The Reign of Comfort

Over at Cushvlog, Matt Christman makes the case that the workers movement and their sense of class belonging was annihilated by comfort, treats and the goodies. That they were bought off at the end of WW11 and assimilated into the ruling order by the availability of these treats during the Great Expansion. As Gramsci would put it, they were thoroughly hegemonized. It is a simple case of the "mind forged manacles" taking the place of physical repression, of co-optation through manipulated consensus. As a direct result, co2 emissions have quadrupled since 1950, basically the output of my generation. What this suggests (and I think there is truth to this analysis)is that what is required to move beyond the status quo is actually discomfort. Those suffering the slings and arrows of exploitation, deprived of the fruits of their labor (toys and Disneyworld), will be less willing to cooperate in their own enslavement. But what THIS suggests is that any reformist agenda, including so-called "non-reformist" or "structural" reforms ( a la Andre Gorz and DSA) is counter-revolutionary. All efforts to help are palliative, symptomatic treatments that leave, or even obscure, the disease. Giving it more chance to fester. No idea is less popular in leftist circles than that of "heightening the contradictions". The basic theory of change adopted by the radical left insists that through this reformist campaign people are organized and having experienced success, will make increasingly radical demands. But history has not born this out. It has been the case that reforms mollify the workers and lend the system of capitalist "democracy" an air of legitimacy. A kinder, gentler, greener capitalism is seen as possible through enlightened policy. The question at this stage of crisis is whether privation will simply send the masses over to fascism and Q-Anon. One way or another, austerity is coming to the middle classes and no matter how distracted people are by their smart-phones, an empty belly or flooded house will bring up the anger. This is why we should be talking about relinquishment rather than 100% electricity.