The holiday season is upon us, and if you’re a Jacobin reader, you probably don’t have firm plans for Black Friday, the largest, most soul-crushing shopping day of the year. Maybe, if you’re still with your family, you’ll strike up the annual argument with your libertarian uncle.

Or maybe you’ll catch some news footage of stampeding hordes of predawn shoppers all but foaming at the mouth for a sale and pause to reflect on the madness of American consumerism.

But while hunkering down far from the frenzied masses might seem best for your mental and spiritual health, dare I suggest that you seek them out. Not for sweet bargains on a plasma television, but to join one of the nearly 1,000 daylong strikes against the largest private employer in the world.