Alienation and the Working Class

[p036] Alienation and the Working Class Social Science and Social Theory Frank Girling (This article was written as the appendix to a book Children of the Golden City which has not yet appeared. This book is a study of the life of working-class children in Edinburgh. Allusions to the book appear from time to time in this article.) FOR what I believe to be good reasons, I address myself principally to the ordinary intelli- gent reader and not to social scientists. Some might argue that social theory, like biological and physical theory, can be evaluated only by special- ists. This betrays a misunderstanding of the nature of social science, which is unfortunately widespread, and which professional social scient- ists have been very ready to exploit. Although men and women use discoveries made by the biologists and physicists every day, to do so they do not need to think in the terms of these sciences. In so far as social facts are concerned, however, they do need to think scienti- fically, although few in fact do so. From an early age every person acts socially—there is no other way in which he can act. And although a general theoretical understanding of these actions may be difficult to acquire, this is not a matter for social science specialists alone. Moreover, there are obstacles in the way of obtaining an under- standing of social theory which do not exist in other fields—or at any rate not to the same degree. All sciences are affected to some extent by the social system within which they develop. But those which are closest to the practical tasks in- volved in controlling natural phenomena are least affected by the social system. On the other hand the sciences which are most closely con- cerned with the means by which the ruling group in a society maintains its power over the majority, are most deeply affected. At the present time the social sciences in general represent the sec- tional views of the ruling class in our society— or of a part of it—and they make little real con- tribution to the sum of human knowledge. Be- cause high standards of objectivity and scientific integrity are recognised as existing among natural scientists, the present-day practitioners of social science use the concepts of those sciences in order to give an air of respectability to their own col- leciions of pseudo-scientific formulae, although wiese are in tact designed for tne use of social manipulators and social technicians. Thus Bid- ney Wiives in the conciuding sentences of his work, theore..cal. Anthropology: Natural science offers a model of a progressive, se:f-retorming discipline which combines rational authority with treedom of initiative and change. Similarly, a normative and scientific theory of cul- ture and society would recognize the polarity of treedom and authority and would make provision tor the establishment of new forms of social and individual freedom and authority in accordance with the ever-chaaging requirements of men in society.! it would, apparently, be the task of the social scientist to determine what the requirements of men in society were, and to decide what forms of freedom he should be allowed to enjoy. This attitude, as I shall argue, is characteristic of the bureaucratic caste in modern society to which social scientists usually belong. Much contemporary sociological writing has been concerned with what the sociologists have called variously: ‘the identification of an indivi- dual witn his social role’, ‘the socialisation pro- cess’, ‘the other-directed society’, ‘the trend to- wards cultural uniformity’, ‘the organization man’, ‘the change over from “Gemeinschaft” to “Gesellschaft” institutions’, etc. Some sociolo- gists have traced this as a stage towards the creation of a form of totalitarianism, a process which is irreversible and irresistible and in some sense necessary. This is not the result, as they believe, of any particular fault in modern society which could be corrected, but the inevitable con- sequence of ineluctable social realities. Social processes are regarded by them as possessing an objective logic of their own which makes it im- possible for the conscious decisions of individuals, 1G. Bidney, ‘Theoretical Anthropology’, 1958, 302.

[p037] ALIENATION AND THE WORKING CLASS 71 classes, nations or states to play any part in influencing the course of events. They believe that social facts must be approached with an attitude of ‘scientific objectivity’, and that this means avoiding the use of such terms—and the concepts to which they refer—as ‘capitalist’, ‘exploitation’, ‘class struggle’, ‘oppression’ and others, as implying ‘emotional involvement’, con- noting ‘value judgments’ and so on. There are no real problems or conflicts in society, these sociologists contend, only misunderstanding about the correct use of words. The interests of all members of society are in fact identical, for, to quote Bidney again, ‘the democratic state is becoming increasingly a moral person concerned with the actual welfare of all classes of citizens, rather than with the special interests of one class.’2 Sociologists are evidently eager to act as tutors to this young ‘moral person’. I shall argue that the so-called ‘scientific ob- jectivity’ of the sociologist, although believed in sincerely, nevertheless implies an attitude towards society which is subjectively fatalistic, and which is objectively a form of co-operation in oppres- sion. According to these sociologists there are no longer either capitalists or proletarians in society, no oppressors or oppressed. Every one enjoys equal access to bountiful supplies of goods. At the same time individuals are tending to become automata, unable to think or feel for themselves, whose ideas and emotions are provided for them effortlessly through the mass culture media. Power is exercised not by individuals but through impersonal social forces, they suggest. Although these descriptions have some super- ficial resemblances to the reality, they are wholly inaccurate as analyses of what is happening to society in Britain and America. It is worthwhile, however, to consider briefly whence these views are derived. Because the sociologist is cut off from the real world by his concept of ‘objectivity’, when he believes he is studying social facts what he is actually doing is to examine a mirror reflec- tion of himself. His views have a certain value as auto-sociology, an account of the sociology of a group as seen by the group’s members. But thev reveal nothing about society as a whole: this is in fact a subiective account of the new bureaucratic caste which has replaced the bour- geoisie and the pettv-bourgeoisie, the source from which formerly indenendent intellectuals came. This new caste has come into existence to carrv out certain essential functions in the bureaucratic capitalist state. Its members are concerned with specialist tasks in the sciences, industrial produc- 2Thid, 292. tion, education, the entertainment industry and the staffing of the state machine itself. Its mem- bers experience the miseries of alienation to a much greater degree than any other group in modern society. They have high prestige and material comforts, but of all wage earners they are the most isolated and dependent individually on their employers. Moreover they are aware of and accept that dependence To a