Working class consciousness – the problem with young people today…

These triptych of videos are Phil Hearse’s introduction to the September Socialist Resistance forum looking at contemporary ideas of and about class consciousness. It’s often hard to get an opinion from Phil. Not so this week. The views he repeats about Albanian peasants do not represent those of Socialist Resistance as a whole.We’ve not got…

Liam

September 12, 2008

1–2 minutes

These triptych of videos are Phil Hearse’s introduction to the September Socialist Resistance forum looking at contemporary ideas of and about class consciousness.

It’s often hard to get an opinion from Phil. Not so this week. The views he repeats about Albanian peasants do not represent those of Socialist Resistance as a whole.We’ve not got round to discussing that issue just yet but he did speak for many of us who are still more than slightly resentful that the opportunities for casual loveless sex and drug taking available to today’s youth weren’t available in our younger days.

Apologies for the the dodgy quality of the the opening couple of minutes of the first video. The meeting started more punctually than normal and I was slightly later than normal. Then the batteries had to be replaced after a few minutes. In any case the audio is fine and you listen to these things for the ideas.

Phil – part 1

Phil – part 2

Phil – part 3

Technorati Tags: working class,British politics,socialism,socialist

2 responses to “Working class consciousness – the problem with young people today…”

prianikoff

September 12, 2008 at 5:44 pm

Hasn’t the “Affluent Worker” thesis been superseded by the indebted worker?

Has Patrick got the elixir of youth- he still looks like a Student Vanguardist after 25 years?

Careful with the goat****er question! You’ll have to firewall out the Sparts next.

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Liam

September 12, 2008 at 6:08 pm

No one buys the affluent worker idea. Capitalism’s productive forces have became better at making lots of cheap commodities. Quite a bit of the discussion examined how the rate of exploitation has been intensified and it was Patrick (who doesn’t look quite so youthful close up) who made the point that in relative terms a teacher in Victorian England was making the equivalent of £100 000 a year.

I think Phil mentions the fact that until 15 years or so ago it was possible to buy somewhere to live in London on an average worker’s salary.

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Liam redux