Tolstoy would really appreciate the trans community, apparently.

Everybody wants a revolution, but no one wants to do the dishes.

some context is necessary

You are in for a long read

that wasn't long ☞

There are three means of alleviating the condition of the laborers and of setting up brotherhood among men.

1. Not to make people work for you; neither directly nor indirectly to demand work of them; not to need such articles as demand extra labor,—all objects of luxury.

2. To do for oneself and, if possible, for others also that work which is tedious and unpleasant.

3. Not in reality a means, but the result and application of the second, to study the laws of nature and invent processes for the alleviation of labor—machinery, steam, electricity. One will invent what is really needed, and nothing superfluous, only when one invents in order to lighten ​one's own labor, or at least labor which one has oneself experienced.

But at present men are engaged in applying only the third means, and even that incorrectly, for they keep aloof from the second, and not only are they unwilling to employ the first and second means, but they do not wish even to hear of them.

There can be only one permanent revolution—a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man.

How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.

People abolished slavery and the right of owning slaves, but they continued changing their linen unnecessarily, and living in ten rooms and having five courses at dinner, and carriages, etc. And yet all these things could not be if there were no slaves. This is perfectly clear, and yet nobody can see it.

How far we've come since then! Now, when faced with systemic problems, everyone thinks in terms of individual actions rather than systemic solutions. Everyone thinks of changing themselves, but no one thinks of changing the world.

well yeah, because that would be “herself” now Mr. Tolstoy…

You say you'll change the constitution

Well, you know

We'd all love to change your head

You tell me it's the institution

Well, you know

You better free your mind instead

I would be pretty thrilled to do the dishes forever if doing it meant I would have my basic needs met.

I currently work as a shift lead stocking shelves at a grocery store, and tbh I actually kinda like the core of the work. I'd be happy to work the logistics of getting my community the groceries they need every day, basically my current job, if only it wasn't under the direction of a fucking vacuously evil megacorporation doing their best to extract every ounce of value from me and my coworkers and my town as technically possible. I would happily run this show to help keep my community fed if it meant everyone was actually getting fed.

Capitalism intentionally, specifically makes jobs that shouldn't be all that unpleasant absolutely miserable for the benefit of the owning class. I get the point that people do need to work on caring enough to do the hard work to keep us all supported, but it's important we recognize that a significant chunk of the misery of that hard work is just the disconnection of capital and the fact we're all overworked and exhausted by the jobs we're forced into.

I want to make it clear that I'm using the quote mockingly. I just got back from a weekend camping with a load of anarchists and we took turns doing the dishes, food prep etc. we probably all did ~20 mins of "work" over the weekend to enable us to all eat. hardly feels like work when you have such lovely people to chat to while you do it