greater extent than any other category of workers they identify themselves with their jobs. In terms of mental effort and time expended intellectuals sell themselves more completely than any other workers. For them the distinction between work and leisure often has no meaning, and freedom and authority come to mean the same also. They believe that this situation is general, but in fact it applies only to themselves. The idea of a totalitarian system being intro- duced peacefully and almost imperceptibly, with- out any act of individual volition, is not based then on an objective study of social phenomena. It is a mere reflection of the more or less con- scious choice made by the bureaucratized intelli- gentsia. They have accepted their own ‘aliena- tion’ in return for prestige and a rdle in manipu- lating the masses. Fortunately the masses have not been dehumanised to the same extent as the intellectual caste. The conditions of life for the majority of the population make it impossible for then to be detached and ‘objective’; whether they choose or no, they are compelled to struggle in order to survive. The defection of the intellec- tuals to the bureaucracy makes it more difficult for the workers to organize their struggles co- herently; in ways which T shall discuss later the intellectuals contribute to those difficulties. Modern sociology is one of the obstacles to the humanisation of modern society Only a critical and realistic analysis of social phenomena can help to emancinate humanity and establish a true science of social phenomena, and the bureaucra- tized intellectuals are not interested in this. Cer- tain of them, it is true, make mild criticisms of contemporary society; but this is a means of having their cake and eating it, of enjoying com- fort and prestige while despising those who pro- vide it for them. While attacking the ideas of these sociologists IT do not want to imply that their work is wholly without value, or that their descriptions of social phenomena are completely inaccurate. One of the most salient characteristics of the peonle who apnear in the pages of my book is that their thinking and feeling is chaotic; this corresponds to some extent with the findings of the sociolo- gists. To stop at that point is not sufficient, however, A social scientist will also explain how

[p038] 72 this situation comes about and indicate how it may be overcome. My dissatisfaction with the sociologists and with the bureaucratized intellec- tual minority generally, is basically because of their isolation from social life, which makes it im- possible for them to think or feel about society. They are thus unable to produce either art or social science. The working class, which forms the majority, feels and thinks about society, but it needs both art and science in order to organize and direct its thinking and feeling. There must be in any society those who know in order to be able to do. There must be those, too, who feel in order that they may know what to do. It is the task of artists and social scientists to organ- ize this feeling and thinking. I believe that the most useful approach to the understanding of this situation is provided by the theory of ‘alienation’ as stated by Marx and later developed by Lukacs. This forms a part of the theory of historical materialism to which I shall return shortly. THE BASIC PROPOSITIONS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE In order to approach the analysis of society certain general propositions are needed. They are : (1) That human society is made up of indivi- duals, classes, nations and other groupings, each of which form separate and distinct social entities. The task of the social scientist is to observe, describe and explain the behaviour of these social entities, thus contributing to the sum of human know- ledge and helping to bring social pheno- mena under rational control. (2) In observing and describing the social scientist cannot behave in a completely arbitrary fashion. That is to say that he cannot isolate only those aspects of the phenomena which happen for some quite fortuitous reason to attract his attention. He must examine the essential components of this behaviour as it is organised in social systems. (3) One such entity is the social system known as ‘capitalist society’. These propositions may be derived from the theories of historical materialism. And in view of the distortions and misunderstandings of these theories which are current today, I believe that it is necessary to recapitulate briefly those aspects which are most relevant to the present study. As was implied above, the ‘social system’ is LABOUR REVIEW — June-July, 1960 the most inclusive social entity. In isolation there can be no understanding of economics, politics, art, religion, education, etc. They all contribute to the system as a whole, and for this purpose no one factor is of more significance than any other. In analysing a social system it is the relationship between the basis and the super- structure that one is concerned with; these are the elements which make up a total social struc- ture. In all previous social systems men have been under the necessity of spending a major part of their time and effort in producing sufficient of essential foodstuffs, etc., for survival. This was due to undeveloped techniques, or to class con- flicts, or to both. In these circumstances the nature of the economic basis, although it does not determine, imposes certain limits on the develc pment of men’s thinking, feeling and be- haviour generally. Changes in the economic basis have effects on all other aspects of the social system and finally may lead to changes occurring in the structure of the system itself. This does not mean, however, that the ideas of individuals and groups (i.e. social theories) are unimport- ant in bringing about social changes. To the extent that theory is an accurate statement of reality and is thoroughly grasped by men it is an active element and able to guide men’s actions. But it is important to note also that theory itself cannot remain unaltered and must change in ac- cordance with both potential and actual structural changes. Each new theory is true until it is falsi- fied in its turn by another theory which takes account more completely of recent changes. Out-dated social theories, like all scientific theories. do not disappear at once; there comes a stage when change is overdue but for some reason does not occur, the new and more appropriate theories are prevented from spreading and gain- ine acceptance. These out-dated social theories provide a rallving point for men whose interests are threatened by impending changes in the social structure. At this stage men’s ideas, or con- sciousness, instead of being an active element in societv, become a mere reflection of the interests of a ruling class which is redundant but not yet replaced. This is the stage reached by con- temporary sociological theory. . Most of this is contained or implied in the theories of historical materialism first stated by Marx and Engels about one hundred years ago. Tf we are to understand modern society, there- fore, we must take into account changes which have occurred in the basis and the superstruc- ture since they wrote. Manv of the d-velop- ments which have occurred in industrial produc- tion recently appear to have been foreseen by

