CT Do Luke and the other Rebellion pilots get paid?

I just don't know where the funding comes from for the Rebellion or how that works. Do they get paid or are they volunteers? Luke leaves his home and future livelihood to become a pilot for the rebellion. Does he get a salary? Free room and board? And when Luke leaves to go to Dagobah or Bespin or wherever to pursue his Jedi training and personal quests, does the rebellion still fund him? Or at that point is he wealthy and just living off the reward money? Was there actually reward money for Luke?

I have wondered about this since I was a kid, I guess I am envious of anyone who is funded to do what they want to do lol.

Has this been addressed in books or anything?

 

I think rebels mainly volunteered simply for the cause (Han Solo as an obvious exception), Luke even making a point about it not being for the money. Im pretty sure the wealth of politicans involved with the Rebellion paid for expenses. I'm not sure if it's addressed in any sources though.

 

I always assumed it was like our world in that regard - Rebellions being funded by wealthy "people in power" of the same opinion... I guess in Star Wars certain worlds sympathetic to the cause (if they don't provide ships or soldiers) would probably provide the funds. Nothing is ever mentioned that brought me to this opinion...but I always assumed Alderaan was one of the richer worlds that were largely responsible for a lot of the funding... ??

 

It goes beyond money. It was the future of civilisation.

 

Yes, everyone was voluntarily part of the Alliance. That means no funds unless necessary for whatever assignment might require it. Han was only paid a reward for transporting the droids to Alderaan and then rescuing Leia. The films never made it clear what happened with the reward money.

 

Most of the rebels were likely volunteers fighting for a cause they believed in. They probably got some pay for living expenses but they were likely considered criminals and could not go to town very much.

 

But even if the future of civilization is on the line...people gotta eat lol.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. I am just looking at it from a practical viewpoint because I always wondered how Luke survived. We know it is a money-based economy (well Republic Credits) so how does Luke live day to day? I was thinking of some of the other characters and they all have ways of making money/ making their way in the universe.

Princess Leia - royalty, probably has wealth to live off of
Han Solo - smuggler
Lando - gambler / politician
I figure all the stormtroopers / Empire personnel are paid for by the galactic government or whatever (this includes everyone from Vader to Hux to Finn)
All the PT Jedi I figure are paid officially as Jedi from the Jedi Temple or maybe the government
Padme - royalty / senator
Rey - scavenger
Boba / Jango Fett - bounty hunters
Maz- runs a bar
etc.

Luke - no visible means of support lol. No farm to work and no official Jedi organization to back and house him. So I started wondering if that is their paid job: pilot for the Rebellion. And even if it is, when he leaves the Rebellion to complete his training and stuff, what then? Made me wonder if he did receive reward money and lived on that. And if most of the members of the rebellion are volunteers, they must have some kind of day job right? Again, from a practical point of view they can't all be independently wealthy.

I have no idea why I have always wondered this, but I have and still do. (And you know you're a fan when it comes down to minutiae such as this )

 

As I said, most rebels would likely had to give up their day jobs and a normal life to fight against the empire. If they returned to their normal lives they risk being arrested and executed as traitors. So likely they spent most of their free time on rebel bases and ships and give up a normal life for the time being. The rebels probably had to feed, house, and provide medical care to their forces. It would be a win or die situation because if the rebellion lost, they all would be executed by the empire, perhaps their families too regardless of their involvement.

 

In my headcanon, the average Rebel soldier's pay is room, board, and the chance to die for the cause.

 

I highly doubt they get paid. They volunteer for this and any money the rebellion gets to afford weapons and supplies are people on the inside and likely some raids on Imperial banks. I can see them doing something like loan some money to certain rebel teams for a mission if it lasts too long.

 

They have food supplies. They are not going without. When on Ord Mantell, any money spent came from accounts that the Empire had not yet seized. On Lothal, food supplies are stolen from the Imperials or donated freely from local merchants who are Rebel sympathizers.

 

According to Brian Daley's radio drama, the Alliance had no credits or form of payment to cover Solo's rescue assistance, so what Solo loaded onto the vehicle in ANH were precious metals (they needed for repairs) as compensation for "cash".

 

Agreed. The money the rebel senators and rebel-aligned planets send to the Alliance must go to fuel, parts, weapons, etc.

 

That's what I was thinking: A place to sleep and eat during a potentially lethal job.

 

There were worlds either sympathetic or flat out a part of the Rebel Alliance. I just assumed that's where the funding came from regardless if it was out in the open or not and of course that would include money for people.

 

Bail Organa funded the Rebellion for the most with his personal wealth, he provided men and equipment. Who stepped in after Alderaan was destroyed has never been revealed, but it is likely to be Mon Mothma and other Rebel political leaders who have a fortune at their disposal. As mentioned above, Rebel troops may not have gotten a wage but they'd need to be fed, clothed and given shelter as with any army. The Rebels are idealists, they fight to free the galaxy and not because it's a job like the Imperials.

 

I saw the Rebels as people who are willing to die to restore "peace and justice" to the galaxy. They are there as volunteers (they hardly care about their "rewards"). However, they are provided probably with what they need so in that sense they are "paid." The funding comes from the wealthy who run the Alliance (it's their personal money as well as probably donations & other support from Rebel sympathizers).

 

Just looked up the original ANH draft from January 1, 1975 and found it interesting what Lucas originally considered Han Solo would get as a reward instead of credits:

LUKE
So, you are leaving then.

HAN
I’m rich, kid! This spice will fetch millions… and part of my reward is that I be able to spend it.
...

LUKE
I had a feeling you’d be back.

HAN
There’s more to life than spice.

 

I'd imagine they go unpaid and fight for the cause as they believe in it and for Luke he is a Jedi so it is his duty. No payment required. Same with Leia. Now as for the Han Solo & Chewbacca crew they most likely need more incentive.

In Rogue One the rebels do appear to be more like bounty hunters and in terms of being a professional army they acted more like criminals than employees. Just being allowed out of prison cell was good enough for them.

 

The Alliance had a whole series of shell corporations to funnel money from a GoFundMe site.

 

It would have been communal living. No one would have been paid unless the rebellion was hiring mercenaries.

 

Interestingly, though its apparently rather a myth than truth, soldiers of the Roman Empire supposedly got paid in salt, as this was a rare commodity in those ancient days to preserve food.

Thus I wouldn't rule out the possibility that's what George Lucas might have had in mind when Solo was rewarded with "spice" in his January 1976 draft.

 

It's a rebellion against a brutal dictatorship, not a 9-5 job.

 

I think they get paid in a years supply of blue milk.