The contradiction between small retail traders and large hedge funds such as Melvin Capital Management is a contradiction between the petit-bourgeosie (which literally means small bourgeoisie) and the big bourgeoisie and finance capitalists that manage hedge funds.
The big winners of this week weren’t small traders, although they made some modest money provided they bought their shares when the stock was still in the double digits and sold when it was in the triple, the winners were big hedge funds like Blackrock, which is projected to have made $2.4 billion over the course of this week.
The memes claiming that “reddit bankrupted a hedge fund” are erroneous, as Melvin has not gone bankrupt. While the memes regarding the “small guy sticking it to the big hedge funds” are amusing and hilarious, we should not act as if the majority of the working class and proletariat who can not afford to lose even a hundred dollars, never mind $1,000, over the course of a few days can afford to dabble in the stock market.
The class character of those who engage in activity around r/wallstreetbets should also be taken into consideration. A cursory glance at the subreddit shows that many of them have vaguely progressive views, are certainly opposed to the big financial bourgeoisie, and in many cases are politically educated through losses and the blatant double standard afforded big institutions versus small investors. The appropriate term to describe the general sentiment would be petit bourgeois left populism, reminiscent of the Occupy Movement.
Communists regularly need money for our variety of projects, and the financial markets in many cases can be used to make money (or lose it) — there’s a choice between being a “pure proletarian”, which is a myth inspired by petit bourgeois idealism and lifestylism (even most proles hustle on the side), or taking opportunities to get money which can be used to grow the movement. Of course, money making should not be the primary or even secondary role of Communists, but it would behoove Communists to be a bit more pragmatic and creatively use things to our advantage and the advantage of our organizations when possible.
One of the things that's been on my mind lately reading some of the stories of people investing is just how far away monetary goals are for even above average income earners. Pay off your debts? Good luck. Afford a down payment on a house? Ha! Enough money to protect from a medical disaster? Lol. Enough to retire? Who even expects to be able to retire anymore? They're all just like pipe dreams at this point. Even the original investor DFV is renting while 50k in, but would need 200k+ to seriously bid on a house in his area. It's a form of alienation that makes someone look at their (incredibly well off) bank account and think 5k, 10k, 20k are all good to be pushed out. The normal goals that would keep people grounded with their money are so far off and so aspirational, to even people with great jobs no less, that it's just not a meaningful incentive to a lot of people. And that really applies across a big swath of income earners.
Even beyond the gross inequality we live in it's a feeling doubly hammered in by mostly stagnant wages. If you can't reasonably save towards something now, there's a good chance you won't ever be able to and may even just see that goal slip further and further away.
For all the writers and stuff shrieking about how it's an irresponsible way to spend money... what the hell else do you expect people to do? All the responsible things are unobtainable for most people in modern day society.
This Is exactly the point I feel like everyone is missing. That’s what a lot of people are recognizing from all this. “Normal” ass people.
“Oh great I saved 45k. I’m still renting forever and I really should just use all that to pay down student loans or some other debt. Plus It’s almost the end of the month already.”
When that is the reality for even people who we view as “well off” than these micro delineations in privilege are just not as meaningful as we are making them out to be. People are realizing they have a better chance retiring and living comfortably if they just play a fucking slot machine instead of doing what society tells them to do to be successful. That’s incredible to watch happen and definitely worth being cautiously optimistic about. I think real working class solidarity can come out of this but I’m not sure of the best ways to maximize that. Besides just posting among them. We’ll see what the fallout looks like.