Democracy is supposed to be a system in which the majority benefit. A party which aligns itself with the needs and aspirations of the majority of the people in a country get in power and carry out their manifesto promises.
Right?
Wrong!
The majority of people in this country are working class. There is however, no real working class party. Labour joined the ranks of the middle class long ago and the rich have prospered under them. The problem is one of activism and expression of voting power.
Not enough of the working class's vote and get involved. Why would labour edge left and lose the vote of the centre right and right who do turn out. So the question becomes: Why don't the working class's vote?
The answer seems pretty simple. All parties (and politicians) are the same and none of them represent the working class.
Actually the problem lies with the working class themselves. The problem is one of identity and self recognition. Class cannot be defined easily. The boundries are blurred and the transition from one to another is graduated. Working class has become a dirty phrase. It has become the byword for the unsuccessful, the chav, the non owner occupied, the uneducated and paridoxically the unemployed!!! This attitude is prevelant among the middle class's, in a way it is understandable that they may think like this. What is not acceptable however, is the fact that a lot of the working class's themselves also believe this.
My rough definition of the working class is this:
A standard of education that is between GCSE and HND.
An occupation of unskilled, semi-skilled or skilled status.
A wage earning capacity that does not really change from 30 upwards (inflation accepted).
Generally a wage which is around the average uk wage or lower. Some may earn higher (or much higher) due to shift work, particular conditions and/or demand for a paticular skill. Money is by no means a defining characteristic on its own.
A decency and morality which escapes the unfettered ambitions of the middle and upper class's.
An unduely large proportion of the working class define themsleves as middle class or align themselves with the meretricious Tory "hard working" people policies.
Lets be clear. The Tory party member would rather step on a homeless persons face rather than walk around him. The Tory member would rather pull his big toe nail out with pliers than see his taxes go toward the unemployed (or the state pension for that matter).
So why do people that I work with (I am working class and so are those I work with) talk about voting for Cameron.
In the last 10 years people have had it relatively good. They have used cheap credit to buy consumer goods. This keeps the bank workers earning bonuses by giving big loans out, which keeps retail staff in jobs by selling fridges , kitchens etc, and makes the consumer feel middleclass by inflating the "value" of their house which enables them to buy the entry level BMW by securing it against the "value" of their home.So the working class consumer actually believes himself to be middleclass and therefor assumes Conservative party values.
Wake up. Owning a 4 bed semi bought within the last 6 years does not make one a Tory. The ipod, flat screen TV or DVD recorder does not.
Trade Unions are a must. Some of the idiots in charge of them at the minute need to "Retire" but these unions are, or should be, the true voice of the working class.
There is nothing admirable about working 60 hour weeks or doing extra hours for free in an atempt to further ones own career. People have lost jobs fighting for these basic rights. The one standout thing labour have introduced is the min. wage. It;s a start but not enough. The conservatives consistantly opposed this. That tells you something about their "working class should work untill they are dead" mentality.
More to come.
8 comments:
Bob, what are your thoughts on rhetoric that companies tend to swill out to the workers that if they didn't work those extra hours and put in that extra little effort, oh and that they should accept that the "company" cant afford to pay any more wages for this extra effort, because of ever increasing competitive far eastern markets.(China, India etc) Do you think there is real substance to it or that they are using it as an indirect threat, a tool to control the workers?
P.S Love the picture lol.
When you say "The majority of people in this country are working class" is this not an assumption? Why? Where did you get this fact from? You also go on to say "There is however, no real working class party" what about independent socialist parties? You also say that the working class have "a standard of education that is between GCSE and HND" is a degree taboo? I have met a lot of working class people who have degrees, likewise I have met a couple of middle class people with no education to speak of! When you say that working classes have an occupation of "unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled status" surely that describes all people? For example a barrister is a skilled person! You ask "so why do people I work with talk about voting Cameron" - because Labour and the TUC have let people down! The solution is simple:- (to start with anyway) Scrap the labour party and make the unions (TUC) the political vehicle for change. If working people wish to aspire (politically, economically and socially) then they (as the majority you rightly or wrongly assume) will be the largest party and hence in power to benefit the masses!
