In capitalism, the entire working class is exploited, as capitalists expropriate the surplus value generated by every worker, creating an antagonistic contradiction between the working class and the capitalist class. Yet capitalists maintain their material and ideological dominance over workers by undermining this fundamental unity – introducing, supporting, and exacerbating differences in working and living conditions among the various sections of the working class.
As communists in Britain, our task is to understand both the objective and subjective dynamics behind working-class divisions in this country. Only through this understanding will we be able to practically engage with the working class and, more importantly, contribute to its unification – a necessary precondition for any revolutionary struggle against capital.
To this end, we aim to produce a comprehensive clarification document on the working class in Britain, analysing it in relation to the current capitalist and imperialist conditions, as well as the present state of the trade union movement. In the coming weeks, we will release a more detailed plan for this work, which will be published in separate contributions on the website over the next two years.