Eating the Rich: Labor Day Rallies and Workers Against Billionaires

The "Workers over Billionaires" protests are sparking concerns over economic inequalities. Courtesy of 401(K) 2012 via Flickr

“When the poor have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich,” Jean-Jacques Rousseau said during the era of the French Revolution. The line was not meant to be taken literally, but it was a catchy rallying cry that resonated with the French peasants. And what happened next? Off with their heads. 

The phrase “eat the rich” is becoming increasingly appealing to working-class Americans.

The leftist political slogan still means the same thing. It critiques how the upper percentile doesn’t give back to the working class and uses them as stepping stones for their personal interests. 

Recently, the Trump administration introduced the “Big Beautiful Bill.” The exploitation of the working class has always been an underlying issue, long before President Donald Trump took office. However, his escalating actions and disputed orders have made this issue reach a boiling point, and America is putting its foot down. 

On Labor Day, workers across the country took to the streets to protest against President Trump and other billionaires who are stripping away the livelihoods of the working people.

Campaign organizations such as AFL-CIO, One Fair Wage and Power in Numbers banded people together through marches, picnics and artistic gestures to show their issues with the upper class.

Their fight? Obtaining basic rights.

“We do not suffer from scarcity. We suffer from the greed of corporations and billionaires. Americans know there is more than enough for all of us to thrive if the greedy don’t steal it,” said May Day Strong Institute Director Sulma Arias.

Other people who support May Day Strong have similar feelings to Arias’s. 

“Since May Day, we see the onslaught of attacks on our communities escalating, our organizing has to escalate with it. We know that billionaires are making record profits while we are losing people every day,” said Neidi Dominguez, Executive Director of Organized Power in Numbers. “There’s more of us than there are of them. We just have to organize ourselves together.”

Some of the mentioned pieces of media predate Trump’s presidency; the greed that roots itself in America has become a genre. Wealth inequality has become a genre that has been explored through different creatives. It doesn’t matter how big or small the message is; what matters is that we pick up on it, and we do something. 

This is exactly why the workers of America fight.

#NoKings and #NoBillionaires have become popular cries from Americans as tensions rise amongst the population, with the inappropriate delegation of funds, distrust in the government and the looming threat of war every other week. It’s safe to say that tensions are high between the people and the government. 

The power ultimately relies on the people. We have the numbers; we can make the difference. Even though the world looks scary, the actions these protesters took by advocating for themselves to the government were something admirable. They showed that standing up to power is not impossible.