There is a trend among Maoists called “third
worldism,” which makes the claim that there really is no proletariat in the
first world and that all the workers
here get more money than they actually earn, compared to those who live
in the third world, because they all reap the rewards from the imperialist
exploitation of third world people. They
use words like “bourgeois
proletariat” or “labor “aristocracy,” implying that these classes have too much
to lose to defend the rights and aspirations of proletariats of the third
world.
There are some serious
problems with this idea and I almost have to wonder how many of these people
have ever been to a ghetto or been around a soup kitchen with all of the bourgeoisie’s
discarded human refuse—or have they ever even been in a first world country
very long?
In the US the middle
class workers make up the majority, although that class has been shrinking for
the last 30 years. It has also been losing out on wealth to the point where
they are only slightly better than the actual working class. As was pointed out during the Occupation
movement 1% of the population has 40% of all US wealth. The bottom 80% has
about 7% of the wealth. The bottom 40% has almost no wealth at all.
The following video
explains how the US wealth is distributed today:
The working middle
class could be classified as a labor aristocracy. They have jobs that allow
them to buy smart phones, TVs, computers, cars or trucks and to buy a home, as
long as they can keep their jobs. This does put them way ahead of workers in
the third world who may not have electricity, running water, flush pluming,
cars or any luxury items listed above. So yes, these workers really do have it
much better. There is also an element of the middle class, some doctors and
lawyers, for example, who are actually petite bourgeoisie, which the mainstream
US press is referred to as “upper-middle class."
But there are two
classes of workers who have been virtually excluded from the benefits of
imperialism; the working poor and those poor who don’t work, including the US
lumpen-proletariat.
The working poor earn
minimum wage or slightly more. They do usually own cars, but they are always
bought used, and always need repairs. Their cars are usually their main
expense, next to rent. They have electricity and running water, but it is
sometimes interrupted because the bills can’t be paid on time. They earn enough
to go from paycheck to paycheck and earn no benefits, and absolutely no health
care. They are often the victims of predatory lenders, such as Payday Loans,
LoanMax and Speedy Cash. This places offer easy loans for a car title, but make
it hard for the borrower to actually pay back the loan, yet they simply keep
paying interest for the rest of their lives. There are other legal hucksters
and the working poor often end up with a life time of debt they can’t repay. If
they have any computers or luxury items, they have old—out of date—items they
can barely use. They do earn more than many people in the third world and they
do have more luxuries than people in the third world, but their cars and
electricity become needs, not privileges. They work hard, have little to show
for it and many get sick and die at an earlier age than people with more money
and means.
The poorest in the US
are often homeless or live in or squat in homes that may not have electricity
or running water. They usually don’t own cars or any of the other luxury items
the rest of the US has. They often live in ghettos set aside for such poor people.
Some sell and use drugs. Some of the women are prostitutes. Some of these
people are on the ever dwindling public assistant programs. These people are
completely left out of the US economic system and they get NO benefits from the
imperialist system at all. They are cast off as human refuse by the rest of
this society.
When considering the
last two classes of people, it sounds ridiculous to just brush off all workers
and US citizens as living off the wealth of the third world. The bottoms 40% of
wage earners and non-workers are suffering and need revolution just as much as
the people in the third world. These people are ripped off by the system and
they need revolution as much as anyone living anywhere. And who can seriously
claim that first world people gain so much from exploiting third world workers,
when 40% of the people get virtually nothing and the top !% are getting 40% of
the wealth in the US.
As for the middle class
who actually do benefit from the imperialist exploitation of the third world,
Mao Zedong said in ANALYSIS OF THE CLASSES IN CHINESE SOCIETY:
“The middle bourgeoisie (This can be compared to
the US middle class workers). This
class represents the capitalist relations of production in China in town and
country. The middle bourgeoisie, by which is meant chiefly the national
bourgeoisie, is inconsistent in its attitude towards the Chinese revolution: they feel the
need for revolution and favour the revolutionary movement against imperialism
and the warlords when they are smarting under the blows of foreign capital and
the oppression of the warlords, but they become suspicious of the revolution
when they sense that, with the militant participation of the proletariat at
home and the active support of the international proletariat abroad, the
revolution is threatening the hope of their class to attain the status of a big
bourgeoisie….
…. The intermediate classes are bound to
disintegrate quickly, some sections turning left to join the revolution, others
turning right to join the counter-revolution; there is no room for them to
remain "independent". Therefore the idea cherished by China's middle
bourgeoisie of an "independent" revolution in which it would play the
primary role is a mere illusion.”
So Mao recognized that
sectors of the middle classes, even with all the privileges and aspirations to be
the big bourgeoisie can still become revolutionaries as some realize that
middle class society is really just a bourgeoisie illusionary trick.
There also needs to be
a realization among the third wordlists that there is no way the poorest
countries can win a people’s war against the first world. In the article below
they write:
“The
illusion that Third World peoples can ‘catch up’ with imperialist countries
through various reforms is objectively aided by the common yet false First
Worldist belief that First World workers are exploited as a class.”
Of course in certain
key countries, such as India, the Philippines and Nepal, revolution may be
possible. But for the entire third world proletariat to overcome the first
world is a ridiculous fantasy. The first world has high tech arms, most of the
world’s resources and most of the modern technology. For poor countries lacking
these things; people’s war directly against the first world could lead to
suicide. Third Worlders should ask themselves why Nicaragua, Angola and
Mozambique gave up on Marxism. These countries were poor and lacked development
resources so they just realigned themselves with European Democratic
Socialists. They had little choice. Cuba is one of the few holdouts and they
have paid a heavy price for being outside the world economic system.
The idea of the third
world taking over the first world is a foolish fantasy. It can’t be done. For
world revolution to work, some of the developed countries have to have either a
revolution, or a large enough people’s movement to attack the imperialist
system.
As Mao said we need to
look for all the potential revolutionaries. In the US, this would mean the working
poor and poor is our obvious promoting grounds. These people are the losers of
this society and they have nothing to lose from a revolution. The middle class
is more difficult. As Mao said, some will see that change can’t be prevented
and they will support revolution. Others will continue to stick to the bourgeoisie
and their system, hoping they can hold out and win. They will be our natural
enemies. If we can get most of the poor and at least 1/3 or the middle class,
we have a chance of forcing change in this country.
Third worldism is just
a dangerous fantasy.
-សតិវ អតុ
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