@2a70c54d
the way i think of fascism is like as capitalism having an "immune reaction" to class struggle and class consciousness, it is a backlash meant to defend capitalism from the threat. so a period of relative revolutionary fervor (say, 1917–23) is generally followed by fascist reaction (italy 1922, germany and spain in the following decade).

in the case of right now, the rise of leftism in american politics since occupy wall street produced a backlash in the form of trump and the "anti-woke" wave. greater efforts to challenge the system equal greater challenges from the system. it seems the world can only be dragged forward kicking and screaming... 

 @2a70c54d
connected trends! when capitalism is in crisis, it is more threatened by class struggle. fascism is capitalisms tool against class struggle at a time such as this one. 

the whole point is, the capitalists want to raise paramilitaries so they can go and crack the heads of striking workers without having to send to police or army in; provoke war and draft as many people as possible into it, to wreak massive destruction (clearing the ground for the post-war "recovery"); and maintain a powerful sense of "national unity" so that all people are more paranoid of their radical peers than of their reactionary bosses.

adding:
"Generally though in times of excess for the rich the population movements are geared toward greater social responsibility,  not fascism."
actually, both kinds of movements grow in these circumstances. this was also true of the 1920s and 1930s, when masses of workers flocked to support communism, fascism, and social democracy more than ever before. 

 @9fd7b7b6
@b541bfe5 @ded2e305 
pay close attention.

the obvious moral of this story is "the corporations dont give a shit, give em an inch, they take a mile." not too shocking or surprising to leftists, or even most people. hating corporations is bog standard.

but the less obvious moral of the story is "the union actually gave an inch." why would a union, which after all is supposed to benefit and not harm the workers it supposedly represents, allow for these wage cuts and egregious limitations? because the union is a legalized institution in capitalist society. the union leaders know, more than they admit to their rank and file, that they have to kowtow to corporate and political demands regularly to avoid being seen as too radical.

i am all for the strike and want to see it win. but the workers have to realize that this strike can either belong to their union leader and their boss, or it can belong to all of them. that means that although right now uaw is only telling a handful of locals to strike, while the other workers have to keep going without a contract (https://uaw.org/StandUp/), those workers being told to keep working shouldnt do that at all. they should strike regardless of orders to scab (and this is essentially that, an order to scab!) 

 @429bb265
well, its better than "not that difficult", its already half done for us. with the existing supply chain, its already possible to buy glasses in most parts of the world (for whatever the price happens to be). this wont disappear with the overthrowal of capitalism. instead it can be appropriated to the needs of all, and improved upon. 

but its also more difficult than you let on. all this still requires coordination on a higher level, like building a medical schools with an ophthamology department, or like expanding access to areas where glasses were previously hard to get.