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Home > "The 'Yellow Vest' movement: the proletariat must respond to the attacks of capital on its own class terrain!"

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7 December, 2018 - 19:03
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jk1921
"The 'Yellow Vest' movement: the proletariat must respond to the attacks of capital on its own class terrain!"

I agree with the article that this movement is not entirely on the proletarian terrain, but it seems like the working class doesn't struggle on its own terrain until its own struggles on its terrain. Its not entirely surprising that the proletarian struggle emreges in fits and starts, lacks clarity and puts forth confused demands, even some that may seem "right-wing" at times. But I think we need to avoid the mistake of judging the action strictly by its content. Just because there are certain petty-bourgeois ideas put forward, doesn't mean that the proletariat is not present and expressing a genuine class response to the social conditions of the moment. The idea that this movement is a kind of "trap," seems too Machiavellian, even if in a figurative sense it is true that the bourgeoisie will use it to drown out a more class based response. It seems this struggle, in all its confusion and contradictions, reflects something about the historic moment we are in. But I am not sure that every protest over taxes has a petty bourgeois nature, as taxes hit the working class as well. Moreover, the idea that fossil fuels should be affordable is probably anathema to environmentalists, but the cost of petrol is probably one of the more volatile elements in the everyday budget of the proletariat. Whether it is some machinations of the OPEC cartel or the state raising taxes on fuel consumption, even relatively minor increases in the cost of fuel can have a major impact on the proletariat at the same time it drives self-employed lorry owners into bankruptcy.

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Source URL: https://en.internationalism.org/forum/16611/yellow-vest-movement-proletariat-must-respond-attacks-capital-its-own-class-terrain?page=0

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[3] https://en.internationalism.org/forum/16611/yellow-vest-movement-proletariat-must-respond-attacks-capital-its-own-class-terrain#comment-26895
[4] https://en.internationalism.org/forum/16611/yellow-vest-movement-proletariat-must-respond-attacks-capital-its-own-class-terrain