Class consciousness during neoliberal capitalism

[First E-nternationale]

My perception of modern society is that class consciousness is at an all-time low (because people can buy iPhones, facebook, capitalist propaganda, I don't care). How do you feel about that and what should be done?

Also, how do you think this relates to the rise of far right parties in Europe (and also the global inequality of wealth and income)?

I suspect the collapse of the USSR is pivotal here. A lot of Marxist and Leftist groups lost huge support, people were disenchanted with ideas of Socialism and Communism and, unlike actual fascism that had time to rebuild and ensure people forgot how awful it really was, people still don't trust parties of the real Left (sorry, centre-left, social democracy etc. are excluded in my book) for a plethora of reasons.

I would like to see a wider alliance of the Revolutionary Left, like Popular Fronts and the First Internationale (yes, I know how that turned out but still...).

Also, hello comrades and friends of RevLeft! Nice to be here. :)

[First E-nternationale]

My perception of modern society is that class consciousness is at an all-time low (because people can buy iPhones, facebook, capitalist propaganda, I don't care). How do you feel about that and what should be done?

Also, how do you think this relates to the rise of far right parties in Europe (and also the global inequality of wealth and income)?

I suspect the collapse of the USSR is pivotal here. A lot of Marxist and Leftist groups lost huge support, people were disenchanted with ideas of Socialism and Communism and, unlike actual fascism that had time to rebuild and ensure people forgot how awful it really was, people still don't trust parties of the real Left (sorry, centre-left, social democracy etc. are excluded in my book) for a plethora of reasons.

I would like to see a wider alliance of the Revolutionary Left, like Popular Fronts and the First Internationale (yes, I know how that turned out but still...).

Also, hello comrades and friends of RevLeft! Nice to be here. :)

[Q]

Merged identical threads. Please don't doublepost.

[Chomskyan]

My perception of modern society is that class consciousness is at an all-time low (because people can buy iPhones, facebook, capitalist propaganda, I don't care). How do you feel about that and what should be done?

Also, how do you think this relates to the rise of far right parties in Europe (and also the global inequality of wealth and income)?

I suspect the collapse of the USSR is pivotal here. A lot of Marxist and Leftist groups lost huge support, people were disenchanted with ideas of Socialism and Communism and, unlike actual fascism that had time to rebuild and ensure people forgot how awful it really was, people still don't trust parties of the real Left (sorry, centre-left, social democracy etc. are excluded in my book) for a plethora of reasons.

I would like to see a wider alliance of the Revolutionary Left, like Popular Fronts and the First Internationale (yes, I know how that turned out but still...).

Also, hello comrades and friends of RevLeft! Nice to be here. :)


We need to state the facts. The facts that wages are decreasing, that inequality (at least in the US) is as much as it has been since 1929, that blacks are incarcerated en masse and subordinated into slavery because the capitalist class has made laws to prevent them from hiring "felons" most of whom are blacks who have been charged for minor crimes etc.

We also need to recognize the class warfare that is going on, the rich get educated, the poor get tested. The rich go to College, the poor go to prison. The rich become CEOs, the poor become military death fodder. We need to talk about the push to privatize water, air, food, education, health care etc.

We should also emphasize the futility of capitalist society, the lies of opportunity and the reality that the capitalist class doesn't care about people, but only about lining pockets. Emphasize that no matter how much capitalism "produces" if nobody can afford those products, it's pointless to produce.

We need to keep punching capitalist society with these facts until it's knocked out of the ring and into a landfill along with the rest of the capitalist garbage.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

My perception of modern society is that class consciousness is at an all-time low (because people can buy iPhones, facebook, capitalist propaganda, I don't care). How do you feel about that and what should be done?

Class consciousness is at a low ebb because class organisation (at least on the revolutionary proletarian side of things) is scattered and weak.

The answer seems obvious, at least in general; proletarians should become internationally organised as a class. Actualising this general goal through concrete action is easier said than done, however.

It's not because people can buy iPhones or post on Facebook. That strikes me as far too simplistic.


Also, how do you think this relates to the rise of far right parties in Europe (and also the global inequality of wealth and income)?

It seems obvious that the far right in Europe has arisen virtually unchallenged as a result of what I talked about just previously.

