Small Businesses Are Overrated

Did you know? An organic bakery co-op named "The Conquest of Bread" just opened in Paris. You can buy a Karl Marx Sandwich there. I'm not kidding.

100 % bait for hipster liberals?

kek

And Hegel bagels.

And Bookchin blintzes.

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Are you sure you don't want a Lenincake?

At least they cook 100% of their stuff in fair trade Palestinian olive oil, which is like a billion times more ethical than Zionist apartheid olive oil. Plus they serve Zapatista coffee, which is like super revolutionary and not capitalist at all compared to Guatemalan military junta coffee.

now that you mention it…

2. Conservative or Bourgeois Socialism

A part of the bourgeoisie is desirous of redressing social grievances in order to secure the continued existence of bourgeois society.

To this section belong economists, philanthropists, humanitarians, improvers of the condition of the working class, organisers of charity, members of societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, temperance fanatics, hole-and-corner reformers of every imaginable kind. This form of socialism has, moreover, been worked out into complete systems.

We may cite Proudhon’s Philosophie de la Misère as an example of this form.

The Socialistic bourgeois want all the advantages of modern social conditions without the struggles and dangers necessarily resulting therefrom. They desire the existing state of society, minus its revolutionary and disintegrating elements. They wish for a bourgeoisie without a proletariat. The bourgeoisie naturally conceives the world in which it is supreme to be the best; and bourgeois Socialism develops this comfortable conception into various more or less complete systems. In requiring the proletariat to carry out such a system, and thereby to march straightway into the social New Jerusalem, it but requires in reality, that the proletariat should remain within the bounds of existing society, but should cast away all its hateful ideas concerning the bourgeoisie.

A second, and more practical, but less systematic, form of this Socialism sought to depreciate every revolutionary movement in the eyes of the working class by showing that no mere political reform, but only a change in the material conditions of existence, in economical relations, could be of any advantage to them. By changes in the material conditions of existence, this form of Socialism, however, by no means understands abolition of the bourgeois relations of production, an abolition that can be affected only by a revolution, but administrative reforms, based on the continued existence of these relations; reforms, therefore, that in no respect affect the relations between capital and labour, but, at the best, lessen the cost, and simplify the administrative work, of bourgeois government.

Bourgeois Socialism attains adequate expression when, and only when, it becomes a mere figure of speech.

Free trade: for the benefit of the working class. Protective duties: for the benefit of the working class. Prison Reform: for the benefit of the working class. This is the last word and the only seriously meant word of bourgeois socialism.

It is summed up in the phrase: the bourgeois is a bourgeois — for the benefit of the working class.

"communist manifesto by Marx and Engels"

Tbf, isn't one of the only reasons for (most) larger companies to pay higher wages just a measure undertaken to sap off the employees of smaller businesses? Who would work for Wal*Mart if the local store offered exactly the same wages and benefits?

Mom and pop stores *can't* offer higher wages though. Most M&Ps are constantly trying to cut corners to heighten their already dismal profits.

This. So much. This.

Important topic. Anyone who is hesitant about opposing small business or about the superiority of socialized production (that is to say, mass production) should read Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Luckily, capitalism does the work of dismantling small business for us. Compared to the early 20th century, it is not at all an important force anymore. The US workforce is extremely proletarianized at this point, regardless of the masses' nostalgia. It is less a matter of actually combating the remainder of petit-bourgeoisie than simply convincing people that small business belongs in the past, and that big business is the inescapable logic of capitalist development.

Comrade Hakim has a good video that relates to this: youtube.com/watch?v=luB9VUsXRs8

My experience confirms this as well. The small business I currently work at has worse benefits, lower wages, no guaranteed raises, and constantly tries to coerce you into skipping your break compared to the corporations I have worked for in the past.

also the fact that every, or almost every, Subway, 7-Eleven, H&R Block, a lot of McDonald's etc are considered small businesses because they're franchises. Also, depending on the source, a small business is often anything below 200 to 500 people, which, even 200 is still a shitload of employees

LMAO Capitalists cucked again! When will they learn…

realistically small businesses are there to fleece the sheep who live around them, and yeah, they get out of the $15 /hr minimum wage in places where that passed, therefore serving no real purpose because workers should not be underpaid (gotta make that obvious for the ol polster fugging anime pillow in the back).

I work for a large company that does B2B services for small businesses and I can tell you that they are all run by fucking idiots most of the time. It's actually quite surprising to find an owner that isn't absolutely moronic. Why does mainstream culture glorify these people so much?

Because they have to keep up the myth that the economy isn't completely dominated by established interests with billions of dollars of clout and that you too Joe Schmoe with a good idea and some gumption can become the next Elon Musk.

In other words, for the same reason the lottery pays out. If the suckers don't see anyone win the prize, they aren't going to keep buying their idiot tickets.

90% within the first year iirc

I wasn't going to say can't, but I also wasn't advising that they should. Just that the method many big businesses use is to scout out employees of smaller businesses and offer them more money - because in the long term, the advantage of having no competition outweighs the relatively minor loss of such a large company paying higher wages. Plus, in the long run, they can just lay those people off once the mission's accomplished.