[p039] ALIENATION AND THE WORKING CLASS ° 73 Marx himself: the increase in the scale of indus- trial enterprises, the standardization of work processes, the use of automatic processes, etc. But there are other developments about which he was mistaken. (1) He did not foresee that there would be a continuing rise in the standard of life of the working class in Europe and America. This has been due in part to pressure exer- cised by the Trade Unions. and in part also to increased expioitation by the metropoli- tan countries of the colonial peoples. For the latter there has been no such rise, but rather a decline. (2) He did not foresee that there would be in- creasing state intervention in the econo- mies of the capitalist countries and that there would be deliberate attempts to avert possible crises through policies of public -ownership and state investments. Heavy expenditure on the production of expen- sive and productively useless nuclear weapons has helped to prevent a crisis of over-production from occurring. This in its turn has prevented the use of new techniques for the benefit of the population and has led to the setting up of the modern bureaucratic capitalist state, paral- leled by the bureaucratic proletarian state. (3) Finally there is the awkward but inescap- able fact that the first outbreak of the socialist revolution occurred not in the highly industrialized countries of Europe, as Marx foresaw, but in the most econo- mically backward of them. The revolu- tion developed too, in circumstances which have led to the distortion of socialist theory. And the prestige which the ruling party in Russia enjovs as the leader of the first oroletarian state, in conjunction with the factors already mentioned, has so far prevented an international working-class party from emerging. (4) Finally, this situation has led to the virtual disannearance of soctal science. From time to time empirical studies are made. but social theory as such has become a nart of the ideology of the ruling srouns in both canitalist society and the onrole- tarian states. None of these features represents a aualita- tive chanse in the nature of canitalist societv. None is permanent: the success of the Colonial Revolutions will make exnloitation by the West more difficult, the demand for peace in face of the destructive power ‘of nuclear weapons will make a crisis of over-production more difficult to avoid, the pressure of the Russian working class on their rulers will become increasingly diffi- cult to contain. Nevertheless, present-day capital- ist society presents a number of features which distinguish it from earlier stages in its develop- ment; we must assess what the effect of these has been. THE EXTENSION OF THE MARKET ECONOMY Pre-capitalist societies—tribal, slave, feudal and others—were characterized by the fact that the greater part of both production and consumption took place within the same small group. In these groups—clans, villages, manors, etc.—relation- ships between producers and consumers were direct and personal. Similarly distribution took place according to a clear and generally accepted system. In these social systems production was both human and social: it was primarily con- cerned with the creation of goods for the use of the particular group. Thus in different environ- ments in all parts of the world small communities grew up in relative isolation from one another. There evolved unique languages, art styles, reli- gions and cultures generally, which contribute to the rich diversity of inuman life. In these smaller societies each individual had a particular status. Today, however, the economic life of every part of the world has become completely inter- national and wholly impersonal. The develop- ment of a world-wide market has led to the virtual disappearance of the small, self-contained social systems, they have been merged into nations which form a part of a universal society. For the purchasers of raw materials and of labour power, who hold power in this society, other men exist only as potential buyers and sellers, all other social characteristics are irrelevant. This has not been without its positive aspects: modern theories of human rights, of the rule of law and universal justice, are founded in part on the impersonality of abstract economic man. All of these aspects of society have been intensified in the years since Marx wrote. In a social system based on a market economy, production is unplanned; it is the market itself, or rather the mechanisms of price and_ profit, which determine what commodities shall be pro- duced and in what quantities. There are no institutions to control the production and distri- bution of commodities: although attemp’s have been made on an increasing scale to do so, econo- mic planning is in fact impossible. If we are to understand the social consequences of commod-

[p040] 74 ity production we must pay some attention to question of value and in particular we must distinguish between the two forms of value: use-value and exchange-value. In non-market economies men devoted most of their energy to the production of use-values: these were the goods needed to feed, clothe, house, adorn, e‘c., the members of their own groups. All labour was concrete, that is, each man’s work was qualitatively distinct from that of every other man: the work of a smith was qualitatively different from that of a carpenter, that of a lord from a serf, and that of one man from another. Ideas of abstract labour and of the social cost of commodities were foreign to the social systems of these societies. In a market economy, however, men are con- cerned with producing not use-values, but ex- change-values. It is true that commodities still possess use-values, otherwise they could not be sold. But only the ultimate consumer is inter- ested in’ use-value; before commodities reach their users they must come on to the market where they are compared quantitatively with other commodities purely on the basis of their exchange-value. And in the same way as these forms of value must be distinguished, a distinc- tion must be made, too, between abstract work, which is involved in the production of exchange values, and concrete work, which is involved in the production of wuse-values The latter is qualitatively different for each individual and every occupation, the former is qualitatively the same for all workers and differs only in the quantity of time, energy and strength expended. These distinctions are of fundamental importance for the understanding of the thoughts and feel- ings of workers in modern society. The theory of liberal capitalist society is that the well-being of all its members is guaranteed through every individual acting as a buyer and seller of commodities. By everyone attempting to buy cheap and sell at a competitive price, all con- sumers will obtain commodities at the lowest possible price. This theory implies the existence of a society in which all individuals pursue their selfish interests, and also have the satisfaction of believing that their indifference to the fortunes of others is iustified by an abstract economic law. This remains the actual practice of individuals in modern bureaucratic capitalist society, although sentiments of ‘welfare’ and ‘social service’ have tended to replace the onen expressions of such ideas as the pursuit of individual