{"id":13564,"date":"2018-09-07T01:54:01","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T01:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=13564"},"modified":"2018-09-08T01:56:28","modified_gmt":"2018-09-08T01:56:28","slug":"green-bay-packers-fans-love-that-their-team-doesnt-have-an-owner-just-dont-call-it-communism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/green-bay-packers-fans-love-that-their-team-doesnt-have-an-owner-just-dont-call-it-communism\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Bay Packers fans love that their team doesn’t have an owner \u2013 just don’t call it ‘communism’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alan J. Kellner<\/a>, Northwestern University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In July, I was walking with my parents through the newly constructed Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a new community development across the street from Lambeau Field, where the Green Bay Packers play their home games. It features a local brewpub, a boutique hotel, free outdoor games like foosball and shuffleboard and a large practice field, where kids can play football.<\/p>\n

At one point, I heard my dad say, \u201cI know who this is.\u201d He had picked out the Packers\u2019 president, Mark Murphy, hurriedly making his way through the swarming crowd of people. Murphy kindly paused to shake my father\u2019s hand and then my mother\u2019s and then my own.<\/p>\n

As Murphy moved on, my dad\u2019s next reaction was interesting to me as a political scientist. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Packers are the only team with a president instead of an owner,\u201d he said, turning to me. \u201cYou know, with every other team in the NFL, all that money the team makes, that goes straight to the owner.\u201d Proudly, he continued, \u201cThe Packers don\u2019t have an owner. All that money goes back to the community, the fans. It builds stuff like this,\u201d motioning toward Titletown.<\/p>\n

On our ride home, with Packer talk behind us, my dad started to ask me about my job prospects. I\u2019m training to be a political theorist in an oversaturated job market with an overabundance of Ph.D.s<\/a>, increasing university administration<\/a>, increasing reliance on \u2013 ahem, exploitation of<\/a> \u2013 adjunct instructors, and what feels like an all-time low in the diminution of the value of the humanities.<\/p>\n

My job prospects are not good. <\/p>\n

Next he asked why I decided on Immanuel Kant<\/a>, the German philosopher, as my dissertation topic.<\/p>\n

I explained that I had seriously considered Marx. But I didn\u2019t choose him because I thought it would limit my job prospects further. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d My dad asked. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you know, because people often associate Marx with communism.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cCommunism \u2013 no, no, no,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want anything to do with communism. The very idea of it sickens me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In my head, I thought, \u201cWhat an interesting cognitive dissonance.\u201d Wasn\u2019t the principle virtue of the Green Bay Packers based in a communist idea: collective ownership of the means of production? And because there is no owner, doesn\u2019t that mean its proceeds go back into its community?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not really interested in the degree to which the Packers are a communist organization. But I am interested in my father\u2019s reaction to the word \u201ccommunism,\u201d and how this response conflicted with a real-world example of one of communism\u2019s animating ideas. <\/p>\n

He has not, to my knowledge, ever read Marx or any genuinely communist literature. But he has obviously adopted a negative attitude to the word.<\/p>\n

Capitalist ideology seems to have launched a successful marketing campaign against communism. To be a communist, in my father\u2019s mind, is to be against freedom. It is to want total control over the lives and fates of all individuals in society. It is to be a Stalinist. <\/p>\n

What he fears isn\u2019t communism; it\u2019s totalitarianism. <\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t bring myself to point this out. I couldn\u2019t tell him, \u201cDad, everything you just said about the Packers \u2013 that\u2019s communism.\u201d<\/p>\n

A special situation<\/h2>\n

On Aug. 18, 1923<\/a>, the Packers became the first and only publicly owned team, selling $5,000 in shares<\/a> to improve the team\u2019s struggling finances. <\/p>\n

