Even the Socialist can be Socially Ideological...

Time and time again, despite all the talk about fixing the world, I have conversed with other socialists and found their positions on one particular group of people sub-par, or at worst, disgusting. To think that with all the talk about despotism, and the poor of the world that they can so easily think so little of the same people they set out to inevitably save.

The struggle for workers’ power is as much the struggle for the lumpen. Those of the lowest socio-economic level, not just the working poor, but the poor who have become despot and homeless, those that have become unable to access any means of subsistence. These are people who know, at the forefront of their minds, more consistently than the entirety of the working class, the destruction that Capitalism creates. Though, they may not call it Capitalism. They may call it big business, rich people, profiteers of the slums, bosses etc. Objectively, this point of view is no less than that of the Worker, the fundamental difference is that whilst Workers have a means of subsistence (though minor), the poorest of the poor have none. Their struggles are not minor struggles, minor defiance against bosses – their struggles are struggles for their lives. Their ability to exist, not even to live (as to live, you need to be able to enjoy your life – at least in this context), just to exist. Their entire lives are built up brooding over hostilities toward the rich and powerful. The ones who have the means to save them, however do not. And they know just as quickly as any other why: Corporate, ruling class self-interest is more important than the interests of the many. This is the status quo of thought amongst the poor.

So to clear something up, how do I know this? Well, I’m one of them. Or was. Not only was I one of them, I was one of them for more than half of my life. My friends are them. My friends’ friends are them. Their parents are them, and their parents’ parents were them. Junkies, thugs, petty criminals, homeless, and despot.

Amidst those I know now, those Socialists I’ve conversed with, become friends with, become loyal to – I have to say the majority can be considered relatively middle class. They have no objective material factors pushing them toward Socialist politics, rather, it seems almost much more subjective, as if it were a choice they made for moral reasons. I however was pushed toward these politics for objective reasons. Not because I thought it was a good idea, rather, because I know it is a necessary idea, first hand.

When I speak to them about the poor, I have received opinions that the poor are useless, can’t be relied on (to some extent is true when talking about Socialist politics), the overall face-value of the opinion is negative – that is, until those people have to speak with those poor, despot people – and discover once again just how horrible the poor life really is.

I find the most disgusting part of it, is the negative view of the poor by Socialists. These are people the Socialist is supposed to be speaking for (to some extent). To be saying “Look! These people live this way because Capitalism can’t give them a home, or food, or clean water! It pushes people to poverty! And once there, they rarely get out! Capitalism forces people to look for ideological escapes, such as drug and alcohol abuse! It leaves us with but two enjoyments – Sex and intoxication – and even then they attack those last remaining loves!”

However, when these things are said, once everyone goes back to their lives to continue the good fight, the poor become a thorn in their side somehow. The person they don’t want to associate with. The people they dislike – not because they are scumbags, but because they just don’t help.

Well this is me saying that the poor of the world are a stronger fighting force than we all think. I understand that the only collective that can lead a Revolution is the working class, and that it is the working class we need to convince as they hold economic and political power. However – if the poorest of the poor can see uprising, and can taste change, they fight for it harder, and longer than any other. The poor are the martyrs of struggle, the poor are the special operatives of struggle, far more astute, far more militant and far tougher in struggle than most workers.

So don’t discredit them so easily. Aim to convince those of the lowest level of the same politics you would a worker.