A few more things;
(1)Joining the Labour party or supporting it does not mean you have had to have previouslyjoined a trade union - just ask Tony Blair.
(2)The TUC and the Labour party have become aloof. They are now separate entities.
(3)With immediate effect the TUC should stop financing the labour party. It has become apparent that it has become infested with elitist and liberal reformers with only self interests.
(4)The working class party should be the TUC putting up members in all constituents.
(5)The tories for years have been trying to put labour down by saying it is only pandering to the unions, of course the labour should pander to them!!! Don't the stupid tories know that the labour party was born out of the TU movement and we all should be proud of that. The tories always pander to business because of their self interests.
(6)By forming a TU political party, it does not necessarily mean that all policies formed are far left or communistic. Policy should be formed for the majority and would and could encapsulate both capital and social policies
(7)Keep women out of industry!
Class is a pyramid structure. At the bottom of this pyramid is the working class and at the top is the upper class. The bottom of a pyramid is larger than the top. Therefore the majority of people in this country are working class.
I have said that Class is hard to define and your right when you say education is not an absolute definition of class. However the possession of a degree helps to put a person in the middle class category.
A Barrister is classed as a professional in much the same way as a banker or a doctor. They cannot be described as skilled in the same way as a Joiner or Plumber.
Labour isn’t great but the Tories would tear the fabric of social cohesion to pieces, the same as they do whenever they get in.
As for independent socialist parties. I have never met an organization as conspicuously middle class as an independent socialist party.
Class is not defined by a qualification of any sort.
Class is either something which you are born into, strive to achieve or couldn't give a toss about.
If anyone believes that morals are aligned to class then they are badly mistaken.
Apathy is a major reason for a lot of people not voting.
Again Bob you are assuming that class is a pyramid structure and that everyone knows what class they fit into!
If a degree helps to put a person into the middle classes then surely all the tories have to do to solve their working class scum problem, is to put them all through a degree course?
As for labelling a Barrister as a professional, they are skilled no matter how you dress it up, does that mean there are no working class teachers because they are all proffesionals?
And yes the tories may "tear the social fabric to pieces" but I would expect it of them, we don't expect it from labour so we shouldn't put up with it as you seem to be implying that your happy to do! What we need is a party that will treat people on an equal and fair basis, not one that is biased towards a particular class of society!
As I said Class is hard to define and no single thing defines one's class but consider this.
Which class do you think yourself to be in KB?
Its a safe bet that you know you are working class.
Its a safe bet that most people who knew details of your life such as where you live, what you earn, what you do for a living, what your parents occupations are/were and what qualifications you have would also label you as working class.
Class is hard to define but not impossible.
I am not saying everybody knows what class they belong to. On the contrary, I am saying many people either close their eyes to class, refute its existence (for anti socio-economic engineering reasons) or are confused about which class they belong to.
Class is indeed a pyramidal structure. Its a numbers game. More people are working class than middle class and in turn less people are upper class than middle class.
As for labour groups (Professional, semi skilled etc) I think you may not realise that are general descriptions of workers that fit into these categories. Wikipedia can clear that up for you better than me.
Skilled and Professional are two different labour groups.
As for the apathy point by Suede Paul. Apathy is not the disease, it is a symptom.
There is no such thing as a unbiased party that treats everybody equally. There never will be.
Why?
Because people are not equal.
Class exists.
Different class's have different wants and needs.
Political parties exist to win the votes of the different class's by mixing and matching policies to appeal to the different class's.
The ratio of left:right policies a party has determines which class of people the party mostly represent.
Again we are broadly speaking.
I must stress. No single attribute defines a persons class. It is a combination.
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