Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff
Episode: Working Class Radicalism
Date: June 18, 2020

Episode Overview

In this episode, Richard D. Wolff examines the intertwining crises of the pandemic, economic inequality, and the failure of capitalism to meet public needs. The episode consists of two primary segments:

1. A critique of the U.S. response to COVID-19, the billionaire class’s gains, and the growing crisis of homelessness.
2. An in-depth interview with activist and filmmaker Eleanor Goldfield about her documentary, Hard Road of Hope, exploring West Virginia’s radical past and lessons for labor activism today.

Part One: The Systemic Failures of Capitalism in Crisis

(00:10 – 15:47)

Comparative COVID-19 Death Rates

• Richard Wolff opens with a Time magazine article co-authored by two global health experts comparing the US and other nations in COVID-19 outcomes.

  • Key Statistic: “The COVID-19 death rate in the United States has now passed 340 persons per million residents in the United States. That is 100 times the rate of infection in the People's Republic of China.” (01:02)
  • Other countries with measurably lower death rates: Austria, Germany, Greece, plus several in Asia-Pacific (South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, etc.).
  • Vietnam (pop. ~96 million) reported zero deaths despite experiencing the virus.

• Analysis:
  Wolff stresses these differences aren’t due to “packed...cities” or lack of resources, but to policy choices and the failures of the profit-driven medical system:

  • “The system is the problem. Not the doctor, not the factory, but the combination of private profit-driven enterprises and a government that does what those folks say and not much more.” (04:08)

Political Corruption and Inequality

• Exposing “the best government money can buy”:
  • Details a fundraising dinner hosted by Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelsey Warren in Dallas for President Trump.
    • $580,600 per couple raised nearly $15 million in one hour for Trump’s campaign. (06:00 – 07:00)
    • “...for one hour, 50 people having dinner...the President put in an appearance letting them know that it was money well spent.” (07:20)
  • “It’s how the government works. And it’s why proud Americans have long said we have the best government money can buy.” (08:06)

Billionaires Thriving Amid Crisis

• Billionaires' COVID windfall:

  • Between March 18 and May 19, as unemployment soared, US billionaire wealth rose by $434 billion.
    • “At the end in May, there were 614 billionaires at the beginning and by the end there were 630.” (09:55)
    • Newcomer: Kanye West (listed at $1.3 billion).
  • “42 million people unemployed and 630 billionaires becoming much, much richer.” (10:25)

• Proposed alternative:

  • “If those people had to pay a tax on how they gained during the national emergency we’re living through...we would have half a trillion dollars to use for testing...but we don’t have what we need, the vast majority. So 600 billionaires could become even richer than they already were.” (11:13)

Homelessness in Los Angeles

• Shocking Local Contrasts:
  • LA’s latest homeless count: 66,433 people living in shelters, on the streets, or in vehicles—a 12.7% rise from 2019.
  • “600 billionaires became much, much wealthier. 66,000 people live on the streets...in one city alone.” (12:26)
  • Wolff underscores the cruelty and irrationality: the billionaire wealth gains could easily house every LA homeless person, “If ever you needed me to summarize a program by saying we can do better than capitalism, this list of statistics should have done it.” (14:00)

Part Two: Interview with Eleanor Goldfield – Learning from West Virginia’s Working Class Radicalism

(15:47 – 27:46)

The “Hard Road of Hope” Documentary

• Guest: Eleanor Goldfield, activist, artist, journalist, and filmmaker.
• Goldfield describes her film’s focus: “the story of West Virginia’s radical past and the folks that are working very hard in the present to build a radical future.” (15:57)

