The next step for writers who give away their work for nothing

As I’ve been telling you, there is a special class of writers. It’s quite large. They give away their work and get no money in return.

It’s rather amazing.

There is a logical next step for these writers:

Organize.

And say, “We are the writers who give our work away. Therefore, we have needs.”

Establish that fact.

And choose a name for the organized group. Something like the Free Writers Institute. FWI.

Then say, “We, the FWI, have to find a higher authority who will help us and keep us going.”

There are several possibilities. The most obvious one is an appeal to the government. They have a lot of money. And they do give it away.

So the FWI might be able to land funding. Of course, that would mean the writers have to pay attention to what they’re writing. They can’t attack and demean and expose the hand that feeds them. If they want to maintain the flow of money. They have to support the government and become allies of the government.

I’m sure their readers will understand this.

The FWI will have to form a special committee to track their own work and make sure there are no slip-ups. No sudden leakage of critical remarks aimed at the government.

The FWI could try another strategy to acquire funding. Go after famous book writers who have made lots of money.

Say, “We, the FWI, have needs. You writers have the ability to make money. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

See how that works out.

Suppose you could contact 50 wealthy writers (Stephen King, J.K. Rowling) and obtain a steady $10,000 a month from each of them? That would be $500,000 a month to spread around to the members of FWI.

Of course, the FWI would have to form a leadership council to decide which of its writers get how much every month.

I’m sure you could pull this off without any envy, jealousy, backbiting, greed, or assassinations.

The whole point is: get the money so your writers can keep giving away their work for nothing.

You could devise a scale of poverty. Those writers who prove they’re the poorest are guaranteed at least a subsistence allowance each month. I’m sure none of your writers will cheat in submitting his self-assessment poverty form.

Be sure not to allow your benefactors, the wealthy writers, to interfere in your organization. Keep them out. Just take their money. You decide who gets the money, not the writers donating it. If one of those capitalist assholes gets too pushy, organize a campaign to expose him. You have the writers who can do that. If exposure doesn’t achieve the desired result, you could call Tim Walz.  He might have some bright Chinese strategies.

What is the desired result? You do want to have group power over the wealthy writers who are funding you. Well, FWI, with enough members, could become a kind of pressure group. You approach the traditional book publishers of these wealthy writers and tell them you are putting together a list of writers who should be blackballed. Publishers must refuse to sign contracts with them to publish their work.

This is necessary to keep control of FWI in the hands of FWI. You really need power over publishers.

Eventually, I can see FWI joining up with, say, the teamsters union, or better yet, a big teachers union. Then you’ll have juice with the government.

This is sounding better and better.

One more thing. Don’t be afraid to say you’re Communists or Socialists. Nobody cares anymore.

Here’s to FWI! Writers of the world who are giving away your work for nothing, organize. A million members by next year! Marching down Pennsylvania Avenue! Demanding everything you can grab!

-- Jon Rappoport