profits. It is still believed, however, that enlightened self- interest forms the basis of all public relations be- tween individuals. In the small self-contained social systems which LABOUR REVIEW — June-July, 1960 have been destroyed by the advance of the world- wide market economy there was a high degree of social solidarity. In spite of the poverty and injustices which characterized many of them there was, nevertheless, a real and conscious relationship between the producers and the use values they created. In modern society use- values are created, but the conscious aim of all production is the creation of exchange-values. Nothing is produced solely because it is needed, it must above all be marketable The concepts of the market economy have penetrated into all spheres of public life; only in certain private spheres—friendship, love, family—-do use-values still prevail. Here there is still some degree of altruism and human solidarity. The predominance of exchange-values in the consciousness of men in the public spheres of social life leads to the connections between men and objects of their natural environment being broken. Use-values are concerned with qualita- tive differences between objects, both natural and manufactured, while exchange-value abstracts from all sensuous qualities and is concerned only with quantitative differences. Colour, texture, form, design and other such qualities are ir- relevant from this point of view. In the same wav qualitative differences between human in- dividuals are also discounted The kind of sensibility which in its social form is called art becomes confined more and more to those indivi- duals who are not fully involved in public econo- mic life: upper-class poets, middle-class women and working-class children. Socially organized thought, that is, science, becomes the privilege of highly-trained specialists, and these too are on the margins of public economic life. For the majority neither art nor science is possible. As economic ideas take exclusive control of social life and as the market economy extends its boundaries to include all spheres of life there is a tendency for the human content to be emptied from such forms of human activities as religion, law, philosophy and literature. Man becomes a nassive spectator in a drama where only non- human things appear to be active. In his place of emplovment the individual worker is not aualitatively distinct from others: he is not like the mediaeval craftsman whose skill made him an irrenlaceable means of producing articles. He has become a producer of exchange-values in the farm of commodities. he is a mere number, an — anonvmons unit in a rational economic calcula- tion which can easily be replaced by its exact eauivalent. He is no more thar a repository of exchange-value in the form of labour power. In manv different ways the abstract and quanti- tative aspects of social reality have become pre-

[p041] ALIENATION AND THE WORKING CLASS 75 dominant over the concrete and qualitative. The {undamenial characteristic of the dominant ideoiogy ot modern society is that it obscures tne reai relationsnips between social groups— those, tor exauiple, of domination and subordi- nation between the capitalist class and the work- ing class—and makes them appear as the natural attributes ot things (an individual and his wage). ‘Lhis is the process which Marx knew as ‘fetish- ism’ and which Lukacs designated as ‘reification’ or ‘thingness’, Unlike modern sociologists, however, Marx was noi sausiied with giving a name to a pheno- menon and describing it. te went on to show how fetishism had come about and how it would ibe overcome. in the Z’heses on Feuerbach, for exampie, ne posed the problem of the relation- ship between human perception and human activily : “The chief fault of all hitherto existing material- ism... is that the thing, reaiity, sensuousness, is conceived of only in the form ot the object or of contemplation, but not as human sensuous activity, practice, not subjectively... . To this view Marx opposed his own ideas of social reality : “Social life is esseniiaily practical. All mysteries which mislead theory to mysticism find their rational solution in human practice and in the com- prehension of that practice.’ , The fetishism of capitalist society would be overcome, he maintained, through ‘Revolutionary, practical critical activity ... the coincidence of the changing of circumstances, and of human activity can be conceived and rationally understood only as revolutionising practice,’ He thought that increasing poverty and oppres- sion tor the working class was inevitable, and that this would lead to the overthrow of the capitalist social system and to the disappearance of fetishism. Members of the bourgeoisie and of the petty-bourgeois intelligentsia would join the workers in their struggles. Among the workers they would find a capacity to understand the meaning of the social theories they had created, and a willingness to apply them in practice. The working class would find in these theories a means of generalising their previous experience and of deepening their understanding of their own situation. ‘Philosophy’, as Marx wrote, ‘would find its material weapons in the proletariat and the proletariat would find its spiritual weapons in philosophy. . The situation of the working class in 1960 is very different from that which Marx foresaw a hundred years ago. An understanding of the present circumstances must take into account the uew factors to which reference was made earlier. ine success of the capitalist social system in surviving so long threatens to be disastrous for humanity. So tar it has avoided a disastrous crisis OL over-production by piunging into suc- cessive military crises any one of which might 1ead to the destruction of civilization, The pre- sent teaders of the working class have shown themseives incapable of thinking and acting for nhumailiy as a whole. Nevertheless the working class is stull the only force in modern society which is capable of overthrowing the present social system. The very structure of capitalist society umposes limits on the degree to which the ideology of fetishism can be extended. The working class can never be dehumanised com- pletely: this is the contradiction within the heart of the present social system. For the survival of the system the extension of fetishism is a neces- sity, for the survival of the working class as human beings their resistance to fetishism is equally necessary. This represents the ultimate resistance of use- values to being replaced completely by ex- __change-values. As a class the capitalists who control produc- tion. are concerned only with the solution of quantitative problems, the search for more pro- titable forms of investment of their capital. Nevertheiess the system, and the capitalists them- selves, cannot survive unless they continue to create qualitatively different use values. They need the following : (1) Constant Capital, i.e. investment .in means of production and raw materials to re- place those which have been consumed in the course of the production of commodi- ties together with new means of produc- tion and raw materials for the fresh accumulation of commodities, (2) Consumer goods for their own private consumption and for that of their present employees and the new workers who must be recruited in order to expand produc- tion. In order to create both of these they must have : (3) A working class which is ready to enter the commodity market in order to sell its labour power, after having used all the money it had previously received in the form of wages. Thus labour power is the critical commodity in capitalist society. The contradiction between the use value and the exchange value of this

