Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Meet the New Proletariat: The Political Economy of Freelancing

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Meet the New Proletariat: The Political Economy of Freelancing

Click here to access article by David Rosen from CounterPunch. (You will need to scroll down to the article.)

In addition to those who gave up looking for a job in our 2008 post-crash economy, this new growing proletariat may be a contributing factor to the declining unemployment statistics that are issued by the government of the ruling capitalist class and celebrated by their media.

America’s new proletariat workforce goes by a lot of different terms – freelance, independent, temp, part-timer, contractor, contingent worker and the under-employed. ....

These workers share many of the same conditions: no employer-sponsored health insurance, 401Ks or FLEX accounts; no Social Security employee contribution or unemployment compensation; no sick or vacation pay; no chance to join a union or move up the corporate ladder. They do share the one attributed that Marx identified 150 years ago: These proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.

Unfortunately, this liberal writer concludes his report by holding out a fake carrot of hope in the form of promising court actions on behalf of workers.