Welcome Comrade
 

Who Are We

 

The Solidarity Shop is a worker-owned cooperative established in 2022 by three dedicated Leftists.  The Solidarity Shop is a horizontal or “flat” cooperative meaning all power is split equally amongst any current/new members.  We, the founders, all come from different creeds of Leftism, while this means our end goals don’t all look identical, we agree that the resurgence of overt Nazism and other right wing ideologies present a threat to people in all of our communities that MUST be dealt with before sorting our differences out.  After meeting as adolescents we found company in each others detestment of populist right wing morals that had spread in our classrooms, neighborhoods, and own homes.  Our educators regurgitated American exceptionalist propaganda at best and outright praise for the overtly fascist actions of our governments, local, state, and federal at worst.  Our (now former) friends, who couldn’t name a single branch of government suddenly became riddled with bigoted talking points, shirts, and hats.  This has led us to where we are now, years later starting this space, with fascism rotting further and further into its final form we realized we had to do something other than just protesting, advocating, and mutual-aid, as massively important as those things are of course.  That is what we touch on in the next section!

 

Why Are We

 

Currently residing in Texas all three of us have witnessed the attempts to eradicate racial minorities, LGBTQIA+ friends, political allies and more as right wing populist ideals have embedded themselves like a disease in our world.  A major factor in the normalization of overtly genocidal rhetoric has been the willingness of these fascists to proselytize through apparel, bumper stickers, flags, signs etc. by result, numbing the populous up to their disgusting ideas.  This constant reminder of their presence is not only an attempt at evangelizing but a threat to anyone who stands in the way of their goals.  So the inspiration for giving Leftists an online space for them to specifically buy/sell based apparel, so that maybe Leftists trapped in seemingly hostile places don't have to feel alone or nihilistic.  Nihilism can be hard to avoid when surrounded by propaganda but we must as it is the death of our movements and we believe seeing comrades out in public repping progressive ideals will help to restore at least a little faith to allies feeling lonely.  It serves as a reminder to our people that there are more of us than them, and to them, that they should get on board or be afraid because our movement, the masses, will take what is rightfully theirs.  We should also mention we do not believe in worker-cooperatives as the ideal final phase of socialism by any means, rather as the most ethical option to work under in a late-stage rotting capitalist society.

 

How do We

 

As we do not create products in-house, we always look to make sure we are sourcing directly from artists or their shops.  This is to assure they get the full value that they place on their work while spreading awareness of the good work they are doing.  We do not and will not purchase any design or apparel from a source that is not directly affiliated with the artist themselves even in matters of price and convenience.  We operate with the goal of breaking even, we charge the same price for the product the artist sells for directly as a strategy to keep prices as low as possible.  While profit is not a goal of ours we do aim to avoid debt and aim to do that through flat rate shipping.  We charge $7.91 for shipping & handling on our orders, we know its high, but it is only temporary because as soon as we are able to calculate shipping on a per order basis the flat rate will disappear.  This will be done at the earliest possibility and is our highest priority as the current system is inefficient and in effect to just avoid taking on massive debt by way of shipping costs.  If you are an artist looking to work with us and get your designs out there, please contact us through the prompt below or email listed at the bottom of the page!  If you're a Leftist, we promise this co-op shop has something to peak your interest!