Friday, October 28, 2005

DIctatorship of the Bourgeoisie

How about we talk about dictatorship as a way of approaching democracy? Because it's a given that democracy doesn't exist apart from its class content.But it's not proletarian dictatorship that interests me it is bourgeois dictatorship.
Now I think it's agreed that the capitalists can exercise dictatorship through a variety of forms; parliamentary democracy, constitutional monarchy, democratic republic, clerical facist, military junta, one-party "workers'" state, etc. How is it that the bourgeoisie can do this? Why is it that it doesn't seem to matter what the political form is. The capitalists can always exercise dictatorship.The solution is that politics is only one leg of the bourgeoisie's dictatorship.
Their real dictatorship, their real source of power and control in society comes from the system of wage slavery. As owners of the means of production they are in a position to purchase labor-power and then exercise dictatorship over this labor-power. This is a dictatorship that existed before the capitalists even thought about political power, and it will exist after they loose their political power.Workers know this. I don't care what illusions they might have about the "democratic process" or reformism or any thing else they know that at work the boss is the boss. For those hours (like all their life) they are under a dictatorship--no bill of rights no declaration of independence. This is one reason unions are so important, they attenuate this dictatorship somewhat but workers know that a union job is just a softer dictatorship.
It's at work under a system of wage slavery that the working class can really see its enemy. Get to work! Here wear this! Do that! No do it this way! It really is a system of slavery, you are a slave at work. The capitalists also know this. That's why after WWII they were willing to try and buy off the unions so they could retain this dictatorship. The social relationship of wage labor is fundamental to the rule of the bourgeoisie.
The petty bourgeoisie on the other hand doesn't get this. They see the worker as just someone who didn't go to college or whatever and doesn't have the skills for a "better profession." So when they see a worker who is not interested in calls for revolution or whatever he or she becomes "conservative" or "bourgeoisieified." They don't realize they are looking at someone whose survival depends on adopting a certain attitude towards life -- a wage slave's attitude Cuidado Hombre! Play it close to the vest!
The point to all this is that overthrowing the political power of the bourgeoisie is only part of the battle and not the most important part. In fact, the main reason to overthrow the capitalist class politically is so the system of wage slavery can be done away with. As long as THAT dictatorship exists, as long as one class is the bosses and the other is the bossed the bosses will think and act like bosses and the wage slaves will have that attitude.Some of the difference between anarchists and communists comes down to how and when to deal with the legs of Capitalist dictatorship not whether to deal with them.