'Germinal'

There is little doubt that I would not have worked in any mine at any point of my life no matter when, where and in what social strata was I born.

There isn't enough money in the world. And I definitely wasn't going to do it for pennies a day. Give me ditch digging or shepherding.

"Germinal" is an extremely powerful novel about a minor union uprising in 1880s France amid the factories and coalmines of the French countryside. It's a soul-sucking story. It's frankly hard to believe that that's how industry was once run. And how worker's rights and occupational issues like child labor, working conditions, the 40-hour week, retirement packages and the like are still issues that are talked and argued about.

Somehow, there are still money-making companies that are more than willing to skimp on payments to their employees.

It is funny that Communism was such a big deal in the 1880s as it was in 1910, 1950s and 1980s. But today it's not that big of a deal.

Of course, a socialist nation rises from the abuse of a capitalist nation. Ideally, the United States is prime for a communist takeover (see: Barack Obama), but it would never happen because even the proletariat in our country are middle class and the lower class are simply too lazy to care.