Hey Jason, thanks for the clearly written post! I think (and this is supported by the list above as well as my anecdotal observations) you may be missing more messy cross-class alliances here that instead reflect differences in sector/industry. Specifically, note that there are hairdressers and stylists at that protest, presumably alongside their bosses. Salons being uniformly closed is against their mutual interest as members of the personal-service industry.
The missing piece of this puzzle (IMO) in relating it back to the fundamental class interests is to observe that there is no viable labor union organization and little state power that is organizing or providing for those hairdressers. Without an alternative to wage labor, their interest in wages for survival are adhered to their employers' interests for profit. This is likely more true for skilled/semi-skilled laborers, or those who have comparatively nice bosses, or whatever who view going to work for Amazon right now as a significant step down from their status quo.
Zooming out, this is the consequence in miniature of the collapse of social-democracy/the welfare state in the U.S. and Europe. The alliance with bosses on display is similarly characteristic of the structure of the "right-wing populist" movements that have been gaining steam.
Hey don’t sleep on the petit bourgeois. They’re the smallest class in numbers but they punch above their weight. They are entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses, and often they do also work. Many of them feel a sense of responsibility to their workers and they’ve invested their lives and savings in their businesses. They get pressure from the capitalist class and the working class. The petit bourgeois is the material basis of fascism so they can’t be ignored.
Hey Jason, thanks for the clearly written post! I think (and this is supported by the list above as well as my anecdotal observations) you may be missing more messy cross-class alliances here that instead reflect differences in sector/industry. Specifically, note that there are hairdressers and stylists at that protest, presumably alongside their bosses. Salons being uniformly closed is against their mutual interest as members of the personal-service industry.
The missing piece of this puzzle (IMO) in relating it back to the fundamental class interests is to observe that there is no viable labor union organization and little state power that is organizing or providing for those hairdressers. Without an alternative to wage labor, their interest in wages for survival are adhered to their employers' interests for profit. This is likely more true for skilled/semi-skilled laborers, or those who have comparatively nice bosses, or whatever who view going to work for Amazon right now as a significant step down from their status quo.
Zooming out, this is the consequence in miniature of the collapse of social-democracy/the welfare state in the U.S. and Europe. The alliance with bosses on display is similarly characteristic of the structure of the "right-wing populist" movements that have been gaining steam.
Oh btw great article—forgot to say that!
Hey don’t sleep on the petit bourgeois. They’re the smallest class in numbers but they punch above their weight. They are entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses, and often they do also work. Many of them feel a sense of responsibility to their workers and they’ve invested their lives and savings in their businesses. They get pressure from the capitalist class and the working class. The petit bourgeois is the material basis of fascism so they can’t be ignored.