I bought and am gradually fixing up a large dilapidated house in my city to use as emergency housing for trans people. I can afford all fixed costs (mortgage, property tax, insurance utilities) by myself. In March, a distant connection of a comrade moved in. Our agreement was that they contribute 10% of their income (~15% of the fixed costs of the house) and contribute as they are able to our collective emergency housing project. I work somewhat more than full-time and they work itinerantly as a housesitter and selling art at craft markets.
Since then, I have found out that my roommate comes from a rich family able to support her in a city across the state, has a masters degree, and has no debt. For instance, their family paid for them to fly and stay out of country on a two week trip. They are also somewhat more able than me. Another comrade is planning to move in with us and is taking the other currently-available bedroom meaning we cannot provide emergency housing in the medium term while I make the other rooms habitable.
My frustration has reached a breaking point when 1) they sent a passive-aggressive message about a few things our other comrade left in the entrance as they are moving in slowly, and 2) they shirked being available to receive an appliance delivery with 2 weeks' notice so we can have a working kitchen.
W/r/t to domestic labor I feel we are at a 30:70 split with my roommate doing more, and that the general level of cleanliness is below what they would like. 90% of our eating and all of our laundry are separately done.
The origin of my feeling comes from my envy at the fact that they have to work very little, and that I significantly subsidize their ability to do so---their contribution is about 20-30% what a room in a rental would cost. At the same time, I recognize the significant power imbalance in our relationship.
My principle goal is finding parity in our contribution that acknowledges our power imbalance. Additionally, our 3rd comrade who is moving in is in a significantly more precarious structural position and is offering significantly more money and labor investment in our housing project.
How can I recognize and communicate my frustration fairly?
You can’t come from the bourgeoisie, reap the benefits of that, hide it from your proletariat friend, utilize their labour as your own resources, and then still call yourself a practicing communist. This is not what Marx or Lenin or Hegel or anybody else who has written about these theories was talking about, and it just sounds exploitative so that they can leech to do art or whatever. Cut that fucking hand off before it becomes gangrenous and give your new guy a chance.
This kind of smells like tourism yeah
Bourgeois Antoinette and her silver uhh...working class thing.
Yeah tbh if you're supposedly a well off communist you should be offering right off the bat to contribute more than your roomates, even to cover for some of the poorer members depending on how "well off" we're talking about.