Work or starve. That was the simple message to Ohio workers from their state government already in May.

Reflecting the zeal among the Right and parts of the business class to “re-open” the economy as quickly as possible, Ohio set up a website in early May for companies to report workers who refused to come into work — regardless of whether proper health and safety measures were in place. The program’s explicit aim was to deprive reported workers of unemployment benefits.

The stark choice between work and abject misery is just one of the many dark secrets normally politely hidden in the recesses of unspoken economic common sense dredged up to the surface by the coronavirus pandemic. The basic contradictions of the capitalist economy that we all swim in in normal times are suddenly writhing before us, thrown up on the shores of lockdowns and states of emergency. We see our basic needs confronted with the need for someone to profit, our meager or missing wages confronted with the rent that’s still coming due.