Labours of Love

(Yes, that spelling is deliberate.)

Avedon Carol (The Sideshow), in writing about the Accountability Now PAC argument, makes a couple of points about one of the "economies" of the "left" which happens to tie into a classic oppression:  valuing the work of some over others, regardless of the work itself.

A few facts are in order. One is that organizing any kind of resistance to power takes a lot of time and money, and those who do it are usually expected to do it out of their own pockets and in whatever time is left them after trying to find room and board. Another is that being in any way effective requires professional and commercial services and facilities that don't give you a special discount just because you are doing the good work and not getting anything for it yourself.
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Another fact is that as long as I can remember, there are certain people who seem to be expected to donate their skills and services no matter what it costs them, to prove that their heart is in the right place and that they are not just trying to make a buck. Writers and artists may be particularly familiar with that assumption, but anyone who does work in liberal causes knows that being expected to work for free is not unusual.

Sound familiar?

(No, I'm not asking for money or monetizing the blog:  for one thing, I've only got 7 readers, and none of them is either George Soros or Bill Gates; for another, I'm not interested in acquainting any of you poor folks with weight loss or tooth whitening schemes.)

Working for free because you want to and believe and don't begrudge the time or money presupposes an economic or class level that permits you to do so.

Expecting people to work for free beyond the voluntary recruits presupposes ... something else.

Women are expected to work for less money and are in fact mostly paid less money, even though that is illegal in this country.  The work of minorities tends to earn them less money, even though usually the work is more difficult and occasionally dangerous.  And, as you probably know, sanitation workers and investment bankers are paid in inverse ratio to their value in society.  (Go to New York City during a garbage strike before you try telling me how valuable investment bankers are.)

The U.S. is upgemessed about money.

Both capitalism and Marxism are upgemessed about money.  Capitalism is upgemessed about worth, and Marxism is upgemessed about value.  And really, someone with a statistical background and time to spend in the British Library should do a study on why our economic theories seem to leave out people.  There is no economy without people, and yet most economists do the equivalent of assuming a spherical cow when discussing theoretical concepts of money movement.

And what I am probably saying here is that the "left" has its own unexamined class issues (and what else is new?) which probably matter more than whatever is going on with one political action committee, and which continue to go unexamined because it's easier to slam people for insufficient orthodoxy.  Just saying.