[p042] 76 commodity poses the basic problem of this social system. From the point of view of the capitalist class this is a commodity like other commodities which they seek to buy as cheaply as possible in order to keep production costs down. This is a commodity, however, which is inseparable from human individuals. And in certain circumstances which capitalist society cannot avoid, this com- modity becomes partially conscious of its human- ity and rebels against the system. The rebellion may not always be a conscious one and it may be limited in its extent, but rebellion is a necessary condition of the existence of the working class. In considering the situation of the working class in 1960—in the very different circumstances from 1860—we must examine two basic categories of working-class life. First, the level of con- sciousness of its own existence which it is theoretically possible for the working class to have in the objective conditions which exist in the world. And, secondly, the actual conscious- ness which the working class has in particular countries and at specific periods. (These two categories correspond to the distinction which Marx made between a class ‘in itself’ and a class ‘for itself’.) Neither can be discovered without a great deal of patient research, much of which still remains to be done. The first requires de- tailed study of the works of generations of social theorists. The second demands the carrying out of empirical investigations into very many aspects of social life, comparing differences and evaluating similarities, In spite of the almost complete absence of such studies I shall make a bold attempt to analyse the condition of the working class in Britain in these terms. FETISHISM AND THE BRITISH WORKING CLASS IN 1960 It remains true that the working class and those members of other classes who see the world from a working-class point of view are the only sections of society which are able to resist the ideology of fetishism. Nevertheless the post-war years have seen the extension of fetish- ist thinking and feeling into many sections of working-class life and even more into that of other classes. In consequence the actual level of consciousness of the working class in Britain is far from reaching its possible level. This may be attributed in part to the improved means which the ruling class has now at its disposal for incul- cating its own ideology and preventing the devel- opment of the consciousness of the working class. It is due also to the failure of the leaders of the working class to exploit successfully the means LABOUR REVIEW June-July, 1960 at its disposal, and to the fact that they, too, have been influenced by fetishism. The setting up of the bureaucratic ‘welfare state’ has been an important factor in the process of incuicating fetishism. It has done so in a number of ways. The setting up of boards to control the nationalized industries and the creation of large industrial monopolies, all employing large numbers of technical, administrative and clerical staff, have had important effects. The training of bureaucrats to staff the machinery of the state has become the main task of the country’s educa- cational institutions. A new bureaucratic caste has bee.: brought into existence by this means— or rather a series of ranked castes of different statuses. in return for loyalty and abstention from political activity members of this caste are promised life-long security and the means by which they can train their children to occupy a siill higher place in the hierarchy. Recruitment is stl partly by birth, particularly in the upper levels, but expansion has provided openings for suitable individuals of working-class origins to be admitted after a lengthy indoctrination. The mechanics of the process of recruitment of work- ing-class children to the bureaucracy have been studied intensively by so-called ‘educational psychologists’. The ‘social status mobility’ of a few selected individuals has been cited as a proof of the ‘equality of opportunity’ which exists for all in the present social system. A widely- used textbook of sociology claims that the Marxist analysis of society has been disproved by the fact that this kind of mobility is possible: a scramble for improved social status has resulted in the development of ‘competitive class feeling rather than increased class consciousness’.! In that the emphasis on competitive striving for social ad- vancement is characteristic of the ideology of fetishism and that a certain number of working- class families have accepted this as the main pur- pose for which they should struggle, this is true. But this by no means changes the nature of the social system and the endemic rebellion of the working class within that system. In addition to providing a means for extending fetishism into the working-class household, the processes of selection for membership of the bureaucracy provide opportunities for the employ- ment at the practical level of vocational guidance experts, intelligence testers, Youth Employment Ofcers and personnel managers, and of educa- tional psychologists and child guidance clinicians at the academic level. All of these issue state- ments exniaining, justifying and theorising about 1R. M. Maclver and C. H. Page, Society, London, 1950, page 364.

[p043] ALIENATION AND THE WORKING CLASS 77 the practices they adopt and devising new tech- niques oi selection. Their activities have the effect of reiniorcing the ideology of fetishism even among ine children who are not selected and iheir parents. Many are convinced that the reason for their children’s failure is to be found in their quantitative deficiency in intelligence. Here is another exampie of the subordination of the concrete and qualitative to the abstract and quantitative. And otf course those who are so selecced are convinced that this is due to their possessing to a superior degree the same quanti- tatively uetined aitribute. ihe employees of the entertainments industry form a special section of the bureaucratic caste. Mechanicai advances in the fields of television, radio and films have provided employment for script wriers, producers, actors, song writers, singers and performers on musical instruments. The development of the popular press as an enteriainment medium provides openings for journalists, commercial artisis and advertising copy writers. These are drawn from all sections of society, some of them may originally have been talented and sensitive individuals. Some began by trying to devote themselves to creative work. But since there is no place for use values as such in the present social system they found that to do so condemned them to poverty and isolation. ‘They find it difficult to reject the re- wards which the entertainments industry offers to those who are willing to produce for the com- modity market. And in any case, what is the point of resisting? They find themselves not only poor but without an audience: and