We Must Unite

(Guest post by FE.)

Three years ago, on a warm summers night, a small part of London exploded into chaos. Looting, mugging and arson resulted in a mass deployment of police onto the streets after a young black male was shot. This was to become known as the London riots. Please note, I'm not excusing these actions. Any individual willing to set fire to their neighbourhood needs to visit a psychiatric clinic, but this was the result of class struggle and, most importantly, a fine example of a global crisis. David Cameron addressed the nation: “The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling scenes of people looting, violence, vandalizing and thieving. We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets. It is criminally pure and simple”. (These words would very well suit the behavior of the bankers, politicians and the corrupt capitalist masters over the past decades.) The media had no hesitation in pointing the finger in the direction of the weak and vulnerable, those who took advantage of a situation, but the reality was that this was not just a protest, this was an expression of anger and a statement. A hungry lion awakening after years of neglect, exploitation, struggle and abuse. A voice which was never heard. A minimum six month sentence was handed to looters, some of who had even stolen Argos catalogues. On the same planet, only 3 years later, Bernie Ecclestone (Formula One‘s chief executive) was accused of bribes. He paid £100,000,000 (bribe?) to a German courthouse for his freedom. Lets begin. 

We are well aware capitalism is in a deep crisis. The financial meltdown in 2007 was only the latest stage in a global crisis that capitalism has been trying to overcome for decades. Their strategy now is devaluing the working class by calling for wage/welfare cuts but even they know this is not a solution. The constant pedalling of proud ‘powerful’ speeches from the ruling class continue daily as they notify “our” nation that there is no money for housing construction or jobs because of benefit scroungers and the recession, but trillions are available for trident? Zero-hour contracts are becoming more popular meaning there is no job security and the standard of living is continuously dropping dramatically. They employ corporations such as ATOS on £300 million/year contracts to ‘clamp down on benefit cheats’ but are in fact put in place to boost profits. The objective is simple. Cut down the number of disabled and terminally ill on benefits and get them into work. A regime brought in by Tony Blair’s Labour and continued by the conservatives. Only three weeks ago, a Tory minister in the department for work, Lord Freud, opened his mouth and the following words came out. “Disabled people should work for less”. So, the message being sent is, “live to get shafted, and let us help you in doing so”.  

Politicians who prance around the commons are nothing more than puppets in this global crisis. We hear them pedalling the same cries before elections and illegal imperialist wars (or should i say invasions?). “Your free! You must vote! Your country needs you! We are in this together! Support your troops!”. This is all in their interest. Not yours. We are not all as free as Bernie Ecclestone. They will use phrases such as “this great nation” and will occasionally wave a flags. Flags which are essentially bits of coloured cloth, used first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then used as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead after war. We must recognize that a real enemy of the working class is nationalism and an enemy of nationalism is the working class fighting for its own interests. If we do not, the bourgeois ruling class will continue to exploit. 

Those responsible for creating the exploiter/exploited relationship have no interest in building a classless society of common ownership, and why would they. They will use everything in their power (everything!) to brainwash the public and make them believe they are just like us. They like to address what they have in common with the public (this is usually an embarrassing affair). They own the means to production in every country and they will always go to war to protect its own property. Workers have no stake in this and anything even remotely approaching a politically conscious working class would see elections suspended. It wouldn't surprise me if capitalism just pulled a Pinochet out of its sleeve and disband the parliament and jailed troublesome MPs if workers ‘got in’.  

The working class are, and will always be victims. This can be seen across the planet today. We live in a system of exploitation and social impoverishment. The “all in it together” propaganda does not hold water. The suffering has been placed upon those who are not responsible and that must be made known. We, as the exploited workers, must stand up, educate and spread a message that a border less classless society of common ownership is possible. We have the knowledge and over 3 billion workers worldwide ready to fight for real freedom. We must unite. 

“The basic law of capitalism is you or i, not you and i” - Karl Liebnecht