For the capitalists to have the ability to subjugate the workers, they attempt to invade every waking moment of our lives. Every action we partake in, especially in the imperialist countries, is connected to the capitalist with its slimy tentacles, controlling how we act or how we see these actions. This is for two reasons: Control and profit.

The capitalist wants to hold onto their ruling position from which they can profit from our labour. It is our duty hack away these tentacles and we can only do this by creating what we at the Class Consciousness Project call our modus operandi: Class awareness.

One of the insidious ideals of capitalism is profit. It is the foremost insidious tenet in which motivates everything that the capitalists do. From food to health care, to housing, to the sales of toothpaste. We could call so many things in our lives necessities, but we could not access them if we weren’t creating the required amount of profit from use or purchase. These necessities of life then become precarious commodities that are ransomed to us. Workers will often be employed in a position where they are collecting this profit and will often defend this ideal, as if profit was a glorious benefactor who will graciously shower us in the necessities of life once this ransom is met. This is counter-productive to our class. Where we may not be in a position at the moment to defeat the capitalist monster, we must be aware of the tentacles which bind us to it. We must understand what profit is and does, so we do not fall into the trap of doing the capitalists work for him.

I’m going to use examples to explain how people become lost to the monster.Anyone with young children will wince at this word. Nursery. Even more so, Nursery fees!

Sending our young children to nursery can be daunting enough with it being, in most cases, the first time you leave your child with a stranger, then you get hit with exorbitant bills! Nursery is a very important time in a toddler’s development. It is also important for two working-parent families, which in modern day society is most working-class families, so to hold this necessary service to ransom is immoral.

In my own dealings with the service, I have had my child’s placement put in jeopardy because of disputes over bills. In the discussions over this, I mentioned that withholding placement over outstanding bills was putting profit before children. The reply to this was that: “If we didn’t make a profit, we wouldn’t be able to feed the kids.”

This shows a lack of understanding of what profit is within the price of a commodity. In Wage, Labour and Capital, Marx breaks down the selling price of a commodity into three points:

1. The replacement of the price of the raw materials advanced by him, in addition to the replacement of the wear and tear of the tools, machines, and other instruments of labour likewise advanced by him.

2. The replacement of the wages advanced,

3. The surplus leftover – i.e., the profit of the capitalist.

   
   

Profit is the surplus leftover once the price of creating the commodity and paying the wages of the worker is paid. So, if the commodity is nursery placements, then the raw materials will be inclusive of the meals given to the children at their placement. Profit is then taken from the remaining capital after both advancements have been repaid. Profit then does not determine the raw materials that are used for this commodity.

One of the capitalist ideals which is also perpetuated is that nothing can, or will, exist without profit: That holding these necessities to ransom isn’t part of the capitalist system, but of human nature. This is absurd. The capitalist system is based on competition. The competing nature of the market is supposed to create a wealth of choice and self-regulate its price, but when capitalist endeavour creates enough profit to undercut its competitors, it will then corner its market – contradicting the proclaimed need for competition by creating monopoly. These contradictions prove how incorrect it is to believe profit is inherent in human nature.

The key to the progression of our society lies within the masses. In the pursuit of revolution, we must chop away these capitalist tentacles that bind us to capitalism and corrupt the mind of the worker, poisoning their consciousness with ideals that can only be used for the gain of the capitalist.