Letter: Up on your feet ! (1975)

Letter to the Editors from the August 1975 issue of the Socialist Standard

Up on your feet ! 

Although not a member of the Socialist Party, I have consistently read the Socialist Standard for many years now. I must say that I agree with many of the sentiments expressed in it and I regard the freedom of the proletariat as an essential prerogative of Socialism.

However, there is a tendency (because of the present system of society) for the capitalist class to disregard this and to treat the working class as inferior plus a thoroughly repugnant attitude of treating them as if they were not worthy of existing on the same planet as themselves and in point of fact endangering the lives of the exploited class (the proletariat) for their own comfort. I wish to ask how to combat this lack of security of myself and others under the present system and want to know what practical steps can be taken?

R. G. Davies

Birmingham

Reply:

Look at the world round you. All its wonders, from sliced bread to jet airliners, are made and provided by working men and women while the capitalist class sit on their behinds pretending to be superior.

No member of the working class should accept that pretence, or the idea of being humble. “I’m not an educated person,” say questioners at our meetings sometimes. Nonsense: the workers are the educated, capable class. It is part of the mythology of any social system that the masters and rulers are the wise ones to whom the rest must defer. Note, however, how the tune changes at certain times. If you have lived through a war you will recall that the workers then are buttered-up: their brains and bravery are magnificent and they are promised everything — until the war ends, when they are transformed back into trouble-making layabouts.

For practical steps, turn to the inside cover of this and every copy of the Socialist Standard to see how you can join the Socialist Party. When you become a member, there will be another nail in the coffin of this disgusting system; and we don’t think you will feel inferior to its moguls any longer.

Editors.