"If there is hope, it lies in the proles.

[Brigid]

. . . "Because only there, in those swarming masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated. The Party could never be overthrown from within . . . But the proles, if only they could become conscious of their own strength, would have no need to conspire. They needed only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies. If they chose they could blow the Party to pieces tomorrow morning. Surely sooner or later it must occur to to them to do it."

-- Winston Smith's diary, 1984 by George Orwell.

[NYC_SKP]

1. As true today as it was when first written, Brigid.

Maybe more.

K/R

[brooklynite]

2. And your point?

First we don't have a proletariat, or a peasantry. Second, there isn't going to be a revolution, not because THEY won't permit it, but because Americans by and large believe in working within the system, however flawed it is. But dream on.....

[Brigid]

3. Don't have a proletariat?

Then what do you call those of us who are not of the 1%? This country sure as hell doesn't have much of s middle class left anymore.

[NuclearDem]

4. Don't have a peasantry?

Fuck, could've fooled me.

[woo me with science]

6. The chocolate ration has been INCREASED!

Incomes Flat in Recovery, but Not for the 1%
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014400736

Top 1% get 121% of income gains since 2009 (100% of new income + 21% from your old income)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022384139

U.S. corporate profits stronger than ever, workers' wages fallen to lowest-ever share of GDP (CNN)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021922334

U.S. Income Inequality Now Worse Than Many Latin American Countries
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022268073

Ranks of working poor increasing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022200197

Inequality Rages as Dwindling Wages Lock Millions in Poverty
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022198286

The Middle Class In America Is Being Wiped Out – Here Are 60 Facts That Prove It
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022144851

Child poverty rates increase unabated
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022268450

40 Percent of Americans Now Make Less than 1968 Minimum Wage
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111631016

Corporate Profits Have Grown By 171 Percent Under ‘Anti-Business’ Obama
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014372334

US poverty on track to reach 46-year high; suburbs, underemployed workers, children hit hard
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002998131

Poverty, hunger among retirees increasing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002748342

The Economy is "Recovering" By Creating More Low-Wage Jobs... Increasingly Filled By Graduates
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022602162

"Recovery" in US is lifting profits, but not adding jobs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014414149

Obama to use pension funds of ordinary Americans to pay for bank mortgage settlements
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002205218

What Recovery? Across America, People in Distressed Cities and Small Towns Face Economic Catastrophe
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022545596

Real wages decline; literally no one notices
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11172387

Wall Street Soars with Wealth as Wages Stagnate, Jobs Remain in a Slump
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12526154

Wages for bottom 90% declined 1.2% during 2009-2011 recovery, top 1% income grew 8.2%
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022271466

Three Minimum Wage Jobs Needed To Afford Two-Bedroom Apartment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022578738

Wages have fallen to a record low as a share of America’s gross domestic product.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022183930

The Real Numbers: Half of America in Poverty -- and It's Creeping toward 75%
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002290698

[NuclearDem]

7. Doubleplusgood!

Join me for a Victory Cigarette!

[Brigid]

9. Soon as the Two Minute Hate is over.

[tavalon]

8. Um, we are the proles

Unless you make millions each year, you are a prole. Pretending we don't have classes is just a way to pretend there isn't class warfare in this country. The revolution is already happening and we are losing. We will continue to lose until we figure out that we outnumber them. It is the same as it has ever been, throughout time. I would love it if we were past the time of bloody revolutions but in the scheme of things, the US is just a baby so a bloody revolution is a definite possibility. One I hope will be averted but it may not be.

Americans, by and large, do work within the system, until a tipping point comes, think Zucotti Park times one million. And tipping points come without much warning. If a tipping point comes, you will find that your "by and large" has stopped working within the system and boom, it's a revolution. I will say that we are more patient than one would have expected from this fast food culture.

[woo me with science]

5. K&R Marvelous excerpt. nt

[hunter]

10. Sadly, the oligarchy owns the proles.

They will pay extra for the television "Big Brother Watching You" machines.

[woo me with science]

11. kick