Class War
WHY CLASS WAR?
Class War is not just another party seeking to gain power or a new way of telling people what to do. Class war is what happens when ordinary people have had enough of being pushed around and decide to fight back. If you're one of the people who've swallowed the crap about "we're all middle class now" or "we live in a classless society" this is the time to stop reading! We live in a society severely split along the lines of class ,where capitalism,the State and the ruling class dominate us. So what do we mean by this?
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system run purely for profit in the interests of a small class - the capitalists - at the expense of a larger class - the working class. The whole of our present society is geared to the needs of capitalism. It is the mechanism whereby we sell our labour, in exchange for money,to purchase the goods and services we need, which we also happen to have produced in the first place! However,we only get a proportion of the wealth that our labour produces, the rest goes to the capitalists in profit.
This is fundamental to capitalism - in order for it to work the many must produce wealth for the few. Western style capitalism is often hailed as being the free market,all it means is that they are "free" to exploit us. The situation is exactly the same in the so-called "planned economies" of the "Communist" countries. Karl Marx suggested that capitalism is a machine governed by natural laws - it isn't. It's an economic system run by a group of people who compete fiercely with each other for the right to rip us off. Capitalism has nothing to offer us except an endless cycle of war,famine,recession and unemployment. It is not inevitable that it will die of it's own accord,it could linger on for centuries yet,lurching from crisis to crisis,therefore it must be destroyed.
The state
Although capitalism is the major form of social organisation in terms of production,there are things that it can't do. Broadly speaking it cannot supply the `social' organisation of society, this hole is filled by something else - the State. The State is the means by which a tiny minority control and dominate the rest of us,in the interests of the ruling power in our society - the capitalists. To give you an idea of how small a minority we are talking about,the often quoted figures are still true - that 7% of the population owns 84% of the wealth. The state is a set of institutions and bodies through which government is exercised e.g. parliament, local government, ministries, civil service, police, law, education,and the church. The aim of government is to keep the lid on class conflict, and to contol competition between the capitalist,to make sure of the smooth running of society. It does this by enforcing the laws of private property, and the right of capitalists to buy and sell it. It does'nt matter whether that propety is land, food, health, sex, factories, houses or anything else that takes their fancy. But the State came before capitalism, and it has always been a form of control and oppression in th interests of whatever ruling class is in power, and whatever economic system they choose to use. In Britain we are given the `choice',every five years or so, of what Party we'd like to govern us. This, like many other `choices', is a false on, a con trick to fool us into thinking we can change things through the vote. It also gives us politicians, as figureheads,to blame for our difficulties. But the reality is that the power of the state lies with the capitalists, and the states own officials - they pull the strings. With power concentrated like it is there is always the risk that a small group can mount an attempt to gain control of the state. For example Fascist or Lenin-inspired communists. This would be nothing more than swapping one set of bosses for another - we want to sweep the lot of them away.
CLASS
The Ruling Class
About 5% of the population.
Some examples: Owners of major companies, landowners judges ,top cops, church leaders and the aristocracy including the Royal Family.
The Middle Class
About 20% of the population
Some examples :professionals eg journalists, doctors, teachers, management, social workers Also priests officers in the armed forces and the owners of small businesses The Working Class About 75% of the population Some examples: Factory shop and office workers,nurses,technicians agricultural workers, soldiers up to NCO level and the unemployed
The above figures are not the invention of Class War - they come from the State's own figures and were updated after the 1981 census.
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*The Ruling Class *
In general there are two main factors that give you your place in the class system : wealth and powere. The ruling class rule but they don't actually govern - that is left to the State's politicians and officials They don't all sit around in smoke filled rooms conspiring to opppress us, they don't need to most of the time. So how do they keep us in our place? By the old trick of divide and rule - settng white against black, men against women and worker against worker. This breaks down any sense of class solidarity, identity and unity - without which a revolution is an impossible dream.
*The Middle Class*
Contact between the ruling class and the working class is very rare Most inter-class contact comes between the working and middle classes. The middle class is made up of many sub-sections and layers, all performing different roles and functions necessary for capitalist society to run. Basically speaking they manage us in the interests of the ruling class.
The most recognisable role for the middle class is the economic management of business and industry e.g. work/factory managers, and accountants. These are the top dogs, the highest earners in the middle class,because Without their services capitalism would rapidly collapse.
