What Kind of Polarisation?

No matter where you go on earth, you would hear the same complaints in different languages on the streets of each country. You can witness demonstrations of the working people with common problems and demands. Rising inflation, low wages, rising cost of living, price hikes, unemployment, poverty... On the other hand, you see that political leaders saying the same things even though they have different names or different countries they represent. It doesn’t matter whether you listen to Meloni from Italy, Erdogan from Turkey or Orban from Hungary. These leaders claim that they will find a solution to the problems of the working people and they tout themselves as saviours. They create a fake/artificial polarization among the workers by using women and the family, different lifestyles, cultural differences and religious values. Can this be just a coincidence? What does it tell us that the same scene is happening all around the world?

In fact, none of the problems faced by workers is new under capitalism. Likewise, it is not new that fascist leaders put on airs like a saviour, divide the working class and make same sections of the working masses go after them. For example, in 1920s, the workers, who became poorer with the growth of economic problems in Italy, turned to fascist Mussolini, who entered the political arena as a saviour. A decade later, this time in Germany, the workers who wanted to get out of the maelstrom of unemployment and poverty thought they had found a saviour in fascist Hitler. Those who showed up on the stage as saviours caused widespread devastation.

In those years, the economic crisis, fascism, and the world war had largely taken place in Europe. What is new is that problems that in the past were felt to varying degrees in various parts of the world, or that may be regional, are now literally globalized. It is the first time that billions of people all around the world are tackling the same problems at the same time. What is new is that each of the problems caused by capitalism, which is gripped in a historical crisis, turns into a crisis and becomes much more destructive. Here are a few examples; that the energy crisis aggravated by the war in Ukraine, affects the whole world, that no country can escape the immigration problem, that the economic crisis hit the whole world like in a chain reaction, making the burden for workers heavier and worldwide and so on.

This is the picture of the 21st century capitalism. We must add to this picture the fact that the clashes of interest within the capitalist class have become more acute and that the working class is not adequately organized. It is for this very reason the working class is unable to step in the political arena as an independent force through its own organizations and intervene in social developments. Unorganized working people are divided between various wings of bourgeois politics. The number of people who believe that their problems will be solved by fascist leaders in the role of fanatical patriots is increasing. Almost 100 years after the era of fascists such as Mussolini and Hitler, now Trumps, Bolsonaros, Orbans, Melonies and Erdogans are performing on the political stage all over the world. They speak English, Portuguese, Hungarian, Italian or Turkish but all use the same arguments. For example, while Meloni uses the slogan “God, homeland, family”, Orban talks about Christianity, family values, and the glorious Hungarian history. They all say “we will be a great country” and compete in nationalism. Accompanied by dirty propaganda, they label everyone against them as “enemies”, “traitors”, and “foreign forces” and polarizing the society over false identities. In this way, they cover up the real polarization between the productive and exploited working class and the exploiting capitalist class. When they take the power, they do not stand back from corruption, curtailing the rights of workers, expanding repression and bans by destroying all democratic rights.

Whereas, is not it obvious that workers' problems are common, regardless of their language, religion or ethnic origin? In the same way, aren't the capitalist class' methods of distracting, deceiving and suppressing the working class the same? While a bunch of parasites live in heaven, don't billions of workers live in hell? Aren't those who profit from artificial-based polarization and from the walls erected between groups of people exploitative sovereigns? So why on earth do we fall for fake divides and get gripped by artificial polarization?

The polarization created through various religious, cultural or ethnic-based sub-identities is made-up and misplaced. Nationalism is a trap that divides workers. In the 174th issue of our paper, in the article “How Do Classes Do Politics?” we stated this fact as follows: “A person may be Turkish or Kurdish, Alevi or Sunni, but these identities are not central social identities! What determines a person's main social identity is the class to which they belong. Are you a worker selling your labour power, exploited and oppressed in poverty? Or are you one of the members of wealthy, exploitative bourgeois class in luxury?” When the workers get over artificial divisions and come together in the organizations of the working class, they will stand on the right side, both politically and historically!