CAMOUFLAGE

http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/
http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialiststandard/2010s/2013/no-1302-february-2013

1..Editorial: Working Class

Dismissed

Class division
Class Society
David Cameron

David Camerons accent, though less plummy than some of

his Tory predecessors, fairly tinkles with the sound of silver
spoons being removed from their mahogany cases. We Brits
with our highly attuned class antennae know a toff when we
hear one. So when considering how it is that this mans
government is preparing to unleash a programme of
welfare reforms that seems set to devastate the lives of
thousands of working people, cynics observe: How can you
expect a man like Cameron to begin to understand the
needs of ordinary working people many of whom, it is
often said with real justification, live one payslip away from
destitution.
There is some truth in the observation, but Camerons
ignorance of working class lives is not the source of his
governments attack, because, underneath the
superficialities of accent and dress, class exists as part of
what a capitalist economy is, and plays a leading role in
government policy.
Economic class is much simpler than the British, multitiered system of class identities. Its an objective matter of
wealth: if you dont have sufficient wealth not to have to
work for a living then you are member of the working class.

It doesnt matter whether you work in overalls or a business

suit, on a building site or in front of a PC; if the only way
you can support yourself or your family is to work for a
wage or a salary, then economically you are working class.
If you can derive a good income from the wealth you own
through rent, interest and profit, then you are a capitalist.
Class defined in this way is not a doctrinaire attempt to
stick labels onto people that may not want them. It is not a
personal or arbitrary decision, but an observable matter of
social conflict. The working and capitalist classes not only
possess a different degree of wealth, but they use it in
different ways: the worker uses it to live, the capitalist to
extract more wealth from the worker. This sets their
material interests on a direct collision course. Under threat
of annihilation and bankruptcy in the capitalist marketplace
the capitalist class is forced to reduce wages at every
opportunity and to get more productivity out of its
employees. The working class, to protect its standard of
living, is forced to resist.
Crucially, class also determines access to government
power. A capitalist government has no choice but to
manage capitalism, and capitalism can only be managed in
the interests of the capitalist class. The government,
whatever form it takes, must always place the interests of
the capitalist class first.
The shiny, immobile features of David Cameron and his
exclusive Eton education may be markers of his class, and
he may lack understanding of the lives of workers, but the
class issues that determine his governments policy-making
are not personal attributes of politicians. In government,
Cameron and his cabinet colleagues are representatives of
the capitalist class, and it is in the objective interests of the
capitalist class and not the working class that his
government, or any government, must act.
SEE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tory

http://www.toryburch.com/
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Ptories.htm
The word Tories was originally used to describe rural
bandits in Ireland. In the 17th century it had become a term
applied to monarchists in the House of Commons. By the
18th century the Tories were politicians who favoured royal
authority, the established church and who sought to
preserve the traditional political structure and opposed
parliamentary reform. After 1834 this political group in the
House of Commons preferred to use the term Conservative.
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