Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Which Side?

We're hearing a lot these days about the "economy," the "financial system," the "banking system," etc., and when flesh and blood humans are mentioned at all, we're abstracted into "consumers" or "taxpayers." What's been missing from all the discussion in the media is the fact that, first of all, we are living breathing humans, not simply adjuncts to the "economy," and second, that we are not all in the same boat, that some of us are privileged and the rest of us -- the great majority -- are not. What's missing, in other words, is what socially aware thinkers have referred to as class consciousness. Oh yes, Rush Limbaugh is always carrying on about "class warfare," as though any awareness of class differences is bound to lead to something violent that could destabilize the fabric of society. While class consciousness has sometimes led to violent actions, what's truly fundamental is not so much the notion of warfare between the classes as the idea that the interests of the classes are in conflict with one another. Such conflicts can be resolved in a variety of ways, only one of which entails actual warfare. Since violent revolution can easily get out of hand and is almost always counter-productive, it's important to try to resolve class differences nonviolently -- which, in our present situation, seems to be the most effective strategy in any case.

Regardless of the form in which class conflict expresses itself, what's most important is that we become fully conscious of the role of class in the way our economy and our financial system operate; that, the efforts of the present administration notwithstanding, it's not simply a matter of "the nation" pulling together as one to fix a common problem -- but of the class that has been so long exploited becoming aware of that exploitation and refusing to put up with it any longer. While violence is usually to be avoided, revolutionary changes in the way society is organized are almost certainly in the cards.

Given such awareness, the question has always been: Which Side Are You On? It was that way back in the old depression:



And it's equally true today, on the threshold of the coming depression:



This is the question our president needs to ask himself, as well.

4 comments:

  1. I dont know what side I am one bro. I was a pirate making 4000 a month a few weeks ago. I hated my encounters so much with police and was terrified of my luck running out and me ending up in cook county jail where my lack of gang connections would surely mean my death to the vultures of criminals who rule the prisons I asked my "working poor clients one thing." Please everybody get email and lets just be discreet. Most of them refused. They dont have computers and getting free email is too much of a inconvenience. I hated them. I told them it would help me avoid police, I told them I have a disease and cant physically work so hard for all 160 of my downtown clients, the bourgie bastards with hummer trucks and even nothing but bus passes would not get free email. FUCK THEM ALL the evil rich and the evil poor (gangster disciples dont have unions for crack dealers bro) I am on my side. If that means a rich poet then fine, if that means a broke poet living off the dumb poor then fine. I just know there is some truth bro to capitalism. And Obama can not and should not help some lazy ignorant people who refuse to chip in and change themselves. I dont know what side I am on. All I know is I am no longer a pirate. I have no clue what to do now but sit and watch this crisis get worse and make a decision what group to join to survive. The gangster disciples, the black muslims, the military, the homeless, the token intern of the rich. Too many gangs and too many pros and cons so I got to sit and think and then act decisively because I have a feeling survival regardless of my individualism is going to lie in joining some type of union. My bet is the black muslims. When this thing collapses Osama will take credit and from I am getting from my former NOI friends Louis Farrakhan is not worried about money and the black muslims have the network in place to get funding from rich radicals overseas. I might want to go back and network and get a better place in the food distribution ladder or the underground resistance movement that surely will rise if money collapses. Thank god I am a poet, I got expereince perfect for the ministry which never starves depression or bubble.

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  2. Class consciousness in the Toyotist era (total subsumption of work into capital, in Marx' words) should appear as civic consciousness. There's not anymore a clear barrier between the worker and the citizen (social worker) and that can certainly allow for democratic socialism.

    Thinking in Fordist terms (early 20th century, formal subsumption in Marx' terms, disciplinary society) cannot anymore be of any use. The USSR succumbed because it was stuck in the Fordist paradigm (and yes: totally imbricated in Capitalist dynamics as a whole) and could not adapt to the latest and surely last phase of Capitalism without either destroying the disciplinary system or just, ast they eventually did, getting absorbed by mainstream Capitalism.

    21st century socialism needs to be thought differently: every single citizen is a worker, a social worker. There's no more room for "proletariat's dictatorship" because (a) there's no more proletariat strictu sensu (your kids will betray you probably, and are most expensive to raise anyhow) and (b) the only class dictatorship now can be real direct democracy at every level, including production units (aka companies, industries...)

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  3. Jus: Making a living any way you can to survive is NOT capitalism -- it's survival. It might not be admirable and it might even be pretty bloody despicable. But it is NOT capitalism. Capitalism is not a means of survival but a philosophy promoting a way of life in which a particular, privileged class of people arrange everything and exploit everyone else to suit themselves. I'm not here to judge you, or even understand you -- you have your own reasons for whatever you do.

    As far as the lazy people you mention there will always be lazy and ignorant people in any type of system. But most of the lazy and ignorant people I know of are on the other side of the class divide from you and me, living on the other side of the tracks. These are the real parasites and the real dangers to everyone else. As we are now learning.

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  4. Maju:
    I understand what you are saying, but I still think there is a necessity for class consciousness in the USA (whether that's as true for Spain I don't know.) The power elite have really done a number on the people of my country, Maju. Hardly anyone over here has any idea of what socialism is or can be, or how thoroughly so many of us are exploited on a daily basis.

    "There's not anymore a clear barrier between the worker and the citizen (social worker) and that can certainly allow for democratic socialism."

    There IS a clear barrier between the average person like you and me and the people who make the decisions affecting our livelihood, our well being and even our desires. It's not so much a matter of working class vs. middle class, I'll agree with you there, since that line has become very blurred over the last several years. Partly because there are hardly any middle class people around any more.

    "Thinking in Fordist terms (early 20th century, formal subsumption in Marx' terms, disciplinary society) cannot anymore be of any use. The USSR succumbed because it was stuck in the Fordist paradigm (and yes: totally imbricated in Capitalist dynamics as a whole) and could not adapt to the latest and surely last phase of Capitalism without either destroying the disciplinary system or just, ast they eventually did, getting absorbed by mainstream Capitalism."

    You've lost me on this one. What is the Fordist paradigm? What Ford are you referring to?

    "21st century socialism needs to be thought differently: every single citizen is a worker, a social worker. There's no more room for "proletariat's dictatorship" because (a) there's no more proletariat strictu sensu (your kids will betray you probably, and are most expensive to raise anyhow) and (b) the only class dictatorship now can be real direct democracy at every level, including production units (aka companies, industries...)"

    I agree that all the old thinking and the old rhetoric no longer applies and will no longer work. No dictatorship of the proletariat or anyone else. Socialism can work only if it is completely rethought and seen as a development of Democracy and not a repudiation of it.

    The bottom line is that I'm trying to be positive about what's now happening because that seems to be the only useful position to take. And the only positive outcome I can see is some form of Socialism. Reviving free market capitalism would be a total disaster. And I can't see a third alternative.

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