Radical Capital
The unholy alliance of Jesus and Ayn Rand
In recent weeks, an ongoing procession of companies—Trader Joe’s, Amazon, Starbucks, SpaceX—have begun to argue in court that the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional, and should, presumably, be wiped off the face of the earth. For the American public, watching the list of companies making this argument grow should be experienced like watching a long list of your beloved family members be revealed as serial killers. You thought you knew them. You thought they were nice. No. They were violent sociopaths the whole time. They just carried it well.
I often grasp for metaphors to try to properly describe the nature of large corporations. This particular maneuver makes my mind return to the picture of a line of robots whose faces are smooth screens which flicker with millions of images until it detects one that has prompted a positive response in you, the viewer. There now—we all have happy faces. The friendly grocery chain with Hawaiian shirts! The nice store that ships you anything! The fun coffee house! The cool rocket company! You like us, yes? We are your friends. Underneath, the screens whir a series of merciless saw blades. These robots exist only to eat you. They are happy, however, to show you whatever sort of soothing image you like before they take their big bite.
People often see corporations as neutral entities that, yes, pursue their own interests, but that are generally straightforward economic rather than political actors. This view, cultivated lovingly by corporations themselves, gives them far too much credit. Whenever something like “We should abolish the NLRB” bubbles up into public view, it is a useful reminder that the extremity of corporate political positions has no bottom. That is because there is no theoretical limit to corporate profit, and therefore the corporate pursuit of profit under shareholder capitalism will never any natural conclusion. People on the left and right extremes of the political spectrum are often branded as radicals. Ha. There is nothing—nothing—as radical as unbridled capital. It possesses the radicalism of a machine with a mission.
The corporations referenced above have all had recent union drives or bouts of charges from the labor board for wantonly violating labor law. Their solution, requested in a court of law, is to eradicate the labor board. These are bank robbers requesting that all the security guards be removed so they can more easily rob banks. These are impatient drivers asking that speed limits be scrapped, and that they be allowed to run over children if it gets them to their destination faster. I am not exaggerating here. These are corporate entities formally asking to throw away the lone federal agency tasked with enforcing labor laws and ensuring that workers and their unions are treated fairly. These corporations, in order to make their own operations more convenient, are willing to take a step that we can say with 100% certainty would lead to rampant firings of workers trying to organize their workplaces, would lead to unthinkable levels of illegal abuse of workers on the job, would lead to immense wage theft by employers, would lead to open flouting of existing labor protections on a scale that this nation likes to think that we moved past after we stopped little kids from working in coal mines. I can say this with certainty because all of these things already happen quite frequently and the only government entity that exists to give organized labor practical help in stopping all of these practices is the NLRB (and only really during Democratic administrations). Remove the NLRB and you absolutely guarantee that labor crimes will grow and flourish. There is zero question. The corporations named above not only countenance this possibility, but relish it. The Starbucks corporation is perfectly willing to see thousands of low-wage immigrants ripped off by their bosses as long as it allows Starbucks to more easily ignore its own workers’ requests to unionize. Elon Musk is perfectly willing to see farm workers die of heat stroke if it allows him to more easily (illegally) fire employees who criticize him. These companies—such nice companies! And all of their respectable lawyers—are not asking that the laws be tweaked in rational ways because they are unfair. They are asking that we make it impossible to enforce the laws that exist, so that the companies in question can safely ignore them. That’s what’s happening.
This preference, of course, is not confined to labor law and the NLRB. American corporations would also be happy to eradicate the EPA and the FTC and the NTSB and the CFPB and ensure that no environmental or consumer protection or safety laws could be enforced, either. They would love that. You may take these preferences for granted, but it is important to mull them over long enough that it fully sinks in just how sociopathic and dangerous modern corporations are, by their very nature. It is also important to understand that these companies have a very direct interest in the election of Donald Trump as president. Yes, he is a weird maniac who might start WW3, but you can be sure that he will also be sympathetic to the idea that the regulatory state that protects American workers and consumers should be torn down. He will appoint agency heads who share this view, and he will appoint judges who share this view, and he will support legislation that pursues this view. Laugh all you want about Orange Cheeto Man etcetera, but do not lose sight of the fact that, no matter what these corporations may mutter publicly about Concern For Democracy and Diversity and whatnot, their economic interests lie squarely with the fascist.