By it's very nature capitalism is filled with brutatlity and inequality. If left to it's devices it would end in either barbarism or class revolution. Neither is any good to the ruling class, so this must be preventedby capitalism putting on a `human face` - the caring side of capitalism! a large section of the middle class provide this function. Mopping up the casualties of class society, and providing a `buffer' for class anger, and sometime channelling it into minor tinkering with social conditions. they also provide the vitual services we need, but at a cost to us - they have virtual control over whole areas of our lives.
A not so obvious role of the middle class is to provide and intellectual and cultural framework in which ideas that serve the interests of the ruling class become part of our everyday thoughts. The endless repeating of certain ideas, stereotypes and myths try to stifle our class consciousness and turn us into `model citizens'. These can be the crude lies like ` all blacks are lazy and thick' or the more sophisticated crap about the so-called `classless society'.
Examples would be the media and advertising industry, education and religion. Capitalism must have a constant supply of new ideas to create new markets to sustain its profits. It must also evolve in order to survive. Middle class researchers and intellectuals provide the information necessary to make this possible. This is true right from university professors to the new so-called `green' entrepreneurs.
Because of the varied roles of the middle classes there is often conflict and contradictions within its ranks. When the class struggle comes to a head it would split them, forcing them to take sides. As a general rule those near the top would side with the bosses,having the most to lose. Those who come on our side can only do so on our terms. Whish is to join us as equals, and not in their usual role as leaders.
*The Working Class *
The briefest way of describing our class is to say we are everyone who is not in the middle and ruling class! This is not just a smart arse remark. Ingeneral the working class are people who live by their labour, the ownership of property that generates wealth is the dividing line - if you have enough property or money not to work then you are not working class. The other part of class identity is `social power'. The working classes do not have the power, we are the ones who are told what to do. We are defined not by what we do,but by what is done to us. But this does not mena that we are powerless - far from it. The state spends vast amounts of money and energy to keep us in our place. Also,because our work is at the very centre of everyday practical economic activity it is fair to say that everything hinges around whether we want to `play the game' or not . Class is a much disputed topic. the ruling class need to confuse the issue in order tosurvive. If the majority of people have a clear idea of the workings of a class society, social control would be impossible and the ruling class would be toppled from their positions of wealth privilege and power. As captialism developedand class society became a feature of people's lives , the ruling class found it necessary to stifle class conciousness, and even to get working class people to identify with capitalism. Myths like ` we're all middle class now' or ` we live in a classless society' , are laughable and contradictory. These are the rantings of middle class journalists, ad-men and politicians, who want to wish away class conflict and try to create a false idea of equality. With the rise of the `Consumer Society' and the easy availablity of credit,more and more working class people can afford things like their own house, car, holidays abroad etc, But this increase of personal wealth does in no way increase your social power. At the end of the day these extra goods all rely on your abilty to work. The day you lose your job and can't keep up the payments, they all go out the window along with the easy credit that made them available. and at the same time when we can afford a few extra goodies, the wealth of the already rich and powerful rises fantastically. What counds is not token improvements in our life-styles but the gross inequality in the overall distribution of wealth and power. With the running down of the traditional heavy industries, the old image of the working class has dramatically changed - massively so during the 1980's. In its place are more white collar workers, and the rise in service industry,high tech and part time employment. But it's ridiculous to say that just becuse there is a more diverse labour market the working class has disappered! It has't, it's just that to the middle class politicians,media people and journalists if you don't wear overalls, a cloth cap, and get your hands dirty at work you aren't working class. That's how thick they really are! The end of class society can only come about through working class revolution. This is because the working class is the only social group capable of this massive transformation of society, by virtue of the fact that we are the overwhelming majority and because we have the interest, motivation and ability to do so. History has shown us many examples of the working class's revoutionary ability, there is no good reason for thinking that this will be any different in the future.
Class War makes no "revolutionary demands" on behalf of the working class. But we do see the need to play up the revolutionary elements within our struggles, towards an objective of creating a popular "culture of resistance". This is the popularisation of the ideas of class struggle,class pride and identity, and the values of solidarity ,self management and internationalism. Fundamentally this is about bringing politics into all areas of peoples lives. At present the capitalists invade all areas of our lives - in turn we will have to retrieve every part of them. This development will become the foundation and energy behind any possible revolutionary movement. In areas of the world where this has happened,like Spain,Italy and Russia, the traditions have lingered on generations after the orginal movements were crushed - its powerful stuff!