Love & Rage Archive

By Reb

The welfare state is a product of capitalism - not an alternative to it - yet many leftists, including communists and anarchists, are currently involved in struggles to defend it. Is this a contradiction? At the same time, many opponents of welfare are often described by some as anti-government “anarchists” because they’re generally against “government intervention.” Of course there’s no real puzzle here: The people posing as “anti-government reformers” or even “anarchists” are actually two groups: the leaders are old style “robber-baron” capitalists who don’t want the government to interfere with freedom of profit, and the others are fed-up tax payers whose “anti-government” ideas against welfare, taxes, and social programs might be better described as a revolt against communal values in general. This group doesn’t want scant resources being spent on “other” “less-deserving” people.

By Suzy Subways

Two-thirds of all the work in the world is done by women. Women in the Third World sew the clothes, put together the stereos, and produce the food for people in the First World. But a hard day’s labor is still considered a masculine thing. It is the invisibility of women’s labor, along with women’s isolation from each other, that keeps the exploitation of women going. Patriarchal exploitation has fed the expansion of capitalism for hundreds of years. On top of the work women do to support themselves and children, women do unwaged work like cooking, cleaning, and taking care of kids. This work makes it possible for themselves, husbands and boyfriends, and future generations to go out and work. Bosses profit from this unwaged labor but women remain economically dependent on men.