this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
185 points (98.9% liked)
chapotraphouse
13535 readers
57 users here now
Banned? DM Wmill to appeal.
No anti-nautilism posts. See: Eco-fascism Primer
Gossip posts go in c/gossip. Don't post low-hanging fruit here after it gets removed from c/gossip
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Folks, I'm getting on my soapbox again. In America, unions are too hobbled by labor laws. Guess what isn't really regulated in any way? Militias. Form a militia. Don't go on strike, everybody just takes the day off for militia training which is done right out front, marching with rifles.
You know what gets regulated real fast when leftists exercise their second amendment (pfft) rights? Militias
Eventually, sure. Regulating them is probably good since about 99% of them are blatant white nationalists. I'm sure the pushback would be mostly against leftists or labor organizers, but the existing militias would take some damage too.
Law existing and law being applied are different things. There is no case the police would raid a white supremacist militia because they probably run it
Why avoid forming militias because they might be banned or regulated?
It's the being arrested or murdered that deters people. And by the time corporate media is done with you, everyone will think you were in a terrorist cell.
I mean, if the militia is marching with red and black flags and stuff without a doubt you're right. I think there's an assumption a lot of people are making that I'm suggesting forming a communist militia, but that's not the case - the militia would absolutely have to be outwardly apolitical.
It’s not that militancy doesn’t have a place in the American left. It’s that a militia is not a drop in replacement for a union. There are currently good conditions for forming a union, at least the best there have been in decades. I don’t think the same is true of left-wing militias, at least not among everyday workers. If you’re in an area where you’re treated shittily enough and your local gun culture is amenable to forming a militia in your spare time amongst your coworkers, there’s a good chance that militia is not left-wing anymore. If nothing else, you’d need to identify a prominent social leader and start a strong ideological core with them. There’s a lot of luck involved in the conditions being right.
I wanna be clear that that doesn’t mean people should avoid taking it seriously and considering it as an option. I just don’t think that most people will come to the conclusion that it’s feasible for them.
No doubt - and to be clear, I don't think the answer to labor organization is always a militia, and it's definitely not an explicitly left militia. The only situation where this would work is an outwardly non-political (in the American sense) militia
Yeah, seems I made some rash assumptions about what you meant. Since it seems you’ve given this a fair amount of thought, if you ever write up an effortpost on it, I’d be happy to read it.
this is not true. at least in my state, forming a militia and marching with rifles outside your workplace is quite illegal and will get you v&d
20 ILCS 1805:
If you want to use your gun rights for spectacular purposes Black Panthers style, you have to actually know the law like they did. Please read your specific state's laws before you do anything in this area, there are probably lots of pitfalls.
Georgetown law:
Certainly, states with more restrictive gun laws will likely have more restrictive laws on militias. In my state there's no restrictions. It's probably also worth noting that "activities reserved for the state militia" would be well outside performing regular drills with your co-workers.
In Illinois performing regular drills with your coworkers is an activity reserved for state and other approved militias. In other states state-only activities are just making arrests and other cop shit. If you've checked the laws in your jurisdiction have at it, I just want to put a huge warning out to people that in many parts of the US militias are super illegal (for leftists at least) and you have to actually read the law to know what you're dealing with.
Do you know that for a fact? I'm not certain that that's actually true. In fact I'm pretty sure all of them are (probably) illegal.
2nd amendment. Maybe the one useful thing we can get out of it.
How much of that applies in practice is going to vary wildly from state to state. A militia marching in downtown Fresno is going to have a very different reaction to a militia marching in the exurbs of Jackson. Also, a truly militant trade union is going to be seen as a threat by the capitalists of any area no matter where you are and dealt with accordingly. Forming a union is a PR battle where your main advantage is the element of surprise. Honestly, if you can organize a bunch of Americans to form a secret militia long enough for that strategy to work, it feels like using it to negotiate for more vacation days is major under kill.
actually, militias are well regulated. It’s in the constitution
Hypothetically, can a based governor mobilize the National Guard to protect striking workers from strike breakers e.g. Pinkertons?
I don't think there's any reason they couldn't do that, legally