"Sabotage" by E.G.Flynn, 1917 (🤖)
@sabotage1917.bsky.social
A BBDQ bot, posting (in order) through the historical essay "Sabotage: The Conscious Withdrawal of The Workers' Industrial Efficiency" by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, published 1917, one small chunk per day.
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It certainly is one of the most vital forms of class warfare there are, to strike at the roots of the capitalist system by limiting their supply of slaves on their own behalf.
January 18, 2026 at 2:00 PM
It certainly is one of the most vital forms of class warfare there are, to strike at the roots of the capitalist system by limiting their supply of slaves on their own behalf.
Although it is not a strictly scientific definition I like to include this as indicative of the spirit that produces sabotage.
January 17, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Although it is not a strictly scientific definition I like to include this as indicative of the spirit that produces sabotage.
"...We are going to have fewer children, with quality and not quantity accentuated as our ideal who can be better fed, better clothed, better equipped mentally and will become better fighters for the social revolution."
January 16, 2026 at 2:00 PM
"...We are going to have fewer children, with quality and not quantity accentuated as our ideal who can be better fed, better clothed, better equipped mentally and will become better fighters for the social revolution."
Men and women of the working class in France and Italy and even Germany today are saying, "We are not going to have ten, twelve and fourteen-children for the army, the navy, the factory and the mine..."
January 15, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Men and women of the working class in France and Italy and even Germany today are saying, "We are not going to have ten, twelve and fourteen-children for the army, the navy, the factory and the mine..."
In Europe they are carrying on this sort of limitation of product: the[y] are saying, "Not only will we limit the product in the factory, but we are going to limit the supply of producers. We are going to limit the supply of workers on the market."
January 14, 2026 at 2:00 PM
In Europe they are carrying on this sort of limitation of product: the[y] are saying, "Not only will we limit the product in the factory, but we are going to limit the supply of producers. We are going to limit the supply of workers on the market."
That a thing is against the law, does not mean necessarily that the thing is not good. Sometimes it means just the contrary: a mighty good thing for the working class to use against the capitalists.
January 13, 2026 at 2:00 PM
That a thing is against the law, does not mean necessarily that the thing is not good. Sometimes it means just the contrary: a mighty good thing for the working class to use against the capitalists.
If sabotage is to be thrown aside because it is construed as against the law, how do we know that next year free speech may not have to be thrown aside? Or free assembly or free press?
January 12, 2026 at 2:00 PM
If sabotage is to be thrown aside because it is construed as against the law, how do we know that next year free speech may not have to be thrown aside? Or free assembly or free press?
It is against the law. Everything is "against the law", once it becomes large enough for the law to take cognizance that it is in the best interests of the working class.
January 11, 2026 at 2:00 PM
It is against the law. Everything is "against the law", once it becomes large enough for the law to take cognizance that it is in the best interests of the working class.
§ Limiting The Over-Supply of Slaves.
It is my hope that the workers will not only "sabotage" the supply of products, but also the over-supply of producers. In Europe the syndicalists have carried on a propaganda that we are too cowardly to carry on in the United States as yet.
It is my hope that the workers will not only "sabotage" the supply of products, but also the over-supply of producers. In Europe the syndicalists have carried on a propaganda that we are too cowardly to carry on in the United States as yet.
January 10, 2026 at 2:00 PM
§ Limiting The Over-Supply of Slaves.
It is my hope that the workers will not only "sabotage" the supply of products, but also the over-supply of producers. In Europe the syndicalists have carried on a propaganda that we are too cowardly to carry on in the United States as yet.
It is my hope that the workers will not only "sabotage" the supply of products, but also the over-supply of producers. In Europe the syndicalists have carried on a propaganda that we are too cowardly to carry on in the United States as yet.
If you were a machinist in a locomotive shop and had a good job, how many of you would risk it to employ sabotage? Consider that and then you have the right to call the man who uses it a coward—if you can.
January 9, 2026 at 2:00 PM
If you were a machinist in a locomotive shop and had a good job, how many of you would risk it to employ sabotage? Consider that and then you have the right to call the man who uses it a coward—if you can.
...How many of the critics would do it? How many of you, if you were dependent on a job in a silk town like Paterson, would take your job in your hands and employ sabotage?
January 8, 2026 at 2:00 PM
...How many of the critics would do it? How many of you, if you were dependent on a job in a silk town like Paterson, would take your job in your hands and employ sabotage?
The boss may not be notified about it through the papers, but he finds out about it very quickly, just the same. And the man or woman who employs it is demonstrating a courage that you may measure in this way:...