Main Themes in the Film

• Erased Radical History:
  • “The power of burying a radical past, which is something that’s done not just in West Virginia…with regards to our radical history in terms of labor rights and racial justice.” (16:18)
• West Virginia as Microcosm:
  • State is “not only a microcosm of the issues that the entire country faces in terms of corporate malfeasance and destruction at the hands of industry...but also this sort of history and present of resilience…decades of radical organizing, in particular with regard to labor movements...” (16:45)
• Contemporary Struggles:
  • Issues include opioid crisis, poverty, propaganda, and environmental destruction via coal/fracking.
  • “West Virginia was kind of the butt end of jokes...” but is actually “the third poorest state… second most rural… isolated...in terms of the extreme brainwashing...” (17:32)

Roots of Solidarity and Labor

• The term “redneck” originates from Black and white miners who “tied on red bandanas and marched together for basic workers rights and actually won basic workers rights during the mine wars at the beginning of the 20th century.” (18:35)
• Goldfield argues reclaiming history is key to modern organizing: “It’s really important to bring back this radical history and let it guide as we build and organize in our present day.” (19:18)

Implications for Today’s Working Class Organizing

• Wolff’s question: With mass unemployment post-pandemic, are worse working conditions inevitable?
• Goldfield: “The idea that you’d have to give people jobs destroying the planet and their own bodies is really absurd. And it really just speaks to the oppressive nature of the capitalist system that places profit above people at every turn.” (20:56)
• West Virginia serves as a “sign on the road” for the rest of America—a warning and an opportunity.
• “Workers are the ones who have the power...We as organizers have a job to do in terms of breaking down that propagandization and recognizing and asserting the power of the workers.” (21:40)

Attitudes Towards Politics in Rural America

• Rural and working-class skepticism:
  • Dissatisfaction with both parties: “Democrats always try to sugarcoat things and Republicans just say it like it is.” (23:14)
  • Many resonate with Bernie Sanders’ policies but distrust the Democratic establishment for sidelining him.
  • Distorted perceptions of Trump as an outsider: “Trump is somehow on the outside looking in, and this sort of dynastic feeling that they get from the Democrats they just absolutely mistrust.” (24:10)
• Wolff asks: Will Trump hold these voters?
• Goldfield: “Yes, unfortunately. ...because a lot of leftist organizers have not focused on these poor and rural and predominantly white communities, that this propagandization will bolster Trump.” (25:30)

Reviving Radical Traditions—Pathways Forward

• Strategy: “Meet people where they’re at, not where you want them to be.” (26:19)
  • Empathize with working-class oppression and difficult choices (like coal mining for survival).
  • Value grassroots activism and connect present struggles to a shared radical past (e.g., black/white worker solidarity of the mine wars).
• Hopeful Note:
  • “At this intersection on the hard road of hope, with this shared oppression, is where we have to build that future. ...Combining that history with the present, like the West Virginia teachers strike, is where we build that power and we see it happening.” (27:18)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “The system is the problem. Not the doctor, not the factory, but the combination of private profit-driven enterprises and a government that does what those folks say and not much more.”
  — Richard D. Wolff (04:08)

• “600 billionaires became much, much wealthier. 66,000 people live on the streets...in one city alone. What kind of a society does this?”
  — Richard D. Wolff (12:26)

• “The idea that you’d have to give people jobs destroying the planet and their own bodies is really absurd.”
  — Eleanor Goldfield (20:56)

• “There’s a saying in movement spaces that I really like, which is: meet people where they’re at, not where you want them to be. …Everyone knows what oppression feels like.”
  — Eleanor Goldfield (26:19)

Key Takeaways

• The US pandemic response illustrates deep systemic flaws; government-business cooperation for profit leaves public health and welfare vulnerable.
• Billionaire wealth soared as unemployment and homelessness reached new heights, highlighting severe structural inequality.
• West Virginia stands as a case study of radical labor history, contemporary disempowerment, and the potential for future solidarity—lessons relevant to workers everywhere.
• Real change requires organizing that respects and reconnects communities to their own radical, collective pasts. Empathy, solidarity, and history should be the foundations.

Further Resource:

• Hard Road of Hope by Eleanor Goldfield — a documentary on labor radicalism and resistance in West Virginia.