Owning stock in the Packers is not like owning other stock<\/a>, however. It pays no dividends. Although fans earn nothing financially by owning stock, this unique arrangement does ensure that profits don\u2019t go into the pocket of one or a handful of owners. Profits go instead to Green Bay Packers, Inc<\/a>. What fans gain \u2013 and not just those who own shares \u2013 is the assurance that their team will not leave Green Bay, the smallest market of all major American professional sports leagues.<\/p>\n

In 1997, fresh off a Super Bowl win, the franchise turned again to its fans as \u201cinvestors.\u201d The team offered more fans the opportunity to join existing shareholders by selling additional shares. For $200 they could \u201cown stock\u201d in the team. Well aware of the fact that being an owner in this instance offers no real financial stake in the team, fans proudly purchased 120,000 shares<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In 2012, the team again expanded its sale of stock, selling an additional 30,000 shares<\/a>. I remember my uncle excitedly showing me his share, framed and displayed prominently in his otherwise lightly adorned living room.<\/p>\n

The Packers are not only unique in the NFL for being a fan-owned, nonprofit team, they are the only team the NFL will allow to be. The 1960 constitution of the NFL states, in what is known as the the Green Bay Rule<\/a>, that \u201ccharitable organizations and\/or corporations not organized for profit and not now a member of the league may not hold membership in the National Football League.\u201d According to a member of the Packers\u2019 board of directors<\/a>, the model in Green Bay \u201cis truly a special, special situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Green Bay Packers stock certificates are distributed to all shareholders, with many fans framing them.<\/span>
\n AP Photo\/Pablo Martinez Monsivais<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Admittedly, the Packers organization still functions within capitalism. Although it lacks an owner, the team otherwise engages in all the same market-based exchanges as other teams. The Packers do show, however, how one communist principle might float within a capitalist sea. Without an owner, more people overall benefit. The team benefits first to be sure. But its interest happens to be the first interest of fans like my dad as well.<\/p>\n

Sensing and seeing exploitation<\/h2>\n

My dad\u2019s passion for the game is undeniable. My biased view is that it is unique, even among die-hards.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, my dad is a rather typical Wisconsinite of his generation. He was born and raised in Sheboygan<\/a>, where he still lives. <\/p>\n

He grew up in an era when higher education was not the assumed post-graduation trajectory, so he became a laborer in a toilet seat factory. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud of him for that. I\u2019m proud, particularly, because being a laborer is hard work. I know because I worked with him for two summers in college.<\/p>\n

What makes it hard, for starters, is that the factory line always goes at the same pace. This means that if you have energy and would like to work quickly, you can\u2019t. If you are feeling tired, sore or sluggish, you must keep up with the brisk, mechanical pace of the line. The job takes a physical toll. <\/p>\n

I remember getting home from work one night and sitting down to watch a movie on the couch at 7:00 p.m. I woke up the next morning, still on the couch, leaving for work in the same clothes because I didn\u2019t have time to change. I was 18. My dad has worked there 40 years and will continue to do so until he retires at 65.<\/p>\n

As a laborer in a family-owned factory, my dad is well aware who profits when the company does: The family who owns it. Educated entirely on biographies of the American founders and iconic presidents, he has a surprising knack for seeing exploitation and inequality. I saw this in action when he went on about the benefits of the Packers not having an owner. <\/p>\n

Like my father, my brother-in-law has a knack for seeing exploitation in action. In a recent diatribe, he railed against the popular view that professional athletes make too much money. According to the argument<\/a>, athletes make extraordinary sums of money for playing a game, for doing something children do for free. That argument concludes that athletes ought to be paid less.<\/p>\n

But my brother-in-law sees the big picture. Despite all the money they make, professional athletes are really making money for the owners \u2013 gobs of it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even though professional athletes make insane salaries by comparison to my father and my brother-in-law, they make far less than the owners. And this despite the fact that the owners themselves don\u2019t do anything except own the team. <\/p>\n

