Capitalism, by its nature, is both a strong and a very weak system.
Due to the conditions including, condemning the ones who have to earn a living by means of their labour to poverty and unemployment, is constantly targeted by the people forming the majority of the society.
The fact is that the capital sector being the minority, make themselves targeted by the majority is the weakness of the capitalism.
Even when it looks like indestructible, its potential of being targeted is eternal. The strength of capitalism is its capacity to split the crowds within themselves by keeping the labourers competitive which tend towards demolishing it.
In German Ideology, Marx states that “The separate individuals form a class only insofar as they have to carry on a common battle against another class; otherwise they are on hostile terms with each other as competitors”.
This situation of being enemies is what conditions bring and is beyond the individuals’ preferences.
With his statement, Marx draws attention to the fact that to politically act like a social class, it is not enough to have mutual financial benefits and unless the labourers get together for their financial benefit and fight against the other class, they will not be able to have a manner of a social class.
The period of neo-liberalism that we are currently in, is an era in which the policies aimed at hindering the potential of labourers moving together, reaches peak.
This is an era in which the work safety is abolished to a large extent where there is no collective agreement available, in the form of subcontracting, employees from the same workplace being split up as dependent on varied companies, creating enemies by the use of a system on individual performance and with the constant rivalry between labourers working together.
In other words, this is an era of developing all sorts of practices for the strong side of the capitalism that is against labour, leaving labourers politically unorganised and depriving politically unorganised labourers of any kinds of privilege.
However, this system, in spite of the unjust suffering it sustains, is also creating a job context where the employees try to disadvantage each other (their co-workers) with the rivalry and competitive ideology.
Unemployed and working people are constantly competing with each other in the act of enemies.
This is because there is a system where an accomplished work by someone, leaves the other unemployed and someone else’s high job performance leaves other’s performance low.
It is very apparent that this antagonistic competitive setting is not creating any emancipation sufficient (to be) for everyone.
Thousands of people starting in the market with big dreams are junked in the next term, clearly shows this.
What is important is that to be able to show the crowds that the conditions created by the hegemon system are not an unchangeable code/law of this life.
But only a political organisation targeting the system can manage this.
A political organisation which aims the unity of labourers, can exist within every zone of labour struggle and can comprehend identity struggle as a whole.
We will either create a mutual fight that will put an end to the hostility between labourers or, we will continue to be condemned to a system where people are tough and cynical.
This is the dilemma in front of us.
Writer: Ali Şahin
Translated by: G. I.
Article first published on: 28/01/2017
Original article in Turkish: http://www.ankaradegillefkosa.org/herkese-yetecek-bir-kurtulus-ali-sahin/
