in fairness, a lot of people get their first training in political organising and campaigning from electoral politics and then take those skills to the trade union movement. this is perhaps why Australian trade unions have been as successful as they have been in recent decades

campaigning in elections built my skills in persuading people to take one-off action (voting) but not in engaging them in any further capacity or even really changing their views — you’re presenting the party in such a way that people feel it aligns with their existing views

it was far closer to my experience in retail promotion or social research than it was to my experience in non-electoral grassroots organising or community education

Does that mean it’s useless? No, not entirely. My point is actually the opposite — that the skills working life teaches you are potentially really valuable for community organising even if the job itself is of no social value.

work is alienating *because* it demands you develop all your brains and muscle and creativity — to make someone else rich. but you still develop them. the people who do all the work (and I mean unpaid work too) are the ones who actually have the skills to build a new world!

anyway... without our brain and muscle not a single wheel would turn