A notion that seems somewhat lost amongst the working class of Ireland as of late is the study of the natural history of the ruling class. Toiling away throughout the week, doing just enough to make it through to their next day off, the energy of the working class has been drained by the omnipresent nature of Capitalist rule.
In January 1915, James Connolly, in ‘The Worker’, highlighted the importance of examining the parasitic ruling class. Once you begin to explore this field of study, you suddenly find yourself exploring a whole host of interconnected fields, all linked by the historical process of class struggle. When you come to grips with this process and begin to understand the ways in which the ruling class maintains its power, ‘you receive a higher opinion of the worth of the world of the mere toilers and humble ones whose place is among the ruled…’, while contempt and hatred begin to flow in the direction of the rulers, expunging every ounce they can from the worker in maintaining their ruling position.1
Today, just as in Connolly’s time, the enemy ruling class are still applying these same unscrupulous methods, in league with Imperialism, landlords, big businessmen and corporations. For example, think of any time that workers decide to launch strikes against their bosses. For the longest time afterwards, you will watch as mainstream media pundits debate the validity of their demands. Why are they striking? What of those affected by the strikes? etc, coming from every conceivable angle except that which supports the workers.
In stark contrast, never do we see the ruling class and business owners held to account. Meanwhile, the scabs stealing a living from striking workers are rewarded with better wages than those on strike. Lauded by the press of Connolly’s day as ‘heroes, benefactors and souls of honour…’2, there can be no doubt that the leaders of today’s media empires still hold this attitude.
During times of war, the same ruling class, having rung all the profits they can from the working class, quickly change face. Suddenly they and their lackeys in the media praise and fawn over those they have long exploited in the hope that they ‘might furnish soldiers as cannon-fodder, to fight in the same armies…’. The working class are sent abroad to die at the behest of those employers and businesses who rob them at home. Today, the government in the 26 counties are continuing to court and coerce the Irish public into joining the Western Imperialist machine, in an attempt to align themselves with NATO through the removal of the triple lock.
The time leading up to elections often exposes this duplicity. Once more, the ruling class, in all of its guises will promise the world and more to the working class. They seemingly can work their magic in convincing us that these same leeches, who help suck the life, labour and profit from the worker year-round, deserve our support and should be able to speak on our behalf.
Every street and estate in the country is haunted by people desperate for power who, in no time at all, will have forgotten the very existence of those they have begged for a vote. Then, as soon as they are installed in their grand government buildings and offices, the work begins on the job of appeasing any and all capitalist interests which might benefit them. Even erstwhile ‘Socialists’ are not immune from this. Time and again we see them pulled headlong into the system they for so long resisted and fought, not understanding that the system has been designed by the ruling class to achieve exactly this.
With the ongoing rise of fascist manipulators across the island claiming to have the interests of the working class at heart, the lack of study regarding the ruling class becomes an even more serious concern. They blame minorities and immigrants, along with the politicians for the woes of the Irish people. These evaluations fall incredibly short of the mark. They correctly identify the political class as being at the heart of our problems, and yet because they have failed to study the ruling class, they are unable to fully appreciate that in putting the blame on some of the most vulnerable people in our society, they are falling right into the trap set by those who stand to gain the most.
They tote the line, ‘Ireland for the Irish’, but they do not understand what this means. How can Ireland be for the Irish when the British Government still occupy the six counties? Or when the land itself, the industries, agriculture, all exist solely to gain capital for the private interests of the few? Or when imperialist marching orders are continually given from the US, Britain, and Brussels? Just as Connolly noted in February of 1916, ‘we have seen the spread of those ties of self-interest binding certain classes and individuals to the Empire’. ‘Beginning with our parliamentary representatives, we see men so poisoned with the evil association of parliament,’ and ‘It is with shame and sorrow we say it, but the evil influence upon large sections of the Irish working class of the bribes and promises of the enemy cannot be denied.’3
If we seriously study the ruling class and the capitalist system they adhere to, we discover why immigration occurs. Immigration has long now been part and parcel of the capitalist system and Imperialism. People do not simply abandon their native land without reason, and the Irish people should know this all too well, certainly more than most. Yet, we still find members of the working class fall for some of the oldest tricks in the ruling class playbook. The same people crowing ‘Ireland for the Irish’, are more than happy to stand alongside Loyalist thugs in Belfast and other places, hoisting Union Jacks and other British flags on occupied Irish soil, all the while repeating the same stereotypical, racist tropes that were aimed at Irish immigrants not so long ago.
In times like this, Lenin’s words from 1913 come to mind: ‘The bourgeoisie incites the workers of one nation against those of another in the endeavour to keep them disunited. Class-conscious workers, realising that the break-down of all the national barriers by capitalism is inevitable and progressive, are trying to help to enlighten and organise their fellow-workers from the backward countries.4’ So let us not forget the importance of truly studying the history of the ruling class, for there is nothing which instils fear in their hearts more than widespread class-consciousness.
‘O, yes! The Ruling Class are worthy of study. The natural history of the ruling class is of fascinating interest. You begin with interest, you proceed with awe and admiration, you deepen into hatred, and you wind up with contempt for the nature of the beast. You realise that – The Capitalist Class is the Meanest Class that ever grasped the Reins of Power!’5.
- James Connolly, Our Rulers As A Study, The Worker 16th January 1915, found in, The Lost Writings, Aindrias O’Cathasaigh, pg.159. ↩︎
- Ibid, pg.159-160. ↩︎
- James Connolly, Notes on the Front [5 February 1916], The Worker’s Republic, 5th February 1916, found in, The Lost Writings, Aindrias O’Cathasaigh pg. 195-197. ↩︎
- V. I Lenin, Capitalism and Workers’ Immigration, Za Pravdu No. 22, 29th October 1913, found in Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1977, Moscow, Volume 19, pages 454-457, (https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/oct/29.htm). ↩︎
- James Connolly, Our Rulers As A Study, The Worker, pg.161. ↩︎