solitude is not conducive to artistic creation. Without a public the urge to communicate weakens, and so much energy is expended in resisting the influence of the commercials that little remains for creation; and so the majority succumb. There is, of course, no direct censorship; as workers they are free to make whatever they like —provided that there is a market for it. Experi- ment is impossible, however; they must conform to tastes which are known to exist already. They are copyists and imitators of past successes; they follow changes in fashion. They can express their emotions only in their private lives, they are separated from their products and so experi- ence the same kind of alienation to which other workers in a capitalist social system are subject. There is in fact no place in modern society where genuine artists can establish themselves. The days are gone of the rich merchant princes who supported young artists like feudal retainers. This is not a safe investment and cannot be set off against income tax demands. Far better buy the works of established masters whose price is sure to rise. The state itself has become the patron of the arts and the bureaucrats who are responsible for disbursing its funds cannot risk their careers by supporting original work, even if their tasie were suiticiently formed to be able to recognise its worth. Nor are the Universities in any better situation. They, 100, have come under increasing state con- trol. ‘Lhey preserve some of the artistic relics of the past like so many pieces of jellied cel. The requirements of success in an academic career, however, are the same as in the bureaucracy generaily (although it is still true that individuals who are willing to sacrifice ambition and material gain may preserve scme degree of intellectual integrity). But the functions of the Universities and otner educauonal institutions have changed in order to correspond with the new structure of capitalist society. ‘heir task is to indoctrinate the alienated bureaucrats who are needed to staff the state machine, not to encourage original thought. This is why sociology and other so-. called ‘social-science disciplines’ are assuming greater unportance in their curricula. This is the best way to cultivate the alienated attitude of ‘scientific objectivity’ towards human and social phenomena. Studies of the social origins of present-day University staffs as compared with fifty years ago might reveal that the number drawn from the middle and upper-middle class was less than formerly, and that there were more of working- class origin. The qualitative differences would be more difficult to assess, but the influence of fetishism would, I believe, be revealed in a num- ber of ways. There would be a greater tendency to conform to the demands of the state and in- creased isolation from the problems which affect the population as a whole. These tendencies would, I believe, be found equally in Oxbridge and Redbrick; ‘Lucky Jims’ have established themselves in the arts faculties while the natural scientists restrict their original thinking to their own disciplines. The question of social origin, which can be assessed quantitatively, is in any case not fundamental: the whole climate of thought of a particular epoch is involved. Studies of all the different sections of the ruling class and its supporters are needed in order to fill in this picture: only a few are available and much more research is needed in this area of society. THE PROLETARIAT IN STATE Mere description and fact collecting is not enough, however; sociologists have demonstrated THE WELFARE

[p044] 78 this clearly by their numerous studies of the working ciass in post-war Britain. Concentrating mainiy on such sate areas as family retationships these studies have revealed nothing which was not already known. Kelatively full employment uas enabled the working class to purchase the means by which their consciousness of existing as a Class ‘in’ and ‘tor’ itself is made more difhi- cult. The products of the entertainments indus- try penetrating into their homes and into every corner of their private lives, serve to separate them from their personal experience and heighten their sense of isolation as individuals. They are subjected to the stimuli of well-established emotional symbols in press, television and music, so that their senses are continually being excited while the means of their achieving emotional Satisfaction are all too rarely present. Like dreams these products distort human experience in order to provide substitute satisfaction: they leaves the consumers vaguely dissatisfied with themselves and with life, and they turn people away from real life and real satisfaction. From the point of view of the producers of these com- modities this is a desirable state of affairs. These substitute satisfactions become necessities; always on the point of boredom the consumers experi- ence feelings of emptiness and anguish, ‘They turn once more to the distractions which the entertainments industry has to sell. From the point of view of the ruling class, too, this situa- tion has its advantages. They can use ordinary National Servicemen to fight wars and carry out repressive measures—including concentration camps and tortures—against rebellious popula- tions in their colonial territories and they can rely on the working class in Britain to acquiesce passively. They can make use of terrifying weapons of mass destruction in order to main- tain their own power and privileges without arousing the revulsion of those whom they rule. For the working class, and for society, since they form numerically almost the whole of society —this situation is calamitous. The ideology of fetishism has penetrated into all human relation- ships save one. They feel themselves to be separate individuals, crushed and impotent, con- trolled by vast and intangible forces. Each in- dividual feels himself to be separated from others by a glassy barrier through which he can see everything and feel nothing. And so they blun- der through the world seeking only the satisfac- tion of their own senses and never finding it. Husbands and wives, parents and children, neigh- bours and friends, attempt continually but un- successfully to establish warm, human contact with one another. They lack any form of art to intensify and LABOUR REVIEW — June-July, 1960 deepen their experience of the world and them- seives. This might help them break through weir isolation, enabie them to become aware of their humanity, and so end their degradation. But there is no art in a society where exchange values are doimunant. Fortunately there is one relationship which has not been and will not be atlected by fetish- ism, and in which reality appears naked, stripped of ail fortuitous elements. ‘lL hrough this relation- ship the way to a direct knowledge of reality remains open, for here use-values continue to resist their transformation into exchange-values. Althougn a full-scate crisis affecting all branches of production simuitaneously has been averted so far, neveruieless there occur continuously, minor crises afiecting one firm, one industry, or even one country. Each individual worker enters the market win the only commodity he possesses: his labour power. Co-operation with other workers is not a matter of ideology but a means of de- tending their own material