And who will be there to help corporate America enact its plainly monstrous anti-human agenda? Well, Christian nationalists and racists, of course. This is the Republican coalition. This is the formula for assembling enough votes to enact policies that benefit capital rather than labor: A three-legged stool of odiousness, adding up, with any luck, to 51% of the electorate. A way to enact laws that are unpopular on their own but which are viewed as worth the price of admission by other types of extremists. Be aware that stories about corporate union-busting and attempts to dismantle the NLRB are not unrelated to stories about the extensive Christian nationalist plans to restrict abortion nationally and end no-fault divorce and persecute trans people that are all prepped and ready to go if Trump assumes office. These things are a package. The radicalism of capital needs equally radical allies to get to that 51%. Those allies, in practice, are right wing Christians and racists who come for the anti-immigrant screeds and the thinly veiled paeans to white supremacy. This is the coalition of the damned. Your favorite companies are right in the middle of it.
It is worth noting, too, that this has always been the Republican coalition. Many “normal” Chamber of Commerce-style Republicans like to cast Trump as a new and different strain of Republicanism, a “populist” corruption of their staid, businesslike party. Bullshit. It was always this. The only difference is that Trump has given primacy to the religious lunatics and extreme racists, whereas earlier Republican administrations preferred to make the businessmen the public face of the party and keep the lunatics behind the scenes. But that is, in the final calculation, just a difference of presentation. The coalition itself has not fundamentally changed. Your favorite companies are happy to trade away the entire 20th century’s social progress in exchange for the full freedom to ignore labor law. They would prefer it, in fact. Capital is more radical than any protesters in the street will ever be, because it is not burdened by having a heart.
The Book Tour
For the past week I have been on tour promoting “The Hammer,” my new book about the labor movement. (Order it here or from your local bookstore. Reviews: New York Times, Library Journal, Washington Post.) I have to be honest: this tour is fucking awesome. Thank you to the hundreds of people who came out to the events in DC, Corvallis, Portland, and Seattle and bought up all the books and asked many good questions. We are still rolling. Here are my upcoming events:
TOMORROW, Feb. 22: Columbus, Ohio—At Two Dollar Radio HQ, 8 pm. With Columbus journalist Andy Downing, who wrote this story about the book. RSVP here. Come through tomorrow, Columbus!
Tuesday, Feb. 27: Brooklyn, NY—At Greenlight Bookstore, 7 pm. With Josh Gondelman.
Tuesday, March 5: Atlanta, GA—At the Carter Center Library, 7 pm. With Sara Nelson.
Monday, March 18: Philadelphia, PA—At the Free Library of Philly, 7:30 pm. With Kim Kelly.
[New] Thursday, March 21: New Orleans, LA—At Baldwin and Co. Books. With Sarah Jaffe.
[New] Wednesday, March 27: Boston, MA— Mark your calendars Boston, event details TK.
Sunday, April 21: Chicago, IL— “The Hammer” book event and Labor Notes Conference after party at In These Times HQ. Event details TK.
I am still actively scheduling more book events. If you’re interested in bringing me to your city to speak, email me.
Also
I wrote a piece for In These Times about focusing on labor power rather than electoral politics, one of the themes of my book. I also did an interview with Bradley Hartmann for his podcast which I thought was interesting, which you can listen to here.
Previously on today’s topic: The Republican Party Is a Trick; Keep On Looking for Those “Corporate Values,” I’m Sure They’ll Turn Up One Day.
Thank you to everyone who subscribes to How Things Work. As the traditional journalism industry crumbles into dust, this site is the sort of independent journalism that will act as a life raft for readers and writers alike. The best way to support my work and to ensure that independent publications survive is to become a paid subscriber. Do it for 2024! It feels great. This is socialism in action. Together we will win.
"And who will be there to help corporate America enact its plainly monstrous anti-human agenda? Well, Christian nationalists and racists, of course."
let's not forget about the Mormons, with their billions of dollars in real estate and equity holdings, who are *not* Christians (they're racist cultists who basically believe in aliens), who've captured the FBI, and literally refer to their magical "clean" holy utopia as Zion. huh! what a weird weird coincidence!
it's so interesting to me that every analysis about what's happening in the US right now conveniently forgets to include these guys. they've infiltrated social media (the tradwife trend, to name one example), every branch of government, and don't have to pay a single dollar in taxes on their massive pile of hoarded wealth. failing to include them by name when we're describing the mechanisms behind the downfall of American society into this uber-capitalist hellscape might be one of the best branding campaigns i've witnessed in modern history.
"In recent weeks, an ongoing procession of companies—Trader Joe’s, Amazon, Starbucks, SpaceX—have begun to argue in court that the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional, and should, presumably, be wiped off the face of the earth."
I am wondering what would happen if one embraced their arguments and then applied some of those same arguments to show that corporations (corporate personhood, limited liability) are unconstitutional.
Limited liability runs against all libertarian principles.