It's similar to the way this happens with price - like when a large business sets prices down to a slight loss just because they know the smaller competition can't afford to do the same thing.

Ya know, imo most petit-bourgs don't realize how drastic wave of deflation would JUST their shit up. Sure, now your money is worth more but the prices you have to offer are now far below your expected margins. Big business could eat that loss in the same way that they now voluntarily lower prices and keep higher wages to beat their competition as this guy pointed out:

I hope your just jesting and this isn't just more Sookie shitposting. There aren't enough tired Pepe's in the world for that man's clichés.

Funnily enough, Israel is actually considered the King of start-ups and capitalists all over the world are looking at it as a model. It is said that there are more start-ups in Israel then all of Western Europe. I would say that the settlement mania has not a little to do with hopes of resolving Israeli economic crises by giving more land to settlers hoping to become or maintain their status as little piggies–otherwise they might join the proletarian and anti-colonial movement and threaten the Israeli oligarchy.

I don't mind people speaking up about bad things happening at small businesses…
…as long as they don't follow it with praise of big corporations and demands to introduce more regulations which invariably benefit nobody but large corporations.

The option of self-employment is one of the safety-valves that prevent large corporations from taking total control over their workers. Even if it's a road to petite bourgeoisedom, and even if petite bourgeoisedom is harmful, removing it would be extremely destructive and you shouldn't advocate it unless you're a genuine accelerationist.

The joke is, it's NOT in their self-interest. They're fed a lie. Early-style capitalism without regulations would immediately bankrupt everyone but the biggest players with currency and demand fluctuations alone.

I don't know if the article would hold true for other capitalist countries. For example, Denmark has very low corporate tax and everyone here seems to own some sort of small business. But there is a minimum wage of about 120kr (~17 euros) /hr and if you're not an unskilled manual labourer you're making at least 150kr (~20 euros)/hr.

"Socialist" Xi's China is investing heavily in Israel, actually. Makes you wonder why tanks are gushing over his regime.

underrated

Not sure what point you're trying to make.

Good point. Much as it feels dirty to say this, large conglomerated companies are a way station for socialism. Centralization of capital is in the abstract a good thing, It's the making communal of labour and productive capacities put into practice, only in this case it still serves the bourgeoisie.

This small business owner will likely make less profits than minimum wage though.

idgaf who this "sookie" person is; I'm simply making the point that for western activists, solidarity with the struggles of Third Worlders has become just as much a commodity as Elvis or blue jeans. How long until the over a dozen US military bases in Syria starts selling junk to do-gooder white radikewls, who buy it up in an instant? Maybe the Rohingya should start online businesses.

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I mean, remember back in 2009-2010 when you could buy keffiyehs at Urban Outfitters? The days leading up to anti-war rallies were very good for that company back then.

Ok, whats your point?

What do you *think* I mean?

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matt bruenig is the dipshit imperialist who gets a patreon check to keep saying we should just nationalize the NASDAQ

No, my anecdote was more along the lines of: "leftism has become a consumerist subculture".

Which is basically saying the same thing but in a more "sophisticated" way.

What's bothering you, really?

Like, honestly, who cares if someone buys a kiffyeh to support Palestine when the Israelis are committing genocide against them? And, to speak to a wider point, if leftists or leftist groups ever spend money on anything it always seems like there's someone unhappy they didn't barter for it sexually with pozzed gay disabled elderly hippies or something stupid.

I'm sorry but the fact that people go out and oppose imperialist war means more to me then the fact that t-shirt companies make money or tear-gas, baton, and rubber bullet manufacturers make a killing.

lol I wasn't even attacking leftists for buying shit, I was pointing out that leftist subcultures and sensibilities are not immune from being taken over by corporate forces.

How many hipsters buying keffiyehs would willingly run off to the West Bank to fight the IDF or stop the building of the apartheid wall? That would do a lot more good that buying crap that only has symbolic significance. "Solidarity!" really is the leftist version of "I'll pray for you!".

Wew, now I know you're him. I guess I'll address the argument though, most workers can't really afford to take part in an adventurist escapade to Israel, nor would they likely be let into the Garrison state of Israel if they weren't Jewish, especially if they had plans to go help Palestinians. It's funny that this Christian-style guilt trip only gets thrown at Westerners, no one even suggests that poor proles from Egypt should go die for Palestine which is actually right next door. We shouldn't forget either that some brave individuals like Rachel Corrie actually gave her life for Palestine already.

Believe it or not, making propaganda, and protesting (both violently and non-violently) really do work. There's a reason Israel has Hasbara, there is a reason that Israel is campaigning to have BDS and protests supporting BDS banned all over the Western world and certain Western governments agree with this.

I eagerly await the canned Sookie response that BDS is only banned in certain countries because of rowdy college kids and that BDS is hopeless because Israel has dealings with China.

the only valid way to sell and transmit marxist, or any revolutionary literature is through a collective, or a party-owned press