As to global inequality, that's a consequence of uneven global development. But looking at how places like China are developing, it strikes me that international capital is running out of places into which it can expand.


I suspect the collapse of the USSR is pivotal here. A lot of Marxist and Leftist groups lost huge support, people were disenchanted with ideas of Socialism and Communism and, unlike actual fascism that had time to rebuild and ensure people forgot how awful it really was, people still don't trust parties of the real Left (sorry, centre-left, social democracy etc. are excluded in my book) for a plethora of reasons.

I would say the more pertinent issue would be the utter failure of the Left to properly engage with the proletariat following the collapse of the USSR, rather than the actual collapse itself. Although I reckon other factors also contributed, such as the mass shrinkage of organised labour and the atomisation and co-option of the workforce.


I would like to see a wider alliance of the Revolutionary Left, like Popular Fronts and the First Internationale (yes, I know how that turned out but still...).

So would I. But unfortunately I'm clueless as to how something like that could be successfully achieved in the present economic, social and political climate.


Also, hello comrades and friends of RevLeft! Nice to be here. :)

Greetings.

[Ferret the Anarchist]

I agree. We need to create something akin to the First Internationale, or create some sort of broader alliance of the revolutionary left.

The world is going down the shitter at an alarmingly fast rate, and it seems the left is more disorganized than ever, with all that's going on you'd think we'd be seeing an increase in class consciousness, but I guess not. We need to change that (obviously).

[Rafiq]

The far right has risen for the same reason Communism is not inevitable: Yes, the current order has been de-legitimized, but in the inability to conceptualize a proper opposition, people have turned to unleashing an insurance policy enshrined in the liberal order they oppose - they ideologically still operate within the coordinates of ruling ideology and it's standards, thus turning to that which is aesthetically viable - their "homes", I.e. the nation, be it the Muslim umma or the fatherland.

[Erfurt 1891]

I wouldn't say that class consciousness depends on existence of class organisations. Tbh, class consciousness is basis of every class organisation. It comes first. Without it there can be no class organisations.

And class organisations today do not exist. What we have are sects and organisations of marginal ("revolutionary left") and official (social-democrats, unions etc) left and class consciousness doesn't depend on them. Tbh, it develops trough struggle and that's where we find it - in class and industrial struggles around the world.

Unfortunately, it doesn't last long and it's usually limited to single-issue struggles, but it will develop with time.

[Half Commie]

The proletariat is increasingly delegated to third world countries. The working class is not a majority in the west.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

The proletariat is increasingly delegated to third world countries. The working class is not a majority in the west.

The working class is a majority in "the West". The Industrial working class, sure, is increasingly concentrated in the third world, but the working class didn't cease to exist in the West with deindustrialization, it just moved to the service sector.

[The Disillusionist]

Before we go discussing things on shaky premises, are we sure that class consciousness really is that low right now? I would argue that it's probably not.

[Speaks for the people]

My perception of modern society is that class consciousness is at an all-time low (because people can buy iPhones, facebook, capitalist propaganda, I don't care). How do you feel about that and what should be done?

Among the working class, yes, this seems rather true, but if so, clearly what can be called the wealthy do operate as a conscious and organized class. And this is ironic in some ways as the means to communicate and collaborate have never been more accessible than in these times, and is also why so much effort is now being undertaken to control the means of mass collaboration. I would however also argue that technological changes in the last century no longer offer traditional democratization of violence as a means of revolution, should the working class indeed awaken and become a conscious one.

[nomoba]

If there will be any revolution in the 21st century soon, it will be done by those who became statistical figures of poverty, unemployment, inequality and social exclusion by this brutal system. People with no hopes and dreams, no better future to seek, no class consciousness. People who have nothing to lose.

[Speaks for the people]

If there will be any revolution in the 21st century soon, it will be done by those who became statistical figures of poverty, unemployment, inequality and social exclusion by this brutal system. People with no hopes and dreams, no better future to seek, no class consciousness. People who have nothing to lose.

Indeed revolutions can happen simply when one's present horrors are already so great that the risks and dangers that revolution may bring do seem less... With an even marginal attachment to an abusive system (such as capitalism), it may yet endure though, with those self trapped in the belief of continuing such an abusive system, much like a kind of Stockholm syndrome.