The Army of the Unemployed

Turning that loathsome term against the power elite. The "army of the unemployed" is a term I picked up some time in my childhood. It is supposed to be those unemployed workers who stand as a silent threat to labor that "you can be replaced," keeping wages and employee demands low. We have a large army of the unemployed in this country, and it skews very young.

I propose forming them into an Army of the Unemployed, people who have the freedom (Joplin definition) and the time to agitate for real social change. Many of them will have the motivation. The stereotypical Unemployed Man can be the foot soldiers, and the college kids and recent college grads can be the officers. The high command will use them in nonviolent campaigns of illegal social protest. What is an illegal social protest? A perfect example would be an unpermitted parade down 14th Street, or a demonstration that gets too close to a public building members of the power elite frequent at a time when one or more of them typically enter or leave. Not to threaten them, just to make them aware of your presence, to confront them in human terms with the losers they've plundered.