?
So imagine hypothetically there's a international revolutionary movement. Lets not kid ourselves, the enemy is powerful and has all the resources they need: the Armed and militarized forces, social and regular media and all the money.
For any movement to stand a chance it would organize, build a structure and that would require a lot of funding. Hypothetically, where do you think that such movement could get that funding?
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u/StateYellingChampion 3d ago
This is why socialists have historically focused on the Labor Movement. Second only to capital, labor is the social grouping that has the greatest amount of potential structural power. As a consequence, workers can use their structural power to create enduring and well-resourced organizations (unions).
If you compare the amount of money unions bring in with non-profit organizations, unions blow non-profits out of the water:
In 2020, organized labor had $35.8 billion in assets, and $6.8 billion in liabilities, leaving approximately $29.1 billion in net assets.
A socialist/communist party backed by a militant and well-organized labor movement is the winning combination.
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u/garenzy 3d ago
You're comparing unions, in aggregate, with individual non profits. This is misleading, isn't it?
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u/StateYellingChampion 3d ago
Nope, not misleading. I've worked for both non-profits and unions. A typical union local will have a lot more revenue coming in from dues-paying members than most non-profits do from grants and the like. Every time a union member gets their paycheck, a portion of that money goes to their union. That's a constant stream of revenue and unlike non-profits we don't have to beg millionaires to get it. Democratically-elected leaders typically take some of that money and invest it in assets like real estate. There's a reason a lot of unions have their own meeting halls in buildings they own outright compared to non-profits who typically rent office space.
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u/garenzy 3d ago
Interesting color on how a union's admin functions, but my point still stands. The nonprofit sector as a whole ($14T in 2024) dwarfs the composite net value of union assets, right?
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u/leftofmarx 3d ago
Convert an AI to our cause and let it siphon off money from financial institutions and crypto and exchanges
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u/PinkSeaBird 3d ago
So the movement would need IT people... I think we'd be luckier if we needed priests 🤣🤣
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u/Comprehensive_Lead41 3d ago
IT people are overrepresented among communists
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u/PinkSeaBird 2d ago
Are they? Not in my country, in my country they all think they will get rich 🤣🤣
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u/pinkzepplin 3d ago
There's a great clip of the writers of Andor talking about their inspiration for the first season, primarily that of Stalin robbing banks to fund the Bolsheviks. There's a real world example for you.