Episode 366 of RevolutionZ starts by considering a phrase frequently borrowed, nowadays, the phrase "like never before," and then moves on to a word nowadays being used more frequently and positively than in quite some time, the word "socialism." Regarding the former, why are we mimicking the verbal priorities of the Orange Monster? Can we avoid that? Regarding the latter, are people using the word "socialism" to talk about outcomes or to talk about institutions? Can we do the latter? After exploring those questions a bit, we move on to the main focus of this episode, another chapter, chapter thirteen, of the forthcoming book The Wind Cries Freedom.

This time Miguel Guevara elicits from the doctor, Barbara Bethune, and the nurse, Emiliano Farmer, both of whom we met last episode, more about their experiences and the lessons they take from their health work and organizing. They consider the hospital as a living case study. They describe the pipeline of suffering—pollution, price-gouged meds, avoidable illness and more—and also the subtler currents of class status that dictate tone, attention, influence, time and income. They examine the role of the  “coordinator class” of hospital managers, doctors, lawyers, and other coordinator class members who don’t own capital but oversee labor and monopolize empowering circumstances. For many working-class people, these are the faces of power they see every day. That’s why polished condescension can push workers toward leaders who “feel real,” even when those leaders actually harm workers, Trump being a prime example. The interviewees explain how the left stumbles when its language and posture mirror coordinator class norms and when it sidesteps a hard truth: removing owners without changing the structure of empowering tasks just juggles bosses.

A candid conversation with a doctor and nurse becomes a turning point. The doctor admits to class bias toward those below, then embraces balanced job complexes so no group monopolizes empowering tasks, self-management so decision-making matches those affected, and remuneration for effort and sacrifice to attain equity. The nurse arrives at the same aims but after admitting class hatred for those above. Alongside all this, a personal story from the doctor about her "aphantasia"—living without a mind’s eye—shows how unseen differences among people distort what we treat as normal. Her honesty presents a lesson in humility: people edit their self-understanding to belong, and professionals do the same to protect hierarchy. Real organizing requires honesty about the impulses and structures that make empathy sustainable.

The interviewees connect these and related ideas to action: confronting big pharma, building rural and school-based care, reforming medical education, and ending toxic internship culture. The National Nurses March in their time stands out as a catalyst, proving to many that mass participation can thaw numbness and turn moral clarity into practical wins. If participatory society means anything, it must show up at the bedside and in the break room as shared power, dignified work, and decisions made by those who live their consequences. There is actually much more as well...

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