Without using any of the vocabulary \u2013 with no reference to bourgeois and proletariat, to owners of the means of production, and even without using the term \u201cexploitation\u201d \u2013 my brother-in-law has rather accurately described one of Marx\u2019s main critiques of capitalism: Labor is fundamentally exploitative. Those who create surplus value are not the ones who benefit from it.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take Marx, apparently, to see what\u2019s wrong with the owner-laborer, bourgeois-proletariat relation.<\/p>\n

Refreshing an old idea with a new word?<\/h2>\n

When I teach Marx to my students, I ask them what comes to mind when they hear the name \u201cMarx.\u201d One of the first words listed is \u201ccommunism,\u201d but another is \u201cRussia\u201d or \u201cthe Soviet Union.\u201d <\/p>\n

Once we\u2019ve assembled a list of associations, we begin to investigate how they came about. <\/p>\n

I tell them that if you go to the Museum in the Round Corner<\/a>, a former German Democratic Republic government office in East Germany\u2019s lovely Leipzig, you\u2019ll find a photo of a rally. <\/p>\n

In a massive stadium, thousands of citizens each hold up a unique placard. Collectively each picture forms one gigantic image that can be seen from above. Organized by the communist government, the image is a blown-up portrait of Karl Marx with the phrase \u201cWir ehren Marx\u201d \u2013 \u201cWe honor Marx.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Delegates meet in East Berlin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Karl Marx, whose visage is displayed on stage.<\/span>
\n AP Photo<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This display is an example of how the U.S.S.R. worked to make it look like it operated on Marxist principles. But communists such as C.L.R. James<\/a> did not view Russia under Stalin as a true communist government. Nor did other scholars, like Hannah Arendt<\/a>, who instead characterize Stalinist Russia as totalitarianism. It\u2019s important to remember that Marx did not advocate totalitarian government. My Dad, however, associates communism with Stalinist Russia \u2013 and thus associates it with totalitarianism. <\/p>\n

So much the worse for Marx. <\/p>\n

If my father could dissect the vampirism of football franchise owners, if my brother-in-law could analyze the fundamentally exploitative structure of labor without him, is the biggest source of people\u2019s attitudes toward communism the word itself?<\/p>\n

If \u201ccommunism\u201d is too laden with historical failures and semantic difficulties, are \u201csocialism\u201d or \u201csocial democracy\u201d better alternatives?<\/p>\n

They, too, seem to register similar anxieties in society. <\/p>\n

Although Bernie Sanders openly adopts the monikers<\/a>, \u201csocialist\u201d and \u201cDemocratic socialist\u201d as a member of the Democratic Party \u2013 as do ascendant figures in the party like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> \u2013 such politics continue to be maligned<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Attitudes are beginning to change. A recent Gallup poll<\/a> shows that 57 percent of democratic-leaning poll-takers view socialism favorably. A deeper look at the demographics is revealing, however. Although attitudes to socialism are becoming more favorable overall, it is quite clear that the working class of my father\u2019s generation are among the slowest to come around. <\/p>\n

Of my father\u2019s age group \u2013 50 to 64 \u2013 only 30 percent viewed it favorably. <\/p>\n

Perhaps an entirely new word needs to be coined. Hell, why not call it Packerism? <\/p>\n

If you want a political movement to work in Wisconsin, that\u2019s what to call it. But of course, what might be a successful rebrand in Wisconsin is not likely to be successful across the country as a whole. <\/p>\n

So if not by calling it Packerism, how can the left renew an old idea with a new word?\"The<\/p>\n

Alan J. Kellner<\/a>, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Northwestern University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alan J. Kellner, Northwestern University In July, I was walking with my parents through the newly constructed Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a new community development across the street from Lambeau Field, where the Green Bay Packers play their home games. It features a local brewpub, a boutique hotel, free outdoor games like foosball […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":13560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[511,2363,303,3985,5099,356,2484,305,5098,512,2686],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13565,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13564\/revisions\/13565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}