interests; in this way they resist attempts to beat down the price for which their labour power is bought. Combina- tion occurs spontaneously; social solidarity has the same importance for the working class as individual egotism for the capitalist. In carry- ing on their business, workers and industrialists alike defend something which belongs to them, and with which they identify themselves com- pletely. The difference is that the industrialists identify themselves with the commodity their machines produce and the profit they derive therefrom; while with the workers it is their very existence as human beings that is involved. The relationship between working-class consciousness and the process of fetishism is different, there- fore, from that of all other social classes. The workers have an attitude of antagonism towards their employers to whom they sell their labour power and of solidarity towards their fellow workmates. But in the same way as the market is world-wide in its extent so the working class, too, is an international phenomenon. It is not sufficient that the consciousness of working-class solidarity should be established in the same work- Shop or in the same firm, it must extend beyond national and cultural boundaries. The efforts of the ruling class are directed to- wards preventing the working class developing in fact the level of international consciousness which is theoretically possible Here detailed stuly is necessary of the functioning of Trade Unions, political parties and national movements. Although these claim formally to represent the interests of the working class, their role in fact ig to confine within the framework of the exist- ing social system the spontaneous revulsion of

[p045] ALIENATION AND. THE WORKING CLASS 79 the working class ugainst the structure of the system and for a reaily human life. They do so by transforming qualitative and concrete de- mands concerning all humanity into quantitative and abstract concessions to different sections of the working class, setting one occupation or one nationality against another. In this connection the activities of the leaders of the British Labour Party and the Trade Unions during the last two decades must be studied with particular care. Of great importance, too, are the activities of the parties and individuals which accept the leadership of whatever tendency is temporarily in the ascendant in the Russian Communist Party. As much as any other single factor the long, sterile struggle which has gone on between ‘left’ and ‘right’ in Britain, with neither side adopting a working-class position, has been responsible for depressing the general level of actual work- ing-class consciousness. THE POPULATION OF THE EDINBURGH HOUSING SCHEME I have listed some of the problems which ap- pear to me to be fundamental and to require detailed investigation by social scientists, his- torians and others. My own study in Edinburgh makes little or no contribution to the elucidation ' of these questions, although it was partly through doing it that the above ideas were developed. My descriptions of the lives of the men, women and children among whom I lived and worked are superficial—this is because they are the result of a less complete understanding than I now possess—but within limits, I believe that they are accurate. They may help to illustrate in concrete detail some of the abstract points made in this article. . _ The same phenomena could, I am certain, be recorded in all of ihe large towns of Scotland, and, with unimportant differences, in England too. One distinctive Scottish feature is probably the number and character of the children’s songs, rhymes and sayings. It might well be possible to make similar recordings in other parts of Britain, but I think it would be difficult to find another area where there were so many of them _ in the children’s repertoire. They provide addi- tional, although indirect support for the theory of alienation which has been developed above, and their significance may be explained briefly. In the first place it should be noted that this is ~a peculiarly urban and working-class pheno- menon. Unlike folk song, which is collected “most easily in remote rural areas where it has survived anachronistically from pre-capitalist -society, these songs and rhymes are to be found in city streets. Moreover this is not a survival, it is something which has been created within the last hundred years or so. It is, of course, true that traces of still earlier traditions may be found in them, but this is characteristically a product of the early and middle stages of the industrial revolution. It is now disappearing—although not as quickly as some suppose. Children in the streets of congested working-class districts in Scottish towns still pass on to their juniors a rag- bag of remnants and tatters which they have made over to serve their own needs. Each age-set takes something from current adult ‘hits’ and ties it into the already existing material. In this way the literary content of their art is steadily diluted with the products of the entertainment industry, until by now it is almost all banal and limited in its scope. Nevertheless these activities—of which the songs and rhymes are a part—are an indication of the existence of small communities, isolated from the main social processes of modern society, into which exchange-values and the con- sequent alienation of individuals have not yet penetrated. These children have erected round themselves a living wall of songs, games and other activities; this is the ‘Golden City’ from which this book’s title is derived. In these street communities the children have a sense of euphoria, exuberance and reckless health. Each individual has personal and direct communica- tion with the other members of their small repub- lics; they are mentally porous to one another and express their separate personalities in an entity which is made up of about a dozen other child- ren. They pursue without self-consciousness the highest of all human activities: the creation of their own art. But the ‘Golden City’ is really no more than an improvised shanty town. A fortuitous com- bination of circumstances has enabled it to be built and maintained; it cannot stand up to any severe strain. The children do not enter the labour market until they reach the age of 15; but this change in their lives is foreshadowed for three years before it happens. Working-class children, and especially the girls, mature quickly. They have adult aspirations while they are still at school and childish games will not satisfy them. The years of adolescence are marked by addiction to the gratuitous and vicarious violence of films, television, comic strip and ‘pop’ singer. The ardour of their desire for life and experience is readily turned into profit for the tycoons of the entertainment industry. This is the period of the ‘adolescent revolt’, as these young human individuals attempt to resist the process which converts them into abstract units of labour

