u/yo_soy_soja

I've been doing Western dumbbell/barbell lifting for 20+ years.

To mix things up a year ago, I purchased a 20# mace and have toyed around with it but have never fully integrated it into my routine.

But maces are fun. And I want more fun ways to exercise. So I recently ordered two 10# maces.

How have folks integrated steel maces into dumbbell/barbell routines? Maybe they'll be my 2nd/3rd arm routine every week and engage my core in novel ways.

Food Not Bombs cooks and rescues surplus food and distributes it for free, and they need more volunteer drivers/cars to bring food to the distro in Bed-Stuy.

Unfortunately with SNAP benefits disappearing for many, the demand for free food is only increasing, and yesterday, FNB distributed a fraction of what it normally would on a Saturday.

If you know anyone with a car — or who would rent a car — we could feed a lot more people. DM me.

Food Not Bombs

Saturdays at 3 pm

Herbert von King Park in Bed-Stuy, corner of Marcy & Lafayette

So class society emerged from agriculture — and its surplus and specialization of labor.

Capitalism emerged from the Enclosure movement.

What are the main material conditions today that might cause a new paradigm of socialism?

Some ideas:

• only ~ 1/4 of the world population now working in agriculture

• climate change and a need for degrowth

• liberalism decaying into fascism — and a backlash against the latter

• the industrialization of the world's population

• the internet and other democratic communications technologies

We all see that the 20th century liberal paradigm is over, that it's been turning into... something else. But what do we think that is?

I attended a Marxist lecture recently, and we talked about workers selling their labor power, rather than their labor itself.

Labor power is the capacity, skills, and energy a worker has to perform work, while labor is the actual physical or mental execution of that work.

However, imagine two scenarios:

• A gardener is paid to garden for 5 hours at a given wage.

• A gardener is paid to plant 15 trees, regardless of the time it takes.

The former is paying for the gardener's time with an inferred amount of labor happening within that period. The latter is a clear, unambiguous amount of labor.

How is the latter not just selling labor?

DSA candidates have had recent success running as Democrats, and we're seeing the predictable backlash from the Democratic establishment. And, looking to the years, decades ahead, we'll have to see if it's more viable to

1. internally transform the Democratic Party into DSA or

2. externally defeat them as a 3rd party.

In blue, liberal areas, the former strategy is working currently.

But, in red, conservative areas, I wonder if the latter is more viable.

Dems are villainized in GOP strongholds, and if DSA has a distinct identity from the Democratic Party, would it be good to run as a 3rd party? Would it be worthwhile to pass on that Democratic infrastructure/support? Can "democratic socialism" climb out of Red Scare stigma and surpass the reputation of the Democratic Party?

I'm sure y'all have thought about this. I'm curious to hear from red district comrades.