Revolutionaries Should Ride Public Transportation

even though most people working at public transporation information booths are counterrevolutionary (they show contempt for the masses), good revolutionaries should ride buses, trains, etc. why? because they are the people's lecture halls. wanna know what people think of their jobs? ride during morning or evening rush hour. you'll hear about overtime, corrupt management, and the guy who's afraid of operating the open flame grill.

wanna get an idea of gender relations? ride on the weekends when people are puttin on their best threads and going out. or get up early and ride with mothers as they take their kids to day-care. ride the bus to the public hospital to hear about healthcare. on public transporationa you'll learn about the police, religion, and cultural history. if you ride the same routes at the same time frequently, you're sure to begin making acquaintances who will discuss anything from Obama to lesbianism (just be ready to defend your position).

riding the buses in Raleigh i've been amazed at the range of conversation as well as the ways that different people participate. folks from the front will shout out obscure historical information to fill in a conversation that seemed to only involve two or three people sitting in the back. i remember reading about the soapbox speeches during the Harlem Renaissance and thinking "we don't have open air discussions like that anymore". in many ways that is true, but public transport is still a place where one can learn a great deal about society and the different views that people have.

now, some qualifiers. first, in places like NYC, where even Wall Street professionals ride the subways, public transportation doesn't have the same race/class/gender demographic as in Raleigh. here the buses are completely working class. in addition, probably 90% of the riders are Black, although the city population is nowhere near such proportions. finally, there tend to be a good deal more women than men.

so in places where cars are the more common mode of transportation, public transport is a great place where poor folks (particularly POC) air their thoughts about the world. i think it's incredibly important to experience this. the ways that people make arguments, what type of subjects are brought up and how. one learns about gentrification plans as well as how to cook great meals from fellow riders. you really get a feel for the people.

of course, i think it is also important to participate in these conversations. i found myself particularly engaged whenever workplace issues or politics were directly discussed (though i find myself more and more intervening in conversations about gender). and sometimes, even when i'm not planning on getting involved, someone spies what i'm reading and asks a question. today, for example, i was reading Capitalist Patriarchy & the Case for Socialist Feminism on my way to work. a young Black guy caught the title out of the corner of his eye and did a double take. he read it again and again and then spoke:

"is that book about society?" he asked.

"it's about how male dominance and the rule of the rich work in relation to one another," i answered.

"yeah, the rich get richer, man" he began and was off running. "these republicans, everytime they get in office things go wrong. did you know that Black people were making $5,000 more under Clinton than now?"

as i opened my mouth to make a connection between race, capitalist economic policy, conservative "family" policies (anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, etc), and the neoconservatives the bus arrived at my stop.

"i would love to talk to you more about this, bro, but i gotta go to work" i said and hopped off the bus.

who knows where things would have gone, but i know we would have had a conversation that could really mean something and deepen both our understandings of life in this society. if one is interested in revolutionary organic intellectual work, one should ride the buses.