Seeing through the System

In this book, you will find that class did not disappear, but as Howard Zinn said, we have been trained to believe that “we mustn’t talk of class division in this country . . . .We must believe we are one family—me and Exxon, you and Microsoft, the children of the CEOs and the children of the janitors. We must believe our interests are the same.” 

A perspective that ignores class makes it difficult to define class. How do you define something that is not recognized? If you look at the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the yearly compilation of the official categories of information, you will find many interesting statistics, but no figures that focus on class as defined here. The social sciences do not devote much effort in defining and studying something that is not officially sanctioned by grants and awards. But the awareness of class divisions is a reality for vast numbers of working people, as well as the upper elites (although they don’t discuss it in public). Still class and class analysis are mysteries to many people in all sectors of our society. Let us see if we can help solve the mystery. 

We also have an incorrect understanding of the meaning of class. Instead of defining class through vague determinations reflecting our narrow economic status—like income, how people dress, what people own, how people are trained, educated or cultured—we need to define class in a more precise way. This is accomplished when we see class as the relationship of one portion of the population to another in terms of their connection to the means of production (the land, forests, waters, mineral resources, raw materials, factories, corporations, means of transportation, and communication). The capitalist class owns the means of production and the working class works with the means of production but does not own them. 

Today, although we cannot easily see them, the effects of class division still exist in the experience of workers who complain about discrimination, boredom, the stupidity and insensitivity of the bosses, the purposelessness of their lives, the lack of decent public support systems for their families, and their constant struggle for money and security. It still exists where ordinary working people in factories, mines, fields, and offices are rebelling every day trying to regain control over their lives while under the threat of being fired. It still exists because of the way factories or corporations are organized to create a perpetual conflict between workers and management over how production is carried out. It still exists because workers are always in fear of being fired. Management is always finding new ways of controlling and directing the workers, while workers are always inventing new ways of defending themselves. This process of contention between the classes is called class struggle. 

Today the class struggle can be seen in the growing anger of the poor being left behind with little hope. This is because of the increasing division between the rich and the poor—the rich drive their BMWs and Mercedes’ while the poor wait for busses, and the inability of our politicians to make things better. People are starting to ask questions: Why am I poor even though I work hard? Why do some people have extra money that they do not need? Why don’t I have health care for my family? Why are people living in the streets? Why is there pollution in my neighborhood? Why don’t I get what I need while my representatives in government are doing well themselves? Why are my children fighting and dying in foreign lands? Why is my neighborhood school failing? Why are so many black men in our prisons? Why are women not paid the same as men for doing the same work? Why are so few people voting or taking part in our civic life? Why are my people ignored? So many questions!