this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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During the Great Depression, when banks foreclosed on farms, neighbors often showed up at the auctions together.

They’d bid only a few cents, and return the land to the family that lost it. Sometimes a noose hung nearby as a warning to outsiders not to profit from someone else’s ruin.

It was rough, but it worked, communities protected each other when the system wouldn’t.

If a collapse like that happened today, do you think people would still stand together or has that kind of solidarity disappeared? Could it happen again?

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[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 103 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They'd try, but there will be corporations bidding from thousands of miles away completely out of reach of any mob action these days.

If we reach penny auction status (and we will), it will be back to functional feudalism for most.

[–] Protoknuckles@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week ago (3 children)

At that point the community can just refuse to recognize the sale and not let the company onto the property after the sale. The key to these kinds of protests is to make the fight unprofitable.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 50 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Yea, which will work for about 30 minutes until the police show up, who are already used to defending property over lives.

The government doesn't have to be profitable. That's part of socializing business cost, just like how many people that work at walmart are on food stamps. A corrupt government loves to subsidize the rich.

[–] Hazy@aussie.zone 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You talk like people couldn't just escalate further when they absolutely could. Need people to stop undermining collective action with their pessimism

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

I'm not saying don't do it. I'm saying don't expect easy answers like the post implies.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I thought the same thing at first. However after reading another comment here I realised that a community can essentially sack the property if a huge corp buys it. Not much you can do if everyone around wants you gone so bad they'll commit arson rather than let you stay.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I hope you don't have to find out how naive that view is.

So you burn down the farm house. What about the fields? The equipment? The person who was kicked off the land already by then is still destitute. Now you've burned their old home down.

Now what? MAD only works when the damage can be equally devastating, and the community will already be devastated by then.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The point was more that a community can enforce that "if they don't get it, no one will", which I think would put a lot of companies off from buying.

It wouldn't help the first few people get their home back, but after a couple rounds, the big corps will see that they end up losing money when the buy properties that are sacked a short time later. If there's one thing that will make a company change its behaviour, it's making them lose money through that behaviour.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago

Again, MAD only works when the damage is equally devastating on both sides.

[–] BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

People from many countries have fought against worse abuse of power than just corrupt cops, heck this country was founded after fighting and defeating it's colonial ruler in civil war, why can't people fight back again.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

If you think fighting rich corporations with guns by the time they're scooping up farms is how it should be fought, you've already lost.

[–] BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just because you've lost doesn't mean you should give up, that's how they keep you down, you need to have a positive outlook as well while acknowledge that there issues and keep arguing for things to get better.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago

Yes, but taking bad tacts that won't actually change the trajectory of things is only going to disillusion people further.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 1 week ago

all it takes is a single call from the buyer and the place will be swatted

[–] Yezzey@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

Exactly what i was thinking