From Anarcho-Syndicalist Review
EDITORIAL: Essential, Nonessential
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Essential, Nonessential
ASR 93, Winter 2026
The recent US government “shutdown” offers a pretty good idea of what the bosses consider “essential.” The army was paid, as were members of Congress (though most weren’t even in Washington, let alone doing any useful work). The squads of masked thugs roving the country in unmarked cars, assaulting and kidnapping our fellow workers continued to receive paychecks, even as the numbers killed and wounded in their attacks continued to climb (as did the numbers of U.S. citizens kidnapped and in several cases deported). Workers in bureaus providing services to financial markets were still paid as well. Other workers were deemed “essential,” but not worthy of being paid, such as air-traffic controllers, airport security and prison guards.
What’s not essential? Providing food to hungry children, health care to those unable to shell out thousands of dollars to the insurance companies, schools, national parks, food inspections, health research, the arts, environmental protection, workplace safety inspections, and investigating violations of workers’ rights by employers. Workers in the federal agencies charged with these (and many other) essential social services were furloughed, and told they are being fired.
Whose interests does the government serve? By its own admission, its essential functions involve theft and murder – all else is discretionary. We would all be better off if these “essential” government functions were immediately shut down and the tens of billions of dollars squandered on them diverted to actually useful purposes.
The shutdown also demonstrates the folly of relying on Democratic Party politicians to defend workers’ interests. They spoke about protecting access to healthcare and protecting workers’ jobs, but ultimately settled (not all of them, to be sure, but more than the Republicans needed to push their plan through) for an agreement to allow a vote – which predictably failed in December. The Democrats may talk about “keeping” health care “affordable” or protecting workers’ rights, but at the end of the day millions still lose their coverage and their jobs while the insurance companies rake in huge profits preventing people from getting the health care they need.
Workers would do better to look to the example of the weary air traffic controllers, who after several weeks of unpaid work (they were already severly understaffed when the shutdown started) began calling in sick. This not only saved lives, it forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights and cost the bosses money. We need more workers who take direct action to defend all of our interests – more solidarity and less kowtowing to the politicians and the bosses they serve.
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