The working class makes up the overwhelming majority of people in Britain. Photo Alex Segre/shutterstock.com.
Who is working class? What is the working class? Do these questions matter? Yes, they do…
Who is a worker and what comprises the working class matter because society and politics are all about class. Anyone wanting to improve things, to tackle and solve problems, must first have a sound grasp of reality, of the material conditions in which people live. They have to be clear about class and the working class in particular.
‘The working class is made up of everyone who, for most of their lives, must work to live…’
The working class is made up of everyone who, for most of their lives, must work to live. They don’t own the means of production or have significant capital, so they need to work. The capitalist class, on the other hand, owns the means of production and significant capital; capitalists don’t need to work to survive, although some might choose to work.
Production
All forms of society now and in the past revolve around production. Humans need material goods to live and to thrive. This is obvious on a basic level. We all need housing, food, clothing, healthcare but we also need social exchange, culture, entertainment and time to enjoy these things. Meeting our needs requires production and work. Work – and raw materials – are the basis of all things of value.
If we all need the same things why bother with the term “class”?
The term is necessary because under capitalism, the capitalist class controls production but use it primarily to increase their capital. That is the logic of capitalism.
The individuals concerned aren’t necessarily bad people. However, producing the goods that people need is not their primary incentive. When useful products are produced under capitalism, they are simply a by-product.
We see the consequences of the “logic” of capitalism, that capital must be used primarily to increase capital, play out over and over again.
There are many examples.
• When water companies are run to take money from consumers and put it straight into the pockets of overseas shareholders with minimal or no investment in the infrastructure needed to provide clean water.
• The production of cheap, highly processed junk food, with little or no food value, that has been linked to obesity and higher healthcare costs. (See the feature on page 12.)
• When overseas pension funds “invest” in on-shore wind farms because the British government promises guaranteed profits that will come from the pockets of energy users (we all depend on energy).
• When US business brothers use debt to buy Manchester United and then load the debt onto the club.
• When overseas private equity companies buy up British businesses in order to asset strip and funnel the stored wealth to their investors.
To understand why outrages such as these happen and how we can put a halt to them, we must understand that there are two classes living or operating in Britain with diametrically opposed interests.
The capitalist class is a small minority, but it controls the state, and it controls production. It is the ruling class, and it doesn’t rule in the interests of the majority, the working class.
Organisation
Workers have always had to organise to defend themselves and their families. Even before Marx and Engels were born, ideas existed among workers which Marx later articulated – that capitalist society is made up of opposing classes with competing interests.
Luddites of the early nineteenth century were neither mindless nor opposed to technology itself (as modern abusive usage describes them). Rather they were opposed to the introduction of machinery that would rob them of a living, rob them of survival.
The majority knew that breaking a machine was the first step in breaking the class that brought in the machine without caring or planning for the people it would replace. Their attempts to defend their livelihoods were brutally suppressed by the state with show trials and hangings.
Capitalism depends on workers. It needs workers to increase its capital. Yet without the resistance of workers in the nineteenth century, British capitalism would have exterminated the working class. It would have destroyed itself in the process, a parasite killing its host.
Through struggle, workers have so far managed to survive under capitalism. Our lives today are very different to 200 years ago. Capitalism has also changed. Finance capital dominates, but the parasitic nature of the capitalist class has not changed.
Recently we’ve seen the emergence of the gig economy and zero hour contracts. Or more precisely, the re-emergence of casual work.
Insecurity
By the mid to late 20th century many British workers enjoyed a period of relative job security and accommodation security. That’s no longer the reality for many young workers. Those more fortunate have parents who keep space in their homes for their “boomerang” children.
Recent figures show that one in ten women aged 65 or over are still in work because they cannot afford to retire. We have made many gains, but so long as we live with capitalism those gains can be taken away. This is the logic of capitalism.
We’ve talked about the working class and the capitalist class. What about the middle class?
The Cambridge Dictionary gives this definition: “The middle class is a social group that consists of well-educated people who have good jobs and are not poor but are not very rich. The upper middle class tend to go into business or the professions, becoming, for example, lawyers, doctors, or accountants.”
‘The dictionary description of the middle class is not useful in understanding our society. It is a distraction…’
That description of the middle class is not useful in understanding our society. It is a distraction. Teachers, doctors, lawyers, accountants are more likely to be working class than capitalist. Even if a lawyer, doctor or accountant is the owner or a partner in their practice – and many aren’t – they will have worked as an employee for much of their career and may still need to work, so they are working class. They might not see themselves as working class, but that doesn’t change the reality of how they work and contribute to society.
Similarly, a self-employed plumber, hairdresser or other trader is working class because they must work to live. If their business expands and they employ others but still need to work themselves – they are working class. If their business grows to such an extent that they are able to sell up and live off the proceeds of their reinvested capital or pay others to manage the business while they take the profits…well, they would technically belong to the capitalist class. (Although that doesn’t necessarily make them a bad person!)
What about a professional footballer earning £3 million a year? They are still working class – even though they earn such a ridiculous amount. But the reason they get paid so much is that the work they do allows football club owners like the Glazer brothers to increase their capital.
Meanwhile capitalism withdraws from production here in Britain. It prefers to outsource and strip the country of our national assets – industries, infrastructure and services – because it puts the pursuit of profit, the increase in capital, before the needs of people. If we do not stop capitalism, it will drag us further into war and bring Britain to ruin.
Workers built our nation, fought – against bitter resistance from the capitalists – for regular work, education, health, functioning utilities, reliable affordable energy, a working transport system. We must do this again. This time taking control and keeping it. This is up to us. We the working class must rebuild Britain to meet our needs.