Götterdämmerbust

WELL, that was a letdown. The “Day without Immigrants” protest, timed to coincide with the socialist holiday of May Day, turned out to be one of the greatest fizzled-out Götterdämmerungs since Y2K. While some media outlets raised the prospect of “crippling” shutdowns throughout the American economy, the real effects amounted to little more than a long weekend for some workers. My wife reported that the produce section at the local high-end grocery store was a “shambles.” Several National Review Online readers said that their local burrito joints were closed for the day. Of course, that’s not the way it will be remembered. Too much has been invested in the idea of the walkout to risk permitting the petty bean-counters of reality to discount its impact.

There’s a glorious irony here. Across America, the Left has rediscovered one of its holiest ideas: The Myth of the General Strike. For generations the General Strike-or as some Mexicans are calling it, the Paro General-lay at the heart of virtually all “revolutionary” theories. The basic idea is pretty simple: If the proletariat and other “producers” refuse to show up for work, then the wheels of the imperialist-capitalist order will grind to a halt, the ruling classes will take out their guns and try to force the slave-laborers back to work, and, when the smoke from the ensuing class war and anarchy clears, the masses will control the means of production.

About the Author

Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg is a National Review contributing editor.

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WELL, that was a letdown. The “Day without Immigrants” protest, timed to coincide with the socialist holiday of May Day, turned out to be one of the greatest fizzled-out Götterdämmerungs since Y2K. While some media outlets raised the prospect of “crippling” shutdowns throughout the American economy, the real effects amounted to little more than a long weekend for some workers. My wife reported that the produce section at the local high-end grocery store was a “shambles.” Several National Review Online readers said that their local burrito joints were closed for the day. Of course, that’s not the way it will be remembered. Too much has been invested in the idea of the walkout to risk permitting the petty bean-counters of reality to discount its impact.

There’s a glorious irony here. Across America, the Left has rediscovered one of its holiest ideas: The Myth of the General Strike. For generations the General Strike-or as some Mexicans are calling it, the Paro General-lay at the heart of virtually all “revolutionary” theories. The basic idea is pretty simple: If the proletariat and other “producers” refuse to show up for work, then the wheels of the imperialist-capitalist order will grind to a halt, the ruling classes will take out their guns and try to force the slave-laborers back to work, and, when the smoke from the ensuing class war and anarchy clears, the masses will control the means of production.