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I see a lot of people both here and in the USA saying "forget voting, get in the streets, demand change" - An impulse that is undoubtedly correct. Who are we to demand change from? The same politicians who run the system now? The same parliament? Who is the demand addressed to?
I remember the occupy protests. It became merely an act of staying out there making demands of no one. The Yellow Vest movement is admirable in it's tenacity and has caused the French government to wobble but where is the endgame? Permanent protest?
Until we reckon with the fact that you can occupy London or New York for weeks, cost the bourgeoisie billions and at the end of it the bourgeois stays the bourgeois. Because without a clear understanding of how deal with power we will go nowhere, again.
We must make it clear. The state is the management committee of the bourgeoisie. It is their institution. It is not malfunctioning or simply corrupt. It is the rule of the capitalist class, that we get to vote within it is a legacy of a struggle in our distant past.
Our votes have long since been rendered almost useless. The bourgeoisies power stretches far beyond the dusty benches of the commons and congress. They are the ruling class and they get to design the system for their class.
We must demonstrate to the rest of the working class how the ruling class made the state for it's own use. If we attempt to lay hold of it it will not change for us but will in fact bind us to it.
There are those who object, who say that in the post war world real change was achieved. This is true and needs addressing. What happened in 1945-1975 was unique. A balance of class forces globally that had never happened before and is extremely unlikely to occur again.
That so many socialists base their understanding on what is a unique period in history is the basis for so many of our mistakes. We could no more recreate the balance of class forces from 1945 than you can bottle lightning.
That so many socialists base their understanding on what is a unique period in history is the basis for so many of our mistakes. We could no more recreate the balance of class forces from 1945 than you can bottle lightning.
