The New Great Refusal

A revival of this spirit - not the LSD spirit but the Great Refusal - might be the best response to the Silicon Valley ‘60s. It is happening already. COVID led many to question what they were working for. The antiwork subreddit is not growing that much weaker.

I wrote the above almost an entire year ago — just one day off. 364 days later, the magnitude of this spirit has dramatically exceeded my expectations. Herbert Marcuse’s animating political ethos of the ‘60s counterculture has gone from bubbling up quietly behind the caterwauling melisma of identity politics to taking center stage and dropping the mic.

Criticism of capitalism and unfair labor in America is as old as the blues. But in one year it has gone from not matching the energy of the ‘60s to arguably surpassing the rage of the Red ‘30s as well as the progressive 1900s and 1910s. From the 1990s to the 2010s, capitalist realism successfully absorbed all criticisms of capitalism. Watch Super Size Me, blast Rage Against the Machine, whatever, go nuts — there is no alternative baby. There, there, kitten, enjoy your pipe dreams.

2020 ushered in the age of capitalist surrealism. I am not interested in arguing whether COVID was real or not. If for argument’s sake it wasn't, we learned that bosses were willing to work from home while their essential employees had to brave the plague. As an essential healthcare worker during COVID ¹ I saw a surreal world. When dystopian plague events were depicted in movies, the assumption was that all the stores would be closed. Nope; just go to work with a mask. Even if COVID may have been exaggerated, youths the world over questioned what they were working for.

So we have moved from capitalist realism — where there is no alternative — to capitalist surrealism, where there must be an alternative. There have been more manifestations of capitalist surrealism, such as a ruling gerontocracy that does not represent Millennials or Gen Z, both of whom are poised to equal the boomer electorate in America this year. Also, major celebrities (Taylor Swift, Beyonce) that are unwilling to call for a cease fire, let alone speak out against war crimes.

screenshot courtesy of The Daily Mail

The New Great Refusal has moved beyond strikes, quiet quitting and boycotts. US troops are complaining on TikTok about military life. ² Israeli teens are picking jail over conscription into the Israeli army. Workers that are getting remotely laid off are posting videos of the process on TikTok.

@brittanypeachhhOriginal creator reposting: brittany peach cloudflare layoff. When you know you’re about to get laid off so you film it :) this was traumatizing honestly lmao #cloudflare #techlayoffs #tech #layoff

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Again, I need to clarify: TikTok cannot be the permanent home for anything, let alone a firm repudiation of the American Dream as large as this. But it has shifted in the past year from GRWM videos and Family Guy/Minecraft sludge content to videos of disgruntled soldiers, Gazan photojournalists narrowly escaping death and laid off workers fighting back tears as HR reps drone on about whatever corporate buzzwords are in their script (lot of talk about “emotion” and “feeling”).

This is not a movement without hope. If Jacobin is to be believed, the US labor movement had a great year. Starbucks lost $11 billion in value last year. The New Great Refusal is gaining momentum.

Where might this movement be headed? If this country truly is about to enter World War III, I would surmise that any criticism of capitalism or Gaza will be met with even more repression. The refuseniks that are not in jail would probably be like the 1920s expatriates, only instead of moving from America to Paris to avoid the increasing commercialism and repression, it would be because they do not support the current state of American capitalism or its role on the world stage currently. It could end up being like a mash-up of ‘60s hippies and ‘20s flappers: legions of antiwar expatriates going to South Africa or Chile. This would be a large step up from a boycott or a strike. A century ago there was a brain drain of American thinkers and artists leaving for Paris. A mass exodus of youth might force America’s hand down the road to make it an attractive home to return to.

Another direction the burgeoning counterculture may be headed? It may fall into the same trap the communists in Greenwich Village found themselves in during the ‘30s. Initially, many of the true believers rejected jazz and folk music. As the fellow travelers realized they had no viable cultural output, they changed directions and embraced folk music. Too little too late. Commercial radio kept families slack jawed in their living rooms listening to Amos and Andy while the movie theater became an escape portal into the great simulation. So the question for the new crop of rebels cannot just be “What side are we on” but “What are we gonna build?”

1. I was not frontline I was a biller and I came into the office every other week so I suppose I was semi-essential

2. You still support US troops no matter what, yeah?