TUC demonstration, London, 18 June 2022. Photo Workers
Real political power, not the parliamentary charade, lies in the ability of a class or a nation to make change and carry it through. And at present, that power resides within the capitalist class and not where it should be, in the working class.
The ways in which workers are marginalised and excluded are legion. There is no meaningful debate about so many vital things – energy costs, net zero, immigration, jobs, the loss of industry, the lack of opportunity for youth, the decline in education, health and other services, the dire state of infrastructure, the decline in social and cultural cohesion – and so much more.
More damaging still is self-exclusion – refusal by workers to stand up, enter the debate, take charge despite everything that is thrown at them. Is the alternative to acceptance of capitalism just too hard and unknown to contemplate? Or is it deliberate avoidance of what has to be done?
In the end it does not matter why workers have let capitalism continue unchecked in Britain. The crucial first step is for workers to start to talk openly about the state of our nation, without fear or favour. That means taking power into their own hands and seeking a collective solution to the way forward.
Workers whose thoughts and ideas conflict with the ruling class must no longer be rejected out of hand and silenced. The bad ideas will just grow if we don’t allow free debate.
Workers can’t leave it to others. Salvation will not come from any political party. Not from the Labour Party, with its history of reaction, nor from any of the parties seeking to supplant it – the Greens, Reform, Conservatives, and their petty devolution-motivated imitators. All are wedded to capitalism.
Workers are told that our masters know best and that it is self-evident what should be done. And that to carry out these polices a return to the EU and more devolution within Britain are necessary – again with scarcely any debate.
Sure – any opposition to ruling class orthodoxy is bound to be slapped down. Any problems with their policies and actions are denied, and anyone questioning them is demonised.
Capitalism can’t be reasoned with; it is an economic force. All that matters is profit and the rate of return on their capital. Continue to allow capitalism and the market to decide what happens, and you open the way to political and economic decisions that damage our lives.
But turning a blind eye and hoping the problems will somehow go away is no solution. Capitalism never leaves workers alone. While workers individually may feel powerless to change their lives, the nightmare of what workers might do collectively dominates ruling class thinking, and always has.
It’s time to make their nightmare come true.