[p046] 80 power. This revolt is in fact directed against the social system although the adolescent is not aware of it as such. And the place of jazz— the music of unorganized protest—in this revolt, requires detailed investigation. American socio- logical studies of the so-called ‘youth culture’ have done no more than indicate the existence of _ the problem, they have done nothing to elucidate It. The outcome of the ‘adolescent revolt’ is never in doubt; each age-set goes through the same ex- periences and ends by accepting the defeat which marriage and the rearing of children imply for the individual worker in present-day society. The form that this process takes is significant, however, in indicating the prcbable outlines of the adult revolution when it comes. These adolescents know nothing of religion, or political philosophies: the expansion of exchange values into all the pores of society, including Church and Party, has deprived these of any human con- tent they once had. Oppression is being stripped of its disguises, force is revealed as the means by which the social system is maintained. It is in- herently unlikely that any new forms of mystifica- tion can be created by the present ruling class. _ They may succeed in deceiving themselves but no one else. In many ways what happens in Edinburgh is a-typical of the processes which are occurring in Britain as a whole; an archaic social structure has maintained in authority a purse-proud, caste- conscious alliance of lawyers, shop-keepers, small businessmen and landless gentry. The work- ing class is made up of a relatively high propor- tion of office staffs and craft-conscious tradesmen who provide the leadership of the local Trade Unions and the Labour Party and aspire only to a share in the privileges and status of local government office. The remainder of the workers are unskilled, unorganized, unrepresented and anarchically turbulent. There is also in the local population a sort of native ‘lazzaroni’, recruited from rural nomads, hawkers and others on the margins of public economic life. The absence of large-scale industry and the exploitation of Scottish characteristics for the delectation of tourists seem likely to preserve the forms at any rate of this social structure for some years to come. It is probable, however, that what happens in Edinburgh will be determined by developments elsewhere.. As I write, strikes are occurring or are pending in a number of important. industries -in Britain and in the U.S.A. , The colonial and former colonial countries are in ferment; wars -and riots.are occurring, concentration camps and LABOUR REVIEW —JSune-July, 1960 military dictatorships are being set up in the under-developed countries. These are signs, not merely of. revolts, but of the revolution. The oppressed peoples of all countries are openly defying their oppressors... The international working class brought into existence by the world-wide commodity market has begun to move. ‘The struggle on which it is launched must . end either in the victory of humanity over the forces which degrade it, or in disaster for human society. So far the separate units of which the inter- national working class is made up have gone into action separately: workers in different industries and in different national groupings struggling in an unco-ordinated fashion against their common enemy. There is no international party to co- ordinate the efforts of the working class as there is for the ruling class. So far the action of the masses has been spontaneous; there is no con- sciousness of their existence as a separate and distinct force. Nevertheless the character and the extent of the movements which are occurring prove that fundamental changes in the structure of society are preparing. It is not yet possible to forecast the manner in which these changes will take place. One may assume that the al- ready existing organisations of the working class will attempt, with the same assiduity they have shown already, to 1estrain the mass movements and to contain them within the present structure of society. If they succeed temporarily this will encourage the ruling class to increase its pressure. All the apparatus of the bureaucratic. state will ° be brought into action to atomise the working class and to reduce every worker to the position of an isolated individual struggling alone against his employers and the. state. 7 The conflict between exchange-value and use- value will continue: the solidarity of the working class will continue, too, as the affirmation of all that is human against all that degrades and de- humanises mankind. All human feeling and human knowledge will be diverted into this struggle: to end man’s alienation from himself and from the products of his labour and to make him fully self-conscious and aware of the world in which he lives so that he is at last free. ‘Freedom in this field cannot consist of anything else but the fact that socialised mankind, the asso- ciated producers, regulate their interchange with Nature rationally, bring it under their common control, instead of being ruled by it as by some blind power, and accomplish their task with the least expenditure of energy. and under such. condi- tions as are proper and worthy for human. beings.’ Karl Marx, Capital, Volume Til.

[p047] a a a THE CAPITALISM, SOCIALISM AND THE CLASS a a . STRUGGLE—The World We Live In—The Two B ATTLE Nations—Hard Times Ahead—Towards a Slump— The Growth of Unemployment and Short-Time |_| Working—The Hydrogen-Bomb and the Threat of . FOR War—Oppression in the Colonies—A System = in Decay—The Socialist Solution—Class Struggle the SOCIALISM ‘Only Road to Socialism a a B LABOUR AND LEADERSHIP—The Crisis of a yo Leadership—The Labour Bureaucracy—Centrism— a PETER FRYER The Communist Party THE MARXIST MOVEMENT—What Is a 190 pages: 3s. 6d. Marxism?—The Evolution of British Marxism— a . Marxists and the Labour Party—Marxists and the Published by the Trade Unions—Principles and Programme of the ar _ Socialist Labour Marxist Movement—The Marxist Press—Towards a League Revolutionary Working-Class Party a ; -The Weekly Journal of the Socialist Labour League ini, THE NEWSLETTER Editorial Board: Brian Arundel, Michael Banda, Harry Finch, Gerry Healy, Tom Kemp, Peter Kerrigan, Brian Pearce, Cliff Slaughter, Jim Swan HNN Subscription 5s. for 12 issues post free from 186 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TT U), r.o. 180 Clapham High St, London SW4

[p048] i ba e THE CAPITALISM, SOCIALISM AND THE CLASS 8 8 STRUGGLE—The World We Live In—The Two a BATTLE Nations—Hard Times Ahead—Towards a Slump— 4 Li eats hLarpagcoangepenetiee aes sa : a i orking— Ihe Hydrogen-Bomb an e reat O “ FOR War—Oppression in the Colonies—A System mE in Decay—The Socialist Solution—Class Struggle the kK a SOCIALISM Only Road to Socialism iF B LABOUR AND LEADERSHIP—The Crisis of bs] y Leadership—The Labour Bureaucracy—Centrism— ba) PETER FRYER The Communist Party rT ey THE MARXIST MOVEMENT—What Is 3 190 pages: 3s. 6d. Marxism?—The Evolution of British Marxism— 3] . Marxists and the Labour Party—Marxists and the ul st Published by the Trade Unions—Principles and Programme of the Socialist Labour Marxist Movement—The Marxist Press—Towards a a a] League Revolutionary Working-Class Party gl De au a -The Weekly Journal of the Socialist Labour League i, THE NEWSLETTER Editorial Board: Brian Arundel, Michael Banda, Harry Finch, Gerry Healy, Tom Kemp, Peter Kerrigan, Brian Pearce, Cliff Slaughter, Jim Swan INNMNNNNNNN Subscription 5s. for 12 issues post free from 186 Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4 Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU), r.o. 180 Clapham High St, London SW4