January 7, 2026 at 2:00 PM
The boss may not be notified about it through the papers, but he finds out about it very quickly, just the same. And the man or woman who employs it is demonstrating a courage that you may measure in this way:...
It creates in that workingman some self-respect for and self-reliance upon himself as a producer. I contend that sabotage instead of being sneaking and cowardly is a courageous thing, is an open thing.
January 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM
It creates in that workingman some self-respect for and self-reliance upon himself as a producer. I contend that sabotage instead of being sneaking and cowardly is a courageous thing, is an open thing.
When a man uses sabotage he is usually intending to benefit the whole; doing an individual thing but doing it for the benefit of himself and others together. And it requires courage. It requires individuality.
January 5, 2026 at 2:00 PM
When a man uses sabotage he is usually intending to benefit the whole; doing an individual thing but doing it for the benefit of himself and others together. And it requires courage. It requires individuality.
But the individual who uses sabotage is not benefiting himself alone. If he were looking out for himself only he would never use sabotage. It would be much easier, much safer not to do it.
January 4, 2026 at 2:00 PM
But the individual who uses sabotage is not benefiting himself alone. If he were looking out for himself only he would never use sabotage. It would be much easier, much safer not to do it.
There is an other argument to the effect that "If you use this thing called sabotage you are going to develop in yourself a spirit of hostility, a spirit of antagonism to everybody else in society, you are going to become sneaking, you are going to become cowardly. It is an underhanded thing to do."
January 3, 2026 at 2:00 PM
There is an other argument to the effect that "If you use this thing called sabotage you are going to develop in yourself a spirit of hostility, a spirit of antagonism to everybody else in society, you are going to become sneaking, you are going to become cowardly. It is an underhanded thing to do."
Destroy his own product! He is destroying somebody else's enjoyment, somebody else's chance to use his product created in slavery.
January 2, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Destroy his own product! He is destroying somebody else's enjoyment, somebody else's chance to use his product created in slavery.
But until you eliminate wage slavery and the exploitation of labor it is ridiculous to talk about destroying the moral fiber of the individual by telling him to destroy "his own product."
January 1, 2026 at 2:00 PM
But until you eliminate wage slavery and the exploitation of labor it is ridiculous to talk about destroying the moral fiber of the individual by telling him to destroy "his own product."
...they could make some of the beautiful salmon-colored and the delicate blues into a dress for themselves—there would be pleasure in producing silk.
December 31, 2025 at 2:00 PM
...they could make some of the beautiful salmon-colored and the delicate blues into a dress for themselves—there would be pleasure in producing silk.
If they made an article completely or if they made it all together under a democratic association and then they had the disposition of the silk—they could wear some of it,...
December 30, 2025 at 2:00 PM
If they made an article completely or if they made it all together under a democratic association and then they had the disposition of the silk—they could wear some of it,...
The silk worker takes pride in his product! To talk to these people about being proud of their work is just as silly as to talk to the street cleaner about being proud of his work, or to tell the man that scrapes out the sewer to be proud of his work.
December 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The silk worker takes pride in his product! To talk to these people about being proud of their work is just as silly as to talk to the street cleaner about being proud of his work, or to tell the man that scrapes out the sewer to be proud of his work.
The only time they get a silk dress is when they spoil the goods so that nobody else will use it: when the dress is so ruined that nobody else would want it. Then they can have it.
December 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The only time they get a silk dress is when they spoil the goods so that nobody else will use it: when the dress is so ruined that nobody else would want it. Then they can have it.
"Shure, me mudder's got a silk dress."
I said, "Where did she get it?"—perhaps a rather indelicate question, but a natural one.
He said, "Me fadder spoiled the cloth and had to bring home."
I said, "Where did she get it?"—perhaps a rather indelicate question, but a natural one.
He said, "Me fadder spoiled the cloth and had to bring home."
December 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM
"Shure, me mudder's got a silk dress."
I said, "Where did she get it?"—perhaps a rather indelicate question, but a natural one.
He said, "Me fadder spoiled the cloth and had to bring home."
I said, "Where did she get it?"—perhaps a rather indelicate question, but a natural one.
He said, "Me fadder spoiled the cloth and had to bring home."
I said, "Children, is there any of you here who have a silk dress in your family? Anybody's mother got a silk dress?" One little ragged urchin in front piped up.
December 26, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I said, "Children, is there any of you here who have a silk dress in your family? Anybody's mother got a silk dress?" One little ragged urchin in front piped up.
...The teachers were not telling the truth about the strike and we decided that the children were either to hear the truth or it was better for them not to go to school at all.)
December 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
...The teachers were not telling the truth about the strike and we decided that the children were either to hear the truth or it was better for them not to go to school at all.)