Capitalist success vs proletarian success ~~ The Hampton Institute

https://tinyletter.com/hamptonthink/letters/capitalist-success-vs-proletarian-success

~~ posted for collectivist ~~

There is nothing the rich and powerful fear more than worker/community-control of the means of production, aka freedom for the masses.

From the lords of old, the slave-owning founding fathers, and the industrial-age oil/rail tycoons to the modern corporate executives, royal families, media moguls, and oligarchs around the world, their self-preservation has always been about fooling the people. That's why we're taught socialism/communism is "evil" without ever being taught what it really is. That's why we're taught capitalism is "liberty" and "free enterprise" without ever being taught what it really is. That’s why we’re bombarded with “rock the vote!” campaigns which magically transform the futile act of choosing bourgeois politicians into some form of meaningful change. That's why we're conditioned to glorify the wealthy minority (them) and vilify the poor majority (us), to the point where we despise ourselves and love our oppressors.

Manufactured ignorance is the lifeblood of oppression. Our owners instill us with inferiority complexes, commodity fetishism, and ignorance through their institutions (schools, media, elections, entertainment industry, marketing/advertising, etc.) which we are corralled into as children and left dependent on as adults. This conditioning has only become more powerful over the years, as it is now presented with high-quality production value and the illusions of variety and free association.

Fox News/CNN/MSNBC, liberal/conservative, democrat/republican, coke/pepsi, mcdonald's/burger king, tide/purex, etc. are presented as if they not only significantly differ from one another, but more so that they represent the freedom of choice and self-determination, while ultimately keeping us drowning in the same abyss for which we can never escape.

The 18th-century enclosure of land that stripped us of our ability to self-sustain and transformed us all into servants of the capitalist class has been normalized through a subsequent, centuries-long enclosure of our minds. Many of us have subconsciously accepted our roles in this system as the natural state of things, to the point where we actually believe our basic human needs like food, water, land, clothing, shelter, medical care, etc. are "entitlements" or “privileges” that we only "deserve" if we can successfully sell/rent ourselves to capitalists for significant wages. Without realizing that our needs, our bodies, and our lives have long been turned into commodities to be used, abused, and discarded as profit generators for others… and that’s if we’re “lucky” enough to find someone to buy or rent us.

We remain captives to this system, appeased by its shortsighted kickbacks of instant gratification, while drowning in an utterly meaningless existence filled with instability, desperation, misery, despair, and emptiness. All so a small minority can experience extravagant lives around us – lives that are now sold back to us through a commodified, multi-billion-dollar gawking/talking industry.

There is no way out from within the system. It is intricately designed to keep us captive with its fake schools, its fake media, its fake elections, and its fake calls of “personally responsibility” and “equal opportunity.” The only opportunity capitalism provides is the opportunity to join its exclusive club of exploiters. And that opportunity can only be awarded to a few among millions. As Huey Newton once brilliantly wrote, “[Proletarian] Youths are passed through schools that don’t teach, then forced to search for jobs that don’t exist, and finally left stranded to stare at the glamorous lives advertised around us.” So, we stare at the glamorous lives. We listen to the self-help gurus who tell us how to “budget” our measly income, or how to “market” ourselves better, or how to “join” the oppressor class by becoming entrepreneurs, business owners, or property owners (landlords). Only a few can “succeed” in this game. And “success” can only be attained by capitalizing on the desperation of others. That is the entire point of the capitalist system.

True success is opposing the system, refusing to play this abusive game, and building collective power among the masses. True success can only be realized when the workers of this world, the wretched of the earth, the proletarian masses and our communities are freed from the chains of systemic oppression. For this to happen, we must all come together to defeat our capitalist oppressors, their attack dogs in bourgeois government, and their corollary systems of white supremacy, patriarchy, imperialism, and neo-colonialism.

All power to the people.