We are now in that time of the year known as the Holiday Season. The spirit of good cheer permeates the atmosphere. Everybody is urged to love one another. But there is something else afoot, at this time, which would indicate that loving one another is by no means sufficient. Not for the millions of victims of poverty, even in America, at any rate. For not all the love for one’s fellow man that has been poured out over the years, has contained, let alone eliminated, the stark hunger that stalks capitalism everywhere, even in this richest nation of all time. And so, in these closing months of the year, the annual drive is on, and we are urged, even bullied by psychological tricks, such as cleverly phrased notices on bulletin boards or desks in the sweatshops where we earn our daily bread: "Have you pledged your fair share,” they ask us, "to the United Way?”
Now it would almost seem that there could be no argument here. One must be hard-hearted to turn a deaf ear to suffering, to fail to come up with some sort of pledge from one’s meager pay for such a good cause. But for those who understand the world, how it is organized; and who are consciously attempting in one way or another to change it, the institution of organized charity is the rubbing of salt in the wounds of the working class. "Pledge one’s fair share" Indeed! Just whom do they think these victims of poverty are? From where do they come? From the capitalist class? Hardly! They can only come from one section of society, the working class, the class that is being importuned to pledge for their support.
Just consider the import of this in the cold light of reason. Here is a section of the working class that, generally, through no fault of its own, other than selecting the wrong parents, winds up on the bottom rung of the ladder. What is the ladder doing there in the first place? Simply making it possible for a handful of idlers, who happen to own the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth, to sit on the top rungs, while those below them produce their wealth and serve them personally in order that they can get full enjoyment from life.
Now, because of the odd, topsy-turvy manner of thinking under capitalism, the mass of working people on the lower rungs are supposed to be grateful to the few on the top for giving them a chance to work for them. How kind of them, we hear so frequently, to erect factories and found banks and all the other places of employment, so that we can have a chance to earn a living. Strange reasoning? It certainly is, because it is those on the top who should be eternally grateful to the rest of us for making life so easy for them. What else can they do with their money but invest it in more capital? They can't eat it! They can’t wear it! They can’t drive around in it or live in it! They must invest it in institutions that make it possible for the rest of us to work for them (excepting when there is a surfeit of labor); else there is nothing left for them but to lie down with the rest of us and die, unless we abolish the capitalist way of production.
But no! We, the majority, are expected to be the grateful ones, even to the extent of pitching in for our fellows who fall to the bottom rung. Capitalists buy our brains and our brawn for enough, on the average, to produce and reproduce this brain and brawn, then ask us to give back some to those of us who have not been able to stay in the rat race, instead of taking care of the needy themselves as a sort of bonus for a lifetime of dedicated toil. That is the future that capitalism holds for a growing percentage of us, the opportunity to have salt rubbed in our wounds, and the opportunity to be on the receiving end of their sweet charity.
TAPES
For certain purposes, listening to these messages as they were delivered over the air may be more useful than this written form. The increasing popularity of the tape medium indicates that they may serve for home listening or discussion groups.
Those interested please contact us at the Boston address listed, giving particulars of tape format and titles.
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