Communists Fuel Capitalist’s Fire

Walking into a trendy clothing store and finding a copy of Karl Marx’s book, Communist Manifesto, on a table with this year’s most fashionable jeans is ironic. As these jeans were most likely made in a sweatshop somewhere, having placed them next to a book whose fundamental purpose is to oppose the exploitation of labor is somewhat of a paradox. There is an ideological contradiction here, between communism, which seeks to make people equal by eliminating social class and giving people equal control of the economy, and the jeans which promote further the ideas of capitalism. Though on a small scale, the jeans are meant to set people apart as trendsetters, making them “cooler” than everyone else, they largely represent how society buys into the capitalistic mindset. While buying the jeans may set the purchaser apart from those that do not have the jeans; the buyer does not recognize the exploitation required to make them, which certainly does not encourage the buyer to take a stand against said exploitation. Thus by purchasing them, the customer unknowingly furthers the exploitation of capitalism.

Another example of this same irony is in the mass production of images of Che Guevara’s face. He appears on t-shirts, key chains, magnets, buttons, you name it, he’s on it. However, those that purchase these commodities clearly do not even know what he stood for. Che Guevara was a Marxist revolutionary, who participated in the Cuban Revolution under Fidel Castro. He fought for the values that corporate America constantly tries to repress. His image on mass produced commodities is a blatant contradiction of all he stood for. His image has become a product for consumers, attempting to show dissatisfaction of the inequalities within capitalist societies. Most people sporting his image believe that simply displaying his image is enough activism thus rather than starting a revolution, they purchase an item with a revolutionary idea. Through this small, insignificant act of “rebellion”, people ignorantly contribute to the hegemony of corporate capitalism.

Sporting events, along with the culture of being a fan of a particular team, are another outlet in which the hegemonic control by corporate capitalists. Working class people are targeted by sports advertising at games, in bars, sporting goods stores, and even at home. Working class people that are fans of sports teams focus a lot of their time, in addition to large sums of their money to support their teams. They spend money at stores to buy apparel and other items with their team’s logo, at the bar while they watch games, to purchase tickets to see live games, at live games, and on their cable bill to watch the games at home. Who benefits from all of this spending? Corporations that are constantly growing richer while consumers are distracted by being a part of their team’s fan culture. This shows how ruling class ideology (corporate capitalism) seeks to assure the satisfaction of the working classes, in order to maintain their power and dominance.

The article "Marxism and Social Hegemony in Sport" discusses how capitalists exploit different groups of people through sports. It brings up the point that athletes themselves are used to create entertainment in order to earn a profit for capitalists. It also discusses three main distinctions between the elite and the marginalized within the sporting world. First it discusses how female athletes are oppressed by male athletes due to the belief that males are more biologically suited to play sports than females, and are therefore better. Hegemony through sport also oppresses various races and African Americans in particular have been oppressed by the ruling class of white men. In the past, they were not given many opportunities to use first-rate sports equipment or facilities in order to practice and become better, furthering the oppressive nature of sports. Later, when they were better integrated within the field, the status they achieved through sports was still temporary and did not lead to upward social mobility. They were also given roles deemed by the ruling class to be acceptable for them, such as easy ones that required little thought. This oppression allowed the ruling class (whites) to maintain their dominant position in society. Lastly, hegemony through sport can also be seen in the class structure within the field. Sports initially became popular amongst those who had higher class. Lower class people had less time, money, and opportunity to use better equipment and play on better teams. By the time they had equal opportunities, the ruling class already had control of game formats, equipment, and locations, allowing them to oppress the working class. This article shows how the dominant class needs to oppress in order to survive, and has found various ways to oppress.

All of this ties into literature because one must understand the author in order to understand the author’s work. Literature may contain capitalist ideology and ideas that prioritize and side with the ruling class, without explicitly stating so. Whether it is the author’s intent to say these things or not, the author’s beliefs and ideas will come through in the undertones of their work. Texts express a logic in themselves, whether the author consciously takes a hold of its meaning or not. So, every text contains both dominant ideology and those that oppose it, even if the opposing ideas are not expressed in a straightforward manner.

Chris Craig’s post helped us realize that when looking at texts where the ruling class ideology is favored, the text demonstrates that though the values of the ruling class are not universal, it needs the lower class in order to survive. The ruling class keeps power relations between itself and the working class one sided. He exemplifies how many things are distractions for the working class to keep them satisfied, but oppressed at the same time. The working class is ruled under hegemonic control, because they are offered what they think are choices, while in reality everything is decided by the dominant class. Using Craig’s example, the working class purchases Che Guevara t-shirts in order to rebel against the dominant class of corporate capitalism, when really all they are doing is contributing to corporate capitalism’s wealth. They think they are acting independently and rebelling against capitalist ideas, when they are doing exactly what corporate capitalism wants them to do: contributing to their wealth.