Beautiful essay on being a class traitor and how difficult that can be! I loved reading about Countess Constance Markievicz, I had never heard of her before. However, she's not the only class traitor in existence, and so many of us have been organizing and figuring out the best way to use our current resources and also how to show up best in movements without being disruptive :)
I became a leftist in 2020 due to a cushy WFH tech job and seeing the BLM uprisings. It felt unfair that I had so much when others had so little. I found a group called Resource Generation, full of other young class traitors with wealth/class privilege that helped me make sense of that confusion and grief. Michael Gast's newsletter Organize the Rich, here on Substack, is also a fantastic read with a bunch of resources on different class traitor groups, interviews, and history.
It's interesting that your progressive group seems to be made up of folks with financial security, and yet money seems to be the elephant in the room. I wonder what about happen if you dug more into that as a way to figure out what resources you have access to AND also where your limitations are when it comes to creating systemic change. RG has a practice of telling "money stories" where you discuss your family's history around wealth/class privilege, the lessons around money you were taught, and what you've learned instead over your life.
I've been in organizing situation where it feels like you're trying to make something happen to no avail, and I've found it's helpful to take a step back when that happens. I wonder what would happen if you spent some time in the next few meetings sharing money stories and talking more openly about class. And then you could try discussing this idea of 'what should the role of individuals with financial security be in the world we're trying to build?'. I bet you'd all be looking at your groups situation more clearly, even if it doesn't immediately yield a perfect plan or roadmap :)
Thanks so much! Lots of great suggestions here. I’ve definitely heard of Resource Generation, but I’ll have to look into them more closely. I felt a bit wary of them because the whole thing gave me philanthropy vibes, but I’ll give them another try :) I’ll check out Michael Gast’s newsletter, too!
Awesome, glad you're going to check more things out! And that's totally valid on RG feeling similar to philanthropy--depending on the chapter/specific action, it can definitely slip into reformist actions, like your article says. Take what is helpful and leave the rest--just know that there are lots of folks who have done this work and pondered this issue before, and you can learn lots from them even if your path/choices are different 💖
The system makes it hard for people who are not wealthy to volunteer or run for office. I joined my local food pantry board and it is hard for me to make time to meet the board demands when the other members are mostly retired wealthy folks that want to discuss what cocktails to serve at a donor dinner while I am trying to run a business (and I still want to have time to volunteer at the food pantry). We want to recruit a Spanish speaking board member because we have trouble serving that community but certain members are dismissive of the local Latino community because most of them are working three jobs and supporting relatives and don’t have time to volunteer in the community or capacity to donate money.
Yes! This is so true, and this dynamic definitely shows up in my community, too. For example, our village board of trustees is a low-paid "part-time" commitment, but requires a ton of time to both campaign and serve, and having the outside financial stability and free time to do it. That immediately closes the door to folks working multiple jobs, or with significant care-taking responsibilities, etc. Even in our local environmental organizing, it's overwhelmingly White, affluent, and older/retired, because they have the most time and money. And this reality absolutely affects priorities (for example, our enviro groups are all about EV infrastructure, not low-cost/free, electric public transpo). The class/wealth barrier to participating in civic life, especially elected office or other positions of power w/in the system, is REAL and has real consequences in that it just reinforces a society already designed by and for the wealthy.
Beautiful essay on being a class traitor and how difficult that can be! I loved reading about Countess Constance Markievicz, I had never heard of her before. However, she's not the only class traitor in existence, and so many of us have been organizing and figuring out the best way to use our current resources and also how to show up best in movements without being disruptive :)
I became a leftist in 2020 due to a cushy WFH tech job and seeing the BLM uprisings. It felt unfair that I had so much when others had so little. I found a group called Resource Generation, full of other young class traitors with wealth/class privilege that helped me make sense of that confusion and grief. Michael Gast's newsletter Organize the Rich, here on Substack, is also a fantastic read with a bunch of resources on different class traitor groups, interviews, and history.
It's interesting that your progressive group seems to be made up of folks with financial security, and yet money seems to be the elephant in the room. I wonder what about happen if you dug more into that as a way to figure out what resources you have access to AND also where your limitations are when it comes to creating systemic change. RG has a practice of telling "money stories" where you discuss your family's history around wealth/class privilege, the lessons around money you were taught, and what you've learned instead over your life.
I've been in organizing situation where it feels like you're trying to make something happen to no avail, and I've found it's helpful to take a step back when that happens. I wonder what would happen if you spent some time in the next few meetings sharing money stories and talking more openly about class. And then you could try discussing this idea of 'what should the role of individuals with financial security be in the world we're trying to build?'. I bet you'd all be looking at your groups situation more clearly, even if it doesn't immediately yield a perfect plan or roadmap :)
Thanks so much! Lots of great suggestions here. I’ve definitely heard of Resource Generation, but I’ll have to look into them more closely. I felt a bit wary of them because the whole thing gave me philanthropy vibes, but I’ll give them another try :) I’ll check out Michael Gast’s newsletter, too!
Awesome, glad you're going to check more things out! And that's totally valid on RG feeling similar to philanthropy--depending on the chapter/specific action, it can definitely slip into reformist actions, like your article says. Take what is helpful and leave the rest--just know that there are lots of folks who have done this work and pondered this issue before, and you can learn lots from them even if your path/choices are different 💖
The system makes it hard for people who are not wealthy to volunteer or run for office. I joined my local food pantry board and it is hard for me to make time to meet the board demands when the other members are mostly retired wealthy folks that want to discuss what cocktails to serve at a donor dinner while I am trying to run a business (and I still want to have time to volunteer at the food pantry). We want to recruit a Spanish speaking board member because we have trouble serving that community but certain members are dismissive of the local Latino community because most of them are working three jobs and supporting relatives and don’t have time to volunteer in the community or capacity to donate money.
Yes! This is so true, and this dynamic definitely shows up in my community, too. For example, our village board of trustees is a low-paid "part-time" commitment, but requires a ton of time to both campaign and serve, and having the outside financial stability and free time to do it. That immediately closes the door to folks working multiple jobs, or with significant care-taking responsibilities, etc. Even in our local environmental organizing, it's overwhelmingly White, affluent, and older/retired, because they have the most time and money. And this reality absolutely affects priorities (for example, our enviro groups are all about EV infrastructure, not low-cost/free, electric public transpo). The class/wealth barrier to participating in civic life, especially elected office or other positions of power w/in the system, is REAL and has real consequences in that it just reinforces a society already designed by and for the wealthy.