Gustav's Gems

Continuing with selections from the works of the Marxist historian Gustav Bang's The Rise of Capitalism, there is a section in which he analyses the aftermath of the capitalists' capture of political power in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century:

"The proletariat had been betrayed and they knew it. They began to perceive that only through independent action could they make any progress. For obviously any cooperation with the bourgeoisie ran counter to all common sense, since the interests of the two classes were diametrically opposite. The capitalists were given added political power without the slightest gain to the workers – the circumstances attending the latter would be no less oppressive and slave bound.The capitalists, with the aid of the workers, had acquired new, powerful political means that could be used with equal effectiveness against the workers below and the landed aristocracy above. The emancipation of the working class must be its own class conscious work."

 Our opponents on the left sneer at our insistence on the necessity of capturing political power, but, as Dr. Bang shows, the capitalists found it necessary, and used it against their class above and below.

Steve and John