Post by Jane / Redsky

Marx said we'd never revolt - too conditioned to xenophobia "This antagonism (b/w English & foreign working class) is artificially kept alive & intensified by the press, the pulpit, the comic papers, in short, by all the means at the disposal of the ruling classes" www.marxists.org/archive/marx...

And most important of all! Every industrial and commercial centre in England now possesses a working class divided into two hostile camps, English proletarians and Irish proletarians. The ordinary English worker hates the Irish worker as a competitor who lowers his standard of life. In relation to the Irish worker he regards himself as a member of the ruling nation and consequently he becomes a tool of the English aristocrats and capitalists against Ireland, thus strengthening their domination over himself. He cherishes religious, social, and national prejudices against the Irish worker. His attitude towards him is much the same as that of the

This antagonism is artificially kept alive and intensified by the press, the pulpit, the comic papers, in short, by all the means at the disposal of the ruling classes. This antagonism is the secret of the impotence of the English working class, despite its organisation. It is the secret by which the capitalist class maintains its power. And the latter is quite aware of this. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1870/letters/70_04_09.htm

aug 31, 2025, 10:17 pm • 9 2

Replies

That could almost have been written today!

aug 31, 2025, 10:20 pm • 2 0 • view

Yep. 155 years on and we're no better, it's so depressing.

aug 31, 2025, 10:23 pm • 1 0 • view